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Accessibility of agricultural information by smallholder farmers in Amatole District Municipality: Nexus between agricultural extension services and the library

  • Authors: Sigigaba, Masimthembe
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Farms, Small
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , M Agric (Agric Extension)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18849 , vital:42870
  • Description: Accessibility to relevant, accurate and timely information remains vital in farming. For farmers to improve their productivity they depend on access to pertinent agricultural information. Such information updated them about new agricultural technologies, climate change, new cultivars, access to market and access to financial assistance. These types of information help farmers in decision making regarding their farming. Agricultural extension officers remain a reliable source where farmers could obtain relevant agricultural information. Community libraries are also channels that could be used by agricultural extension officers to complement their work of providing farmers with information. Thus, the study sought to assess linkage between these two institutions to provide farmers with information. A positivism paradigm with quantitative research approach were adopted in the study. Smallholder farmers (169), agricultural extension officers (5) and librarians (15) were the unit of analysis. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection and SPSS software for analysis. Findings revealed that, agricultural extension officers mostly utilise interpersonal channels that include demonstrations, group meetings and face-to-face interaction to provide farmers with information. Community libraries were found to be non-utilised by extension services and also by farmers. Farmers were of the perception that libraries are meant for educated people. It was also discovered that community libraries have information on agriculture that only targets learners who are taking agriculture in school as a subject. There was no existing linkage between agricultural extension services and community libraries working together to provide farmers with pertinent agricultural information that can help them improve productivity
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  • Date Issued: 2020

A systematic review on South African literature on hegemonic masculinity

  • Authors: Pieterse, Carl
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Masculinity , Men -- Psychology Hegemony
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43225 , vital:36761
  • Description: The application and use of hegemonic masculinity as a theory and concept in South African literature is confusing and ambiguous. This confusion often results in hegemonic masculinity being equated to the concepts of dominant masculinity or traditional masculinity. Recently, research has suggested that studies on hegemonic masculinity contaminated the concept, whereas only a few have added new and acceptable knowledge. The concept of hegemonic masculinity has an almost hegemonic foundation in global literature, often resulting in the misuse of the concept. The aim of the study was to identify, analyse, and report on the themes and trends in South African literature that represents the understudied populations that create and maintain hegemonic masculinity. A systematic review process was utilised to identify and summarise the data, while thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse, and report on the patterns in the data. The results revealed five major themes that contribute toward the complex and paradoxical ways in which hegemonic masculinity was created and maintained by both individuals and society. In conclusion, the study discovered the complex nexus of paradoxes that exist in South African society and ultimately how they are used to create and maintain heteronormative standards of living by means of alignment with hegemonic masculinity. The study recommends that future research should focus on intersectionality as a lens through which hegemonic masculinity is studied.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

School principals' leadership behaviours in relation to teacher job dissatisfaction : a case of three rural schools in the Butterworth Education District

  • Authors: Nohako, Siphumle
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: School principals Teacher-administrator relationships Teachers -- Job satisfaction
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd.
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11216 , vital:37320
  • Description: There is an increasing dissatisfaction among teachers in South Africa. Teacher job dissatisfaction has been found to have negative impact on how teachers perform their jobs, is likely to influence teachers to leaving the teaching profession and impact negatively on learner achievement. Finding ways to combat the problems is of utmost importance. Leadership behaviours of school principals have been found to be one of the key factors that positively affect teacher job dissatisfaction. This qualitative study sought to understand leadership behaviours employed by rural school principals in relation to teacher job dissatisfaction. This was a case study of three schools in the Butterworth Education District in the Eastern Cape Province. A total of three principals and twelve teachers participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis were data collection instruments utilised in this study. House’s Path Goal Theory was identified as the relevant theory for understanding school principals’ leadership behaviours in relation to teacher job dissatisfaction. Findings revealed that, school principals are aware of the manifestations of teacher job dissatisfaction at their schools. However, teacher job satisfaction does not feature as an agenda item in both staff and school management meetings. Moreover school principals were found to be employing various leadership behaviours to respond to different manifestations of teacher job dissatisfaction. Leadership behaviours like participative and transformational were found to have a positive impact on teacher job dissatisfaction. Directive and laissez-faire were found not suitable in improving teacher job dissatisfaction. Findings also unearthed tensions between school principals’ leadership behaviours and teachers’ expectations on how principals should lead in relation to teacher job dissatisfaction. This study proposes that, as leaders school principals should act in both formal and informal ways to build teacher commitment in their organizations and influence teachers to achieve the goals and objectives of the school. School principals should create platforms where teacher job dissatisfaction is discussed and strategies to improve it are explored. This would help them to be aware of how their leadership behaviours impact on teacher job satisfaction and thereby make conscientious decisions to improve the level of teacher job dissatisfaction.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Exploring the sand dune mining in the Xolobeni community : perceptions and narratives of environmental sustainability

