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Perceptions of the labour - management relationship in the Botswana public service bargaining council

  • Authors: Mokena, Kemoneilwe
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Collective bargaining -- Botswana , Industrial relations -- Botswana Labor unions -- Botswana
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42052 , vital:36621
  • Description: The primary objective of this study was to explore the interests, beliefs, attitudes and experiences of the parties to the PSBC in order to identify firstly, the significant paradigms shaping their behaviours and secondly, to evaluate the extent to which these paradigms facilitate or inhibit successful collective bargaining between the two parties as currently constituted in the PSBC. The secondary objective was to develop recommendations to the PSBC for improved relations between the parties. This study was a qualitative exploration of perceptions of labour-management relations in the Public Service Bargaining Council of Botswana. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study to explore the parties’ perspectives, experiences of the labour-management relations from their description of the relationship. Data collection was done through interviews. An interview schedule with two sets of semi-structured questions, one for trade unions and another for public service management was used to guide data collection from participants. However, interviews were only done with the trade union party as the researcher could not interview management due the long process required for public service managers give interviews. The results of the study revealed a diverse and nuanced interrelation between politics, macroeconomic policy and culture impacting Labour-management relations in Botswana. Firstly, the results show two unique relationships affecting employment relations in the Botswana public service. The first relationship was between labour and state and the second between labour and management. The relationship between the state and labour is characterised by antagonism and subordination of labour to capital and the state in a bid to secure industrial peace and attract foreign direct investment. The labour-management relationship in the Botswana public service has been impacted or influenced the by managers who hold Paternalistic Unitarist employment views and the labour movement which exhibit a shift from pluralist to critical employment relations views. The 2011 public service strike was identified as an “anchoring event” which has transformed the labour -management relations in the Botswana public service from accommodation to antagonism.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Popular politics in the rural Western Cape, South Africa: a case study of Ruiterbos

  • Authors: Ghedi Alasow, Jonis
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Political participation -- South Africa -- Cape Town , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , Land tenure -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Land use, Rural -- Political aspects -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96165 , vital:31246
  • Description: This thesis argues that the philosophical foundations upon which human beings have been engaged have, across various schools of thought, made the mistake of presuming that some people are more modern than others. This suggestion is refuted throughout this thesis. To do this, intellectual traditions that take the fundamental rationality of all human beings as an indispensable starting point are engaged to argue for the need to acknowledge that everyone in the ‘now’ is indeed, of the ‘now’. This thesis connects these debates about modernity, rationality and humanity to the contemporary discussions around rural politics with particular reference to Ruiterbos in the Western Cape province of South Africa. By means of detailed empirical and ethnographic research, this thesis illustrates the issues around which people in Ruiterbos are politicised. Via this case study, the a priori assumption that rural politics will necessarily manifest itself only with respect to questions of land and agrarian reform or labour relations is complicated. The two issues around which people in Ruiterbos, during the time of this research, seem to be politicised – housing and education – are surfaced throughout this thesis. The thesis argues that the findings in this case study call for an expansion of the issues that are traditionally considered when the question of rural politics is raised. The often historicist approach that limits the possibilities for politics in rural areas should be suspended for an approach that takes popular politics and political agents in rural areas seriously. The thesis finally argues that the conclusions that are reached with respect to questions of modernity and rural politics ought to be adopted to allow for more detailed and thorough explanations of popular politics in places like Ruiterbos.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Poverty alleviation through the implementation of local economic development in rural municipalities

