An evaluation of performance and management development systems: a case study of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
- Authors: Bokwana, Bulelani
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Performance -- Management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36498 , vital:33953
- Description: The primary aim of this study was to establish whether the Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) in public institutions, has an effect on service delivery, with specific reference to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM). This is pertinent because municipalities have become the focal points of service delivery and they tend to focus mainly on complying with the legislative frameworks of having an Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) rather than implementing the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and the Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) to enhance service delivery to communities. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGta), introduces the Performance Management framework to municipalities with the aim of empowering the communities to demand better services and to hold municipalities accountable. This study provides an in-depth theoretical review on PMDS and service delivery. It is evident that one of the biggest challenges that are being faced by most municipalities in South Africa, is the lack of universal access to services such as water and electricity, sanitation, refuse removal systems and local economic development. This study employed the qualitative research approach to validate the research questions as well as to address the research objectives and data was collected through documentary sources of annual reports, Integrated Development Plan (IDP), Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP), articles, journals text books and legislation. Further findings in this study indicate that Performance Management and Development Systems (PDMS) in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), has not led to positive changes in service delivery and this is identified by violent service delivery protests. This study also identified that the system is currently flawed because, amongst other things, there is minimal employee involvement in the planning of performance management, including a lack of training opportunities to address identified weaknesses and the non-payment of performance bonuses to good performing employees, similarly majority of employees do not know their performance targets as reflected in the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP). Recommendations emanating from the literature review are presented to enhance service delivery for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) through Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) and they include cascading PMDS to all employees, furthering issues of alignment and integration of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) processes, budget, PMDS, monitoring, evaluation and training on the formulation of Key Performance Areas (KPAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). If these recommendations are adopted, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) will be able to deal with the current developmental obstacles that are being faced, in a more effective and efficient manner.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Communicating in/from the Cave: a communication for development/social change project aimed at enhancing communication, action and learning within the science cave, a learner-led Grade 10 science club in a public school in Makhanda
- Authors: Bombi, Thandi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa , Communication in science -- South Africa , Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Communication in science -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Student centered learning -- South Africa , Student centered learning-- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96837 , vital:31330
- Description: This research seeks to design, execute and reflect on a process where the principles and techniques of Communication for Development and Social Change are applied to enhance, support and develop qualitative changes within a learner-led Grade 10 science club at a public school in Makhanda. It draws and reflects on an ethnographic action research (Tacchi et al 2003) cycle proposed to explore the club’s communicative ecology (Foth & Hearn 2007) and resources, and understand how these have the potential to encourage the expression of voice (Couldry 2010: 580) and participation (Carpentier, 2011) in the members of the club. The research then attempts to understand the kind of communication, action and learning that takes place as well as the ways in which the framework is able to support the club (or not). The research uses an ethnographic narrative, told from the perspective of the researcher informed by field notes, interviews and participant reflections written during the intervention. This narrative, alongside an analytical summery of the club’s complex communicative ecology, tells the story of a club building confidence within a closed group and using that to connect with a wider public, articulating its needs, resources and potential supporting stakeholders for the club’s future development. The club is able to share its achievements with a community of peers and uses the platform of Facebook, to communicate with and inspire other like-minded people with an interest in science and their community.
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- Date Issued: 2019
“Attitudes of community members on the professional behaviour displayed by nurses towards their clients in Mnquma Local Municipality, Dutywa
- Authors: Bomela, Nobantu
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Nursing ethics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSW
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/16199 , vital:40695
- Description: This study explored the attitudes of community members on the professional behaviour displayed by nurses towards their clients in Dutywa location of Mnquma local Municipality, Eastern Cape. The study endeavoured to achieve the following specific objectives: (i) to explore the community members’ perceptions towards the professional behaviour displayed by nurses towards their clients; (ii) to establish the community members’ perceptions on the impact of nurses’ professional behaviour towards the healing of patients; and lastly (iii) to establish strategies to enhance the nurses’ positive professional behaviour towards their clients. The study was premised on Socio-Ecological Model. Methodologically, the study used both qualitative and quantitative paradigm and was thus guided by mixed research designs, which were a case study and a mini survey. The data was collected through in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions in the qualitative aspect of the study. In addition, the quantitative data was gathered through the use of questionnaires. The study used both nonprobability and probability methods of sample selection. Specifically, purposive sampling for qualitative sample and cluster random sampling for quantitative sample was used. Using these techniques, ten (10) participants were