  • Authors: Sigwayi, Ziyanda
  • Date: 2017
  • Subjects: Environmental impact analysis Sand dunes Sand and gravel mines and mining
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , Sociology
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/16363 , vital:40714
  • Description: Historically, mining in South Africa, is one of the major anchors of the economy. As a mining giant, South Africa has also borne the major brunt of socio-ecologic effects of mineral exploitation over the years – - thus, giving rise to agitation by advocacy groups and local people in mineral-rich communities where mining is perceived as environmentally unsustainable and a social threatening to cultural heritages of host communities. For the state, mineral exploitation is a cardinal pillar of the economy and generator of employment for ordinary citizens. Similarly, mining companies hold a utilitarian view of mining is a source of revenue and employment. It is thesis sets of perceptions – differing though – that present a major challenge in the proposed titanium mining project in Xolobeni, a rural community in Mbizana Municipality, Eastern Cape Province. The debate over mining in this community borders on both the history of resistance against state intrusion in Mpondoland and on environmental rights agitation. The central problem of this study centres on understanding how the perceptions of risks and vulnerability (associated with mining project) among the major stakeholders – local community, government, advocacy groups and the mining company intersect. In order to deal with this problem, the study adoptseds the qualitative research design. It is hoped that qualitative data will be able to explore the narratives of participants deeply. The study will also draw on official documents and secondary sources associated with mining and related discourses in South Africa. An insight into the findings reveals an intensely divergent position stance between two major solidarities – community/advocacy groups on one side, and the state/mining company on the other. This sharp dualism deepens the suspicions historical relationship between the community Mpondos and the South African state. It also places the Xolobeni mining- related conflict with the South African state at the centre of resource- related conflicts in other African states, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, among others.
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  • Date Issued: 2017

An evaluation of the morphological and genetic diversity of Eurydice occurring on South African sandy beaches

  • Authors: Hawkins, Magdalena Johanna , Hauser, Lorenz
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Morphology , Beaches -- Morphology
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/6708 , vital:21128
  • Description: This study evaluated the diversity of the genus Eurydice on sandy beaches in South Africa by analysis of morphological as well as genetic data. Type specimens of the three Eurydice species currently known from South Africa, E. longicornis, E. kensleyi and E. barnardi were obtained from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and the Iziko Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. These specimens were studied in order to become familiar with their morphology. Eurydice individuals obtained from 30 sites spanning the South African coast, from Port Nolloth on the north-west coast to Bhanga Nek on the north-east coast were then examined. The two species E. kensleyi and E. barnardi, as well as four new morphospecies (A, B, C and D) were discriminated from these individuals by suites of morphological character types. Morphospecies A, B, C and D were therefore delimited according to the Phenetic Species Concept. None of the Eurydice individuals examined exhibited the same suite of characters as E. longicornis. Molecular sequences of two mitochondrial markers, cytochrome c oxidase 1 and 16S rRNA were analysed using both distance- and monophyly based methods. Uncorrected p-distances, a Minimum Spanning Haplotype Network and Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic trees were investigated to determine genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships in the six Eurydice morphospecies. Results from the genetic analysis made it possible to delimit morphospecies A B, C and D as phylospecies A, B, C and D according to the Phylogenetic Species Concept, thereby validating the species status of four new Eurydice species, provisionally called Eurydice A, Eurydice B, Eurydice C and Eurydice D. This increases the total number of Eurydice species from South Africa to seven, of which six form part of the macrofauna of sandy beaches. The outcomes of this study represent an important step in the resolution of the taxonomy of the genus Eurydice in South Africa and enhance current knowledge of the biodiversity of sandy beach macrofauna, thus facilitating better-informed decisions on conservation policies and management to the benefit of conservation of biodiversity on sandy beaches in South Africa.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Genetic structure and biogeography of three wrasse species (Labridae) within the Western Indian Ocean