  • Authors: Gcaba, Fikile Cameron
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39763 , vital:35357
  • Description: The main purpose of the investigation was to assess the implementation of local economic development (LED) in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality in the Eastern Cape. Local economic development has been seen as the best means of eradicating poverty in South Africa. The South African government is committed to working with communities to find ways of meeting their socio-economic needs and improve their quality of life. This investigation assessed the participation of rural communities in small business to improve their market-related activities. Communities should be able to identify their resources to promote a more competitive business environment. The study also considered whether rural communities are have been skilled enough to participate in the economic development of South Africa. In addition, the study assessed the understanding of the people who live in the vicinity of King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality of how business information is obtained and put into effect for economic development purposes. The research was conducted among the employees of King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality. They comprised: the local development directorate, ward councillors, municipal officials, and municipal managers. The South African government promotes LED as part of the concept of the Development State and gives financial support to rural communities through relevant institutions to improve economic development. Many of the participants were educated people with a sound knowledge of local economic development, as a means of poverty eradication. However, almost all participants found it difficult to put LED into practice. The communities are less empowered about the LED concept. Documents are written in English, despite the fact that South Africa has eleven official languages. In addition there are few professionals who are knowledgeable about the LED concept. As a result, LED programmes have been poorly implemented. There is little enthusiasm on the part of the LED directorate to strengthen the already established business association or partner with the business sector to promote active participation in the economy by local people. The Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs, which is supposed to pioneer LED, has been inactive. As a result there has been very little LED in the rural King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Psychotherapy in post-colonial SA: exploring attitudes, views and beliefs of rural ‘black’ communities on psychotherapy

  • Authors: Mthembu, Thembekile Thobeka
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Black people -- Attitudes -- South Africa , Black people -- Psychology -- South Africa , Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa , Psychotherapy -- South Africa , Client-centered psychotherapy -- South Africa , Rural families -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71419 , vital:29847
  • Description: The appropriateness and effectiveness of the field of psychology and its branch psychotherapy has been met with fierce criticisms especially in contexts outside of Western or Euro American or urban Southern Africa. This thesis explores attitudes, views and beliefs of rural ‘black’ communities on psychotherapy (the healing process of the mind and soul). It is important to understand how the healing process of the mind and soul is constructed and practised in South African black rural communities, and this remains an imperative of psychology. The study takes an exploratory qualitative research approach. Nine participants from two rural communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal were interviewed through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was utilised as a method of data analysis. The study employed social constructionism and Afrocentricity as theoretical points of departure. The findings were understood through employing Afrocentricity theory underpinned by post-colonial theory. Four main themes were derived with supporting subthemes. The themes indicate that rural black communities’ attitudes, views, and beliefs on psychotherapy are at variance with the Western perspective of psychotherapy. This is further associated with the practise of psychotherapy in rural black communities. The findings of this study can possibly assist in new understandings of psychotherapy as constructed in different contexts and instigate future research to be conducted in often-neglected areas such as rural communities.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Re-imagining the Animal in J.M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals

  • Authors: Wattam, Mcleod Amy
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Animal rights -- Philosophy , Animal welfare -- Moral and ethical aspects
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45781 , vital:38963
  • Description: .M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals (1999) is a literary representation of, and intervention into, human-animal relations. It is an experimental literary destabilisation of the generic boundaries that underlie the systematic (mis)representation and (mis)treatment of nonhuman animals, specifically their mass commodification in contemporary societies. The text provides a critique and negotiation of anthropocentric reason and its ramifications for nonhuman animals. This study focuses on how Coetzee’s narrative problematises dominant discourses through questioning their authority and offering alternatives to anthropocentric conceptions of the animal that are based upon reason-centred and dualistic thought. The duality of human versus animal is explored alongside other dualities deconstructed in the text, such as fiction versus nonfiction, and philosophy versus literature. Coetzee’s representation of these constructs and their interconnectedness is investigated, specifically with regards to positively developing human-animal relations. Through exploring what Coetzee calls the ‘sympathetic imagination’, his alternative contribution to the field of human-animal relations will be considered. This study focuses on the space for re-imagination that Coetzee has provided with The Lives of Animals. It highlights the role literature can and ought to play in this re-imagination, and why this re-imagination is necessary for the development of human-animal relations. Posthumanism will be used as a theoretical lens throughout, as it appears to resonate closely with Coetzee’s project. Both the form and the content of the text will be analysed, highlighting their interconnected significance in Coetzee’s project and the continued relevance of interventions such as this.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Rehabilitation services in a district health system: managers’ perceptions

