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Site of struggle: the Freedom Park fracas and the divisive legacy of South Africa’s Border War/Liberation Struggle
- Authors: Baines, Gary F, 1955-
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126954 , vital:35938 , https://doi.10.1080/02533950903076428
- Description: In South Africa, Carcharias taurus is commonly known as the ragged-tooth shark or raggie. The species is also referred to as the sand-tiger shark in North America and as the grey-nurse shark in Australia. It is a long-lived species with an estimated longevity of up to 40 years (Goldman 2002). Female sharks reach sexual maturity at approximately 10 years (Goldman 2002), and they exhibit a biennial reproductive cycle (Branstetter and Musick 1994, Lucifora et al. 2002, G Cliff, Natal Sharks Board, unpublished data). Intra-uterine cannibalisation results in a maximum fecundity of two pups per litter after a gestation period of approximately 9–12 months (Bass et al. 1975, Gilmore et al. 1983). These life-history characteristics make this species particularly susceptible to overexploitation.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Baines, Gary F, 1955-
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126954 , vital:35938 , https://doi.10.1080/02533950903076428
- Description: In South Africa, Carcharias taurus is commonly known as the ragged-tooth shark or raggie. The species is also referred to as the sand-tiger shark in North America and as the grey-nurse shark in Australia. It is a long-lived species with an estimated longevity of up to 40 years (Goldman 2002). Female sharks reach sexual maturity at approximately 10 years (Goldman 2002), and they exhibit a biennial reproductive cycle (Branstetter and Musick 1994, Lucifora et al. 2002, G Cliff, Natal Sharks Board, unpublished data). Intra-uterine cannibalisation results in a maximum fecundity of two pups per litter after a gestation period of approximately 9–12 months (Bass et al. 1975, Gilmore et al. 1983). These life-history characteristics make this species particularly susceptible to overexploitation.
- Full Text:
Phylogeny, biogeography, and the evolution of life-history traits in Leucadendron (Proteaceae)
- Barker, Nigel P, Vanderpoorten, Alain, Morton, Cynthia M, Rourke, John P
- Authors: Barker, Nigel P , Vanderpoorten, Alain , Morton, Cynthia M , Rourke, John P
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6496 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004491
- Description: Leucadendron is a moderately large genus of Proteaceae almost entirely restricted to the Cape Floristic Region of southern Africa. The genus is unusual in being dioecious and sexually dimorphic. ITS sequence data were obtained from 62 of the 96 currently recognized taxa (85 species and 11 subspecies). Phylogenetic analyses were conducted under Maximum Likelihood and parsimony and resolved nine groups of species with varying degrees of bootstrap support, but relationships between these groups are largely unsupported. The phylogeny conflicts with the current taxonomic arrangement, which is based mainly on fruit morphology. The two sections of the genus, Alatosperma and Leucadendron, and several subsections within these sections, are resolved as non-monophyletic. This means that taxonomically important characters (such as fruit shape) have evolved multiple times, as the species with nutlike fruit (resolved into two of the nine groups) appear to have evolved independently from ancestors with winged fruit. Based on the topology obtained, the life history traits of anemophily, myrmechochory, and re-sprouting have also originated multiple times. Dispersal–Vicariance (DIVA) analysis suggests that the genus had an ancestral area in the Karoo Mountain and Southeastern phytogeographic centres of endemism in the southwestern Cape. , Elsevier
- Full Text:
- Authors: Barker, Nigel P , Vanderpoorten, Alain , Morton, Cynthia M , Rourke, John P
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6496 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004491
- Description: Leucadendron is a moderately large genus of Proteaceae almost entirely restricted to the Cape Floristic Region of southern Africa. The genus is unusual in being dioecious and sexually dimorphic. ITS sequence data were obtained from 62 of the 96 currently recognized taxa (85 species and 11 subspecies). Phylogenetic analyses were conducted under Maximum Likelihood and parsimony and resolved nine groups of species with varying degrees of bootstrap support, but relationships between these groups are largely unsupported. The phylogeny conflicts with the current taxonomic arrangement, which is based mainly on fruit morphology. The two sections of the genus, Alatosperma and Leucadendron, and several subsections within these sections, are resolved as non-monophyletic. This means that taxonomically important characters (such as fruit shape) have evolved multiple times, as the species with nutlike fruit (resolved into two of the nine groups) appear to have evolved independently from ancestors with winged fruit. Based on the topology obtained, the life history traits of anemophily, myrmechochory, and re-sprouting have also originated multiple times. Dispersal–Vicariance (DIVA) analysis suggests that the genus had an ancestral area in the Karoo Mountain and Southeastern phytogeographic centres of endemism in the southwestern Cape. , Elsevier
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'She travels alone and unattended’: the visit to the Eastern Cape of the botanical artist, Marianne North
- Authors: Beard, Margot