  • Authors: Mayekiso, Sisanda
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/1114 , vital:20021
  • Description: The biogeography of wrasses within the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is poorly understood, with regard to origins and genetic differentiation or connectivity among the regions of the WIO. This region is a good model for studying the influence of physical complexities and biogeographic breaks in shaping patterns of differentiation in wrasses. Three reef-associated fish species, Cheilio inermis, Thalassoma hebraicum and T. lunare, were selected to examine the factors that have influenced patterns of differentiation across the WIO. Each species was sampled from various localities of the WIO, the Red Sea and Indo-West Pacific Islands. Sequence data were generated from two mitochondrial gene fragments (cytochrome b and ATPase 6) and one nuclear locus (the first intron of the ribosomal protein S7 gene). Genetic analyses were used to calculate genetic diversity indices within species, which were then compared among species. The relationships among haplotypes and alleles were constructed using median-joining networks. Where necessary, neighbour-joining trees (NJ) were constructed to examine relationships among haplotypes and alleles for the Thalassoma species. Population structure was analysed using AMOVA and pairwise ФST to compare and calculate differentiation between the WIO localities. Mismatch distributions were used to examine population growth and decline or stability, and demographic parameters were used to calculate time of population expansion. There was high haplotype (h = 0.88 to 0.98) and low nucleotide diversities (π = 0.003 to 0.008) among all species for mitochondrial markers. For S7 intron I, high allelic (A = 0.95 to 0.98) and low nucleotide diversities (π = 0.002 to 0.014) were observed for all species. The pairwise ФST values revealed little to great (ФST = -0.02 to 0.67) genetic differentiation between localities, across all species for the three gene regions. The pairwise comparisons indicated the differentiation in C. inermis of Tanzania and Kenya from Mozambique and Nosy Be (Madagascar). The widespread C. inermis also revealed the differentiation of Kenya and Tanzania. For C. inermis, the AMOVAs of ATPase 6 and cytochrome b data indicated high differentiation among defined locality groups. The groups were defined according to geographic proximity. However, the AMOVA of the nuclear gene (S7 intron I) did not find variation among defined locality groups. Cheilio inermis revealed a sequence divergence of 0.4%. The divergence that was found in C. inermis was not enough to suggest a cryptic species within the WIO. Overall, the widespread and monotypic C. inermis revealed genetic differentiation within the WIO. Thalassoma hebraicum generally revealed little genetic differentiation across the WIO. The AMOVAs of the three gene regions showed no variation among specimens of the defined locality groups. However, some differentiation was found between localities. The pairwise comparisons of T. hebraicum revealed the differentiation of Seychelles from the African mainland and Madagascar. Southern Africa was observed to be differentiated from Nosy Be and Zanzibar. The observed differentiation could be caused by oceanic barriers such as the South Equatorial Current (SEQC), East African Coastal Current (EACC), and the Comoros Gyres and eddies in the Mozambique Channel, and Agulhas Current. Thalassoma lunare revealed genetic isolation between the WIO and the Red Sea as well as within the WIO. The genetic isolation between the WIO and the Red Sea is probably due to the historical isolation by the Bab al Mandab and contemporary barriers such as the cold upwelling cells in Somalia. The differentiation of Maldives from the African mainland and Seychelles could be due to distance and the upwelling cells created by monsoon winds. Mismatch distributions suggested that C. inermis and T. hebraicum had undergone demographic expansion during the Pleistocene (92 678 to 40 219 years ago). The results of the current study are similar to those from previous studies of WIO reef fish species, and the results of the present study could have potential implications for conservation and fisheries management. Single genetic markers and single species studies do not detect all barriers to dispersal in the WIO, thus they are insufficient to inform conservation management. Thus, the use of multispecies and genetic markers in the current study can be adopted by other studies of the marine taxa of the WIO.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Tug of war : a critical discourse analysis of Punch and Daily Trust newspapers' coverage of polio eradication in Nigeria

  • Authors: Oyewo, Ayanfeoluwa Olutosin
  • Date: 2015
  • Subjects: Punch (Nigeria) , Daily Trust (Nigeria) , Poliomyelitis -- Nigeria , Communication in medicine -- Nigeria , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Nigeria , Journalistic ethics -- Nigeria , Journalism -- Objectivity -- Nigeria , Critical discourse analysis
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3546 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017787
  • Description: The resurgence of the polio virus in Nigeria following vaccine rejections poses a severe threat to the total worldwide eradication of polio. Vaccine refusals are a huge problem in Nigeria, especially in the North, which accounts for about 60 percent of polio cases in 2013. These refusals were informed by claims that polio vaccines contained anti-fertility properties that were designed by the ‘West’ to reduce the Muslim population. These claims and subsequent vaccine rejections culminated in the killing of health workers during an immunisation exercise in February 2013. This study is an analysis of the coverage of the polio eradication controversy by two newspapers- Punch and Daily Trust, following the killings of the health workers. Daily Trust is situated in Northern Nigeria, while Punch is situated in the South. The choice of these newspapers is based on the argument by Ayodele (1988) and Omenugha (2004) that the Nigerian press has been accused of escalating tension in the country because they view many aspects of the Nigerian reality from the lenses of religious, political and cultural prejudices. Because it is a text-based study, the chosen research method is Fairclough’s (1995) model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), following a preliminary thematic content analysis. In addition to Fairclough’s model, the study employs textual analytic tools such as narrative analysis and rhetoric/argumentative analysis. The selected texts, which comprise editorials and news stories are analysed based on the themes identified during the thematic content analysis. The study concludes that while the two newspapers differ in their locations and stylistic approach to news, they are similar in their coverage of the polio eradication crisis. They both side with the Federal Government and help perpetuate the South versus North animosity thereby ignoring the intricacies involved in the polio eradication controversy.
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  • Date Issued: 2015