  • Authors: Zinn, Richard Thebu
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Medical rehabilitation , Primary health care -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Primary health care -- Management
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44280 , vital:37145
  • Description: The growth of rehabilitation services in a specific district in the Eastern Cape has been of concern to the majority of the therapists working in that setting between 2012 and 2015. With the importance of primary health care as the driver of South Africa’s National Health Insurance scheme, and the need for rehabilitation services increasing, the investigation of the perceptions of managers who oversee rehabilitation services is pertinent. The objectives of the study were to explore and describe the perceptions of managers regarding rehabilitation services in a district health system and to make recommendations to the Provincial Department of Health regarding the management of rehabilitation services at a district level based on the managers’ perceptions. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual research design was used as minimal information relating to the topic was found. The complexity of perceptions, their influence on behaviour and the environment, are wellexplored using these design approaches. Purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were used to elicit meaningful responses from managers familiar, and tasked, with the oversight of the rehabilitation service. Data analysis was performed utilising Tesch’s model of thematic synthesis. To ensure rigour within the research Lincoln and Guba’s model of trustworthiness was followed. The ethical principles of respect for persons, beneficence and justice were upheld in the study. A thick description was utilised when reporting the findings and a literature control was done to place the findings in the present literature on the topic. The study has provided insights and perceptions of an important layer within the district health system. These perceptions are meaningful, as they influence the manner in which policy and plans are interpreted and implemented, and decisions are made within the environment of rehabilitation services. Three major themes arose from the data analysis process, namely: The managers’ reported positive factors regarding rehabilitation services, they identified challenges affecting the implementation of rehabilitation services in the District Health System, and they provided suggestions for the improvement of rehabilitation services in the District Health System. The positive views held by those in management positions indicate that there are strong foundations on which to build the rehabilitation service, and features of the system that need to be acknowledged, continued and strengthened. The challenges experienced by this layer of management point to aspects that need to be addressed in order to improve and optimise the impact of the inclusion of rehabilitation services in Primary Health Care. The findings in this study clarify these challenges, and if these are not addressed, the goals of the progressive health care system which South Africa is trying to implement cannot be fully achieved. Furthermore, the discrepancies and gaps that exist between urban and rural, and better and poorer resourced districts are likely to widen. The limitations of the study were identified and recommendations were made for practice (management), education and research.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Religio-cultural perspectives on the understanding, aetiology and treatment of epilepsy

  • Authors: Masilela, Sonto Precious
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Christianity and culture , Epilepsy -- Pathophysiology Epilepsy -- Psychological aspects Epilepsy -- Treatment Epilepsy
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42650 , vital:36677
  • Description: The important role that religious and cultural beliefs have on perceptions of and treatment of various medical and psychological conditions cannot be ignored. Certain cultures and religions believe in supernatural forces and their ability to influence one‟s health and well-being. For example, epilepsy, which is a medical condition, has a set of symptoms that if experienced, would result in its diagnosis by a medical practitioner. However, in various African communities, these symptoms are not viewed as manifestations of a medical condition, but rather as stemming from supernatural causes, such as witchcraft or spirit possession. Kapferer (2003) asserts that the belief in witchcraft is found in different geographical locations; such as Africa, Asia, South-Pacific and the Caribbean. Igwe (2004) supplements this by stating that in Nigeria, witchcraft is common amidst all ethnic and religious backgrounds. He further states that the perceptions of people whose culture/religion incorporates witchcraft are affected by a controlling impact of witchcraft. Witchcraft is considered as an „innate power‟ that may be possessed by certain men and women (Eldam, 2003); and further believed to cause epileptic fits, excessive weight gain, death, illness, accidents, infertility and miscarriages (Igwe, 2004). Instead of medical treatments thus, many individuals seek the aid of traditional healers and religious leaders. This study therefore aims to explore the South African traditional healers‟ and Christian ministers‟ perspectives of understanding the aetiology and treatment of epilepsy. This is not only considered essential for broadening the aetiological understanding, but it is also pertinent as it can contribute to indigenisation as hopefully the knowledge can be incorporated into diagnosis and treatments. The study employed the qualitative approach and one-on-one semi-structured interviews with traditional and religious healers were done. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used. The transcripts were analysed using thematic content analysis and the researcher reported on themes that were drawn from the data. The findings suggested that epilepsy is understood as manifesting behaviourally through fits, and that as much as there are biological causes, there are also spiritual causes. It was found that where the causes are believed to be spiritual, the treatment is of a spiritual nature and includes but is not limited to interventions such as prayer, traditional ceremonies and/or indications from the ancestors. The implication this understanding poses to comprehensive and integrated mental health treatment in South Africa is made through a discussion of the themes.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Religious pluralism: an analysis of its practice and effect in four historical examples