selected for qualitative individual interviews, and two focus groups which comprised of five (5) members for each group. Furthermore, questionnaires were (30) individual respondents. Qualitative data was analysed using content thematic analysis, while descriptive statistics was used to analyse quantitative data. The study revealed the following: maltreatment of patients by the nurses; nurses’ behaviour revealed professional deficit; nurses manifested bias in treating their patients; the phenomenon of patients being arrogant and impulsive, negative v treatment dissuades patients from visiting the health-care services and a need for more training or holding workshops for in patient-nurse relationship. Based on the evidence gathered in this study, the following recommendations were made: nurses should revisit their nurses’ code of conduct; improving communication between both the nurses and the clients; and lastly increasing of staff members in the clinic. The study concluded that patient abuse has a long-standing history that can be traced back to ancient times, which is mostly common against women and children, in most cases; the client is often vulnerable because the nurse has more power than the client. Moreover, the nurse has influence, access to information, and specialized knowledge and skills, of which that alone can lead to the nurses mistreating their patients.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Statistical Analysis of the Radio-Interferometric Measurement Equation, a derived adaptive weighting scheme, and applications to LOFAR-VLBI observation of the Extended Groth Strip
- Authors: Bonnassieux, Etienne
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Radio astronomy , Astrophysics , Astrophysics -- Instruments -- Calibration , Imaging systems in astronomy , Radio interferometers , Radio telescopes , Astronomy -- Observations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93789 , vital:30942
- Description: J.R.R Tolkien wrote, in his Mythopoeia, that “He sees no stars who does not see them first, of living silver made that sudden burst, to flame like flowers beneath the ancient song”. In his defense of myth-making, he formulates the argument that the attribution of meaning is an act of creation - that “trees are not ‘trees’ until so named and seen” - and that this capacity for creation defines the human creature. The scientific endeavour, in this context, can be understood as a social expression of a fundamental feature of humanity, and from this endeavour flows much understanding. This thesis, one thread among many, focuses on the study of astronomical objects as seen by the radio waves they emit. What are radio waves? Electromagnetic waves were theorised by James Clerk Maxwell (Maxwell 1864) in his great theoretical contribution to modern physics, their speed matching the speed of light as measured by Ole Christensen R0mer and, later, James Bradley. It was not until Heinrich Rudolf Hertz’s 1887 experiment that these waves were measured in a laboratory, leading to the dawn of radio communications - and, later, radio astronomy. The link between radio waves and light was one of association: light is known to behave as a wave (Young double-slit experiment), with the same propagation speed as electromagnetic radiation. Light “proper” is also known to exist beyond the optical regime: Herschel’s experiment shows that when diffracted through a prism, sunlight warms even those parts of a desk which are not observed to be lit (first evidence of infrared light). The link between optical light and unseen electromagnetic radiation is then an easy step to make, and one confirmed through countless technological applications (e.g. optical fiber to name but one). And as soon as this link is established, a question immediately comes to the mind of the astronomer: what does the sky, our Universe, look like to the radio “eye”? Radio astronomy has a short but storied history: from Karl Jansky’s serendipitous observation of the centre of the Milky Way, which outshines our Sun in the radio regime, in 1933, to Grote Reber’s hand-built back-yard radio antenna in 1937, which successfully detected radio emission from the Milky Way itself, to such monumental projects as the Square Kilometer Array and its multiple pathfinders, it has led to countless discoveries and the opening of a truly new window on the Universe. The work presented in this thesis is a contribution to this discipline - the culmination of three years of study, which is a rather short time to get a firm grasp of radio interferometry both in theory and in practice. The need for robust, automated methods - which are improving daily, thanks to the tireless labour of the scientists in the field - is becoming ever stronger as the SKA approaches, looming large on the horizon; but even today, in the precursor era of LOFAR, MeerKAT and other pathfinders, it is keenly felt. When I started my doctorate, the sheer scale of the task at hand felt overwhelming - to actually be able to contribute to its resolution seemed daunting indeed! Thankfully, as the saying goes, no society sets for itself material goals which it cannot achieve. This thesis took place at an exciting time for radio interferometry: at the start of my doctorate, the LOFAR international stations were - to my knowledge - only beginning to be used, and even then, only tentatively; MeerKAT had not yet shown its first light; the techniques used throughout my work were still being developed. At the time of writing, great strides have been made. One of the greatest technical challenges of LOFAR - imaging using the international stations - is starting to become reality. This technical challenge is the key problem that this thesis set out to address. While we only achieved partial success so far, it is a testament to the difficulty of the task that it is not yet truly resolved. One of the major results of this thesis is a model of a bright resolved source near a famous extragalactic field: properly modeling this source not only allows the use of international LOFAR stations, but also grants deeper access to the extragalactic field itself, which is otherwise polluted by the 3C source’s sidelobes. This result was only achieved thanks to the other major result of this thesis: the development of a theoretical framework with which to better understand the effect of calibration errors on images made from interferometric data, and an algorithm to strongly mitigate them. The structure of this manuscript is as follows: we begin with an introduction to radio interferometry, LOFAR, and the emission mechanisms which dominate for our field of interest. These introductions are primarily intended to give a brief overview of the technical aspects of the data reduced in this thesis. We follow with an overview of the Measurement Equation formalism, which underpins our theoretical work. This is the keystone of this thesis. We then show the theoretical work that was developed as part of the research work done during the doctorate - which was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Its practical application - a quality-based weighting scheme - is used throughout our data reduction. This data reduction is the next topic of this thesis: we contextualise the scientific interest of the data we reduce, and explain both the methods and the results we achieve.