How does security limit the right to protest? : a study examining the securitised response to protest in South Africa

  • Authors: Royeppen, Andrea Leigh
  • Date: 2014
  • Subjects: Protest movements -- South Africa , Political violence -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 21st century , Civil rights -- South Africa , Police power -- South Africa , Abuse of administrative power -- South Africa , Police -- Complaints against -- South Africa , Right to strike -- South Africa , Democracy -- South Africa , Political leadership -- South Africa -- 21st century , Political participation -- South Africa , African National Congress , South African Police Service
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2878 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013071
  • Description: In South Africa, the right to protest is under constant threat as a result of the state response. Increasing cases of forceful policing and sometimes unlawful procedural prohibitions of protest attest to this. This study aims to firstly describe this situation through securitisation theory, essentially arguing that South Africa has become a securitised state. It also aims to understand how this is sustained by the state and why the state needs to use a securitised response to maintain power. Interviews were conducted with members of different communities and organisations. Their responses helped to illustrate the frustration of the right to protest or brutal policing during a protest. This provided primary evidence to support the claims of the study. The research shows that claims to protest are being delegitimised under the guise of security as protestors are being constructed as threats to the state. This is further substantiated by looking at how the reorganisation and remililtarisation of the South African Police perpetuates the criminalisation of protestors which necessitates a forceful response from the state. Furthermore, it shows that there is a distinct relationship between the prohibition of protest and the recent increase in ‘violent’ protests which legitimate forceful policing thereby creating a state sustained cycle of violence. The larger implication of this treatment is that these protestors are treated as non- citizens who are definitively excluded from participating in governance. In understanding why this is taking place, it is clear that a securtitised response is an attempt to maintain power by dispelling any threats to power, a response which is seen to have a long history in the African National Congress (ANC) when examining the politics of the ANC during exile. Maintaining power in this way distracts from the larger agenda of the state, which this thesis argues, is to mask the unraveling of the ANC’s hegemony and inability to maintain national unity. In other words, the increasing dissatisfaction of some of the citizenry which has manifested through protest greatly undermines the legitimacy of the government to provide for its people.
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  • Date Issued: 2014

The impact of oil price volatility on unemployment: a case study of South Africa

  • Authors: Senzangakhona, Phakama
  • Date: 2014
  • Subjects: Cointegration -- South Africa Foreign exchange rates -- South Africa Interest rate futures -- South Africa Petroleum products -- Prices -- South Africa Petroleum industry and trade -- South Africa -- Econometric models
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , M Com
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/1697 , vital:27550
  • Description: This study analyses and investigates the impact of crude oil price vitality on unemployment in South Africa. This is done by firstly surveying theoretical and empirical literature on the crude oil price-unemployment relationship before relating it to South Africa. Secondly, crude oil and unemployment trends with their causes are overviewed. The study employs a Johansen co-integration technique based on VAR to model unemployment against crude oil prices, real effective exchange rate, real interest rates and real gross domestic product. Using quarterly data for the period 1990-2010, econometric results show that crude oil prices are positively related to unemployment in the long run while the opposite is true in the short run. Parameter estimates and variables are statistically significant; hence there are also policy recommendations which are related to both empirical and theoretical literature. Lastly, impulse response functions show that unemployment returns to equilibrium in the long run when crude oil price changes whereas real interest rates followed by crude oil prices explain most of unemployment changes compared to other variables in the long run.
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  • Date Issued: 2014

"The wings of whipped butterflies" : trauma, silence and representation of the suffering child in selected contemporary African short fiction