Retail pharmacists’ perceptions of factors influencing the viability of practice and business in Johannesburg, Gauteng province

  • Authors: Gazi, Nondumiso Sybil , Knoesen, BC
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Pharmacists -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Pharmaceutical services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Management Pharmacy management -- South Africa -- Johannesburg
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39774 , vital:35454
  • Description: The practice of retail pharmacy has become burdened with service limitations directly or indirectly resulting from influences across the landscape. Influences ranging from legislative bodies to financing bodies have created pressure on retail pharmacies resulting in diminishing numbers of these health establishments. Legislative amendments relating to the ownership of pharmacies, pricing and pharmacy personnel training have had a profound effect on the pharmacy landscape as it presents to date. The dual role, (medicinal procurer and pharmaceutical caregiver), required of retail pharmacists, poses ethical and practical implications. These implications may directly affect the sustainability of retail pharmacy practice. The aim of this study was to establish the ways in which the pharmacy model is changing and how that change has been perceived by retail pharmacists in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The research design was qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual in nature. The method utilised for gathering data was individual interviews with pharmacists practising as independent retail pharmacists. At least six (6) independent pharmacists who met the inclusion criteria were approached to participate in the research. Interviews continued until data saturation had been achieved. Data analysis of the transcribed interviews was performed to identify themes and sub-themes.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Retailers’ food waste management: challenges and potential for action in Port Elizabeth

  • Authors: Đào, Thị Anh Thư
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Food industry and trade -- Waste minimization , Food industry and trade -- Waste disposal Refuse and refuse disposal
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39359 , vital:35220
  • Description: Food waste management within retailers is seen as an important solution to assist retailers in effectively managing food waste, and by doing so improving food security while limiting negative ecological consequences. Given the lack of research attention focusing on the importance of managing food waste among South African food retailers, and in particular the Eastern Cape, the primary objective of this research was to investigate retailers‟ food waste management in Port Elizabeth. Primary data was collected by conducting interviews with representatives of Port-Elizabeth-based participating stores and their individual Head Offices. This treatise reports on the findings and the conclusions drawn.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Role of performance management system in ensuring good governance in Nelson Mandela Bay

  • Authors: Nompucuko, Skweyiya
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Performance -- Management -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Strategic planning -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Municipal government Local government Civil service
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43357 , vital:36861
  • Description: There is a lack of clarity and legislative direction in terms of performance management for non-section 56 employees that is employees other than the municipal manager or officials directly accountable to the municipal manager (Government of Republic of South Africa, 2000:72). This culminated in performance management challenges such as non-cascading of performance management to lower level employees in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM, 2018). The non-cascading of performance management is consequently also as a result of the effects of poor governance, as certain groups of employees are not allowed to participate fully in performance management processes (Nielsen 2013:25). The study’s main argument is that effective performance management, which includes all employees, will result in good governance. The study investigates this argument through a case study investigation of the NMBM performance management system, using both primary and secondary data. The NMBM budget and treasury directorate was chosen to understand the NMBM performance management system. The case study analysis reveals that the NMBM performance management system promotes accountability, transparency and participation in the municipal service delivery process. However, an element of unfairness was found in that, only the executive officials can receive financial performance bonuses. The study subsequently makes recommendation to improve the NMBM’s performance management system.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Shifting white SADF veteran identities from apartheid to contemporary South Africa