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- Date Issued: 2019
An investigation of learning and emerging knowledge in the Mpophomeni Sanitation Education Project, Howick, KwaZulu-Natal
- Authors: Boothway, Reinetta Louina
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa , Mpophomeni Sanitation Education Project (South Africa) , Water quality management -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Knowledge and learning
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115377 , vital:34121
- Description: This study took place within the broader context of water resources management in South Africa. With the democratisation of water stewardship through an enabling international and South African water policy landscape, an opportunity opened up for citizens to participate in the effective management of their own water resources. In this context, a community-engaged citizen science project known as the Mpophomeni Sanitation Education Project emerged to demonstrate how a diverse range of knowledge agents can work and learn together to better manage their water resources and address problems of sewage pollution threatening their provincial water source. The following study aimed to shed light on the learning and emerging knowledge in the MSEP. The study was conducted in three phases. Wenger’s Communities of Practice (CoP) theory provided a lens to look at Phase One, which aimed to answer the following sub-question: Is the MSEP a CoP? Wenger’s CoP theory also assisted with the investigation during Phase Two, which looked at the following question: What is the nature of learning in the MSEP? Social realist theories of knowledge and education, and Tàbara and Chabay with their Ideal Type (IT) worldviews, provided suitable lenses for Phase Three’s investigation of the following question: What is the nature of emerging knowledge in the MSEP? The main finding for Phase One is that the MSEP does function as a CoP. With its strong focus on relationships, it’s clearly defined joint enterprise of solving the problem of sewage pollution, individual and joint commitment to engage with the problem and the sharing of a repertoire of tools, ideas and practices it is cultivating a culture conducive to purposeful learning. Regarding the exploration of the nature of learning in Phase Two, findings confirming the engagement of identity with learning and the importance of context for meaning-making emerged. Finally, study findings about the nature of knowledge in the MSEP found that the knowledge practices in the MSEP that are both social and epistemic in nature are produced by a diverse range of knowledge agents in an open knowledge space.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Effects of an educational intervention related to clinical simulation terminology on the knowledge of nurse educators at a public college
- Authors: Booysen, Cindy Lynn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Nursing -- Simulation methods
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCur
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36423 , vital:33940
- Description: Nurse educators must be prepared and feel comfortable using clinical simulation as a strategy in order for it to be successful as a teaching and learning approach. In terms of an educational intervention, orientation and training pertaining to simulation terminology for nurse educators can improve their capacity and strengthen the clinical simulation experience. The researcher observed a lack of knowledge regarding the terminology of clinical simulation among nurse educators at a public nursing college and this study therefore aimed to determine the effects of an educational intervention related to clinical simulation terminology on the knowledge of nurse educators at a public nursing college. The researcher conducted a small-scale intervention study utilizing a positivist, quantitative paradigm with a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test design. The researcher purposively selected the five main campuses at a public nursing college in South Africa. The five main campuses were purposively selected into control (two main campuses; campus A, campus B) and experimental group (three main campuses; campus C, campus D and campus E). Convenience sampling was used by including all nurse educators of each campus. A self-administered pre-test questionnaire was developed and used in Phase one in order to explore and describe the knowledge of nurse educators with regard to the terminology applied in clinical simulation. A total of 125 nurse educators were included (experimental group n=65; control group n=60). Phase two involved the development, review and implementation of an educational intervention based on the standards of best practice: standard 1: terminology, developed by the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL). Methods for the educational intervention included a PowerPoint presentation and pamphlets administered to the purposively selected experimental group (three campuses; campus C, campus D and campus E). The educational intervention was implemented per campus. The control group did not receive any educational intervention (two campuses; campus A and campus B). Phase three comprised a self-administered post-test that was developed to evaluate the effects of the educational intervention pertaining to the nurse educators’ knowledge of the terminology applied in clinical simulation and was completed by the nurse educators who participated in Phase one of the study. A total of 70 participants completed Phase three of the study, (n=31 from the control group and n=39 from the experimental group). The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (ANOVA and Chisquare testing), with the assistance of a statistician. A pilot study was conducted to prove the reliability of the pre-and post-test questionnaires and the educational intervention and a review by the statistician as well as the supervisors and five experts in the field of clinical simulation for the pre-test post-test questionnaires and educational intervention was done prior to its implementation. The pre-test was completed by (n=81) participants and the post-test by (n=70). The majority age category for participants was 50 years and older (n=32, 40%). Almost one third of the participants had less than 5 years’ experience as nurse educators (n=25, 31%). A statistically significant difference was found for pre-knowledge by age relationship (pvalue= ,036). The pre- and post-difference by age (p-value=.035) as well as work experience (p-value= .017) was also found to be significant (p-value= ,035). The older age groups (40-49 years of age) benefited more from the study as their knowledge on clinical simulation terminology significantly increased (Cohen’s d= 0,77 and 0,76- medium score) as well as those that were more inexperienced (1-4 years of working experience) (Cohen’s d= 1,10- large). The majority of participants did not receive any training in simulation-based education (n=69, 85%). The participants who received simulation-based education training versus the participants who did not receive any training showed a statistically significant variance for the pre-knowledge scores (pvalue= ,001) (Cohen’s d= 1,06- large). The mean score for the knowledge section (section B) of the questionnaire was 59,72 and the mean score for the pre-test-posttest difference was 12,64. The findings of the t-test had a small significant value for the pre-test and a medium significant value for the post-test. A significant medium Cohen’s d value was evident after correlating the difference between the knowledge scores for the pre- and post-test questionnaires. The 15 minutes educational intervention thus had a medium effect (pre-post difference of the knowledge scores: p-value=<.0005, with a Cohen’s d score of 0.67-medium significance) on the knowledge findings of nurse educators. However, as gaps in knowledge were evident among nurse educators in this study, further recommendations for practice, education and research were provided. Ethical principles such as informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity as well as permission to conduct the study were taken into consideration through all phases of the study.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Breaking the Rules: Zodwa Wabantu and postfeminism in South Africa
- Authors: Boshoff, Priscilla A
- Date: 2021
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/177408 , vital:42819 , http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.v9i2.3830