  • Authors: Njovane, Thandokazi
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Children in literature Psychic trauma in literature Short stories, African (English) -- 21st century
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2253 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004214
  • Description: This dissertation, which examines the literary representation of childhood trauma, is held together by three threads of inquiry. Firstly, I examine the stylistic devices through which three contemporary African writers – NoViolet Bulawayo, Uwem Akpan, and Mia Couto – engage with the subject of childhood trauma in five of their short stories: “Hitting Budapest”; “My Parents’ Bedroom” and “Fattening for Gabon”; and “The Day Mabata-bata Exploded” and “The Bird-Dreaming Baobab,” respectively. In each of these narratives, the use of ingén(u)s in the form of child narrators and/or focalisers instantiates a degree of structural irony, premised on the cognitive discrepancy between the protagonists’ perceptions and those of the implied reader. This structural irony then serves to underscore the reality that, though in a general sense the precise nature of traumatic experience cannot be directly communicated in language, this is exacerbated in the case of children, because children’s physical and psychological frameworks are underdeveloped. Consequently, children’s exposure to trauma and atrocity results in disruptions of both personal and communal notions of safety and security which are even more severe than those experienced by adults. Secondly, I analyse the political, cultural and economic factors which give rise to the traumatic incidents depicted in the stories, and the child characters’ interpretations and responses to these exigencies. Notions of subjectivity and intersubjectivity, identity and community, victimhood and survival, agency and disempowerment are discussed here in relation to the context of postcolonial Africa and the contemporary realities of chronic poverty, genocide, child-trafficking, the aftermath of civil war, and the legacies of colonialism and racism. Thirdly, this dissertation inspects the areas of congruence and divergence between trauma theory, literary scholarship on trauma narratives, and literary attempts to represent atrocity and trauma despite what is widely held to be the inadequacy of language – and therefore representation – to this task. There are certain differences between the three authors’ depictions of children’s experiences of trauma, despite the fact that the texts all grapple with the aporetic nature of trauma and the paradox of representing the unrepresentable. To this end, they utilise various strategies – temporal disjunctions and fragmentations, silences and lacunae, elements of the fantastical and surreal, magical realism, and instances of abjection and dissociation – to gesture towards the inexpressible, or that which is incommensurable with language. I argue that, ultimately, it is the endings of these stories which suggest the unrepresentable nature of trauma. Traumatic experience poses a challenge to representational conventions and, in its resistance, encourages a realisation that new ways of writing and speaking about trauma in the African continent, particularly with regards to children, are needed. , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
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  • Date Issued: 2013

An investigation of teachers' mathematical task selection in the Zambia context

  • Authors: Kangwa, Evaristo
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1384 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001512
  • Description: This research sought to investigate the sources and type of tasks used in the teaching of trigonometry in Zambia’s secondary schools, and to investigate the criteria used and decisions made by teachers in their selection and implementation of tasks. The study was conducted in three different school types located in high cost, medium cost and low cost respectively. One participant was chosen from each of the different categories of schools. The research was located within an interpretive paradigm. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, lesson observations and document analysis which include: lesson plans for five consecutive days, pupils’ activity books and three textbooks predominantly used by the teachers. Document analysis was informed by the task analysis guide and essential themes which were used to tease out teachers’ task practice with regard to criteria used and decisions made in the selection and implementation of tasks. Essential themes that were qualitatively established were validated and explicated by the qualitative analysis. The findings of the study indicate that teachers picked tasks from prescribed textbooks. The study further suggests that teachers selected a mix of low and high level tasks, procedures without connections and procedures with connections tasks to be specific. There were no memorisations and doing mathematics tasks. Their choice of tasks was based on the purpose for which the task was intended. Some tasks were selected for the purpose of practicing the procedures and skills, other tasks for the promotion conceptual development. Most of high level tasks decline to low level tasks during implementation. The findings also indicate that teachers selected and implemented a variety of tasks and concepts. Furthermore, teachers presented tasks in various forms of representations and in a variety of ways. However, the results of this study could not be generalized because of the small sample involved. The results presented reflect the views and task practices of the target group. A possibility for future study would be to consider a large population, drawn across the country.
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  • Date Issued: 2013

'Becoming citizens': young people making sense of citizenship on a South African community radio station youth show

  • Authors: Karamagi, Sharon Benna Kyakyo
  • Date: 2012
  • Subjects: Citizenship -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Youth -- Social conditions Community radio -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002898
  • Description: This research set out to investigate the role that community radio can potentially play as a space in which young people engage with their own role as citizens and, in so doing, participate in discussions that seek to address social problems in a community divided by class, income, gender and race. The study examines how a local community radio station - Radio Grahamstown - developed a youth programme Y4Yin which the producers of the show and its audience came together to negotiate the meaning of citizenship. The study examines whether this interactive programme was able to function as something like a public sphere where in young people were able to develop a greater sense of agency, at least in the realm of citizenship. Using evidence gathered through focus group discussions with a group of young school-going leamers, interviews conducted with the producers of the show Y4Y, and drawing on Dahlgren's elaboration of a functional public sphere, the research concludes that the show provided a useful platform for Grahamstown high school students to develop their own notions of citizenship and to, at least partially and tentatively, build some 'bridges' across the vectors of socio-economic division in the town. However, the research also concludes that the Y4Y producers often failed to use a mode of address contemporary to the youth and often did not use production techniques congruent with young people's cultural tastes. This limited the programme's appeal and its potential as an enabler of discussion about notions of citizenship and as a platform for social bridging. In addition, because of the producers' control over the choice of topics put up for discussion, open interaction was more limited than could have been expected. In addition, the study also concludes that various limitations to the leamers' freedom of expression (including their fear that teachers might be listening in to the shows) inhibited the programme's role as a deliberative public sphere where issues could be aired, common ground found, and solutions discussed.
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  • Date Issued: 2012