  • Authors: Weich, Francois
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: South Africa -- History -- 1961-1994 , Angola -- History -- South African Incursions, 1978-1990 -- Veterans , South Africa -- History, Military -- 1961- , Veterans -- South Africa -- Personal narratives , South Africa -- Armed forces , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1961-1978 , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1978-1989 , South Africa. South African Defence Force
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76106 , vital:30504
  • Description: The ideologies and structures of the apartheid state have received extensive academic attention, but the legacies of the militarisation of white South African men – a group that exists at a unique intersection of apartheid privilege and exploitation – have not been sufficiently addressed. Even as beneficiaries of apartheid, white men were militarised through structures of coercion and the mobilisation of identity constructions that resulted in the widespread submission to conscription and support for apartheid militarism. This thesis explores the relationship between those militarised identities and the historical processes of apartheid through a consideration of a broad range of white SADF veteran narratives from the Missing Voices Oral History Project archive. This consideration of the role of identity mobilisation in apartheid can shed light on the effect of historical processes of militarisation on white men in South Africa, as well as address the persistence of values and behaviours that may present barriers to the social transformation of South Africa towards a true constitutional democracy. The thesis explores identity in SADF veteran narratives through the application of social constructionism in order to determine the effect of coercive structures and identity mobilisation on individuals, and to gauge the persistence militarised identities after the social and political structures underpinning them had become defunct. The identity content of the narratives is contextualised in relation to structures of coercion employed by the apartheid state and the SADF alongside a consideration of the effect of political transition on veterans. The legacy of the historical environment and the impact of political transition on SADF veterans’ constructed identities is investigated in relation to these veterans’ own visions of their roles in post-apartheid South Africa. Therefore, this thesis endeavours to contribute to the expansion of the field of historical and identity study by considering the construction and renegotiation of military identities that maintained, benefited from, and were exploited by the apartheid state.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Student counsellors’ utilisation of the wellness questionnaire for higher education in a student counselling centre

  • Authors: Smith, Bianca Simone
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Counseling psychology , College students -- Psychological aspects College students -- Mental health Universities and colleges -- Health promotion services
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43346 , vital:36860
  • Description: Students face a variety of stressors, such as personal, career and/or academic/learning concerns and often seek counselling from student counselling centres at their respective Higher Education institutions. Wellness counselling is aimed at assisting clients to prevent illnesses from developing and to create and maintain healthy lifestyle choices. A wellness counselling model includes a step-by-step approach and one step is to conduct a wellness assessment. Several wellness assessments exist but it was found that the assessments were not applicable for the SA student population, and so the Wellness Questionnaire for Higher Education (WQHE) was developed. As the WQHE is a relatively new assessment, there is not much research that has been conducted, specifically there is no research based on the counselling process following the administration of the assessment. Therefore, this study seeks to explore and describe how counsellors administered and utilised the WQHE as part of the counselling process. The research sample consisted of nine participants who administered the WQHE with their clients. Purposive sampling was the non-probability strategy employed, therefore participants were invited to attend an individual semi-structured interview. The implications of the findings are that the WQHE is a useful and viable assessment to assist clients resolve their difficulties and improve their functioning. The WQHE can be administered to clients who present with a variety of presenting problems. The WQHE can be used effectively alongside a variety of counselling theories/frameworks and other psychometric or self-assessments. The administration of the WQHE in itself was found to be useful as it educated and empowered the clients to understand their wellness levels and to provide them with a holistic view of themselves. Furthermore, the clients felt educated to understand their wellness levels and broaden their understanding of the wellness dimensions.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Student perceptions of online infidelity