- Description: Zodwa Wabantu, a South African celebrity recently made popular by the Daily Sun, a local tabloid newspaper, is notorious as an older working-class woman who fearlessly challenges social norms of feminine respectability and beauty. Her assertion of sexual autonomy and her forays into self-surveillance and body-modification, mediated by the Daily Sun and other tabloid and social media platforms, could be read as a local iteration of a global postfeminist subjectivity. However, the widespread social opprobrium she faces must be accounted for: Using Connell’s model of the gender order together with a coloniality frame, I argue that northern critiques of postfeminism omit to consider the forms of patriarchy established by colonialism in southern locales such as South Africa. The local patriarchal gender order, made visible within the tabloid reportage, provides the context within which the meaning of Zodwa Wabanu’s contemporary postfeminist identity is constructed. I examine a range of Zodwa Wabantu’s (self)representations in Daily Sun and other digital media in the light of this context, and conclude that a close examination of the local gender order assists in understanding the limits of postfeminism’s hegemony.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Factors that influence consumers’ buying behaviour for particular vehicle brands
- Authors: Bosman, Brendan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Consumer behavior -- South Africa , Consumer profiling Advertising -- South Africa , Purchasing -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37742 , vital:34233
- Description: The motor industry is a critical component of South Africa’s economy. It is also an industry that has become intensely competitive with a large variety of vehicle brands on offer for buyers to choose from. Given the competitive nature of this environment, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) are constantly under pressure and have to consistently review and develop new strategies to keep their brands relevant in the market. The purpose of the study was to gain insight into customer preferences and specifically vehicle purchasing behaviour, and to establish if brand factors and personal factors influence consumer buying behaviour for particular vehicle brands. An empirical investigation was embarked on using a self-administered questionnaire with a seven-point Likert scale. Convenience sampling was used and resulted in the return of 215 usable questionnaires. The reliability of the measuring instrument was confirmed via acceptable Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data collected. The main findings indicate that numerous factors influence buyers’ behaviour when purchasing a vehicle. However, Quality, Safety and Price had the biggest influence on the buyer’s decision making when choosing a particular vehicle brand. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to dealers and OEM’s. These recommendations are practical and also linked to previous research as presented in the literature. Dealerships and OEMs should therefore take cognizance of these results and improve on these factors to influence vehicle buying behaviour. These factors should also be used as strong marketing components when advertising and selling vehicles. The value for money provided by vehicles should be emphasised. The link between Quality, Safety, and Price should therefore be accentuated.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Social Media usage in low-income communities: Opportunities and constraints in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Botchway, Stanley Aubyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social media
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc. Sci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17717 , vital:41150
- Description: Social media is 21st century phenomenon has captured the attention of millions of people across the globe and has hitherto, permeated through all facet of our contemporary life. It has become the important conduit through which people far and near interact. Sharing of information, communicating, collaborating, engaging are some of the visible highlights of Social Media. Social media usage cut across different demographics. This is due to the unique characteristics of social media which includes openness, participation and sharing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact such usage have on less advantaged communities and how it can be used to further their cause in achieving socioeconomic parity. This study is qualitative in nature and it relied on semi-structured interviews and observations to collect data. Purposive and convenience sampling was used to select respondents. The findings of the study indicate that utilizing social media for the utmost gain is imperative in that the presence of new technologies has revolutionised the way people socialise beyond real time and boundaries. It was also noted that social media is the new norm as such societies far and beyond need to harness the potential not only for the social media generation but for the communities within its reach. Thus, researching into the impact this phenomenon has on the poorest communities is of great importance for both the public and policy makers. This study however recommends regulation of social media in order to contain security risks that it poses. It is therefore important to enhance internet security to protect the privacy threats. It is also important to invest more on issues of information and communication technology on low-income communities
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- Date Issued: 2019
Property price prediction: a model utilising sentiment analysis
- Authors: Botes, Rhys Cameron
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Natural language processing (Computer science) , Computational linguistics Text processing (Computer science) Social networks
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37117 , vital:34119
- Description: The increase in the use of social media has led many researchers and companies to investigate the potential uses of the data that is generated by these social media platforms. This research study investigates how the use of sentiment variables, obtained from the social media platform Twitter, can be used to augment housing transfer data in order to develop a predictive model. The Design Science Research (DSR) methodology was followed, guided by a Social Media Framework. Experimentation was required within the Design Cycle of the DSR methodology, which lead to the adoption of the Experimental Research methodology within this cycle. An initial literature review identified regression models for property price prediction. Through experimentation, Gradient Boosting regression was identified as an optimal regression model for this purpose. Thereafter a review of sentiment analysis models was conducted which resulted in the proposal of a CNN-LSTM model for the classification of Tweets. Initial experimentation conducted with this proposed model resulted in an obtained accuracy comparable to the top performing sentiment analysis models identified. A dataset obtained through SemEval, a series of evaluations of computational semantic analysis systems, was used for this phase. For the final experimentation, The CNN-LSTM model was used to obtain sentiment variables from Tweets that were collected from the Western Cape Province in 2017. This property dataset was augmented with the sentiment variables, after which experimentation was conducted by applying Gradient Boosting regression. The augmentation was done in two ways, either based on suburb pertaining to the property, or to the month in which the property was transferred. The results indicate that a model for Property Price Prediction Utilising Sentiment Analysis demonstrates a small improvement when suburb-based sentiment, obtained from Tweets with a minimum threshold per suburb, is utilised. An important finding was the fact that, when geo-coordinates are removed from the dataset, the sentiment variables replace them in the regression results, producing the same level as accuracy as when the coordinates are included.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Suicide and the South African business cycle
- Authors: Botha, Ferdi , Pitot, A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/396138 , vital:69153 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-18880c26e4"
- Description: Using monthly data for January 2006 - December 2015, this study explores the relationship between suicide and the South African business cycle. Contrary to most previous research, the findings reveal that suicide is pro-cyclical.