Recolonisation of the Robberg Peninsula by the Cape Fur Seal Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus and its prey preferences

  • Authors: Huisamen, Johan
  • Date: 2012
  • Subjects: South African fur seal -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , South African fur seal -- Food -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: vital:10745 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1006438 , South African fur seal -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , South African fur seal -- Food -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay
  • Description: The Cape fur seal Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus colony at the Robberg Peninsula, Plettenberg Bay, on the south-east coast of South Africa, was driven to extirpation by indiscriminate harvesting by the late 1800s and seals only began to recolonise this site in the 1990s. This study describes the recolonisation process from 2000 to 2009, exploring within- and between-year variation in the number of seals using the site. Numbers increased over the study period from less than 300 animals to over 3 100. Year and month were important in explaining variability in seal counts, whereas sea condition, time of day and lunar phase had minimal explanatory power. Within-year variation in seal counts decreased during the study period, which may indicate an increasing proportion of resident (as opposed to transient) seals in the colony. However, the colony is currently still in a transition phase with a low ratio of breeding to non-breeding animals and low numbers of pups born on the colony (currently still < 100 per year). The influx of seals to the Robberg area may be associated with an increase in prey availability in the area. The relative protection afforded by the Nature Reserve status of the Robberg Peninsula and the existence of a Marine Protected Area adjacent to it are likely to contribute to the growth of this colony. However, human interference associated with fishing and/or ecotourism on the Peninsula may prevent the colony from developing into a breeding colony. Faecal (scat) sampling was employed to study the diet of this increasing seal population at Robberg. Species composition and size of prey were determined, temporal variation in the diet was explored, and the potential for competition between seals and the fisheries around Plettenberg Bay was investigated. Of the 445 scats collected, 90 % contained hard prey remains. These comprised of 3 127 identified otoliths representing 15 teleost prey species, 25 cephalopod beaks representing three 6 species and three feathers representing two bird species. The seals' most important prey species in terms of numerical abundance and frequency of occurrence in the diet were anchovy, sardine, horse mackerel, sand tongue-fish and shallow-water hake (in decreasing order of importance). The proportion of anchovy in the diet increased during the study period, while sardine decreased. Sardine was the only species that increased significantly in the diet during the upwelling season. Little evidence was found of direct competition between seals and linefisheries in Plettenberg Bay, both in terms of prey species composition and quantities consumed. Scat sampling in seals holds promise as a method to track long-term changes in prey species availability. The conservation and management of this colony are discussed in light of the research findings.
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  • Date Issued: 2012

Consensus and contentions around community engagement in a South African tertiary institution :University of Fort Hare

  • Authors: Mudefi, Elmon
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Administration
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8306 , vital:32257
  • Description: This study examines the nature and character of consensus and contentions around the discourse of community engagement in a South African university context. This is against the background of the growing body of literature that advocates for the need for universities to make their impact felt in communities in more direct ways than through teaching and research. The examination is also against the background of the assumption that the success or failure of community engagement initiatives is, in part, a function of how stakeholders agree/disagree on the meaning and purpose of community engagement. The University of Fort Hare is used as a case study. Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were used for qualitative data collection, whilst a survey was conducted for gathering quantitative data. The study revealed that stakeholders attach different meanings to community engagement, with those possessing power and influence acting as key decision makers. Thus powerful stakeholders (in this case, the university and donor organizations) are at the core of the decision making process, while beneficiaries are pushed to the periphery. Moreover, both the meanings and the activities within which they cohere have important implications for the way beneficiary communities perceive university-community partnerships.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

The unstable earth landscape and language in Patrick White's Voss, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient and David Malouf's An Imaginary Life

