Self-esteem, coping and the psychology of infertility
- Authors: Jordaan, Hendrina Jacoba
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Infertility -- Psychological aspects , Self-esteem -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:9959 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020055
- Description: This exploratory-descriptive study, using multiple case studies, investigated the self-esteem, coping and psychology of infertility of a sample of individuals who have received infertility treatment at a privately managed health care unit. Infertility is a complex condition associated with the inability to conceive a child, frequently manifesting itself as a result of various biological factors. A literature review indicated that being on Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment significantly increases the stress in an individual. In an attempt to gain insight into the way patients undergoing infertility treatment find the strength to complete their treatment cycles, and to endure and overcome the pressures associated therewith, in order to continue their lives – in spite of a negative treatment/pregnancy result, the researcher found it necessary to investigate the self-esteem, coping and the psychology of patients undergoing infertility treatment. An exploratory descriptive research design was used and the participants were chosen by means of a non-probability purposive sampling procedure. The participants were given a package of questionnaires to complete under the supervision of the group facilitator and researcher, prior to, as well as after the intervention. The assessment consisted of a biographical questionnaire and two standardised paper and pencil measures. The participants’ self-esteem was explored using James Battle’s (1981) Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory; while the coping resources were explored using Hammer and Marting’s (1988) Coping Resource Inventory (CRI). Although these data were not analysable, due to the small sample size, it was utilised in a qualitative manner to support the findings from the qualitative data. The data were also gathered from the participants via a psychological intervention programme in the format of three focus group sessions. All the qualitative results were analysed, according to Tesch’s model of content analysis. The general finding was that the period of infertility treatment is experienced as both difficult and challenging by individuals, and that there is immense healing in the sharing of one’s narrative with other infertility patients. It also surfaced that selfesteem, especially one’s feelings of worth, is most affected by a diagnosis of infertility, as well as by going through the roller coaster of the emotions associated with the treatment and monthly cycle of infertility. It was evident from the narratives told by the participants that every domain of one’s self-esteem is affected by a diagnosis of infertility, and that the biggest challenge in maintaining a positive selfesteem seemed to be in finding a balance between one’s real self and one’s ideal self. Furthermore, this study found that the challenge related to coping for the participants in this study was to present a coherent life narrative to the ‘world’, despite intense feelings of being misunderstood by others, and being faced with the discourse of infertility, as part of one’s life script. The main coping responses utilized by participants included the re-channelling of one’s focus, using denial, seeking out familial and social support, bargaining with God, and nurturing hope and faith that this journey of infertility is merely just a journey and not a destination, with the destination that of being blessed with a biological child of one’s own.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Jordaan, Hendrina Jacoba
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Infertility -- Psychological aspects , Self-esteem -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:9959 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020055
- Description: This exploratory-descriptive study, using multiple case studies, investigated the self-esteem, coping and psychology of infertility of a sample of individuals who have received infertility treatment at a privately managed health care unit. Infertility is a complex condition associated with the inability to conceive a child, frequently manifesting itself as a result of various biological factors. A literature review indicated that being on Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment significantly increases the stress in an individual. In an attempt to gain insight into the way patients undergoing infertility treatment find the strength to complete their treatment cycles, and to endure and overcome the pressures associated therewith, in order to continue their lives – in spite of a negative treatment/pregnancy result, the researcher found it necessary to investigate the self-esteem, coping and the psychology of patients undergoing infertility treatment. An exploratory descriptive research design was used and the participants were chosen by means of a non-probability purposive sampling procedure. The participants were given a package of questionnaires to complete under the supervision of the group facilitator and researcher, prior to, as well as after the intervention. The assessment consisted of a biographical questionnaire and two standardised paper and pencil measures. The participants’ self-esteem was explored using James Battle’s (1981) Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory; while the coping resources were explored using Hammer and Marting’s (1988) Coping Resource Inventory (CRI). Although these data were not analysable, due to the small sample size, it was utilised in a qualitative manner to support the findings from the qualitative data. The data were also gathered from the participants via a psychological intervention programme in the format of three focus group sessions. All the qualitative results were analysed, according to Tesch’s model of content analysis. The general finding was that the period of infertility treatment is experienced as both difficult and challenging by individuals, and that there is immense healing in the sharing of one’s narrative with other infertility patients. It also surfaced that selfesteem, especially one’s feelings of worth, is most affected by a diagnosis of infertility, as well as by going through the roller coaster of the emotions associated with the treatment and monthly cycle of infertility. It was evident from the narratives told by the participants that every domain of one’s self-esteem is affected by a diagnosis of infertility, and that the biggest challenge in maintaining a positive selfesteem seemed to be in finding a balance between one’s real self and one’s ideal self. Furthermore, this study found that the challenge related to coping for the participants in this study was to present a coherent life narrative to the ‘world’, despite intense feelings of being misunderstood by others, and being faced with the discourse of infertility, as part of one’s life script. The main coping responses utilized by participants included the re-channelling of one’s focus, using denial, seeking out familial and social support, bargaining with God, and nurturing hope and faith that this journey of infertility is merely just a journey and not a destination, with the destination that of being blessed with a biological child of one’s own.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Critical core competencies for effective strategic leadership in project management
- Authors: Jowah, Enoch Larry
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Leadership -- Psychological aspects , Project management , Core competencies , Leadership
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9305 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1017230
- Description: Project management is undeniably the fastest growing discipline as organizations move into the euphoria of projectification of their operations. Though projects have been a part of human life since time immemorial, there is a sudden realisation of the effectiveness of the methods used in project management. The enrolment of students studying for project management in tertiary institutions has shown tremendous increase. Yet the project execution process is mired by high failure rates and absence of clarity on the necessary skills required for effective project execution. The authority-gap in project management presents political and operational conflicts, and new innovative ways of authority-gap reduction need to be identified and taught in training programs. Simultaneously there is a realisation by both academics and practitioners that there is a difference between managers and leaders. Extensive studies on leadership have not allowed for a one-stop-leadership-style to be used in leadership of any form, let alone project leadership. In fact there is no standard definition of leadership as this has been heavily contextualized and thereby disallowing the creation of a universal definition. No cast-in-stone leadership styles are known and thereby leaving the research on leadership to concentrate on critical competencies required for effective leadership of projects. This study seeks to establish the core competencies needed by the project leaders and other practitioners to reduce the failure rate and maximise the benefits currently sought after by organisations. Studies have shown that the matrix structure within which the embedded projects work is a contributing factor to the failure of projects. Because projects are executed by people, it would be the proper utilisation of people’s talents and competencies that are expected to yield favourable results. Thus, whilst the matrix structure creates the authority-gap that presents a problem for effective project execution, management-by-projects still remains the best way known to add economic value to performance and productivity. The study therefore focuses on those characteristics of project leaders that will most likely make the difference in the way people perform in the workplace. The research findings emphasised the importance of empowerment of project managers and the development of their interpersonal skills of the project leader with special emphasis on extroversion, genuineness of senior management, and the responsiveness of the project leaders as important requirements for effective authority- gap reduction. These critical competencies will therefore facilitate the project execution process and enhance the empowered project leader’s ability to reduce the high project failure rate and high cost overruns. These competencies apply specifically to the human element as it relates to the role of the project leader and the interaction with the team members, this new knowledge needs to be introduced into training programs and project practitioners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Jowah, Enoch Larry
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Leadership -- Psychological aspects , Project management , Core competencies , Leadership
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9305 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1017230
- Description: Project management is undeniably the fastest growing discipline as organizations move into the euphoria of projectification of their operations. Though projects have been a part of human life since time immemorial, there is a sudden realisation of the effectiveness of the methods used in project management. The enrolment of students studying for project management in tertiary institutions has shown tremendous increase. Yet the project execution process is mired by high failure rates and absence of clarity on the necessary skills required for effective project execution. The authority-gap in project management presents political and operational conflicts, and new innovative ways of authority-gap reduction need to be identified and taught in training programs. Simultaneously there is a realisation by both academics and practitioners that there is a difference between managers and leaders. Extensive studies on leadership have not allowed for a one-stop-leadership-style to be used in leadership of any form, let alone project leadership. In fact there is no standard definition of leadership as this has been heavily contextualized and thereby disallowing the creation of a universal definition. No cast-in-stone leadership styles are known and thereby leaving the research on leadership to concentrate on critical competencies required for effective leadership of projects. This study seeks to establish the core competencies needed by the project leaders and other practitioners to reduce the failure rate and maximise the benefits currently sought after by organisations. Studies have shown that the matrix structure within which the embedded projects work is a contributing factor to the failure of projects. Because projects are executed by people, it would be the proper utilisation of people’s talents and competencies that are expected to yield favourable results. Thus, whilst the matrix structure creates the authority-gap that presents a problem for effective project execution, management-by-projects still remains the best way known to add economic value to performance and productivity. The study therefore focuses on those characteristics of project leaders that will most likely make the difference in the way people perform in the workplace. The research findings emphasised the importance of empowerment of project managers and the development of their interpersonal skills of the project leader with special emphasis on extroversion, genuineness of senior management, and the responsiveness of the project leaders as important requirements for effective authority- gap reduction. These critical competencies will therefore facilitate the project execution process and enhance the empowered project leader’s ability to reduce the high project failure rate and high cost overruns. These competencies apply specifically to the human element as it relates to the role of the project leader and the interaction with the team members, this new knowledge needs to be introduced into training programs and project practitioners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
A critical realist exploration of the emergence, development, management and sustainability of a Christian private institution of higher education in Malawi
- Kadyakapita, Mozecie Spector John
- Authors: Kadyakapita, Mozecie Spector John
- Date: 2013 , 2013-03-24
- Subjects: Christian universities and colleges -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Private universities and colleges -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Education, Higher -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Higher education and state -- Research -- Malawi Universities and colleges -- Malawi -- History Educational planning -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1400 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001818
- Description: This study was prompted by an interest in exploring ways in which the development of private higher education in Malawi could be more sustainable. It examines the challenges that private institutions of higher education face in different contexts and the underlying causes of these challenges. The aim of the study was to explore the emergence of private higher education (PHE) in Malawi, its management, development, the challenges it faces and the generative mechanisms of these challenges. The research is a case study of one of the earliest private institutions of higher education in Malawi. The institution is owned and operated by a Christian church organisation that has been operating a network of private primary and secondary schools and health centres since its establishment in Malawi in the early 1890s. Critical realism is used as an underlabourer for its stance on ontological, epistemological and ethical assumptions of reality and its views on agency and structure. Two theoretical frameworks - complexity theory and transformational leadership theories - are used as lenses to help make sense of the nature of social organisations and also as heuristic devices for organising and making sense of data. Data were collected using qualitative interviews, archival document content analysis and observation. Twenty participants were purposefully selected for interviews. The participants comprised a senior officer at the MoEST headquarters, proprietors, members of the top management team of the institution, administrative assistants, heads of academic and nonacademic departments, teachers and non-teaching staff and students. Abstracted data were analysed using inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference. The study established that the emergence of private higher education in Malawi was generated by a number of mechanisms. These include the need to survive the threat to socioeconomic development posed by global trends in scientific and technological issues that heavily rely on access to the knowledge economy; the need to respond to demand for equity and access to higher education; the need to carry out the mission of the Christian church; government’s failure to expand and widen access to higher education; and the agential need to survive economic demands. The research findings indicate that a critical challenge that the emergence of private higher education faced was the lack of adequate and efficient structures and systems in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to expeditiously process applications to establish and accredit, monitor and control the development of private higher education institutions. It was also found that the challenges that the private higher education faces include high level of authoritarian governance and management practices, weak institutional management and control systems and structure, secularisation, lack of adequate funds to meet operation and capital development costs, facilities and resources to support teaching – learning functions, learner support facilities and services and a critical shortage of appropriately qualified administrative and academic personnel. The underlying causes of the challenges include the perceived threat to personal power and survival; fear of apostasy and secularisation; cultural values, adverse socioeconomic conditions; lack of diverse sources of funding, ineffective communication skills; weak governance systems and structures; low level of self-control; unfavourable attitudes towards educational institutions and the need to restore equity. To make private institutions of higher learning more sustainable, the study recommends that governance practices be guided by clear structures, policies and guidelines in the interest of transparency and accountability. It also recommends that government works in close partnership with private providers, reviews unfair policies concerning government scholarships, subsidizes the cost of materials for instruction and infrastructure development, and provides technical assistance to prospective and active providers. Lastly, the study recommends that private providers form an association so as to share experiences and to collectively deal with issues of common interest and concern. , Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Kadyakapita, Mozecie Spector John