  • Authors: Bands, Luke
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Adultery , Online dating Sex -- Social aspects Sex -- Psychological aspects , College students -- Sexual behavior -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42096 , vital:36625
  • Description: There has been a large amount of research on infidelity and its effects on relationships. However, a new phenomenon, that of online infidelity, has emerged and with it comes some confusion as to what exactly constitutes an act of infidelity while exploring the limits of cyberspace. While some research has been done internationally on the perceptions of online infidelity, studies conducted in South Africa are lacking. The aim of the present study was to explore and describe student perceptions of online infidelity. Social Constructionism was used as the theoretical framework for the study. A qualitative approach was used and the study was exploratory and descriptive in design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, with the sample size of the study being twelve. Thematic analysis, as outlined by Braun and Clarke, was used in order to analyse the obtained data. Two main themes emerged, namely Defining Online Infidelity, and Reasons Surrounding Perceptions of Online Infidelity. The findings of the present study will provide a better understanding of perceptions of online infidelity within the South African context, and can be used for further research.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Students’ experiences and perceptions of racial prejudice and discrimination on social networking sites

  • Authors: Van Graan, Christelle
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Online social networks--Psychological aspects , Internet users -- Psychology Cyberspace -- Psychological aspects Racism -- Psychological aspects Social psychology
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44158 , vital:37119
  • Description: The present study set out to enhance the understanding of racial prejudice and discrimination on social networking websites or ‘sites’ from the perspective of university students. The research focused on discovering the perceived determinant factors of online racial prejudice and discrimination, as well as the impact social networking sites have on such behaviour. A qualitative research design was selected, which utilised the grounded theory method to explore and describe the experiences and perceptions of the eight participants recruited by means of purposive sampling. The aim of the study was achieved through individual semi-structured interviews and a concept definition questionnaire as data collection tools. The findings were compared to major extant theories and literature to determine whether existing explanations for the occurrence of this online behaviour is sufficient to account for this phenomenon. Using an iterative process of thematic analysis, the findings revealed several perceived factors that contribute to this behaviour. It was found that social networking site users, in all their psychological, psychosocial and cognitive attributes, are the primary source for this behaviour. Moreover, online racial prejudice and discrimination is initiated by the use of these platforms and their facilitative features, which has a perceived negative impact on social and racial relations. Grounded in the research data, an explanatory theory was formulated of individuals’ perceived behaviour on social networking sites, specifically pertaining to racial prejudice and discrimination, as well as to how this negatively manifests and causes racial division in society.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Students’ perspectives on the language question in South African Higher Education: the expression of marginalized linguistic identities on Rhodes University students’ Facebook pages

  • Authors: Resha, Babalwa
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Language and education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Sociolinguistics -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Multilingual education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Educational change -- South Africa -- Makhanda , South Africa – Makhanda -- Language and languages -- Political aspects , Student movements -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Online social networks -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rhodes University -- Sociological aspects , Facebook (Firm) , UCKAR
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/119813 , vital:34785
  • Description: The study analyses students’ engagement with the language question in South African Higher Education (HE) and their use of African languages on the institutional Facebook pages, namely UCKAR and RHODES SRC, during the student protests of 2015 to early 2017. Extensive use of social media is a salient feature of the protests as indicated by the hashtag prefixes such as #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall. On these platforms, disgruntled students use their multiple languages to interact, establish a sense of belonging and power to challenge different forms of exclusionary institutional culture, including language policies and practices in HE. The research examines and explores students’ perspectives on the language question in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on the two institutional Facebook pages, and how mother tongue speakers of indigenous African languages use these languages to express their marginalized linguistic identities in HEIs in South Africa. Theoretically, the study uses the notion of linguistic imperialism to provide a broad context for understanding the language question in South African HE and its significance in transformation. The engagement with the language question on the UCKAR and RHODES SRC Facebook pages is carried out from the lenses of citizen sociolinguistics while the new theory of translanguaging offers the analysis on language usage and alternative ways of addressing linguistic hegemony in educational environments. The translanguaging approach has the capacity to demonstrate multi-layered linguistic practices and reflections on the UCKAR and RHODES pages. It is the interest of the researcher to investigate how students with various linguistic and other backgrounds engage the language question and perform linguistic identities. Language usage on the two Rhodes University institutional Facebook pages and its implications on students’ engagement with issues, is used to provide insight towards the implementation of multilingualism in the university. The study is virtual ethnographic in nature. Virtual ethnography is an online research method that employs ethnographic research to study online social interactions. To analyse data, the study used a textual analysis technique as it looks at any analysis of texts broadly. Critical Discourse Analysis approach was used to analyse language debates. Purposive sampling was also used to select Facebook posts and comments on the language question and those written in African languages, and interviews were conducted with key members of Rhodes University, to bring forth their perspectives on the institution’s language policy and to figure out what plans are put into place to engage students in debates on the language question because students are important stakeholders of the university, and at the same time some of these students are also speakers of indigenous African languages. In general, the research findings have shown that students as users of languages in HEIs are capable of engendering debates that could be used as solutions to the language question and transformation in the South African HEIs. Thus, this study offers a different approach into engaging with students, their perspective and debates through institutional Facebook pages. In addition, it offers students’ perspectives on the curriculum of the university and how the university can go about its transformation. This study provides evidence that the use of indigenous African languages by mother tongue speakers of these languages in institutes of higher learning and their related institutional Facebook pages and social media in general, is an expression of marginalized linguistic identities of these language speakers. Sometimes these identities are multiple, and students use different modalities to express them, hence the notion of translanguaging.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Systematic review of rural health development research in South Africa