  • Authors: Lee, Deva
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: White, Patrick, 1912-1990. Voss Ondaatje, Michael, 1943- The English patient Malouf, David, 1934- An imaginary life Language and languages in literature English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2238 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002281
  • Description: This thesis argues that Patrick White’s Voss, Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient and David Malouf’s An Imaginary Life depict landscape in a manner that reveals the inadequacies of imperial epistemological discourses and the rationalist model of subjectivity which enables them. The study demonstrates that these novels all emphasise the instabilities inherent in imperial epistemology. White, Ondaatje and Malouf chart their protagonists’ inability to comprehend and document the landscapes they encounter, and the ways in which this failure calls into question their subjectivity and the epistemologies that underpin it. One of the principal contentions of the study, then, is that the novels under consideration deploy a postmodern aesthetic of the sublime to undermine colonial discourses. The first chapter of the thesis outlines the postcolonial and poststructural theory that informs the readings in the later chapters. Chapter Two analyses White’s representation of subjectivity, imperial discourse and the Outback in Voss. The third chapter examines Ondaatje’s depiction of the Sahara Desert in The English Patient, and focuses on his concern with the ways in which language and cartographic discourse influence the subject’s perception of the natural world. Chapter Four investigates the representation of landscape, language and subjectivity in Malouf’s An Imaginary Life. Finally, then, this study argues that literature’s unique ability to acknowledge alterity enables it to serve as an effective tool for critiquing colonial discourses.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

An exploratory study into various stakeholders' perceptions and experiences of participative management in a high school in the Cala district, Eastern Cape

  • Authors: Stofile, Attwell Mzamane
  • Date: 2006
  • Subjects: School management and organization -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Educational leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Educational change -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Management -- Employee participation -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1538 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003420
  • Description: Although the word “participation” has been with mankind for a long time and is widely used by writers on management areas, it still remains difficult to define precisely what it means. As a result, “participation” is one of the most misunderstood and confusing ideas that have emerged from the field of human relations. This study seeks to explore the perceptions and understanding that the various stakeholders have about participative management. The purpose is to find out the meaning and interpretations the stakeholders attach to the idea of participation. This study is an interpretive case study of a Senior Secondary School in the Cala District of the Eastern Cape. A phenomenological approach was employed in data gathering using two data collection tools namely questionnaires and interviews. The collected data provided insight into stakeholders’ views on participative management, highlighted challenges around the implementation of participative management, and revealed strategies to be utilized in promoting participation. The findings reveal that participation is a controversial idea that is easier said than done. There is no recipe for the implementation of a participative approach; it depends on the situation and nature of the subordinates. Furthermore, organization members need to adopt new thinking patterns in order to be responsive to change. Open communication emerges as the key to having genuine participation. However, participation still brings anxiety and fear of losing power to those managers who do not take kindly to it. It is recommended that good interpersonal relations should be maintained at all times to promote participation and that for schools to be effective, partnership with parents and stakeholders is essential.
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  • Date Issued: 2006

Assessing the need for specific services for HIV/AIDS affected people using participatory needs assessment processes

  • Authors: Moresby-White, Ann
  • Date: 2002
  • Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Services for , HIV-positive persons -- Services for , AIDS (Disease) -- Research , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
  • Identifier: vital:713 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007692 , AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Services for , HIV-positive persons -- Services for , AIDS (Disease) -- Research , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa
  • Description: The purpose of the study undertaken is to develop knowledge to assist service providers in their planning and implementation of community -based programmes and projects. The thesis explores the most appropriate way of conducting a needs assessment, relating to HIV/AIDS services in a particular community; thereafter the needs assessment was carried out. This qualitative research study is conducted using participatory methods and techniques. The research reviews literature pertaining to HIV/AIDS, specifically in Africa, South Africa and the Eastern Cape and incorporates a discussion on the concept of community, community development and poverty. The design of the needs assessment tool, implementation and analysis is conducted through focus group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews. The theory on participatory approaches and community development are central to this study. The study found that HIV / AIDS as an issue is not perceived by the community under study to be an immediate need in light of basic needs being identified as priority. The use of participatory methods in this study highlighted the diversity within communities. Service providers who wish to initiate community - based projects need to take note of diversity and personal interests of individuals or groups who become involved in community- based projects. The study further highlighted the need for service providers to provide training, to their staff in participatory approaches and techniques, before embarking on community development projects. The study concludes that services relating to the HIV/AIDS epidemic cannot be carried out in isolation, but that an integrated approach is needed in the planning and implementation of services and programmes to address those affected by HIV/AIDS.
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  • Date Issued: 2002

Modelling the distribution and abundance of several demersal fish species on the Agulhas Bank, South Africa