- Date: 2013 , 2013-03-24
- Subjects: Christian universities and colleges -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Private universities and colleges -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Education, Higher -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Higher education and state -- Research -- Malawi Universities and colleges -- Malawi -- History Educational planning -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1400 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001818
- Description: This study was prompted by an interest in exploring ways in which the development of private higher education in Malawi could be more sustainable. It examines the challenges that private institutions of higher education face in different contexts and the underlying causes of these challenges. The aim of the study was to explore the emergence of private higher education (PHE) in Malawi, its management, development, the challenges it faces and the generative mechanisms of these challenges. The research is a case study of one of the earliest private institutions of higher education in Malawi. The institution is owned and operated by a Christian church organisation that has been operating a network of private primary and secondary schools and health centres since its establishment in Malawi in the early 1890s. Critical realism is used as an underlabourer for its stance on ontological, epistemological and ethical assumptions of reality and its views on agency and structure. Two theoretical frameworks - complexity theory and transformational leadership theories - are used as lenses to help make sense of the nature of social organisations and also as heuristic devices for organising and making sense of data. Data were collected using qualitative interviews, archival document content analysis and observation. Twenty participants were purposefully selected for interviews. The participants comprised a senior officer at the MoEST headquarters, proprietors, members of the top management team of the institution, administrative assistants, heads of academic and nonacademic departments, teachers and non-teaching staff and students. Abstracted data were analysed using inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference. The study established that the emergence of private higher education in Malawi was generated by a number of mechanisms. These include the need to survive the threat to socioeconomic development posed by global trends in scientific and technological issues that heavily rely on access to the knowledge economy; the need to respond to demand for equity and access to higher education; the need to carry out the mission of the Christian church; government’s failure to expand and widen access to higher education; and the agential need to survive economic demands. The research findings indicate that a critical challenge that the emergence of private higher education faced was the lack of adequate and efficient structures and systems in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to expeditiously process applications to establish and accredit, monitor and control the development of private higher education institutions. It was also found that the challenges that the private higher education faces include high level of authoritarian governance and management practices, weak institutional management and control systems and structure, secularisation, lack of adequate funds to meet operation and capital development costs, facilities and resources to support teaching – learning functions, learner support facilities and services and a critical shortage of appropriately qualified administrative and academic personnel. The underlying causes of the challenges include the perceived threat to personal power and survival; fear of apostasy and secularisation; cultural values, adverse socioeconomic conditions; lack of diverse sources of funding, ineffective communication skills; weak governance systems and structures; low level of self-control; unfavourable attitudes towards educational institutions and the need to restore equity. To make private institutions of higher learning more sustainable, the study recommends that governance practices be guided by clear structures, policies and guidelines in the interest of transparency and accountability. It also recommends that government works in close partnership with private providers, reviews unfair policies concerning government scholarships, subsidizes the cost of materials for instruction and infrastructure development, and provides technical assistance to prospective and active providers. Lastly, the study recommends that private providers form an association so as to share experiences and to collectively deal with issues of common interest and concern. , Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Gametogenesis, gonadal recrudescence, restraint and spawning patterns in Nile perch, Lates niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Authors: Kahwa, David
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Nile perch -- Victoria, Lake Gametogenesis Oogenesis Spermatogenesis Nile perch -- Spawning -- Victoria, Lake Nile perch -- Induced spawning -- Victoria, Lake Nile perch -- Reproduction -- Endocrine aspects -- Victoria, Lake Fish culture -- Victoria, Lake
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5182 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001834
- Description: The Nile perch, Lates niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), is a predacious freshwater fish widely distributed throughout the Afro-tropic eco-zone. The species was introduced to Lake Victoria in the early 1950s and by 1980 it had dominated the fisheries of Lake Victoria. This was followed by a dramatic decrease in the Nile perch fisheries production due to uncontrolled exploitation. The purpose of this thesis is to provide fundamental knowledge that can be applied in aquaculture and fisheries management through the study of the reproductive biology of L. niloticus. The research was aimed at the studying of the diverse aspects of the reproductive biology of L. niloticus in the Lake Victoria, Ugandan populations. This included reproductive patterns in relation to proximate environmental conditions, size at sexual maturity, gonad and gamete structure, gametogenesis and induced ovulation. The size at 50% sexual maturity for female Nile perch was 59.4 cm, which is lower than the earlier reported size of greater than 90 cm total length. Male L. niloticus matured at 57.8 cm total length in Lake Victoria. Microscopy revealed that L. niloticus from Lake Victoria had one spawning period that started in November and ended in March. Type I atresia occurred at high frequency from March to June, and type III atresia was present from July to September and between November and December. Spermatogenesis in L. niloticus is cystic and sperm development is the result of asynchronous activation of the germ cells. Type II spermatozoa are simple, uni-flagellate aquasperm with no acrosome. Oogenesis in L. niloticus differed from that of other fishes in that no cortical alveoli were present in any stage of oogenesis. Numerous oil globules were present in the primary yolk vesicle stage. This formed one centrally positioned, large oil globule in the tertiary yolk vesicle oocytes during final oocyte maturation. Clove oil was an effective sedative and an anaesthetic for the handling of L. niloticus. Induction time was more rapid at clove oil concentrations of 50 - 100 μl L⁻¹ than in fish exposed to clove oil concentrations less than 50 μl L⁻¹. Fish exposed to high concentrations exhibited significantly short induction times of less than 240 seconds. On average, fish recovered within 673 ± 58 seconds for all the concentrations used. Prolonged exposure of L. niloticus to low clove oil concentrations of 2.5 - 10 μl L⁻¹ did not change the blood plasma cortisol, glucose, and the lactate and chloride ion concentration, relative to the control treatment. Captive breeding was attempted by conducting induced spawning experiments. Only final oocyte maturation was achieved using a decapeptide Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (Dargin, sGnRH-MET), combined with a water-soluble dopamine receptor antagonist metoclopramide. This thesis suggests a research approach that provides a basis for aquaculture of the new species by first studying reproductive biology patterns and then linking the information to gonad and gamete structure so that spawning times can be estimated. It further provides insights into aspects of the reproductive biology of the species and the effects of hormonal intervention on oocytes by showing at which stage of oocyte development hormones should be applied in L. niloticus. Clove oil can be used to sedate and anaesthetise L. niloticus broodfish to reduce the stress related to the handling of large specimens.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Kahwa, David
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Nile perch -- Victoria, Lake Gametogenesis Oogenesis Spermatogenesis Nile perch -- Spawning -- Victoria, Lake Nile perch -- Induced spawning -- Victoria, Lake Nile perch -- Reproduction -- Endocrine aspects -- Victoria, Lake Fish culture -- Victoria, Lake
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5182 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001834
- Description: The Nile perch, Lates niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), is a predacious freshwater fish widely distributed throughout the Afro-tropic eco-zone. The species was introduced to Lake Victoria in the early 1950s and by 1980 it had dominated the fisheries of Lake Victoria. This was followed by a dramatic decrease in the Nile perch fisheries production due to uncontrolled exploitation. The purpose of this thesis is to provide fundamental knowledge that can be applied in aquaculture and fisheries management through the study of the reproductive biology of L. niloticus. The research was aimed at the studying of the diverse aspects of the reproductive biology of L. niloticus in the Lake Victoria, Ugandan populations. This included reproductive patterns in relation to proximate environmental conditions, size at sexual maturity, gonad and gamete structure, gametogenesis and induced ovulation. The size at 50% sexual maturity for female Nile perch was 59.4 cm, which is lower than the earlier reported size of greater than 90 cm total length. Male L. niloticus matured at 57.8 cm total length in Lake Victoria. Microscopy revealed that L. niloticus from Lake Victoria had one spawning period that started in November and ended in March. Type I atresia occurred at high frequency from March to June, and type III atresia was present from July to September and between November and December. Spermatogenesis in L. niloticus is cystic and sperm development is the result of asynchronous activation of the germ cells. Type II spermatozoa are simple, uni-flagellate aquasperm with no acrosome. Oogenesis in L. niloticus differed from that of other fishes in that no cortical alveoli were present in any stage of oogenesis. Numerous oil globules were present in the primary yolk vesicle stage. This formed one centrally positioned, large oil globule in the tertiary yolk vesicle oocytes during final oocyte maturation. Clove oil was an effective sedative and an anaesthetic for the handling of L. niloticus. Induction time was more rapid at clove oil concentrations of 50 - 100 μl L⁻¹ than in fish exposed to clove oil concentrations less than 50 μl L⁻¹. Fish exposed to high concentrations exhibited significantly short induction times of less than 240 seconds. On average, fish recovered within 673 ± 58 seconds for all the concentrations used. Prolonged exposure of L. niloticus to low clove oil concentrations of 2.5 - 10 μl L⁻¹ did not change the blood plasma cortisol, glucose, and the lactate and chloride ion concentration, relative to the control treatment. Captive breeding was attempted by conducting induced spawning experiments. Only final oocyte maturation was achieved using a decapeptide Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (Dargin, sGnRH-MET), combined with a water-soluble dopamine receptor antagonist metoclopramide. This thesis suggests a research approach that provides a basis for aquaculture of the new species by first studying reproductive biology patterns and then linking the information to gonad and gamete structure so that spawning times can be estimated. It further provides insights into aspects of the reproductive biology of the species and the effects of hormonal intervention on oocytes by showing at which stage of oocyte development hormones should be applied in L. niloticus. Clove oil can be used to sedate and anaesthetise L. niloticus broodfish to reduce the stress related to the handling of large specimens.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Improving decision making through analysing the economic impact of budget allocation at the city of Cape Town
- Authors: Kaiser, Gisela Noelle
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Cape Town (South Africa) -- Politics and government , City planning -- South Africa --Cape Town , Budget -- South Africa -- Cape Town , Local government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:9684 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008305 , Cape Town (South Africa) -- Politics and government , City planning -- South Africa --Cape Town , Budget -- South Africa -- Cape Town , Local government
- Description: Local government is at the forefront of engagement between the government and South Africa’s people, delivering basic services to communities. Following the transition to a democratic government in 1994, the country was demarcated in a manner that provides complete coverage by local government. Annually, managing the administration of service delivery implementation at local government level costs the country many billions. Much of the revenue used by local government in providing services is derived from income from sale of basic services and property rates, augmented by allocations from national and provincial government, equitably shared amongst municipalities. Local government has autonomy in its operations, but is strictly governed by a collection of cascading legislation, introduced to protect the interests of the people. The primary objective of the research was to investigate the efficacy of budget expenditure in local government, in particular the City of Cape Town as a metropolitan municipality. With an annual budget approaching R30 billion, the aim was to establish how the budget was determined and allocated to the service menu provided by the City, and to investigate whether better methods of allocating expenditure could be developed. A mixed research methodology was followed, relying on quantitative methods for analysing survey data statistically, while providing for detailed qualitative methods in interviewing and studying the specific case in detail. The theoretical perspective most suited to this research was found to be that of pragmatism, for its flexibility of interpretation, practicality and space for multiple perspectives. A constructivist epistemology was adopted to provide for the interplay between object and subject in constructing meaning. This research focused on examination of applicable legislation, secondary data in reports, and statistical analysis of opinion surveys of municipal officials involved in budgeting at different levels and interviews with key stakeholders. The findings indicate that budget allocation can be improved upon in a number of ways, despite complying with a myriad of restrictive and onerous regulations applicable to local government. It was found that the administration is fragmented in its operations and that the structure of necessity favours isolated service delivery rather than integration. Further, that compliance impacts negatively on time spent in planning and pursuit of strategic intent to the extent that Reporting often becomes a more important deliverable than basic services. The size of the City hinders common understanding, and introducing any change in political vision requires particular attention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Kaiser, Gisela Noelle
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Cape Town (South Africa) -- Politics and government , City planning -- South Africa --Cape Town , Budget -- South Africa -- Cape Town , Local government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:9684 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008305 , Cape Town (South Africa) -- Politics and government , City planning -- South Africa --Cape Town , Budget -- South Africa -- Cape Town , Local government
- Description: Local government is at the forefront of engagement between the government and South Africa’s people, delivering basic services to communities. Following the transition to a democratic government in 1994, the country was demarcated in a manner that provides complete coverage by local government. Annually, managing the administration of service delivery implementation at local government level costs the country many billions. Much of the revenue used by local government in providing services is derived from income from sale of basic services and property rates, augmented by allocations from national and provincial government, equitably shared amongst municipalities. Local government has autonomy in its operations, but is strictly governed by a collection of cascading legislation, introduced to protect the interests of the people. The primary objective of the research was to investigate the efficacy of budget expenditure in local government, in particular the City of Cape Town as a metropolitan municipality. With an annual budget approaching R30 billion, the aim was to establish how the budget was determined and allocated to the service menu provided by the City, and to investigate whether better methods of allocating expenditure could be developed. A mixed research methodology was followed, relying on quantitative methods for analysing survey data statistically, while providing for detailed qualitative methods in interviewing and studying the specific case in detail. The theoretical perspective most suited to this research was found to be that of pragmatism, for its flexibility of interpretation, practicality and space for multiple perspectives. A constructivist epistemology was adopted to provide for the interplay between object and subject in constructing meaning. This research focused on examination of applicable legislation, secondary data in reports, and statistical analysis of opinion surveys of municipal officials involved in budgeting at different levels and interviews with key stakeholders. The findings indicate that budget allocation can be improved upon in a number of ways, despite complying with a myriad of restrictive and onerous regulations applicable to local government. It was found that the administration is fragmented in its operations and that the structure of necessity favours isolated service delivery rather than integration. Further, that compliance impacts negatively on time spent in planning and pursuit of strategic intent to the extent that Reporting often becomes a more important deliverable than basic services. The size of the City hinders common understanding, and introducing any change in political vision requires particular attention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Pedagogical ways-of-knowing in the design studio
