A critical evaluation of inter-jurisdictional rules in the South African value-added tax system
- Authors: Schneider, Ferdinand Dirk
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7971 , vital:21329
- Description: This study analysed the current inter-jurisdictional rules in the South African Value-Added Tax (VAT) system, identified shortcomings, and proposed legislative amendments or additions to address these shortcomings. The research was conducted within an interpretative post positivism paradigm, applied a qualitative research methodology, and a doctrinal research method. A detailed review of the literature was conducted to establish the theoretical basis of a good tax system and the theory underpinning indirect and consumption taxation. The literature review also included an in-depth analysis of the South African VAT system and its treatment of resident and non-resident businesses with a South African physical or economic reach, and its treatment of local and cross-border transactions, including imported services. The literature review also considered the international VAT treatment of these transactions. To obtain a wider range of expert opinions regarding shortcomings in inter-jurisdictional rules in the South African VAT system, data was collected through structured interviews with South African and global VAT and indirect tax experts, using a questionnaire that was specifically designed for this purpose. This study proposed amendments and additions to the VAT Act, dealing with the VAT registration of non-resident suppliers; addressing various issues relating to the interjurisdictional VAT rate; proposing measures in connection with imported services; and legislating the intention of the legislator to tax final utilisation or consumption. The study finally recommended the introduction of a general place of supply rule linked to residency; specific place of supply rules for electronic, broadcasting, and telecommunication services; and zero rating provisions for electronic, broadcasting, and telecommunication services provided to non-resident suppliers by resident suppliers for services initiated outside South Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2017
A phenomenological investigation into undergraduate students' experience of acquiring the discourse of engineering
- Authors: Van Heerden, Karen Ilse
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa Students -- Attitudes Academic writing -- Study and teaching -- South Africa English language -- Rhetoric -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Technical writing -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1698 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003581
- Description: The area of discourse acquisition and writing in higher education has become a much researched field. In South Africa the interest in discourse acquisition and writing has been partly in response to the change in student profile, particularly over the past ten years. While South African researchers and academics are increasingly focusing their interest in discourse acquisition and writing on the unique circumstances here, they rely on theories based on research done in very different social contexts. These theories are not necessarily universally appropriate. South Africa is currently undergoing a period of transformation in higher education aimed at greater access and equity for black students and academics. The accompanying sense of frustration and disillusionment among students and academics underlines the need to reappraise all aspects of higher education. Much of the research on discourse acquisition and writing is undertaken in arts programmes: vocational fields - such as engineering education - tend to be neglected. If the envisaged growth in science and engineering education is to be realised, it is essential that research in discourse and writing be undertaken in engineering programmes. This study investigates discourse acquisition as experienced by students in a South African engineering faculty. The experiences of six final year technikon students are investigated to gain a better understanding of what it means to acquire the discourse of engineering. The phenomenological method used requires that the researcher suspends or brackets a priori theoretical notions or pre-conceptions so that that which the students experience, rather than what the researcher expects in terms of theory, can emerge. What emerges from the students' experiences is partially congruent with established discourse and writing theories. However, some of the student experiences of discourse acquisition differ in significant ways from what is described in mainstream writing and discourse acquisition theory. The differences in the manner in which these students experience their acquisition of engineering discourse leads to a new understanding of the phenomenon. The students do not experience the alienation or struggle described in mainstream theoretic accounts of discourse acquisition. Students' approaches to writing are affected by their awareness of their multiple identities and the different locations in which they learn. Their approaches to writing are significantly different in some respects from descriptions in mainstream theories in some respects. The description of their experiences gives a different understanding of what it means to acquire the discourse of engineering, and may contribute to the reappraisal of engineering education in a contemporary South African context.
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- Date Issued: 2001
Latent murderousness: an exploration of the nature and quality of object relations in rage-type murderers
- Authors: Cartwright, Duncan James
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Murder Murder -- Case studies Murderers -- Psychology Criminal psychology Violence Narcissism Aggressiveness Anger
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2946 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002455
- Description: In this dissertation I investigate the intrapsychic make-up of rage-type offenders and explore the psychodynamics of the act of murder itself The dissertation begins with a discussion on the defining features of the act of rage-type murder. I then consider the role of personality characteristics and psychopathology in individuals who have committed such offences. With the basic features of the offender and act itself outlined, the following section reviews key areas of debate regarding the psychodynamics of violence and the intrapsychic make-up of the rage-type murderer. I first explore the nature of aggression as debated in psychoanalysis and conclude that the views expressed are often unn,ecessarily polarized regarding the origins of aggression and suggest that the specifics of particular types of aggression require consideration in order to assess their intrapsychic nature. The specifics of rage and violence are discussed with this in mind. In the second chapter of this section I develop a number of intrapsychic dimensions to be used in understanding how different types of violence are constituted. Psychodynamic contributions towards understanding rage-type murder, as a specific form of violence, are then discussed. Following this review, a number of directive ~uestions are formulated regarding (1) the intrapsychic dimension of rage-type murder; (2) the pJ;esence of the borderline personality in such offender~ and its intrapsychic nature; and (3) the_ specific psychodynamics that lie behind what is argued to be a defensive act of murder. A multiple case study approach, using nine imprisoned rage-type offenders, is used to further explore the above issues. Court summary reports, the Thematic Apperception Test and the Psychoanalytic Research Interview comprised the research material, with particular emphasis placed on the interview material. The interview is approached from a psychoanalytic perspective and I develop some theoretical, technical and analytical guidelines to try to broaden Jhe use of psychoanalysis in the research domain. Findings of the research reveal a specific kind of defensive organization that is characterized by a constellation of object relations that I term the 'narcissistic exoskeleton'. I suggest that these findings best fit the description of a particular kind of borderline personality organization typified by apparent 'normality'. Other prominent aspects of the dimensions of violence observed in these cases include: (1) a poor representational capacity; (2) an interactional style characterized by uncontainable projective exchanges between victim and offender; (3) a collusive primary object relationship combined with the absence of an internalized 'third object'; (4) a 'two-faced' superego structure; (5) the internalization of traumatic experience that has become associated with a bad object system; (6) phantasies of restoring ideal good in external objects alongside conscious fantasies of annihilation. Within the context of these factors the intrapsychic events that lead to the act itself are discussed. It is found that a collapse of the 'narcissistic exoskeleton', the intrusion of the bad object system and the unbearable shame that this evokes in the offender are prominent features of what culminates in an act of explosive rage and projective identification. Some of the implications of my research are briefly discussed in the concluding chapter.
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- Date Issued: 2000