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- Date Issued: 2019
A gatherer’s paradise? early humans and plant foraging on the Cape south coast, South Africa
- Authors: Botha, Maria Susan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Plant remains (Archaeology) -- South Africa , Plant physiology Plant ecology Botany -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37139 , vital:34124
- Description: Humans were driven to refugia during the cold and dry glacial Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS6) (~195–125 ka); only a few places, including the Cape south coast, show archaeological evidence of continuous human occupation. It has been hypothesised that the Cape south coast provided the requisite shelter to ensure human’s earliest survival because it provided all the right ingredients. The shores offer abundant shellfish, the land a diverse array of plants, and the climate was ameliorated due to the proximity of the then exposed Palaeo-Agulhas Plain to the warm Agulhas current. The aim of this study is to determine whether the indigenous flora of this region could have provided a sufficient edible resource for early humans. Residents of the Cape south coast have genetic ancestry linking them to the Khoe-San, the original inhabitants of the area, and still have an extensive knowledge of the local edible plants. With their help, I set out to determine a) whether humans have been utilising the same plant species over time, b) what the foraging potential of the edible plants in the region is and c) how resilient these plants are to human foraging. If we know whether the plant species known and used today were the same as those that were utilised by past humans, we can then use the contemporary knowledge to make predictions about past utilisation. To answer this question, I collated two databases: archaeological (all plant species found in archaeological sites [dating 0 to 80,000 BP]) and contemporary (all plant species in the modern-day ethnographic literature [last 400 years]) that occur within the Greater Cape Floristic Region(GCFR). I found a significant number of plant species shared between the two databases, which suggests that at least some plant species have been used by humans over a long period of time. To determine the indigenous plant foraging potential of the region, I foraged for food in the Cape south coast (451 bouts) monthly over a two-year period with the help of local inhabitants. The findings show that edible plant resources are distributed patchily and focusing on specific vegetation types would greatly enhance chances of harvesting 2,000 kcal per day, which is considered the daily calorific requirements for a typical hunter-gatherer. I then sought to understand how resilient these plants [(with an emphasis on plants with an underground storage organ (USO)] would be to human foraging. To do this, I set out plots and harvested all edible foods for three consecutive years with the help of foragers. Results indicate that there was a significant reduction in edible weight only in the third year of consecutive harvesting. In conclusion, using various approaches, this study investigates the plant food potential of the Cape south coast from the perspective of early human consumers. The findings suggest that knowledge regarding useful plants dates back to at least 80,000 BP. Food resources are patchily distributed across the main vegetation types found within the Cape south coast and occur in hotspots, i.e. concentrated areas hosting high densities of edible plant foods, surrounded by areas with very low plant food densities. Foragers could have harvested their daily calorific quota more easily if they focused their harvesting efforts in specific vegetation types found in the Cape south coast. Furthermore, many USOs circumvent climatic fluctuations, herbivory or both by staggering their emergence over multiple years, which implies they have some resilience to human foraging.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Factors impacting the design of a mobile application for soil management: a case study of the Eastern Cape crops
- Authors: Botha, Stephan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mobile soil management application
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MIT
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44581 , vital:38127
- Description: Some of the biggest challenges the global community has to face are the ever-dwindling levels of freshwater resources, the drastic impact of the greenhouse gases on the global climate and the loss of non-renewable fertile soil. South African agriculture contributes a total of 12.7% to the overall South African GDP (gross domestic product). Only a small portion of the South African soil is considered as being able to grow healthy and nutritious crops. The world of information communication technology (ICT) is extremely vast and growing daily with newly created tools, to accommodate the needs of a specific sector, such as agriculture. As the ICT-based agricultural solutions increase and improve, the uptake of these solutions within the South African agricultural sector becomes even smaller. The reasons for the low uptake of mobile soil management solutions for crop growing farmers are unknown, due to limited research conducted. The identified problem was a lack of understanding of the way mobile technologies can be designed to adequately support farmers to correctly manage their soil to produce the best possible crops. The primary objective of this research study was to identify factors, which may have a significant impact on the design of a mobile soil management application for crop farmers in the Eastern Cape (South Africa). The secondary objectives were as follows: (i) to determine what soil management is and which aspects are required to implement soil management effectively; (ii) to identify possible mobile technologies suitable to act as an effective support structure for a mobile soil management application; and (iii) to identify which user experience guidelines are key for the development of an effective mobile soil management solution and to compile a user experience guideline for an effective mobile soil management solution. Achieving these objectives, resulted in a better understanding of the identified problem. The problem was addressed by conducting a thorough literature review and a case study to better grasp the different aspects of the identified problem. Quantitative data was collected by conducting a user interface evaluation. Qualitative data were also gathered by means of a field test using the mobile soil management application. The field test was done in conjunction with a heuristic evaluation, completed by the participants. Data triangulation was used to compare the results of the gathered data. The results from the data triangulation were used to confirm the factors, which made the most significant impact on the success of the soil management application. These confirmed design factors were used to produce a list of guidelines to improve the design of future mobile ICT soil management applications.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Factors impacting the design of a mobile application for soil management: a case study of the Eastern Cape crops
- Authors: Botha, Stephan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mobile applications -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Information technology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Soil management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44907 , vital:38187
- Description: Some of the biggest challenges the global community has to face are the ever-dwindling levels of freshwater resources, the drastic impact of the greenhouse gases on the global climate and the loss of non-renewable fertile soil. South African agriculture contributes a total of 12.7% to the overall South African GDP (gross domestic product). Only a small portion of the South African soil is considered as being able to grow healthy and nutritious crops. The world of information communication technology (ICT) is extremely vast and growing daily with newly created tools, to accommodate the needs of a specific sector, such as agriculture. As the ICT-based agricultural solutions increase and improve, the uptake of these solutions within the South African agricultural sector becomes even smaller. The reasons for the low uptake of mobile soil management solutions for crop-growing farmers are unknown, due to limited research conducted. The identified problem was a lack of understanding of the way mobile technologies can be designed to adequately support farmers to correctly manage their soil to produce the best possible crops. The primary objective of this research study was to identify factors, which may have a significant impact on the design of a mobile soil management application for crop farmers in the Eastern Cape (South Africa). The secondary objectives were as follows: (i) to determine what soil management is and which aspects are required to implement soil management effectively; (ii) to identify possible mobile technologies suitable to act as an effective support structure for a mobile soil management application; and (iii) to identify which user experience guidelines are key for the development of an effective mobile soil management solution and to compile a user experience guideline for an effective mobile soil management solution. Achieving these objectives, resulted in a better understanding of the identified problem. The problem was addressed by conducting a thorough literature review and a case study to better grasp the different aspects of the identified problem. Quantitative data was collected by conducting a user interface evaluation. Qualitative data were also gathered by means of a field test using the mobile soil management application. The field test was done in conjunction with a heuristic evaluation, completed by the participants. Data triangulation was used to compare the results of the gathered data. The results from the data triangulation were used to confirm the factors, which made the most significant impact on the success of the soil management application. These confirmed design factors were used to produce a list of guidelines to improve the design of future mobile ICT soil management applications.