  • Authors: Sampson, Mark Robert
  • Date: 2002
  • Subjects: Fishes -- South Africa -- Geographical distribution , Fishes -- South Africa -- Geographical distribution -- Mathematical models
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: vital:5343 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006207 , Fishes -- South Africa -- Geographical distribution , Fishes -- South Africa -- Geographical distribution -- Mathematical models
  • Description: The Agulhas Bank supports a speciose fish community, many of which are commercially important. Despite substantial research being conducted on aspects of their biology spatial aspects of their distribution and abundance in relation to environment parameters has been ignored. This study, therefore, addressed aspects related to the distribution and abundance of representative species on the Agulhas Bank within a Geographic Information System (GIS). Four candidate species were chosen due to their importance either in numbers or unit mass to the South African demersal trawl fishery. The species also shared morphological and taxonomic similarities. The candidate species chosen were the two Cape hake species, shallow-water hake Meluccius capensis, and deep-water hake Merluccius paradoxus, and the two pleuronectiform species being Agulhas sole Austroglossus pectoralis and redspotted tonguesole Cynoglossus zanzibarensis. The use of a GIS was appropriate and allowed for hidden spatial patterns be exposed and illustrated visually, while also facilitating the quantification of the relationships between distribution/abundance and certain environmental predictors using statistical methods The Department of Marine and Coastal Management, Cape Town, supplied biological data in the form of length frequency and biomass information from spring (AprillMay) and autumn (September/October) cruises conducted between 1986 and 1993 on the R. V. Africana. The Council for National Geoscience, Cape Town, supplied sediment data for the entire southern African coastline. Initial exploratory data analysis highlighted potential relationships between environmental variables and abundance for each specie's life-history stanzas. Variations in spatial distribution were found to be significantly different between each life-history stanzas within species. Fish density as a function of the additive effects of the various environmental parameters, including temperature, depth and sediment type, was assessed using a Poisson Generalized Additive Model (GAM), while distribution was analysed with a logistic GAM. A predictive logistic model was then created, taking into consideration the importance of the predictor variables for each species, allowing for predictive estimates to be made for each species by inputting environmental information within the study area. The importance of certain environmental variables influencing distribution and abundance were noted. General patterns indicated that sediment was the most important to both the distribution and abundance of the two pleuronectiform species and juvenile life-history stanzas, while the adult gadoids' distribution and abundance appeared to be depth dependent.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2002

A critical evaluation of the Sibanye Mentoring Programme implemented by the Border Cricket Board

  • Authors: Dixon, Barry Nolan James
  • Date: 2001
  • Subjects: Sibanye Mentoring Programme , Border Cricket Board , Mentoring in business
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Business Administration)
  • Identifier: vital:10900 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49 , Sibanye Mentoring Programme , Border Cricket Board , Mentoring in business
  • Description: The research problemaddressed in this study was critically evaluate whether the Sibanye Mentoring Project of the Border Cricket Board is an effective tool in the development of black cricket players. To achieve this objective an analysis was made as to why mentoring is essential in today’s business. The study discussed the implications of mentoring and how to use it to enhance employment equity. An integrated model for mentoring was investigated using relevant literature to identify the key elements in developing and maintaining a successful mentoring programme. Each factor of the model was broken down into dimensions that were then analysed using sources researched during the literature study. The theoretical model was then used to develop a questionnaire to test the degree to which the implementation of the Sibanye Mentoring Project of the Border Cricket Board concurred with the literature study. The empirical results obtained indicate a strong concurrence with the theoretical model for mentoring. The conclusions drawn and the recommendations suggested in the study proved without a doubt that mentoring can be an effective tool in the development of young black cricketers.
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  • Date Issued: 2001

Assessing the impact of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome on Volkswagen of South Africa

  • Authors: White, Stephen Mark
  • Date: 2001
  • Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Automobile industry and trade -- Management , Labor productivity , Production management , Volkswagen of South Africa (Firm)
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: vital:10844 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40 , AIDS (Disease) -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Automobile industry and trade -- Management , Labor productivity , Production management , Volkswagen of South Africa (Firm)
  • Description: This treatise takes the form of an impact study. It is based on a three-month period of research involving literature review, interviews with VWSA officers and a survey of 111 of the 5500 workers who comprised the workforce of the VWSA plant in Uitenhage at that time. The author has attempted to portray the general views of experts in the field of HIV/AIDS corporate impact and impact management. In addition he has attempted to assay the current and forecast policies and practices in respect of the management of the epidemic by VWSA. The workers in the plant were consulted by survey and a variety of insights into the level of understanding of the epidemic, tolerance levels, expectations and so on were made. The quantification of these insights must be viewed with caution since the survey sample of 111 was relatively low for a workforce of circa 5500. Calculations in respect of representativity are included to facilitate calculated caution. It has been shown that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has a considerable current impact on the company and that this impact can be expected to grow considerably in the future. It has been suggested that an active intervention program would be well timed if implemented immediately
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2001
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