- Authors: Kethro, Philippa
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Graphic arts -- Education (Higher) Interior decoration -- Education (Higher) Fashion design -- Education (Higher) Industrial design -- Education (Higher) Aesthetics, Modern Art -- Philosophy Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives Interaction analysis in education Visual literacy Critical realism Communication and education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1840 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004338
- Description: This research addresses the effect of pedagogical ways-of-knowing in higher education design programmes such as Graphic Design, Interior Design, Fashion, and Industrial Design. One problematic aspect of design studio pedagogy is communication between teachers and students about the aesthetic visual meaning of the students’ designed objects. This problematic issue involves ambiguous and divergent ways-of-knowing the design meaning of these objects. The research focus is on the design teacher role in design studio interactions, and regards pedagogical ways-of-knowing as the ways in which teachers expect students to know visual design meaning. This pedagogical issue is complicated by the fact that there is no agreed-upon corpus of domain knowledge in design, so visual meaning depends greatly on the social knowledge retained by students and teachers. The thesis pursues an explanation of pedagogical ways-of-knowing that is approached through the philosophy of critical realism. How it is that particular events and experiences come to occur in a particular way is the general focus of critical realist philosophy. A critical realist approach to explanation is the use of abductive inference, or inference as to how it is that puzzling empirical circumstances emerge. An abductive strategy aims to explain how such circumstances emerge by considering them in a new light. This is done in this study by applying Luhmann’s theory of the emergence of cognition in communication to teacher ways-of-knowing in the design studio. Through the substantive use of Luhmann’s theory, an abductive conjecture of pedagogical ways-of-knowing is mounted. This conjecture is brought to bear on an examination of research data, in order to explain how pedagogical ways of-knowing constrain or enable the emergence of shared visual design meaning in the design studio. The abductive analysis explains three design pedagogical ways-of-knowing: design inquiry, design representation and design intent. These operate as macro relational mechanisms that either enable or constrain the emergence of shared visual design meaning in the design studio. The mechanism of relation is between design inquiry, design representation and design intent as historical knowing structures, and ways-of-knowing in respect of each of these knowing structures. For example, design inquiry as an historical knowing structure has over time moved from ways-of-knowing such as rationalistic problem solving to direct social observation and later to interpretive cultural analysis. The antecedence of these ways-of-knowing is important because communication about visual meaning depends upon prior knowledge, and teachers may then reproduce past ways-of-knowing. The many ways-of-knowing that respectively relate to design inquiry, design representation and design intent are shown to be communicatively formed and recursive over time. From a Luhmannian perspective, these ways-of-knowing operate as variational distinctions that indicate or relate to the knowing structures of design inquiry, design representation and design intent. This is the micro-level operation of pedagogical ways-of-knowing as relational mechanisms in design studio communication. Design teachers’ own ways-of-knowing may then embrace implicit way-of-knowing distinctions that indicate the knowledge structures of design inquiry, design representation and design intent. This implicit indication by distinction is the relational mechanism that may bring design teachers’ expectation that this and not that visual design meaning should apply in communication about any student’s designed object. Such an expectation influences communication between teachers and students about the potential future meaning of students’ designs. Consequently, shared visual design meaning may or may not emerge. The research explanation brings the opportunity for design teachers to make explicit the often implicit way-of-knowing distinctions they use, and to relate these distinctions to the knowing structures thus indicated. The study then offers a new perspective on the old design pedagogical problem of design studio conflict over the meaning of students’ designs. Options for applying this research explanation in design studio interactions between students and teachers are therefore suggested.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Kethro, Philippa
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Graphic arts -- Education (Higher) Interior decoration -- Education (Higher) Fashion design -- Education (Higher) Industrial design -- Education (Higher) Aesthetics, Modern Art -- Philosophy Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives Interaction analysis in education Visual literacy Critical realism Communication and education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1840 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004338
- Description: This research addresses the effect of pedagogical ways-of-knowing in higher education design programmes such as Graphic Design, Interior Design, Fashion, and Industrial Design. One problematic aspect of design studio pedagogy is communication between teachers and students about the aesthetic visual meaning of the students’ designed objects. This problematic issue involves ambiguous and divergent ways-of-knowing the design meaning of these objects. The research focus is on the design teacher role in design studio interactions, and regards pedagogical ways-of-knowing as the ways in which teachers expect students to know visual design meaning. This pedagogical issue is complicated by the fact that there is no agreed-upon corpus of domain knowledge in design, so visual meaning depends greatly on the social knowledge retained by students and teachers. The thesis pursues an explanation of pedagogical ways-of-knowing that is approached through the philosophy of critical realism. How it is that particular events and experiences come to occur in a particular way is the general focus of critical realist philosophy. A critical realist approach to explanation is the use of abductive inference, or inference as to how it is that puzzling empirical circumstances emerge. An abductive strategy aims to explain how such circumstances emerge by considering them in a new light. This is done in this study by applying Luhmann’s theory of the emergence of cognition in communication to teacher ways-of-knowing in the design studio. Through the substantive use of Luhmann’s theory, an abductive conjecture of pedagogical ways-of-knowing is mounted. This conjecture is brought to bear on an examination of research data, in order to explain how pedagogical ways of-knowing constrain or enable the emergence of shared visual design meaning in the design studio. The abductive analysis explains three design pedagogical ways-of-knowing: design inquiry, design representation and design intent. These operate as macro relational mechanisms that either enable or constrain the emergence of shared visual design meaning in the design studio. The mechanism of relation is between design inquiry, design representation and design intent as historical knowing structures, and ways-of-knowing in respect of each of these knowing structures. For example, design inquiry as an historical knowing structure has over time moved from ways-of-knowing such as rationalistic problem solving to direct social observation and later to interpretive cultural analysis. The antecedence of these ways-of-knowing is important because communication about visual meaning depends upon prior knowledge, and teachers may then reproduce past ways-of-knowing. The many ways-of-knowing that respectively relate to design inquiry, design representation and design intent are shown to be communicatively formed and recursive over time. From a Luhmannian perspective, these ways-of-knowing operate as variational distinctions that indicate or relate to the knowing structures of design inquiry, design representation and design intent. This is the micro-level operation of pedagogical ways-of-knowing as relational mechanisms in design studio communication. Design teachers’ own ways-of-knowing may then embrace implicit way-of-knowing distinctions that indicate the knowledge structures of design inquiry, design representation and design intent. This implicit indication by distinction is the relational mechanism that may bring design teachers’ expectation that this and not that visual design meaning should apply in communication about any student’s designed object. Such an expectation influences communication between teachers and students about the potential future meaning of students’ designs. Consequently, shared visual design meaning may or may not emerge. The research explanation brings the opportunity for design teachers to make explicit the often implicit way-of-knowing distinctions they use, and to relate these distinctions to the knowing structures thus indicated. The study then offers a new perspective on the old design pedagogical problem of design studio conflict over the meaning of students’ designs. Options for applying this research explanation in design studio interactions between students and teachers are therefore suggested.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Impact of human dimensions on smallholder farming in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Kibirige, Douglas
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Farms, Small -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Social conditions , South Africa -- Economic conditions , DEA approach , Stochastic production frontier , Production efficiency , Human dimensions , Irrigation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Agricultural Economics)
- Identifier: vital:11201 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1007532 , Farms, Small -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Social conditions , South Africa -- Economic conditions , DEA approach , Stochastic production frontier , Production efficiency , Human dimensions , Irrigation
- Description: Considering the backward and forward linkages, the agro-industrial sector contributes about 12 percent of South Africa‘s GDP, and employs approximately 8.5 million people. In the Eastern Cape Province, the sector contributes about 1.9 percent of the Provincial GDP, and over 3 million people derive their livelihoods from subsistence smallholder farming. Despite its importance, agricultural productivity has stagnated for several years across the Eastern Cape rural communities. There have been several attempts by the government to improve the agricultural productivity on smallholder farms since the end of apartheid, especially through the establishment of small-scale irrigation schemes, subsidization of farm inputs, and provision of credit facilities and enacting a number of land reform policies. In spite of the government support, most rural communities like Qamata and Tyefu are still faced with high levels of poverty affecting 76 percent and 91 percent of the population, respectively. This research evaluated the current smallholders‘ production efficiency, and the link between smallholder farmers‘ human dimensions (entrepreneurial spirit and positive psychological capital, goals and social capital, and other efficiency related variables) with production efficiency and household commercialisation index/level. The study used participatory approaches for site selection, sample selection and data collection. The analysis was based on both information from informal interviews and formal primary data collection. The Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Production Frontier techniques were used to determine the relative efficiencies of individual farmers and to identify the major factors that influence the efficiency of production. Overall, 158 farmers were interviewed both at Qamata and Tyefu irrigation schemes. Descriptive statistics of this study indicated that most of the farmers were men with an average age of 61 years, and mean household size of 4 persons with the household head having at least obtained some primary school education. Farming is the major source of livelihood for smallholders with an average income of R4527.49 per crop season. Smallholders use improved seeds, fertilizers and tractor for ploughing with less use of pesticides and herbicides. Although smallholder irrigators generate more gross margins from maize and cabbage enterprises, generally both categories of farmers exhibited a low average household commercialization index for maize and cabbage at 0.41 and 0.22, respectively. Both Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Production Frontier results indicate that farmers are about 98 percent technically efficient in maize and cabbage enterprises, respectively. However, farmers were allocatively inefficient as they were under-utilizing seed and pesticides while over-utilizing inorganic fertilizers. Factors that are positively associated with technical efficiency in maize production included household size, farming experience, off-farm income, use of agro-chemical; gross margins and commercialisation level of maize output. Determinants of technical efficiency in cabbage enterprise included farming experience, amount of land owned, use of agro-chemicals, group membership and gross margins accrued to cabbage sales. Farmers‘ human dimensions that could be more positively and significantly associated with production, efficiency and household commercialisation level included risk taking (hope), innovativeness (confidence) and optimism for entrepreneurial/positive psychological capital. Farmers‘ goals included self-esteem and independence, and only external social capital which were identified to be more positively and significantly associated with farmers‘ production efficiency and commercialization level. The transition from homestead subsistence to commercial oriented small-scale irrigation farming is inevitable since smallholder irrigators earn more incomes from maize and cabbage and are relatively food secure. However, the key policy options that must be considered to address inefficiencies and improved commercialization level to aid the transition include: agricultural policies geared toward attracting youth in farming, improved quality of extension services, speeding up the land reform process, and formation of cooperatives and participatory policy formulation that takes full cognizance of the farmers‘ human dimensions. Since farmers‘ human dimensions as defined in the literature and this study are not things that are amenable to direct policy intervention, they can only be modified indirectly through policy actions that affect their determinants. This means that a number of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics such as age, sex and education level of household head, farming experience, size of land owned, crop incomes, source of water for irrigation and location of the irrigation scheme that govern the way people perceive reality and respond to them must be the focus of concerted policy actions over the medium to long term.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Kibirige, Douglas
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Farms, Small -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Social conditions , South Africa -- Economic conditions , DEA approach , Stochastic production frontier , Production efficiency , Human dimensions , Irrigation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Agricultural Economics)
- Identifier: vital:11201 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1007532 , Farms, Small -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Social conditions , South Africa -- Economic conditions , DEA approach , Stochastic production frontier , Production efficiency , Human dimensions , Irrigation
- Description: Considering the backward and forward linkages, the agro-industrial sector contributes about 12 percent of South Africa‘s GDP, and employs approximately 8.5 million people. In the Eastern Cape Province, the sector contributes about 1.9 percent of the Provincial GDP, and over 3 million people derive their livelihoods from subsistence smallholder farming. Despite its importance, agricultural productivity has stagnated for several years across the Eastern Cape rural communities. There have been several attempts by the government to improve the agricultural productivity on smallholder farms since the end of apartheid, especially through the establishment of small-scale irrigation schemes, subsidization of farm inputs, and provision of credit facilities and enacting a number of land reform policies. In spite of the government support, most rural communities like Qamata and Tyefu are still faced with high levels of poverty affecting 76 percent and 91 percent of the population, respectively. This research evaluated the current smallholders‘ production efficiency, and the link between smallholder farmers‘ human dimensions (entrepreneurial spirit and positive psychological capital, goals and social capital, and other efficiency related variables) with production efficiency and household commercialisation index/level. The study used participatory approaches for site selection, sample selection and data collection. The analysis was based on both information from informal interviews and formal primary data collection. The Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Production Frontier techniques were used to determine the relative efficiencies of individual farmers and to identify the major factors that influence the efficiency of production. Overall, 158 farmers were interviewed both at Qamata and Tyefu irrigation schemes. Descriptive statistics of this study indicated that most of the farmers were men with an average age of 61 years, and mean household size of 4 persons with the household head having at least obtained some primary school education. Farming is the major source of livelihood for smallholders with an average income of R4527.49 per crop season. Smallholders use improved seeds, fertilizers and tractor for ploughing with less use of pesticides and herbicides. Although smallholder irrigators generate more gross margins from maize and cabbage enterprises, generally both categories of farmers exhibited a low average household commercialization index for maize and cabbage at 0.41 and 0.22, respectively. Both Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Production Frontier results indicate that farmers are about 98 percent technically efficient in maize and cabbage enterprises, respectively. However, farmers were allocatively inefficient as they were under-utilizing seed and pesticides while over-utilizing inorganic fertilizers. Factors that are positively associated with technical efficiency in maize production included household size, farming experience, off-farm income, use of agro-chemical; gross margins and commercialisation level of maize output. Determinants of technical efficiency in cabbage enterprise included farming experience, amount of land owned, use of agro-chemicals, group membership and gross margins accrued to cabbage sales. Farmers‘ human dimensions that could be more positively and significantly associated with production, efficiency and household commercialisation level included risk taking (hope), innovativeness (confidence) and optimism for entrepreneurial/positive psychological capital. Farmers‘ goals included self-esteem and independence, and only external social capital which were identified to be more positively and significantly associated with farmers‘ production efficiency and commercialization level. The transition from homestead subsistence to commercial oriented small-scale irrigation farming is inevitable since smallholder irrigators earn more incomes from maize and cabbage and are relatively food secure. However, the key policy options that must be considered to address inefficiencies and improved commercialization level to aid the transition include: agricultural policies geared toward attracting youth in farming, improved quality of extension services, speeding up the land reform process, and formation of cooperatives and participatory policy formulation that takes full cognizance of the farmers‘ human dimensions. Since farmers‘ human dimensions as defined in the literature and this study are not things that are amenable to direct policy intervention, they can only be modified indirectly through policy actions that affect their determinants. This means that a number of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics such as age, sex and education level of household head, farming experience, size of land owned, crop incomes, source of water for irrigation and location of the irrigation scheme that govern the way people perceive reality and respond to them must be the focus of concerted policy actions over the medium to long term.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