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- Date Issued: 2019
An anthropological investigation of the perception of blood donation amongst university students: the case of students at the Nelson Mandela University
- Authors: Boukes, Zinzan Sebastian
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Blood donors -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Blood -- Collection and preservation -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth College students -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30887 , vital:31195
- Description: The importance of voluntary non-remunerated blood donation is emphasised by the WHO, who envision a world with a sustainable blood supply where at least one percent of the population of every country voluntarily give blood. To ensure an adequate supply, the South African National Blood Service collects around three-thousand units of blood per day – forty percent of this from high school pupils and university students, following WHO recommendations regarding this segment as a target donor population. Despite the contribution by this segment of the population, no published knowledge exists of the perception of blood donation amongst university students in the country. This is an issue as the WHO (2010) recommends that countries understand what their populations know, think, and do regarding blood donation. In response to this issue this study investigated the perception of blood donation amongst students at a South African university (the Nelson Mandela University) to develop an understanding of what students know, think and do regarding blood donation. The study was conducted between 2017 and 2018 at a campus (‘South Campus’) of the Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth. The study followed a qualitative approach, applying a thematic analysis. Data was collected through semi-structured person-to-person interviews among a sample of students (n=20) from different departments and disciplines.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Towards a norm of compliance in recreational fisheries
- Authors: Bova, Christopher S
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Fishing -- Management -- South Africa , Fishery law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95909 , vital:31213
- Description: The activity of fishing can be traced back to prehistoric times. However, only in the last century has there been a focus on the management of fisheries. Fishery regulations are tools used by resource managers with the aim of protecting the long-term sustainability of fishery resources. Although there is an overwhelming amount of evidence demonstrating the decline of fisheries, non-compliance with these regulations by fishers continues to manifest, which can exacerbate the negative ecological impacts of fisheries. Popular methods towards the measurement of noncompliance in fisheries derived from previous human dimensions literature may be flawed. Theories on improving compliance behaviour have typically relied on theory, which has at times proved paradoxical. Addressing the issues of non-compliance within a fishery of interest requires measuring the levels of non-compliance within the fishery and determining the relevant sociopsychological drivers behind the non-compliant behaviour. The data collection methods used during these assessments are limited in human dimensions research and are often case and context specific, requiring researchers to identify which approach is most practical for the specific fishery of interest. By identifying relevant behavioural drivers of non-compliance, a more effective approach aimed at improving compliance can be tailored. The recreational marine-based shore fishery (MBSF) in South Africa is not impervious to noncomplaint behaviour. In fact, it has been estimated to have relatively high rates of non-compliance. This high level of non-compliance makes the South African MBSF a unique and optimal context in which to undertake research that aims to formulate a framework towards compliance assessments and that develops a suitable approach for improving compliance rates. Using surveys to obtain compliance data can provide a range of details about violators, however they are susceptible to social desirability bias (SDB). Choosing the best method for controlling SDB required an assessment of existing methods for doing so. In this first part of the study, only fishers who were covertly observed breaking the rules were surveyed, using one of three methods for reducing SDB, to ground-truth the responses. Ground-truthing was done to determine which method would be most effective for a large-scale study within the same fishery. Of the methods used, which include the direct questioning method (DQM), the random response technique (RRT) and the ballot box method (BBM), all contained some level of SDB. However, the BBM provided a significantly higher level of response accuracy (79.6% ± 11.9) than the DQM (46.5% ± 14.9) and the RRT (44.3% ± 12.5). Random-stratified roving creel compliance surveys that employed the BBM were then undertaken at various locations along South Africa’s coastline to estimate current rates of non-compliance, and the face-to-face results were compared to results from an identical online survey to determine the suitability of online surveys as a replacement. The results indicated that online surveys only represent a subgroup of the fisher population within the MBSF, suggesting that face-to-face survey methods are required to obtain a more comprehensive sample and a more robust estimate of noncompliance. The results, based on 453 face-to-face surveys, showed a high level of overall self-reported noncompliance (48.3%) within the fishery. Responses to Likert scale survey questions on various aspects of the fishery, including angler motivations for fishing, were then modelled to test the relationship between the anglers’ responses and their compliance behaviour. In the South African MBSF context, the most significant behavioural drivers behind non-compliance related to normative concepts. Specifically, the poor perceptions of management and value-based legitimacy as well as low levels of moral obligation to adhere to the regulations appeared to contribute most to the observed non-compliant behaviour. Angler motivations for fishing also played a significant role in determining the compliance behaviour of anglers, with those fishing for food being more likely to violate regulations. In most countries, regardless of economic context, interventions to improve recreational fishery compliance have been developed around the instrumental concept. However, these findings suggest that for recreational fisheries, managers would do well to evaluate the impact of normative concepts on compliance and to design interventions aimed at addressing these. In the case of the South African MBSF, interventions that address angler perceptions of legitimacy and aim to correct misperceptions about social norms of compliance may provide a more practical and cost- effective method for improving poor compliance behaviour.