  • Authors: van Rooyen, Rize Dorothea
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Rural health services -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa Health -- Research -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44112 , vital:37112
  • Description: The challenges presented by the contextual realities of rurality on the South African rural health care system are important to the understanding of the poor health outcomes of these populations. Nonetheless, much research has been done on South African rural health. The vast amount of information, studies and policies regarding South African rural health, and its development made it ideal to be studied by systematic review. This systematic review through its adaption of a mixed methods approach, reviewed a sample of the South African rural health development research outputs between 2013 and 2018, in addition to practitioner-led research and policies. Twelve key systematic review steps were developed to assist in executing the research. In addition, a complete research protocol was part of the systematic review steps. The review protocol indicated the strategies utilised in the scoping searches, data collection and synthesis processes of the review. The findings of this research consisted of three synthesis processes. The first synthesis consisted of the presentation of the qualitative findings and the interpretation thereof. The second synthesis process compared the key themes extracted from the data outputs to those extracted from the grey literature, and the third synthesis integrated the quantitative and qualitative findings into a single review. The review found that although research and practice were aligned to an extent, there were important areas of research, which had been largely overlooked. These included areas such as participation of advocacy, training and education as well as rural-proofing. It further showed that academic research in the field of rural health development relied heavily on participant dependent research methods thereby limiting the exposure of researchers to the phenomena being studied. This review’s methodology and protocol could serve as a guideline for future researchers. The prioritisation of rural health needs and the inclusion of rurality as a variable in South African healthcare policy and strategy is essential in health development research.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

Template ecological analsyis of the narratives of partner’s and family member’s of women who consumed alcohol in pregnancy

  • Authors: Tsetse, Agrinette Nontozamo
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Pregnant women -- Alcohol use -- Social aspects , Substance abuse in pregnancy , Fetus -- Effect of drugs on , Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects , Pregnant women -- Substance use , Substance abuse -- Social aspects , Ecological Systems Theory
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/114905 , vital:34055
  • Description: Although there is increasing research on alcohol in South Africa, most of this work has an epidemiological focus. Very little research has explored alcohol use during pregnancy specifically from the perspective of the woman’s partner or family member or focused on contextual risk factors beyond the pregnant woman. This information is important to ensure that interventions are formulated based on the social contexts within which drinking in pregnancy takes place and in guiding interventions that aim to prevent prenatal alcohol use, thereby preventing the occurrence of FASDs. This study was guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory to understand partners’ and family members’ perspectives of prenatal exposure within the actual environments in which alcohol use takes place. According to this theory, an individual exists within layers of social relationships: the family, intimate partners, friendships, and healthcare workers (microsystems), interactions among these microsystems, for example, interaction between healthcare workers and intimate partner and family and social workers (mesosystem), accessibility of alcohol in the neighbourhoods (exosystems), religion, culture and society (macro-systems) and changes of the individual and socio-historical context (chronosystem). The data were collected using a biographic narrative interpretive method of interviewing. Thirteen narratives interviews were conducted with partners and family members in a disadvantaged community in Buffalo City, Eastern Cape Province. The interviews were analysed using Template Analysis within the Ecological Systems Theory to interrogate the stories of partners and family members. According to participants, some of the reasons women consumed alcohol in pregnancy are: drinking habits before pregnancy that were difficult to break in pregnancy; women drank during the first trimester of their pregnancy because of unplanned pregnancy; women continued drinking throughout their pregnancies to cope with the emotional upset caused by the trauma of rape and losing loved ones, stress, receiving HIV-diagnosis in pregnancy, intimate partner violence, infidelity, rejection and denial of pregnancy from partners. After birth, some women continued drinking. Consequently, their children were taken away from them by social workers and family members because the parents were unable to care for the child due to alcohol use. There was lack of compliance of shebeens with liquor regulations, heavy drinking, high rates of alcohol use in pregnancy, and easy accessibility of alcohol within this study community. Pregnant women used religious coping beliefs to cope with their circumstances such as changes in their health, relationships and finances. Drinking during pregnancy is a complex problem that stems from multiple social and structural issues and interventions should therefore not only focus on the individual, but also on social networks and communities.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2019