The role of conflict management in maintenance of discipline : the case of Kenya's public secondary schools
- Authors: Kibui, Agnes Wanja
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: School discipline -- Kenya , Discipline of children -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:16151 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020074
- Description: This study set out to establish the role of conflict Management in Maintenance of Discipline in Kenya’s Public Secondary Schools. The study formulated 6 objectives as follows: examine the nature of Conflict experienced in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya; establish how teachers and students perceive conflict in secondary schools; determine how teachers and students experience conflict in Secondary Schools; investigate the effectiveness of conflict Management Programmes used in Secondary Schools; discover suitable conflict management programmes to address present and future conflict in secondary schools; generate findings based on a theoretical approach for understanding and managing conflict in secondary schools with particular reference to schools in Kenya. The research was conducted in the form of a descriptive survey design with a mixed methods approach which combined qualitative research design and quantitative research technique. A sample of 649 Students, 16 secondary school head teachers, and 16 secondary school guidance and counseling officers from 4 provinces in Kenya was used to obtain data for the study. Random and purposive sampling techniques were used. Data was collected using questionnaires and structured interviews. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percentages, standard deviation, and frequencies was used to discuss the research findings. The study also used inferential statistics, particularly chi-square to test the significant statistical differences on the nature of conflict in schools, how students and teachers experience and perceive conflict in different categories of schools. From the findings, students witness conflict in form of theft, 51.7%, bullying, 29 percent, rumours and fights. Results from males and females indicate that drugs are abused in secondary schools (males (26.8%) and females (13.6 percent). All the respondents revealed that students take drugs to please their peers, and to release stress, and for adventure. On the effectiveness of conflict management programmes, a majority of students accept punishment when they break the school rules (80.0%) as they feel that punishments improve their behaviour. Most of the teachers had not had proper training in conflict management and some of them do not understand the role of peer mediation as they lack such programmes in their schools. The study concluded that failure to train teachers in conflict management skills, and to involve students in decision making causes conflict in schools. The study recommended that life skills, and peace keeping lessons should be taught in schools. In addition, head teachers and teachers should go for a refresher course in conflict management. Also, the study recommends that a comparative study should be done in a wider scope in secondary schools that experience conflict and those that do not, so as to get an insight of the suitable strategies needed to manage conflict in schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Kibui, Agnes Wanja
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: School discipline -- Kenya , Discipline of children -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:16151 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020074
- Description: This study set out to establish the role of conflict Management in Maintenance of Discipline in Kenya’s Public Secondary Schools. The study formulated 6 objectives as follows: examine the nature of Conflict experienced in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya; establish how teachers and students perceive conflict in secondary schools; determine how teachers and students experience conflict in Secondary Schools; investigate the effectiveness of conflict Management Programmes used in Secondary Schools; discover suitable conflict management programmes to address present and future conflict in secondary schools; generate findings based on a theoretical approach for understanding and managing conflict in secondary schools with particular reference to schools in Kenya. The research was conducted in the form of a descriptive survey design with a mixed methods approach which combined qualitative research design and quantitative research technique. A sample of 649 Students, 16 secondary school head teachers, and 16 secondary school guidance and counseling officers from 4 provinces in Kenya was used to obtain data for the study. Random and purposive sampling techniques were used. Data was collected using questionnaires and structured interviews. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percentages, standard deviation, and frequencies was used to discuss the research findings. The study also used inferential statistics, particularly chi-square to test the significant statistical differences on the nature of conflict in schools, how students and teachers experience and perceive conflict in different categories of schools. From the findings, students witness conflict in form of theft, 51.7%, bullying, 29 percent, rumours and fights. Results from males and females indicate that drugs are abused in secondary schools (males (26.8%) and females (13.6 percent). All the respondents revealed that students take drugs to please their peers, and to release stress, and for adventure. On the effectiveness of conflict management programmes, a majority of students accept punishment when they break the school rules (80.0%) as they feel that punishments improve their behaviour. Most of the teachers had not had proper training in conflict management and some of them do not understand the role of peer mediation as they lack such programmes in their schools. The study concluded that failure to train teachers in conflict management skills, and to involve students in decision making causes conflict in schools. The study recommended that life skills, and peace keeping lessons should be taught in schools. In addition, head teachers and teachers should go for a refresher course in conflict management. Also, the study recommends that a comparative study should be done in a wider scope in secondary schools that experience conflict and those that do not, so as to get an insight of the suitable strategies needed to manage conflict in schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Assessment of the incidence of E.coli in Tyume and Buffalo rivers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Koba, Siziwe
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Microbiology)
- Identifier: vital:11272 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1006889
- Description: Waterborne diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries and every year around 2.2 million people die due to basic hygiene related diseases like coliform diarrhoea. Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation has been promoted as an essential step in reducing these preventable diseases (Tambekar and Banginwar, 2005; Patil, 2004; Charan, 2004). Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli are one of the most important etiologic agents of acute diarrhea and represent a major public health problem in developing countries like South Africa The present study was conducted between August 2010 and July 2011 to investigate the prevalence and distribution of virulent E. coli strains from water samples collected from Tyume and Buffalo River, located in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa using conventional microbiological methods and PCR analysis. Twelve Water samples were collected from three different sites of the rivers, viz; upstream, middle stream and the downstream of the dam. E.coli was isolated by the membrane filtration method on mFC. A total of 374 isolates from both rivers were identified by convenctional microbiological techniques. For both Buffalo and Tyume River, A large proportion (87 and 114, respectively) of the isolates from the mid stream samples satisfied the identification characteristics for E. coli (blue colonies on MFC agar and violet/purple colonies on Chromocult agar) and thus revealing high levels contamination when compared to isolates from the downstream (55 and 47) and the upstream (30 and 31) All the isolates that satisfied the primary identification stage were subjected to PCR. DNA was extracted using the boiling method and then the DNA was used as a template for PCR. Specific PCR analysis was performed on all E. coli isolates to amplify the alr gene that codes for alanine racemase Out and of the 202 isolates amplified for Tyume river, 70 (35 percent) were positively identified as E. coli since they possessed the alr gene fragment. and out of the 172 isolates amplified from Buffalo River, 80(47 percent) were also positively identified as E. coli. For both Tyume and Buffalo River, the highest prevalence was observed midstream (39 percent and 56 pecent respectively). The identified E. coli were further characterized into different pathotypes. Amplification of the shig gene, LT gene, EaeA gene, Eagg gene and the ST gene were used to detect pathogenic E.coli. In Tyume River, Genes of ETEC (lt or st) were detected in 21/70 (30 percent); Gene of EPEC (eae) was detected in 14/70 specimens (35 percent); Genes of EAEC (Eagg) was detected in 14/70(35 percent) and genes of EIEC (shig) were detected in 11/70(16 percent). In Buffalo River, no DEC was recovered upstream and downstream of the river. EAEC (8 percent) was the only pathotypes recovered midstream of the river. Strains of all five E. coli categories showed high-level resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, and chloramphenicol but were highly susceptible to quinolones, aminoglycosides, and novobiocin. The highest resistance (100 percent) amongst the isolates was observed to ampicillin by EAEC, Heat Labile (ETEC) and EIEC, followed by 87.5 percent by EAEC to carbenicillin. The highest susceptibility was to quinolones (100 percent) by all the four categories of E.coli. The screening for antibiotic resistance genes revealed the absence of SHV, CTMX and TetC genes as they were not detected in any of the E.coli isolates. However, TEM genes were observed in 80 percent of the isolates. Integron conserved segment was detected in these same organisms in the same proportion as TEM
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Koba, Siziwe
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Microbiology)
- Identifier: vital:11272 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1006889
- Description: Waterborne diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries and every year around 2.2 million people die due to basic hygiene related diseases like coliform diarrhoea. Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation has been promoted as an essential step in reducing these preventable diseases (Tambekar and Banginwar, 2005; Patil, 2004; Charan, 2004). Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli are one of the most important etiologic agents of acute diarrhea and represent a major public health problem in developing countries like South Africa The present study was conducted between August 2010 and July 2011 to investigate the prevalence and distribution of virulent E. coli strains from water samples collected from Tyume and Buffalo River, located in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa using conventional microbiological methods and PCR analysis. Twelve Water samples were collected from three different sites of the rivers, viz; upstream, middle stream and the downstream of the dam. E.coli was isolated by the membrane filtration method on mFC. A total of 374 isolates from both rivers were identified by convenctional microbiological techniques. For both Buffalo and Tyume River, A large proportion (87 and 114, respectively) of the isolates from the mid stream samples satisfied the identification characteristics for E. coli (blue colonies on MFC agar and violet/purple colonies on Chromocult agar) and thus revealing high levels contamination when compared to isolates from the downstream (55 and 47) and the upstream (30 and 31) All the isolates that satisfied the primary identification stage were subjected to PCR. DNA was extracted using the boiling method and then the DNA was used as a template for PCR. Specific PCR analysis was performed on all E. coli isolates to amplify the alr gene that codes for alanine racemase Out and of the 202 isolates amplified for Tyume river, 70 (35 percent) were positively identified as E. coli since they possessed the alr gene fragment. and out of the 172 isolates amplified from Buffalo River, 80(47 percent) were also positively identified as E. coli. For both Tyume and Buffalo River, the highest prevalence was observed midstream (39 percent and 56 pecent respectively). The identified E. coli were further characterized into different pathotypes. Amplification of the shig gene, LT gene, EaeA gene, Eagg gene and the ST gene were used to detect pathogenic E.coli. In Tyume River, Genes of ETEC (lt or st) were detected in 21/70 (30 percent); Gene of EPEC (eae) was detected in 14/70 specimens (35 percent); Genes of EAEC (Eagg) was detected in 14/70(35 percent) and genes of EIEC (shig) were detected in 11/70(16 percent). In Buffalo River, no DEC was recovered upstream and downstream of the river. EAEC (8 percent) was the only pathotypes recovered midstream of the river. Strains of all five E. coli categories showed high-level resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, and chloramphenicol but were highly susceptible to quinolones, aminoglycosides, and novobiocin. The highest resistance (100 percent) amongst the isolates was observed to ampicillin by EAEC, Heat Labile (ETEC) and EIEC, followed by 87.5 percent by EAEC to carbenicillin. The highest susceptibility was to quinolones (100 percent) by all the four categories of E.coli. The screening for antibiotic resistance genes revealed the absence of SHV, CTMX and TetC genes as they were not detected in any of the E.coli isolates. However, TEM genes were observed in 80 percent of the isolates. Integron conserved segment was detected in these same organisms in the same proportion as TEM
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Valuation of internet-based businesses
- Authors: Krüger, Janine
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Electronic commerce , Internet marketing -- Evaluation , New business enterprises , Internet marketing , Retail trade -- Computer network resources , Teleshopping , Consumer behavior
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:9280 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008187 , Electronic commerce , Internet marketing -- Evaluation , New business enterprises , Internet marketing , Retail trade -- Computer network resources , Teleshopping , Consumer behavior
- Description: This study investigates the valuation of Internet-based businesses. In particular the influence of the implementation of an e-business strategy on the value of a business by focussing on its financial performance, will be determined. Although the valuation of businesses in general has been researched extensively, research on the valuation of Internet-based businesses produced contradictory findings. No consensus could be reached regarding the most appropriate valuation approach to be used. Some research findings indicated that the discounted cash flow approach was the most appropriate while others stipulated that a new valuation approach should be developed. Many authors state that the move to include an e-business strategy is natural, and that businesses cannot afford not to include some form of e-business strategy. Previous research has also shown that by including an e-business strategy, it is possible to improve efficiency of the business and ultimately increase profitability. However, there was no emphasis on how the e-business strategy will influence the business valuation. In order to establish whether an e-business strategy will create value for a business, an empirical investigation was undertaken.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Krüger, Janine
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Electronic commerce , Internet marketing -- Evaluation , New business enterprises , Internet marketing , Retail trade -- Computer network resources , Teleshopping , Consumer behavior