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- Date Issued: 2019
A critical analysis of South African anti-money laundering legislation regarding cryptocurrency
- Authors: Bowden, Susan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Money laundering -- South Africa , Money -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Electronic funds transfers Money -- Technological innovations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42107 , vital:36626
- Description: Cryptocurrencies are decentralised virtual currencies, using blockchain technology to process peer-to-peer electronic payments. In 2009, the first successful cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was established. As a result of the Internet, cryptocurrencies had soon made their way into South Africa. As such, cryptocurrencies are currently not included under the definition of a legal tender and therefore remain unregulated by the legal framework. This issue is examined within this research project. The objectives were to understand the concepts of cryptocurrency, the relevance in the financial sector, the associated risks and to establish whether regulatory interference is necessary for the operation of cryptocurrency. The legal and regulatory framework of cryptocurrencies within Canada, the United States of America and the European Union were compared to that of South Africa. The research explained that cryptocurrencies are decentralised convertible currencies which are secured by cryptography. It highlighted the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, some of which are detrimental due to the wide use of cryptocurrencies. One of the risks included using cryptocurrencies to launder money. In order to mitigate these risks, jurisdictions such as Canada, the United States of America and the European Union have begun to regulate cryptocurrencies by establishing a legal framework for its operation. However, no such legal framework existed in South Africa for the regulation of cryptocurrencies. As a result, the South African Reserve Bank and National Treasury released position papers, which warn consumers of the associated risks. Therefore, the conclusion was made that regulatory intervention is necessary in South Africa. Following this, the recommendation was made to integrate cryptocurrencies into relevant existing legislation. It was recommended that regulation is the most effective method of combatting money laundering using cryptocurrencies.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Antecedents and influence of the union-management relationship on employee relationships in the automotive, component and metal industries in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole
- Authors: Bowler, Jennifer
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Industrial relations, South Africa , Psychology, Industrial Work environment Industrial relations Labor unions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37150 , vital:34126
- Description: South Africa is consistently portrayed as having uncooperative union-management relationships which negatively impact competitiveness. However, the post-1994 labour legislation was specifically crafted with the intention of positioning the adversarial wealth distribution phase of the union-management relationship within centralised bargaining forums and promoting cooperative relationships within workplaces. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether within the South Africa context of global competitiveness, the employment relations institutions of centralised and decentralised collective bargaining, employee participation and involvement, in the context of organisational justice, have contributed to management, shop stewards and production employees developing effective1 collective and individual employment relationships positively associated with competitive individual and company performance. The targeted population were companies within the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area that were registered with one of the four bargaining councils, Automotive (NBF), Automotive component (MIBCO), New Tyre (NTMIBC) and Metal and Engineering (MEIBC). In addition, since the National Union of Metal Workers was the dominant union in all four of these councils, an additional criterion for potential participation was at least one NUMSA shop steward. Fourteen companies agreed to participate. In total 63 shop stewards, 82 managers and 660 production employees were surveyed using self-administered questionnaires. The results of the study identified that the three major stakeholders hold significantly different perceptions regarding the quality of the management-shop steward relationship, with management the most positive and production employees the least. Further, investigating the factors that influence the perceptions that management and shop stewards have of their relationship, it was identified that for management the most influential factor was their beliefs regarding the interdependent nature of the relationship. For the shop stewards the situation was more nuanced with beliefs regarding interdependence, the perceptions of shop steward-management climate within the bargaining council, satisfaction 1 Definition of an effective employment relationship: An effective employment relationship is one in which the parties successfully resolve issues arising from their conflicting interests and successfully pursue joint gains where they share common interests (Kochan & Katz, 1988) with bargaining council agreements and workplace human resource practices and procedural fairness all contributing factors to the quality of the shop steward-management relationship. The model tested for production employees investigated the relationship between the factors human resource practices, procedural fairness, the standardisation of work, the employees’ perception of the shop steward-management relationship and the relationship of the employees with both their supervisor and the organisation. The primary finding was that the perception that the production employees held regarding the shop steward-management relationship fully mediated the employees’ relationship with the organisation and partially mediated that with the supervisor. These findings confirm the mediating position occupied by shop stewards within unionised companies and without derogating the importance of supervisory-employee relationships, indicated the central importance of the management-shop steward relations in forging strong employee-manager and employee-organisational bonds. While the original purpose of the study included investigating the link between the key employment relationships, namely, shop steward-management, employee-supervisor and employee-organisation relationships, and company competitiveness, unfortunately due to the limited number of companies that participated, it was not possible to test a company level model that included company performance. However, tentative support was found for relationships between the shop steward-management relationship and company performance. This remains an area for further study.