The barriers experienced by South African businesswomen in corporate executive leadership

  • Authors: Magxwalisa, Sithisa
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Women executives -- South Africa , Executives -- South Africa Leadership -- Women -- South Africa Leadership -- Psychological aspects
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40779 , vital:36236
  • Description: This study explored the barriers experienced by women holding executive positions in the corporate environment. Over the years there has been a rise in women entering executive leadership positions of corporate organisations. However, the existence of research in this area is minimal, particularly with regard to the barriers that exist for women in executive positions. Past research has focused mainly on the barriers that thwart the career advancement of women in the corporate sector. This study is presented as a multiple case study that incorporates a combination of investigative and descriptive approaches used to describe the experiences of South African women executives in the corporate sector. These case participants were selected and analytically filtered using non-probability, purposive sampling. Data in the form of primary and secondary data was collected and analysed using document study and thematic document analysis of relevant sources that have been published. The findings of this study are not generalizable as they are limited to the subjective experiences of the selected case participants. For the purpose of this study, these case participants experiences were categorised into psychosocial- and organisational-related barriers to women executives in corporate. Being the first of its nature, this study is specifically based on the experiences of South African women executives in the corporate sector as opposed to barriers to the career advancement of women and the “glass ceiling” hypothesis. The barriers identified in this study are based on the experiences of the selected case participants and include work-life balance and work-life role conflict, the underrepresentation and isolation of women in executive leadership, gender prejudice and discrimination, and institutional bias against women executives in the workplace. The concluding remarks in this study suggests that the experience of barriers for women in the workplace continue to exist beyond the glass ceiling. According to the case participants consulted in this study, gender barriers are not limited to women seeking opportunities for career advancement. However, recommendations that respond to these barriers have been provided and include advocating against gender discrimination in the workplace, educating people on gender-related issues as well as implementing government-provided policies in organisations.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2019

The effectiveness of sandplay therapy with a Xhosa child

  • Authors: Snelgar, Orrin Glenn
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Sandplay -- Therapeutic use -- Case studies -- South Africa , Play therapy -- Case studies -- South Africa , Child psychotherapy -- Case studies -- South Africa , Children, Black -- Psychology -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179168 , vital:39876
  • Description: This case study sought to determine whether Kalffian Sandtray Therapy was effective with a Xhosa child. In the context of ongoing discussions surrounding evidence-based practice and culturally appropriate interventions, no published research has yet explored the effectiveness of this classical tool within this significant South African demographic. In an effort to address this omission, the research adopted a mixed methods approach where Kalffian analysis of the sandplay process was evaluated in conjunction with quantitative measures (the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Young Person’s Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation). The results of this triangulation revealed a complex picture of improved interpersonal functioning and stagnant (or worsened) emotional wellbeing after five sessions. Contextualised interpretations of these findings are discussed and recommendations made for future sandplay practice and research in the South African context.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2019
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