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:9280 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008187 , Electronic commerce , Internet marketing -- Evaluation , New business enterprises , Internet marketing , Retail trade -- Computer network resources , Teleshopping , Consumer behavior
- Description: This study investigates the valuation of Internet-based businesses. In particular the influence of the implementation of an e-business strategy on the value of a business by focussing on its financial performance, will be determined. Although the valuation of businesses in general has been researched extensively, research on the valuation of Internet-based businesses produced contradictory findings. No consensus could be reached regarding the most appropriate valuation approach to be used. Some research findings indicated that the discounted cash flow approach was the most appropriate while others stipulated that a new valuation approach should be developed. Many authors state that the move to include an e-business strategy is natural, and that businesses cannot afford not to include some form of e-business strategy. Previous research has also shown that by including an e-business strategy, it is possible to improve efficiency of the business and ultimately increase profitability. However, there was no emphasis on how the e-business strategy will influence the business valuation. In order to establish whether an e-business strategy will create value for a business, an empirical investigation was undertaken.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Rural women's representation and participation in local governance in the Masvingo and Mashonaland central provinces of Zimbabwe
- Authors: Kurebwa, Jeffrey
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Local government -- Women -- Zimbabwe , Public administration -- Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:8313 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020085
- Description: This study focused on the representation and participation of rural women in local governance in the Masvingo and Mashonaland Central provinces of Zimbabwe. It argued that increased representation and participation of women in local governance, particularly as ward councillors and senior administrative employees, is important and should be pursued. This has the potential to change the local governance system. The research further argued that change is more likely to occur when elected women are supported by the presence of more women at the most senior administrative levels in the local governance system. The presence of more women is required if the local governance system is to become inclusive of the diversity of the people it represents, especially women. This study rejected the assumption that rural women are passive recipients of local governance since they contribute significantly in fulfilling household and community needs and interests. Through their knowledge and understanding of the construction of power relations at the local level, rural women have creatively managed to produce, reproduce and use alternative strategies which are based on their sexuality and traditional gender roles in challenging and transforming gender inequality at the local level and in improving the quality of rural women. A National Gender Management System (NGMS) that can be used to effectively promote gender equity, equality and justice in local authorities has been developed. It is desirable that the NGMS be established within the existing organisational framework of central and local governments in Zimbabwe. This should be connected to the national structures to ensure that local level activities are systematically accounted for at the national level. The NGMS recognises the strategic importance of building partnerships with social actors at all levels. Qualitative research method was used in the study. The study used both primary and secondary data in analysing the representation and participation of rural women in local governance in the two selected provinces in Zimbabwe, namely Masvingo and Mashonaland Central. Primary data was collected through in-depth interviews and survey questionnaires, while secondary data was gathered through a literature survey of relevant textbooks, newspapers, and peer-reviewed journals, reports and legislation. The research findings indicated that rural women face a number of constraints in getting access to and participating in local governance. Some of the constraints include; cultural beliefs; violence against women; lack of resources; lack of mutual support among women; domestic responsibilities; and institutional factors. The contributions of the research to the study of women in local governance are discussed. Recommendations to increase the participation of women in local governance are made. These include creating an enabling environment for women’s political empowerment, gender-responsive budgets, capacity-building programmes, establishment of gender focal points, gender management committees and teams, increasing women’s self-worth and changing perceptions by men. The study also found that decentralisation in Zimbabwe has not brought local governance closer to rural women due to the interweaving cultural, structural, physical and financial barriers local government faces in ensuring gender equality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Kurebwa, Jeffrey
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Local government -- Women -- Zimbabwe , Public administration -- Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:8313 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020085
- Description: This study focused on the representation and participation of rural women in local governance in the Masvingo and Mashonaland Central provinces of Zimbabwe. It argued that increased representation and participation of women in local governance, particularly as ward councillors and senior administrative employees, is important and should be pursued. This has the potential to change the local governance system. The research further argued that change is more likely to occur when elected women are supported by the presence of more women at the most senior administrative levels in the local governance system. The presence of more women is required if the local governance system is to become inclusive of the diversity of the people it represents, especially women. This study rejected the assumption that rural women are passive recipients of local governance since they contribute significantly in fulfilling household and community needs and interests. Through their knowledge and understanding of the construction of power relations at the local level, rural women have creatively managed to produce, reproduce and use alternative strategies which are based on their sexuality and traditional gender roles in challenging and transforming gender inequality at the local level and in improving the quality of rural women. A National Gender Management System (NGMS) that can be used to effectively promote gender equity, equality and justice in local authorities has been developed. It is desirable that the NGMS be established within the existing organisational framework of central and local governments in Zimbabwe. This should be connected to the national structures to ensure that local level activities are systematically accounted for at the national level. The NGMS recognises the strategic importance of building partnerships with social actors at all levels. Qualitative research method was used in the study. The study used both primary and secondary data in analysing the representation and participation of rural women in local governance in the two selected provinces in Zimbabwe, namely Masvingo and Mashonaland Central. Primary data was collected through in-depth interviews and survey questionnaires, while secondary data was gathered through a literature survey of relevant textbooks, newspapers, and peer-reviewed journals, reports and legislation. The research findings indicated that rural women face a number of constraints in getting access to and participating in local governance. Some of the constraints include; cultural beliefs; violence against women; lack of resources; lack of mutual support among women; domestic responsibilities; and institutional factors. The contributions of the research to the study of women in local governance are discussed. Recommendations to increase the participation of women in local governance are made. These include creating an enabling environment for women’s political empowerment, gender-responsive budgets, capacity-building programmes, establishment of gender focal points, gender management committees and teams, increasing women’s self-worth and changing perceptions by men. The study also found that decentralisation in Zimbabwe has not brought local governance closer to rural women due to the interweaving cultural, structural, physical and financial barriers local government faces in ensuring gender equality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
The impact and control of waterweeds in the Southern Mozambique Basin rivers
- Authors: Langa, Sílvia da Fátima
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Water hyacinth -- Mozambique Water ferns -- Mozambique Water lettuce -- Mozambique Salvinia molesta -- Mozambique Aquatic weeds -- Mozambique Invasive plants -- Mozambique Aquatic weeds -- Control -- Mozambique Invasive plants -- Control -- Mozambique Aquatic weeds -- Biological control -- Mozambique Invasive plants -- Biological control -- Mozambique Aquatic resources -- Management -- Mozambique Beetles -- Mozambique Insects as biological pest control agents -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001905
- Description: In Mozambique, establishment of aquatic weeds has been enhanced through the increased enrichment of water bodies by nutrient runoffs from human and agricultural wastes that lead to an increase in nitrate and phosphate in the water. The aquatic weeds, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), red water fern ( Azolla microphylla), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and salvinia (Salvinia molesta) were found in most watercourses in Mozambique and are becoming aggressive in some watercourses, especially in the Umbeluzi and Incomati rivers. Farmers and people living along the rivers are aware of the negative impact of the water weeds because the large mats of weeds cause loss of shoreline and navigability along the rivers. Other commonly perceived effects of aquatic invasive plants in Mozambique rivers include: reduced navigable surface area; difficulties for fishermen, which reduces income; increased prevalence of insects and insect-borne disease, and decreased aesthetic value. The methods currently used for the control and management of the aquatic weeds are mechanical and manual control. Both methods are costly, time consuming, and only provide a short-term solution to the problem. The study found that the weevils Neochetina eichhorniae and N. bruchi were effective biological control agents in the study area but their impact is too gradual compared to the aggressive proliferation of water hyacinth. The one year lab-experiment clearly demonstrated that the water lettuce weed had a significant impact on the recruitment of macro-invertebrates to the artificial substrates, and water lettuce contributed to the reduction of oxygen in the water and consequent reduction of macro-invertebrate abundance and diversity. The biodiversity recovered at the same time in the pools containing water lettuce controlled by N. affinis and water lettuce controlled by herbicide, but richness and diversity of macro-invertebrates was higher in the water lettuce controlled by N affinis during the first sampling occasion compared to the water lettuce in pools controlled by herbicide, where macro-invertebrates increased only when DO levels recovered after water lettuce mat decay. The number of taxa recorded in this study is an indication of the significance of macro-invertebrates in an aquatic environment. This therefore emphasizes the need for more research efforts into macrophyte and macro-invertebrate associations in the aquatic system to better understand the implications of habitat modification arising from human activities. It will also enable us to be better equipped with a more appropriate ecological understanding for aquatic resources management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Langa, Sílvia da Fátima
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Water hyacinth -- Mozambique Water ferns -- Mozambique Water lettuce -- Mozambique Salvinia molesta -- Mozambique Aquatic weeds -- Mozambique Invasive plants -- Mozambique Aquatic weeds -- Control -- Mozambique Invasive plants -- Control -- Mozambique Aquatic weeds -- Biological control -- Mozambique Invasive plants -- Biological control -- Mozambique Aquatic resources -- Management -- Mozambique Beetles -- Mozambique Insects as biological pest control agents -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001905
- Description: In Mozambique, establishment of aquatic weeds has been enhanced through the increased enrichment of water bodies by nutrient runoffs from human and agricultural wastes that lead to an increase in nitrate and phosphate in the water. The aquatic weeds, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), red water fern ( Azolla microphylla), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and salvinia (Salvinia molesta) were found in most watercourses in Mozambique and are becoming aggressive in some watercourses, especially in the Umbeluzi and Incomati rivers. Farmers and people living along the rivers are aware of the negative impact of the water weeds because the large mats of weeds cause loss of shoreline and navigability along the rivers. Other commonly perceived effects of aquatic invasive plants in Mozambique rivers include: reduced navigable surface area; difficulties for fishermen, which reduces income; increased prevalence of insects and insect-borne disease, and decreased aesthetic value. The methods currently used for the control and management of the aquatic weeds are mechanical and manual control. Both methods are costly, time consuming, and only provide a short-term solution to the problem. The study found that the weevils Neochetina eichhorniae and N. bruchi were effective biological control agents in the study area but their impact is too gradual compared to the aggressive proliferation of water hyacinth. The one year lab-experiment clearly demonstrated that the water lettuce weed had a significant impact on the recruitment of macro-invertebrates to the artificial substrates, and water lettuce contributed to the reduction of oxygen in the water and consequent reduction of macro-invertebrate abundance and diversity. The biodiversity recovered at the same time in the pools containing water lettuce controlled by N. affinis and water lettuce controlled by herbicide, but richness and diversity of macro-invertebrates was higher in the water lettuce controlled by N affinis during the first sampling occasion compared to the water lettuce in pools controlled by herbicide, where macro-invertebrates increased only when DO levels recovered after water lettuce mat decay. The number of taxa recorded in this study is an indication of the significance of macro-invertebrates in an aquatic environment. This therefore emphasizes the need for more research efforts into macrophyte and macro-invertebrate associations in the aquatic system to better understand the implications of habitat modification arising from human activities. It will also enable us to be better equipped with a more appropriate ecological understanding for aquatic resources management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
A social realist account of the tutorial system at the University of Johannesburg
- Authors: Layton, Delia Melanie
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: University of Johannesburg Education, Higher -- South Africa Tutors and tutoring -- South Africa College teaching -- South Africa Archer, Margaret Scotford College student development programs -- South Africa Social realism , Tutorial system
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1314 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001621
- Description: Using Margaret Archer’s social realist methodology, this study critically examines the construction of the tutorial system in several departments and faculties at the Auckland Park campus of the University of Johannesburg. The purpose of the study is to investigate the extent to which tutorials support the acquisition of programme and disciplinary epistemologies. Social realism calls for analytical dualism of ‘the people’ (agents) from ‘the parts’ (structure and culture). This requires the separate consideration of structures (social systems, rules, roles, practices, policies, institutions, and organisational structures like committees, units, departments, faculties), culture (ideologies, theories, beliefs and values as evidenced in discourses), and agency (people and their ability to act within and upon their own world in terms of their social roles and positions dependent on their ability to activate their emergent properties and powers). Through this investigation, an understanding was gained into how the emergent properties and powers contained within the material, ideational and agential elements helped to generate certain events and practices in the tutorial system. These generative mechanisms were examined to explore whether they enabled or constrained the construction of the tutorial system to provide epistemological access. The study shows that while many official policy documents construct the tutorial system as being an intervention to support academic success, particularly for first-years, there are some tensions within the document discourses, where, on the one hand, student success is constructed in terms of throughput numbers, or, on the other hand, as being about becoming a particular kind of person who is able to access and add to powerful knowledge. Furthermore, the study found that policies are not being consistently implemented. While certain key agents and actors, in the form of management, academics and tutors, were found to be able to overcome constraints and introduce innovative ways of enhancing access to target epistemologies, there is a need for consideration of structural and cultural constraints. For example, structures in the form of funding, venues and timetabling were found to constrain the tutorial system as did some of the discourses in the cultural domain: for example, in the form of certain dominant discourses around teaching and learning, beliefs about the purpose of the tutorial and the relationship between academics and the tutorial system. The study also found that the ontological aspects of ‘learning to be’ were not fore-grounded to any great extent in the ways in which the tutorial system was constructed. There needs to be more consideration of the ontological as well as the epistemological aspects of first-year study so as to take cognisance of the different learning needs of an increasingly diverse student body and to encourage the development of the student agency necessary for a deep engagement with the disciplinary epistemologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Layton, Delia Melanie