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- Date Issued: 2019
The impact of financial developments on economic growth in Ghana: evidence from the manufacturing industries
- Authors: Brafi, Paul Osei
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Economic development -- Ghana , Finance -- Ghana Manufactures -- Finance -- Ghana
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37184 , vital:34135
- Description: This study provides an analysis of financial and growth dynamics with a view to assess the impact of financial development on economic growth in Ghana. The study also examines the extent to which financial developments in Ghana are affecting capital accumulation and industrial sector growth. The analysis was performed by examining the financial development indicators and economic growth data for Ghana over the period from 1965 to 2016. The study was motivated by the theoretical indications that improvements in financial intermediation within the economy can induce growth of the real sector and thus lead to economic growth. There have been notable structural and financial sector reforms in Ghana since the early and late 1980s. The indications in the financial sector portray improvement in the measures of financial development in the post-reform era as compared to the years before. The findings of the study complement existing research findings and information on finance-growth association as well as the influence that finance has on the sources of growth. The study adopted real per capita gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of economic growth. In addition, three real sector indicators serving as the sources of growth, included; capital accumulation, industrial value-added and manufacturing value added. The analysis also adopts four financial indicators, expressed as percentage shares of GDP, namely; domestic credit to private sector, total domestic credit provided by financial sector, broad money supply and financial sector deposits—as measures of financial development. The analysis of the impact of the financial development on capital accumulation, industrial output growth, manufacturing productivity and economic growth were estimated using the linear regression estimation techniques within the GMM estimation approach. The study, additionally, examined the short-run and long-run impacts of financial development on economic growth indicators by employing the Vector Autoregressive Regression (VAR) within the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The study further assesses the direction of causality between financial development and economic growth indicators using the cointegration and Engle-Granger causality testing approach within VAR models. The Bayesian Vector Auto Regression (BVAR) models were applied to examine the drivers of economic growth and to assess the sensitivity of economic growth to financial development and macro-economic shocks. This assessment was carried out to examine the maximising behaviour of financial development and to find out if there exists threshold point beyond which finance adversely affects economic growth in Ghana. The results showed that credit to private sector shows a strong positive persistence in promoting economic growth in Ghana. The results show that financial development dynamics in Ghana positively affect long run economic growth and further indicate that the rate of impact was relatively higher in the post reform period of 1984 to 2016. The study further found a bi-directional causal association between financial development and economic growth. Regarding the sources of growth, the study found that financial development strongly contributes positively to capital accumulation in the long-term, however, the findings further suggested that, to some extent, the growing size of finance dampens capital formation and economic growth. This suggested the existence of inefficiencies in the expanding size of total credit offered by the financial system in Ghana. The study further found a long-run positive association between financial development and industrial productivity (except for manufacturing) growth in Ghana, with industry growth substantially determined by private credit. The results of the assessment on the sensitivity of economic growth to shocks in financial development indicators show that Ghana ‘s economic growth is, to a larger extent, influenced by domestic credit provided to the private sector. Also, the results showed that economic growth has been highly responsive to macro-economic shocks such as government expenditure and industrial sector growth although industrial growth seems to show a strong negative persistence on Ghana ‘s economy. The results from the analysis of finance and economic growth shows that existence of different optimal growth maximising points domestic credit, broad money, financial sector deposits and the overall financial development ratios as depicted by the various inverted U-shaped relationship between the financial development indicators and economic growth. The optimal size or maximising positions or thresholds for private credit and total credit were found to be at approximately 20.0 per cent and 28.0 per cent of GDP, respectively. On the other hand, the optimal size or minimum positions or thresholds for broad money supply and total financial sector deposits were found to be at approximately 19.0 per cent and 10.0 per cent of GDP, respectively. With regards to broad money supply-to-GDP and financial sector deposit-to-GDP ratios, the respective averages of 23.19 per cent and 13.77 per cent for the period 1965-2015 are higher than the minimum required thresholds of 19.00 per cent and 10.00 per cent, respectively. The findings show that financial developments have a strong positive association with economic growth, but the results also give the indication that although financial development can enhance growth and inefficiencies in the financial system can equally dampen growth at some levels. overall, the study found that financial reforms have positively contributed to economic growth in Ghana and the impacts of financial development on economic growth in Ghana have been higher in the post-reform era. The effect of financial reforms on capital accumulation was not significant although the study established that the impact of structural reforms was strong and adversely affected capital accumulation in Ghana. With regards to the industrial productivity growth, the study found a positive association between financial development and industry growth in Ghana. It was, however, observed that financial reforms have fails to significantly affect growth of industrial productivity and the impact of financial development on industry sector growth in Ghana are low but the sector experienced relatively higher growth in the pre-reform era.
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- Date Issued: 2019
An evaluation of the management performance assessment tool in the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Braweni, Asanda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Performance -- Management , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Public administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Organizational effectiveness -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Performance -- Evaluation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37233 , vital:34139
- Description: Management Performance Assessment Tool for improving audit outcomes in the Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs steamed out of the need to possibly have a preliminary understanding of the MPAT and how its application has fared towards performance improvement and service delivery mandate of the department in review. In 2010, South African Cabinet requested the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) in the Presidency in collaboration with the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) to lead the development of a comprehensive assessment tool through the nine provincial departments and offices of the Premiers as the Provincial coordinating agencies. The aim of this empirical study was to assess how Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT) can be well utilised to improve audit outcomes of the Department of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs (DCoGTA). Performance Management which is the basis for the research aims at assisting the DCoGTA in the Eastern Cape to better apply the MPAT tools to achieving better performance improvement through well informed Management decision-making which will ultimately guarantee smarter public service delivery and improved audit outcomes. The research methodology is socially driven in outlook with designed structure and plan which investigates the research aims through an introductory platform on the research questions demanding answers towards solving the research problems emanating from the main title of the research. Data analysis which informs the research findings provides some policy lessons on the application of MPAT as a tool for performance improvement when it is appropriately applied, and adopted within the decision-making structures of the Department of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs of the Eastern Cape Provincial government.
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- Date Issued: 2019