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: University of Johannesburg Education, Higher -- South Africa Tutors and tutoring -- South Africa College teaching -- South Africa Archer, Margaret Scotford College student development programs -- South Africa Social realism , Tutorial system
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1314 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001621
- Description: Using Margaret Archer’s social realist methodology, this study critically examines the construction of the tutorial system in several departments and faculties at the Auckland Park campus of the University of Johannesburg. The purpose of the study is to investigate the extent to which tutorials support the acquisition of programme and disciplinary epistemologies. Social realism calls for analytical dualism of ‘the people’ (agents) from ‘the parts’ (structure and culture). This requires the separate consideration of structures (social systems, rules, roles, practices, policies, institutions, and organisational structures like committees, units, departments, faculties), culture (ideologies, theories, beliefs and values as evidenced in discourses), and agency (people and their ability to act within and upon their own world in terms of their social roles and positions dependent on their ability to activate their emergent properties and powers). Through this investigation, an understanding was gained into how the emergent properties and powers contained within the material, ideational and agential elements helped to generate certain events and practices in the tutorial system. These generative mechanisms were examined to explore whether they enabled or constrained the construction of the tutorial system to provide epistemological access. The study shows that while many official policy documents construct the tutorial system as being an intervention to support academic success, particularly for first-years, there are some tensions within the document discourses, where, on the one hand, student success is constructed in terms of throughput numbers, or, on the other hand, as being about becoming a particular kind of person who is able to access and add to powerful knowledge. Furthermore, the study found that policies are not being consistently implemented. While certain key agents and actors, in the form of management, academics and tutors, were found to be able to overcome constraints and introduce innovative ways of enhancing access to target epistemologies, there is a need for consideration of structural and cultural constraints. For example, structures in the form of funding, venues and timetabling were found to constrain the tutorial system as did some of the discourses in the cultural domain: for example, in the form of certain dominant discourses around teaching and learning, beliefs about the purpose of the tutorial and the relationship between academics and the tutorial system. The study also found that the ontological aspects of ‘learning to be’ were not fore-grounded to any great extent in the ways in which the tutorial system was constructed. There needs to be more consideration of the ontological as well as the epistemological aspects of first-year study so as to take cognisance of the different learning needs of an increasingly diverse student body and to encourage the development of the student agency necessary for a deep engagement with the disciplinary epistemologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Congo and Kalahari basins of South Central Africa and their evolution during the formation and break-up of West Gondwana
- Authors: Linol, Bastien
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Sedimentary basins -- Africa , Sedimentology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10655 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012148 , Sedimentary basins -- Africa , Sedimentology
- Description: The high elevated (ca. 1100 m) continental Kalahari Basin (KB) of southern Africa and the linked lower lying (ca. 400 m) Congo Basin (CB) of central Africa preserve in their interiors extensive sedimentary rock sequences and sediments that represent a unique record of the Phanerozoic geodynamic and climatic evolution of sub-Saharan Africa. In this thesis, field observations and new borehole data from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Botswana are integrated with new paleontology and geochronology to present a substantially revised stratigraphy for the CB, and south-central Africa in general. This work also introduces a new multiphase model for the subsidence and uplift history of the CB, and improves correlations with the Cape-Karoo Basin (CKB) of South Africa and the Paraná Basin (PB) of south-east Brazil. Four deep boreholes, each between 2 and 4.5 km deep, drilled in the centre of the CB in the 1950’s and 1970’s are re-examined together with the colonial literature (in French) and available seismic data. This stratigraphic and basin analysis is complemented with new U-Pb dates of detrital zircons from core-samples of two of the boreholes (Samba and Dekese), as well as from samples collected during field work in the Kwango region of the south-west DRC. This work, for the first time, constrains the maximum ages and source provenances of the successions in the CB. Following the Pan African orogens (ca. 650-530 Ma), extensive sequences of red beds were deposited by regional paleocurrents to the south. These are now best preserved (1 km thick) along the West Congo, Oubanguides, and Lufilian Belts surrounding the CB. Overlying a hiatus that represents most of the early-Paleozoic, is a 1 to 3 km thick succession of easterly derived glacial, and then continental sequences of the Karoo Supergroup. This succession records the first main episode of subsidence [10-15 m/Ma], interrupted by a phase of uplift that is likely related to far-field intracontinental deformation within Gondwana supercontinent during the Variscan and Cape Fold orogenies (ca. 250-330 Ma) at its peripheries. Detrital zircons from the lower Karoo diamictites are dated at 1.85-2.05 Ga and 1.37- 1.42 Ga, and thus sourced from Paleoproterozoic (Eburnean) and mid-Mesoproterozoic (Kibaran type-I) basement rocks in Uganda and Tanzania. Zircons from all the other successions in the CB date predominantly at 950-1050 Ma and 500-800 Ma. These are derived from sediment recycling of late-Mesoproterozoic (Kibaran type-II) and late- Neoproterozoic (Pan African) sources in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad. A distinct unconformity across the Karoo Supergroup in the CB is overlain by 500- 1000 m Jurassic-Cretaceous sequences, here named the Congo Supergroup. During initial rapid subsidence [10-50 m/Ma], late-Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) shallow marine to continental sedimentation attests to a short transgression of proto-Indian Ocean waters into the northern CB (at 160 m above present day sea-level), succeeded by widespread deposition of aeolian dunes that extend from the southern CB to the PB in South America. The youngest zircons from these aeolian sediments in the CB date at 190 Ma and 240-290 Ma, and most likely indicate the influence of extensive silicic volcanic ash derived from the proto-Andes along the south-western margin of Gondwana. Two superimposed mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) lacustrine sequences in the central CB record a succeeding, slower [10-15 m/Ma], phase of basin subsidence during the opening of the South Atlantic (ca. 85-135 Ma). These Cretaceous sequences are in turn truncated by another regional peneplanation surface covered by Cenozoic (Eocene) silcretized sands and alluviums of the Kalahari Group, only 50-250 m thick in the centre of the CB. Southward, on top of the Kalahari Plateau in the central desert region of north-west Botswana, new boreholes intercepted laterally equivalent condensed lacustrine carbonates and calcretes (20-50 m thick) covered by sands. These terrestrial sequences are key archives of late-Mesozoic – Cenozoic paleo-climate changes, yet they remain stratigraphically unresolved. This new analysis of the Phanerozoic continental basins of south-central Africa and their equivalents in South America, opens a fresh continental-scale window into how West Gondwana break-up and concomitant epeirogenic uplifts of Kalahari (>2 km) and Congo (>200 m) are linked to interactions between the lithosphere and mantle geodynamics, and how these processes likely affected global climate changes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Linol, Bastien
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Sedimentary basins -- Africa , Sedimentology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10655 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012148 , Sedimentary basins -- Africa , Sedimentology
- Description: The high elevated (ca. 1100 m) continental Kalahari Basin (KB) of southern Africa and the linked lower lying (ca. 400 m) Congo Basin (CB) of central Africa preserve in their interiors extensive sedimentary rock sequences and sediments that represent a unique record of the Phanerozoic geodynamic and climatic evolution of sub-Saharan Africa. In this thesis, field observations and new borehole data from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Botswana are integrated with new paleontology and geochronology to present a substantially revised stratigraphy for the CB, and south-central Africa in general. This work also introduces a new multiphase model for the subsidence and uplift history of the CB, and improves correlations with the Cape-Karoo Basin (CKB) of South Africa and the Paraná Basin (PB) of south-east Brazil. Four deep boreholes, each between 2 and 4.5 km deep, drilled in the centre of the CB in the 1950’s and 1970’s are re-examined together with the colonial literature (in French) and available seismic data. This stratigraphic and basin analysis is complemented with new U-Pb dates of detrital zircons from core-samples of two of the boreholes (Samba and Dekese), as well as from samples collected during field work in the Kwango region of the south-west DRC. This work, for the first time, constrains the maximum ages and source provenances of the successions in the CB. Following the Pan African orogens (ca. 650-530 Ma), extensive sequences of red beds were deposited by regional paleocurrents to the south. These are now best preserved (1 km thick) along the West Congo, Oubanguides, and Lufilian Belts surrounding the CB. Overlying a hiatus that represents most of the early-Paleozoic, is a 1 to 3 km thick succession of easterly derived glacial, and then continental sequences of the Karoo Supergroup. This succession records the first main episode of subsidence [10-15 m/Ma], interrupted by a phase of uplift that is likely related to far-field intracontinental deformation within Gondwana supercontinent during the Variscan and Cape Fold orogenies (ca. 250-330 Ma) at its peripheries. Detrital zircons from the lower Karoo diamictites are dated at 1.85-2.05 Ga and 1.37- 1.42 Ga, and thus sourced from Paleoproterozoic (Eburnean) and mid-Mesoproterozoic (Kibaran type-I) basement rocks in Uganda and Tanzania. Zircons from all the other successions in the CB date predominantly at 950-1050 Ma and 500-800 Ma. These are derived from sediment recycling of late-Mesoproterozoic (Kibaran type-II) and late- Neoproterozoic (Pan African) sources in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad. A distinct unconformity across the Karoo Supergroup in the CB is overlain by 500- 1000 m Jurassic-Cretaceous sequences, here named the Congo Supergroup. During initial rapid subsidence [10-50 m/Ma], late-Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) shallow marine to continental sedimentation attests to a short transgression of proto-Indian Ocean waters into the northern CB (at 160 m above present day sea-level), succeeded by widespread deposition of aeolian dunes that extend from the southern CB to the PB in South America. The youngest zircons from these aeolian sediments in the CB date at 190 Ma and 240-290 Ma, and most likely indicate the influence of extensive silicic volcanic ash derived from the proto-Andes along the south-western margin of Gondwana. Two superimposed mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) lacustrine sequences in the central CB record a succeeding, slower [10-15 m/Ma], phase of basin subsidence during the opening of the South Atlantic (ca. 85-135 Ma). These Cretaceous sequences are in turn truncated by another regional peneplanation surface covered by Cenozoic (Eocene) silcretized sands and alluviums of the Kalahari Group, only 50-250 m thick in the centre of the CB. Southward, on top of the Kalahari Plateau in the central desert region of north-west Botswana, new boreholes intercepted laterally equivalent condensed lacustrine carbonates and calcretes (20-50 m thick) covered by sands. These terrestrial sequences are key archives of late-Mesozoic – Cenozoic paleo-climate changes, yet they remain stratigraphically unresolved. This new analysis of the Phanerozoic continental basins of south-central Africa and their equivalents in South America, opens a fresh continental-scale window into how West Gondwana break-up and concomitant epeirogenic uplifts of Kalahari (>2 km) and Congo (>200 m) are linked to interactions between the lithosphere and mantle geodynamics, and how these processes likely affected global climate changes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Faecal source tracking and water quality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Luyt, Catherine Diane
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Water quality -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Waterborne infection -- Management , Drinking water -- Contamination -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018242
- Description: Water quality is concerning as many still lack access to safe drinking water. Alternate sources such as rivers (FC up to 1600 CFUs/100 mL) and rainwater are often polluted. Rainwater tanks require maintenance to improve water quality, but could be used for non-potable purposes or irrigation. Grahamstown infrastructural failures initiate deviations from DWAF 1996 domestic water guidelines for microorganisms within the distribution system. Frequent testing can decrease risks of waterborne diseases. Limitations to this are inaccessibility of rural areas, distances from testing centres and costs. The low cost H2S strip test able to be used onsite by communities, may aid in risk assessment. H2S strip test results are not affected by sulphate (14 to 4240 mg/L) or nitrite (up to 47 mg/L). Transportation of the H2S strip tests between 10 and 32°C does not modify results significantly. Similarly to other studies: Klebsiella spp.; Enterobacter spp. and Serratia spp. were isolated from H2S strip tests. The mH2S strip test corresponds best with HPC in treated water, while in untreated river water it has approximately 90% correspondence with FCs, while survival of FC causes discrepancies with the H2S test after 22 days. A faecal coliform inactivation rate of 0.1 CFUs/ day, may be longer than many pathogens. Faecal source tracking, not currently practised in South Africa, could aid health risk assessments for disaster management, which would improve the NMMP programme. Bacterial survival times could propose the time period for which water is unsafe. Bifidobacteria and Rhodococcus are proposed to help identify the faecal pollution source. But enumeration of Rhodococcus is too lengthy (21 days). The tracking ratio of bifidobacteria (between 0.1 to 6.25) is not source definitive. The bifidobacteria survival rate, could indicator the time since faecal pollution. The bifidobacteria average survival rate is 2.3 CFUs per day for both groups. The culturability and selectivity of agar is still poor, with total bifidobacteria less selectively culturable. Enterococci overgrowth of TB was decreased by Beerens media. SUB is still useful to identify potential human faecal inputs. A single tracking method is thus not suitable alone, but requires a combination of techniques.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Luyt, Catherine Diane
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Water quality -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Waterborne infection -- Management , Drinking water -- Contamination -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018242
- Description: Water quality is concerning as many still lack access to safe drinking water. Alternate sources such as rivers (FC up to 1600 CFUs/100 mL) and rainwater are often polluted. Rainwater tanks require maintenance to improve water quality, but could be used for non-potable purposes or irrigation. Grahamstown infrastructural failures initiate deviations from DWAF 1996 domestic water guidelines for microorganisms within the distribution system. Frequent testing can decrease risks of waterborne diseases. Limitations to this are inaccessibility of rural areas, distances from testing centres and costs. The low cost H2S strip test able to be used onsite by communities, may aid in risk assessment. H2S strip test results are not affected by sulphate (14 to 4240 mg/L) or nitrite (up to 47 mg/L). Transportation of the H2S strip tests between 10 and 32°C does not modify results significantly. Similarly to other studies: Klebsiella spp.; Enterobacter spp. and Serratia spp. were isolated from H2S strip tests. The mH2S strip test corresponds best with HPC in treated water, while in untreated river water it has approximately 90% correspondence with FCs, while survival of FC causes discrepancies with the H2S test after 22 days. A faecal coliform inactivation rate of 0.1 CFUs/ day, may be longer than many pathogens. Faecal source tracking, not currently practised in South Africa, could aid health risk assessments for disaster management, which would improve the NMMP programme. Bacterial survival times could propose the time period for which water is unsafe. Bifidobacteria and Rhodococcus are proposed to help identify the faecal pollution source. But enumeration of Rhodococcus is too lengthy (21 days). The tracking ratio of bifidobacteria (between 0.1 to 6.25) is not source definitive. The bifidobacteria survival rate, could indicator the time since faecal pollution. The bifidobacteria average survival rate is 2.3 CFUs per day for both groups. The culturability and selectivity of agar is still poor, with total bifidobacteria less selectively culturable. Enterococci overgrowth of TB was decreased by Beerens media. SUB is still useful to identify potential human faecal inputs. A single tracking method is thus not suitable alone, but requires a combination of techniques.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
An investigation into the representations of environmental issues relating to Lake Victoria, Uganda, and their negotiation by the lakeside communities
- Lwanga, Margaret Jjuuko Nassuna
- Authors: Lwanga, Margaret Jjuuko Nassuna
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Victoria Voice Victoria, Lake -- Environmental aspects -- Research Lakes -- Environmental aspects -- Research -- Uganda Environmental management -- Research -- Uganda Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Uganda Radio broadcasting -- Uganda , Uganda CBS , Central Broadcasting Service , Mass media -- Environmental aspects -- Research -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3411 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001577
- Description: The state of the environment is increasingly present as an urgent concern for contemporary political, social, cultural and physical life. Yet the roles of the mass media (radio, television and newspapers) in shaping and influencing crucial public awareness, debates and environmental decision-making remain inadequately understood. Positioned as a critical studies inquiry into media representations and audience reception, this study forms part of a wider project amongst media scholars and culture critics on the relationship between media textual production and consumption. It explores how one radio station in Uganda, Central Broadcasting Service (CBS) radio, represents and constructs the environmental crises faced by Lake Victoria, especially pollution and overfishing. The focus is on the Victoria Voice radio documentaries aired on CBS radio in the year 2005. The study further explores how three lakeside communities negotiate these issues as radio broadcasts. It recognises that while the mass media contribute significantly to creating public awareness about such social concerns, their likelihood of having a direct and predictable impact on social behaviour is slight. The context and the lived experiences at the reception stage where the decisions are made on whether to adopt an innovation are ultimately the factors which impact on how they are negotiated. The thesis is informed by the theoretical and analytical framework of Cultural Studies as well as the Participatory Approach to Communication for Development perspectives. The study is specifically informed by the theories of ‘discourse’ (Foucault, 1980a, 1981) and the ‘circuit of culture’ (du Gay et al., 1997 and Johnson, 1987) and these provided the conceptual framework for investigating the representations, the production and the consumption of media texts. Predominantly qualitative methods have been employed in data collection and analysis. In the first place, a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, 1995a, 1995c) of the radio texts has interrogated the discourses and discursive practices of CBS’ Victoria Voice environmental radio programmes in order to consider its representations of particular issues and consequently the discourses it privileged. Qualitative methods of participant observation, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were deployed to investigate the negotiation of the texts by the lakeside communities. This research establishes that the Victoria Voice radio texts foreground three contesting types of discourses: the discourse of basic economic survival and livelihoods is articulated largely by the ordinary people, the lakeside communities; the discourse of sustainable development, particularly the protection and sustainability of Lake Victoria, by scientists and environmental experts; and the discourse of modernisation and corporate investment by politicians and/or policy makers and industrialists. The texts, to a large degree, reaffirm the hegemonic relations of power in Ugandan society, and thus contribute to the maintenance of the status quo. The selection of an elite category of informers (scientists, experts, politicians, policy makers) serves to marginalise the less powerful ordinary people (the fisher folk, farmers and other eyewitnesses). The construction of the elite as active and speaking subjects within the various debates introduced in these programmes, for example, works both to obscure and endorse the unequal power relations. At the reception side, while the lakeside communities attest to the relevance of the programmes in providing information on the issues concerning Lake Victoria and other aspects of their livelihood, they also recognise the power relations that underpin the sets of representations. Amongst these sets is government’s complicity with industry, in line with their economic policies and the global capitalist economy, while espousing the rhetoric of nature conservation. The study argues that sustainable solutions for the crises on Lake Victoria should take into account the socio-historical and cultural contexts of the lakeside communities. For the Ugandan media, particularly radio, there is a need to rethink the nature of the coverage, which tends to neglect the contextual factors, such as local socio-economic and cultural factors within which environmental issues and problems occur and which, as this thesis establishes, greatly influences the way people make sense of environmental issues and problems. I posit that the Participatory Approach that seeks to address the communities’ most pressing concerns should be adopted – to include more of the communities’ voices and involve them in the production of radio programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Lwanga, Margaret Jjuuko Nassuna
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Victoria Voice Victoria, Lake -- Environmental aspects -- Research Lakes -- Environmental aspects -- Research -- Uganda Environmental management -- Research -- Uganda Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Uganda Radio broadcasting -- Uganda , Uganda CBS , Central Broadcasting Service , Mass media -- Environmental aspects -- Research -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3411 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001577
- Description: The state of the environment is increasingly present as an urgent concern for contemporary political, social, cultural and physical life. Yet the roles of the mass media (radio, television and newspapers) in shaping and influencing crucial public awareness, debates and environmental decision-making remain inadequately understood. Positioned as a critical studies inquiry into media representations and audience reception, this study forms part of a wider project amongst media scholars and culture critics on the relationship between media textual production and consumption. It explores how one radio station in Uganda, Central Broadcasting Service (CBS) radio, represents and constructs the environmental crises faced by Lake Victoria, especially pollution and overfishing. The focus is on the Victoria Voice radio documentaries aired on CBS radio in the year 2005. The study further explores how three lakeside communities negotiate these issues as radio broadcasts. It recognises that while the mass media contribute significantly to creating public awareness about such social concerns, their likelihood of having a direct and predictable impact on social behaviour is slight. The context and the lived experiences at the reception stage where the decisions are made on whether to adopt an innovation are ultimately the factors which impact on how they are negotiated. The thesis is informed by the theoretical and analytical framework of Cultural Studies as well as the Participatory Approach to Communication for Development perspectives. The study is specifically informed by the theories of ‘discourse’ (Foucault, 1980a, 1981) and the ‘circuit of culture’ (du Gay et al., 1997 and Johnson, 1987) and these provided the conceptual framework for investigating the representations, the production and the consumption of media texts. Predominantly qualitative methods have been employed in data collection and analysis. In the first place, a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, 1995a, 1995c) of the radio texts has interrogated the discourses and discursive practices of CBS’ Victoria Voice environmental radio programmes in order to consider its representations of particular issues and consequently the discourses it privileged. Qualitative methods of participant observation, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were deployed to investigate the negotiation of the texts by the lakeside communities. This research establishes that the Victoria Voice radio texts foreground three contesting types of discourses: the discourse of basic economic survival and livelihoods is articulated largely by the ordinary people, the lakeside communities; the discourse of sustainable development, particularly the protection and sustainability of Lake Victoria, by scientists and environmental experts; and the discourse of modernisation and corporate investment by politicians and/or policy makers and industrialists. The texts, to a large degree, reaffirm the hegemonic relations of power in Ugandan society, and thus contribute to the maintenance of the status quo. The selection of an elite category of informers (scientists, experts, politicians, policy makers) serves to marginalise the less powerful ordinary people (the fisher folk, farmers and other eyewitnesses). The construction of the elite as active and speaking subjects within the various debates introduced in these programmes, for example, works both to obscure and endorse the unequal power relations. At the reception side, while the lakeside communities attest to the relevance of the programmes in providing information on the issues concerning Lake Victoria and other aspects of their livelihood, they also recognise the power relations that underpin the sets of representations. Amongst these sets is government’s complicity with industry, in line with their economic policies and the global capitalist economy, while espousing the rhetoric of nature conservation. The study argues that sustainable solutions for the crises on Lake Victoria should take into account the socio-historical and cultural contexts of the lakeside communities. For the Ugandan media, particularly radio, there is a need to rethink the nature of the coverage, which tends to neglect the contextual factors, such as local socio-economic and cultural factors within which environmental issues and problems occur and which, as this thesis establishes, greatly influences the way people make sense of environmental issues and problems. I posit that the Participatory Approach that seeks to address the communities’ most pressing concerns should be adopted – to include more of the communities’ voices and involve them in the production of radio programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Assessing financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Maclean, Sindisile
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Finance, Public -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Economic policy , South Africa -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (in Public Administration)
- Identifier: vital:11661 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1007093 , Finance, Public -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Economic policy , South Africa -- Economic conditions
- Description: The purpose of the research is to assess the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Municipalities that are not financially viable and sustainable will always struggle to deliver basic services to communities. Without sound financial management systems, municipalities will be forced to discontinue their operations. Municipalities, particularly small and rural ones, are not self-sufficient and often rely on grants and transfers to satisfy their immediate short-term goal of providing basic services to satisfy the needs of their communities. Therefore, finance is regarded as an overriding and decisive factor for determining the viability of municipalities. The study seeks to investigate the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Its key research questions are: Are municipalities able to provide sufficient funds to provide a range of services at an acceptable service level? To what extent do municipalities rely on external funding? Do municipalities have revenue collection capacity and revenue policies? The study asserts that most municipalities lack the required financial resources. They depend mainly on transfers from Provincial Government and equitable share and conditional grants from National Government. Section 152 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 8 of 1996, states, amongst other things, that Local Government should ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. The constitution further states that a municipality must strive, within its financial and administrative capacity, to achieve its objectives. The Municipal Finance Management Act, Act 56 of 2003, creates a framework for municipalities to borrow money and determine the conditions for short- and long-term borrowing. The Act assigns clear roles and responsibilities to the various role players involved in local government financial management. According to the Act, an annual budget for a municipality may only be funded from realistically anticipated revenues to be collected. As revenue projections in the budget must be realistic, the Municipal Property Rates Act, Act 6 of 2004, facilitates the collection of revenue in municipalities and establishes a uniform property rating system across South Africa. Property tax is the biggest element of local government tax revenue and is central to municipal finance. The Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, amongst its objectives, provides for the manner in which municipal powers and functions are exercised as well as establishes a simple framework for the core processes of planning, performance management and resource mobilisation. The Act also provides a framework for public administration and human resource development. Finally, it also empowers the poor and ensures that municipalities put in place service tariffs and credit control policies that take their needs into account. The research contends that, whilst there is legislation and structures to assist and direct municipalities, it has been established that municipalities do not properly collect rates and taxes due to them to augment their revenue. The study has shown nevertheless that metropolitan municipalities have the capacity to collect revenue for municipal services. This is confirmed by their collection rate which ranges between 94 % and 97 %. There is also the culture of non-payment by communities for services rendered by the municipalities. Rural municipalities are exempted from property tax, while other rural municipalities who have an urban component, have to collect. There is also the question of unemployment and poverty. Consequently, municipalities are not self-sufficient and rely on grants and equitable share to survive. As a result of this lack of self-sufficiency, it is difficult to implement service delivery and also difficult to attract skilled personnel. The study has investigated why some municipalities fail to collect revenue and depend on national grants. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings of the quantitative paradigm have been presented in the form of graphs and charts. The major findings include: All municipalities have limited borrowing capacity; have not exceeded their budgets in terms of their spending; small municipalities have households as their main contributor of revenue collected; metropolitan municipalities get the big slice of their revenue from business; small and rural municipalities rely on grants and transfers and are therefore not financially viable; metropolitan municipalities are, to a great extent, financially viable but lack skills and capacity to utilize their resources for effective service delivery; and all municipalities under-spend their budgets. The study, after elaborating on the findings, makes recommendations on how municipalities should become financially viable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Maclean, Sindisile
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Finance, Public -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Economic policy , South Africa -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (in Public Administration)
- Identifier: vital:11661 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1007093 , Finance, Public -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Economic policy , South Africa -- Economic conditions
- Description: The purpose of the research is to assess the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Municipalities that are not financially viable and sustainable will always struggle to deliver basic services to communities. Without sound financial management systems, municipalities will be forced to discontinue their operations. Municipalities, particularly small and rural ones, are not self-sufficient and often rely on grants and transfers to satisfy their immediate short-term goal of providing basic services to satisfy the needs of their communities. Therefore, finance is regarded as an overriding and decisive factor for determining the viability of municipalities. The study seeks to investigate the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Its key research questions are: Are municipalities able to provide sufficient funds to provide a range of services at an acceptable service level? To what extent do municipalities rely on external funding? Do municipalities have revenue collection capacity and revenue policies? The study asserts that most municipalities lack the required financial resources. They depend mainly on transfers from Provincial Government and equitable share and conditional grants from National Government. Section 152 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 8 of 1996, states, amongst other things, that Local Government should ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. The constitution further states that a municipality must strive, within its financial and administrative capacity, to achieve its objectives. The Municipal Finance Management Act, Act 56 of 2003, creates a framework for municipalities to borrow money and determine the conditions for short- and long-term borrowing. The Act assigns clear roles and responsibilities to the various role players involved in local government financial management. According to the Act, an annual budget for a municipality may only be funded from realistically anticipated revenues to be collected. As revenue projections in the budget must be realistic, the Municipal Property Rates Act, Act 6 of 2004, facilitates the collection of revenue in municipalities and establishes a uniform property rating system across South Africa. Property tax is the biggest element of local government tax revenue and is central to municipal finance. The Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, amongst its objectives, provides for the manner in which municipal powers and functions are exercised as well as establishes a simple framework for the core processes of planning, performance management and resource mobilisation. The Act also provides a framework for public administration and human resource development. Finally, it also empowers the poor and ensures that municipalities put in place service tariffs and credit control policies that take their needs into account. The research contends that, whilst there is legislation and structures to assist and direct municipalities, it has been established that municipalities do not properly collect rates and taxes due to them to augment their revenue. The study has shown nevertheless that metropolitan municipalities have the capacity to collect revenue for municipal services. This is confirmed by their collection rate which ranges between 94 % and 97 %. There is also the culture of non-payment by communities for services rendered by the municipalities. Rural municipalities are exempted from property tax, while other rural municipalities who have an urban component, have to collect. There is also the question of unemployment and poverty. Consequently, municipalities are not self-sufficient and rely on grants and equitable share to survive. As a result of this lack of self-sufficiency, it is difficult to implement service delivery and also difficult to attract skilled personnel. The study has investigated why some municipalities fail to collect revenue and depend on national grants. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings of the quantitative paradigm have been presented in the form of graphs and charts. The major findings include: All municipalities have limited borrowing capacity; have not exceeded their budgets in terms of their spending; small municipalities have households as their main contributor of revenue collected; metropolitan municipalities get the big slice of their revenue from business; small and rural municipalities rely on grants and transfers and are therefore not financially viable; metropolitan municipalities are, to a great extent, financially viable but lack skills and capacity to utilize their resources for effective service delivery; and all municipalities under-spend their budgets. The study, after elaborating on the findings, makes recommendations on how municipalities should become financially viable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Analysis of temporal and spatial variations in water storage by means of gravimetric and hydrologic methods in the region around the South African gravimetric observation station
- Authors: Mahed, Gaathier
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Ground water -- South Africa , Geology -- South Africa , Hydrogeology -- South Africa , Water-supply -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/6714 , vital:21137
- Description: This work examines the use of gravity data and its application to subsurface water reservoirs in the immediate vicinity of the South African Geodynamic Observatory, Sutherland (SAGOS), situated in a semi-arid region of the Karoo region of South Africa, and underlain by the Karoo sedimentary rocks intruded by dolerite dykes and sills. SAGOS houses the only supergravity metre (SG) in Africa, and this thesis sets out to test its use in monitoring groundwater dynamics using hydrological and gravity data. The main aim of this work is the application of the SG data, in conjunction with hydrological data, to better understand episodic recharge of subsurface reservoirs. The importance of water as a resource, globally and specifically the Karoo, is reviewed in conjunction with supply and demand of water. This is to contextualise the socio-economic, technical as well as policy issues related to water resource management. Applicable technologies for water resource management and efficient water use are highlighted and the application of gravity to hydrology is introduced, including satellite as well as ground based tools. In addition, arid zone hydrology as well as recharge and its mechanisms are analysed in order to better understand these processes when examined from gravity measurements. Issues related to understanding flow within the vadose zone as well as in secondary aquifers are examined, and gravity residuals and subsurface hydrology are highlighted. Thereafter, a conceptual groundwater flow modelof the study area is developed using multiple tools. First, the geology around SAGOS was mapped using SPOT 5 imagery and then ground truthed. Second, stable isotopes and water chemistry analysis was undertaken on water samples from selected boreholes. The results allude to preferential flow acting as the main mechanism for groundwater recharge. Follow-up pump-tests illustrate that fracture connectivity is greatest at close proximity to the dyke. Soil mapping, using aerial photography was also undertaken. Duplex soils, enriched with clay at depth, dominate the study area. Using in-situ infiltration tests, it is shown that the alluvium, which lines the river beds, has a higher hydraulic conductivity than the other soils, confirming that these streams act as preferential conduits for subsurface recharge. Precipitation events were correlated against gravity residuals at 4 wells, over different time periods. The results are examined using time series analyses. Gravity residuals from well SA BK07, over a period of 24 hours after the rainfall event, delineate instances of negative correlations, as well as strong positive correlations (of up to 0.9). On the whole however, correlations between gravity and groundwater at SA BK07 are variable and weak, and in conjunction with water level measurements and water chemistry, the data suggest that this well is located in a dynamic conduit (throughflow) and not in a permanent groundwater reservoir. By contrast, other wells show strong positive correlations between gravity residuals and water levels following episodic recharge events for a later time series. Correlations between the water levels and gravity residuals in wells SA BK04, SA BK05 and SA BK 01 are in excess of 0.7 for specific rainfall events. In summary, the results suggests that gravity is an excellent tool for measuring episodic groundwater recharge within the immediate vicinity of the SAGOS. This implies that gravity can aid in monitoring groundwater losses/gains in arid and semi-arid areas. Recommendations for future work are highlighted at the end; these include the possible use of hydrological modelling of reservoirs at various scales and then comparing these results to the SG as well as GOCE and GRACE satellites data, and then improving numerical modelling of the groundwater dynamics for sites like Sutherland and the surrounding arid Karoo region, where sparse water shortages, and potential pollution related to fracking for shale-gas, are likely to compete with established water needs for farming and human consumption. It is also suggested that the gravity modelling be examined to better understand site specific scenarios and thus aid in improving the processing of the gravity signal.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Mahed, Gaathier
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Ground water -- South Africa , Geology -- South Africa , Hydrogeology -- South Africa , Water-supply -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/6714 , vital:21137
- Description: This work examines the use of gravity data and its application to subsurface water reservoirs in the immediate vicinity of the South African Geodynamic Observatory, Sutherland (SAGOS), situated in a semi-arid region of the Karoo region of South Africa, and underlain by the Karoo sedimentary rocks intruded by dolerite dykes and sills. SAGOS houses the only supergravity metre (SG) in Africa, and this thesis sets out to test its use in monitoring groundwater dynamics using hydrological and gravity data. The main aim of this work is the application of the SG data, in conjunction with hydrological data, to better understand episodic recharge of subsurface reservoirs. The importance of water as a resource, globally and specifically the Karoo, is reviewed in conjunction with supply and demand of water. This is to contextualise the socio-economic, technical as well as policy issues related to water resource management. Applicable technologies for water resource management and efficient water use are highlighted and the application of gravity to hydrology is introduced, including satellite as well as ground based tools. In addition, arid zone hydrology as well as recharge and its mechanisms are analysed in order to better understand these processes when examined from gravity measurements. Issues related to understanding flow within the vadose zone as well as in secondary aquifers are examined, and gravity residuals and subsurface hydrology are highlighted. Thereafter, a conceptual groundwater flow modelof the study area is developed using multiple tools. First, the geology around SAGOS was mapped using SPOT 5 imagery and then ground truthed. Second, stable isotopes and water chemistry analysis was undertaken on water samples from selected boreholes. The results allude to preferential flow acting as the main mechanism for groundwater recharge. Follow-up pump-tests illustrate that fracture connectivity is greatest at close proximity to the dyke. Soil mapping, using aerial photography was also undertaken. Duplex soils, enriched with clay at depth, dominate the study area. Using in-situ infiltration tests, it is shown that the alluvium, which lines the river beds, has a higher hydraulic conductivity than the other soils, confirming that these streams act as preferential conduits for subsurface recharge. Precipitation events were correlated against gravity residuals at 4 wells, over different time periods. The results are examined using time series analyses. Gravity residuals from well SA BK07, over a period of 24 hours after the rainfall event, delineate instances of negative correlations, as well as strong positive correlations (of up to 0.9). On the whole however, correlations between gravity and groundwater at SA BK07 are variable and weak, and in conjunction with water level measurements and water chemistry, the data suggest that this well is located in a dynamic conduit (throughflow) and not in a permanent groundwater reservoir. By contrast, other wells show strong positive correlations between gravity residuals and water levels following episodic recharge events for a later time series. Correlations between the water levels and gravity residuals in wells SA BK04, SA BK05 and SA BK 01 are in excess of 0.7 for specific rainfall events. In summary, the results suggests that gravity is an excellent tool for measuring episodic groundwater recharge within the immediate vicinity of the SAGOS. This implies that gravity can aid in monitoring groundwater losses/gains in arid and semi-arid areas. Recommendations for future work are highlighted at the end; these include the possible use of hydrological modelling of reservoirs at various scales and then comparing these results to the SG as well as GOCE and GRACE satellites data, and then improving numerical modelling of the groundwater dynamics for sites like Sutherland and the surrounding arid Karoo region, where sparse water shortages, and potential pollution related to fracking for shale-gas, are likely to compete with established water needs for farming and human consumption. It is also suggested that the gravity modelling be examined to better understand site specific scenarios and thus aid in improving the processing of the gravity signal.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
An appraisal of support services to students with disabilities: the case of Walter Sisulu University
- Authors: Makiwane, Nonzwakazi Beauty
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD Admin
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/1220 , vital:26537
- Description: The provision of effective support services in an efficient manner is a critical part of any university’s role to ensure that students with disabilities achieve academic outcomes. In South Africa universities are categorized into three types, namely traditional universities (offer theoretically-oriented degrees); universities of technology (offer vocational-oriented diplomas and degrees) and comprehensive universities (offer a combination of the other two). With their constitutional and policy framework obligations, universities are responsible for accommodating students with all types of disabilities. Pertaining to the awareness of social disparities, the quality of support services to students with disabilities still remains a concern. From various platforms it is evident that quality of support services to students with disabilities in South African universities is poor and in some instances crucial support devices do not exist at all. The pressures being felt by universities from external forces and the problems encountered in the extent of quality of support services has created the need for an appraisal. The purpose of this study, then, is to investigate and describe the quality of the support services provided to students with disabilities in a university context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
An appraisal of support services to students with disabilities: the case of Walter Sisulu University
- Authors: Makiwane, Nonzwakazi Beauty
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD Admin
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/1220 , vital:26537
- Description: The provision of effective support services in an efficient manner is a critical part of any university’s role to ensure that students with disabilities achieve academic outcomes. In South Africa universities are categorized into three types, namely traditional universities (offer theoretically-oriented degrees); universities of technology (offer vocational-oriented diplomas and degrees) and comprehensive universities (offer a combination of the other two). With their constitutional and policy framework obligations, universities are responsible for accommodating students with all types of disabilities. Pertaining to the awareness of social disparities, the quality of support services to students with disabilities still remains a concern. From various platforms it is evident that quality of support services to students with disabilities in South African universities is poor and in some instances crucial support devices do not exist at all. The pressures being felt by universities from external forces and the problems encountered in the extent of quality of support services has created the need for an appraisal. The purpose of this study, then, is to investigate and describe the quality of the support services provided to students with disabilities in a university context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Coping with HIV and AIDS in marginal communities: a case study of Chivanhu Settlement in Nemanwa, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Makonese, Loveness
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3337 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003744
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand and analyse HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe with particular reference to an isolated and marginalised informal settlement called Chivanhu in Masvingo Province. The focus is specifically on questions around HIV susceptibility, AIDS vulnerability and household resilience. In this regard, it is important to recognise that HIV and AIDS cannot be lumped together as one medical or social condition. Rather, there is a progression from HIV infection to AIDS-related chronic illnesses to possible death, and livelihood strategies often alter along this HIV and AIDS time-line. Zimbabwe for over a decade now has gone through a series of economic and political crises which have impacted detrimentally on both urban and rural livelihoods, even for those households which are not directly affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. With the economy in free-fall, households have had to pursue a range of livelihood strategies in order to sustain themselves. These socio-economic conditions have in many ways facilitated susceptibility to HIV infection and vulnerability to AIDS. Many studies have examined this in relation to wellentrenched and stable communities in rural Zimbabwe. But the livelihood dynamics for such communities are significantly different to more unstable and informal settlements like Chivanhu, as thesis seeks to show. At the same time, the thesis offers a longitudinal study which is able to map the changes to the livelihoods of infected and affected households in Chivanhu. Though recognising the debilitating effects of the pandemic on these households, it also raises questions about the possible resilience of certain households despite great adversity. In doing so, it goes beyond the individual and household levels of analysis to consider the role of clusters (or groups of households) in responding to the impacts of HIV and AIDS. In this regard, particular emphasis is placed on gender and orphanhood. In the end, the thesis offers a nuanced analysis of the everyday complexities and challenges for affected households in a marginalised and informal rural community in Zimbabwe and thereby makes a contribution to re-theorising HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods more broadly.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Makonese, Loveness
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3337 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003744
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand and analyse HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe with particular reference to an isolated and marginalised informal settlement called Chivanhu in Masvingo Province. The focus is specifically on questions around HIV susceptibility, AIDS vulnerability and household resilience. In this regard, it is important to recognise that HIV and AIDS cannot be lumped together as one medical or social condition. Rather, there is a progression from HIV infection to AIDS-related chronic illnesses to possible death, and livelihood strategies often alter along this HIV and AIDS time-line. Zimbabwe for over a decade now has gone through a series of economic and political crises which have impacted detrimentally on both urban and rural livelihoods, even for those households which are not directly affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. With the economy in free-fall, households have had to pursue a range of livelihood strategies in order to sustain themselves. These socio-economic conditions have in many ways facilitated susceptibility to HIV infection and vulnerability to AIDS. Many studies have examined this in relation to wellentrenched and stable communities in rural Zimbabwe. But the livelihood dynamics for such communities are significantly different to more unstable and informal settlements like Chivanhu, as thesis seeks to show. At the same time, the thesis offers a longitudinal study which is able to map the changes to the livelihoods of infected and affected households in Chivanhu. Though recognising the debilitating effects of the pandemic on these households, it also raises questions about the possible resilience of certain households despite great adversity. In doing so, it goes beyond the individual and household levels of analysis to consider the role of clusters (or groups of households) in responding to the impacts of HIV and AIDS. In this regard, particular emphasis is placed on gender and orphanhood. In the end, the thesis offers a nuanced analysis of the everyday complexities and challenges for affected households in a marginalised and informal rural community in Zimbabwe and thereby makes a contribution to re-theorising HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods more broadly.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013