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147759 , vital:38668 , https://doi.org/10.1080/00043389.2007.11877077
- Description: The visit of the botanical artist, Marianne North, to South Africa during 1882 to 1883, although frequently referred to, has not received much close attention; nor has her account of the visit, in her ‘Recollections of a happy’ life, been set against the actual conditions she would have encountered. This paper attempts to flesh out at least part of that visit, specifically the weeks she spent in the Eastern Cape Colony and, more particularly, her visits to Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Port Alfred. What were these three centres like at the time? Who were the people she mentions? Where did she stay? How do her observations tally with other accounts of the period?.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Beard, Margot
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147759 , vital:38668 , https://doi.org/10.1080/00043389.2007.11877077
- Description: The visit of the botanical artist, Marianne North, to South Africa during 1882 to 1883, although frequently referred to, has not received much close attention; nor has her account of the visit, in her ‘Recollections of a happy’ life, been set against the actual conditions she would have encountered. This paper attempts to flesh out at least part of that visit, specifically the weeks she spent in the Eastern Cape Colony and, more particularly, her visits to Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Port Alfred. What were these three centres like at the time? Who were the people she mentions? Where did she stay? How do her observations tally with other accounts of the period?.
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The party-state in the land occupations of Zimbabwe: the case of Shamva district
- Bhatasara, Sandra, Helliker, Kirk David
- Authors: Bhatasara, Sandra , Helliker, Kirk David
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71353 , vital:29836 , https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909616658316
- Description: There has been significant debate about the land occupations which occurred from the year 2000 in Zimbabwe, with a key controversy concerning the role of the state and ruling party (or party-state) in the occupations. This controversy, deriving from two grand narratives about the occupations, remains unresolved. A burgeoning literature exists on the Zimbabwean state’s fast-track land reform programme, which arose in the context of the occupations, but this literature is concerned mainly with post-occupation developments on fast-track farms. This article seeks to contribute to resolving the controversy surrounding the party-state and the land occupations by examining the occupations in the Shamva District of Mashonaland Central Province. The fieldwork for our Shamva study focused exclusively on the land occupations (and not on the fast-track farms) and was undertaken in May 2015. We conclude from our Shamva study that involvement by the party-state did not take on an institutionalised form but was of a personalised character entailing interventions by specific party and state actors.
- Full Text: false
- Authors: Bhatasara, Sandra , Helliker, Kirk David
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71353 , vital:29836 , https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909616658316
- Description: There has been significant debate about the land occupations which occurred from the year 2000 in Zimbabwe, with a key controversy concerning the role of the state and ruling party (or party-state) in the occupations. This controversy, deriving from two grand narratives about the occupations, remains unresolved. A burgeoning literature exists on the Zimbabwean state’s fast-track land reform programme, which arose in the context of the occupations, but this literature is concerned mainly with post-occupation developments on fast-track farms. This article seeks to contribute to resolving the controversy surrounding the party-state and the land occupations by examining the occupations in the Shamva District of Mashonaland Central Province. The fieldwork for our Shamva study focused exclusively on the land occupations (and not on the fast-track farms) and was undertaken in May 2015. We conclude from our Shamva study that involvement by the party-state did not take on an institutionalised form but was of a personalised character entailing interventions by specific party and state actors.
- Full Text: false
Enigmatic trace fossils from the Aeolian lower Jurassic Clarens formation, Southern Africa
- Authors: Bordy, Emese M
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6730 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007538
- Description: The Lower Jurassic aeolienites of the Clarens Formation in southern Africa contain unique sedimentary structures that are unlikely to be non-biogenic. They are also unlike any known modern or ancient trace fossils. Here, some nigmatic, horizontal,regularly-oriented sedimentary structures are described, which occur in association with other trace fossils as well as features that were previously nterpreted as nests of termites or termite-like ancient social nsects. These spectacular structures are exposed in enormous profusion as straight, ~5 mm cylinders with strong compass orientation, in parallel alignment with one another and to ancient horizontal bedding planes. Their fill is identical to that of the host rock: clean, well-sorted, very fine- to finegrained quartz-arenite. In cross-section, each structure is defined by a subtle, ~0.1 mm thin, concentric gap. Without comparable modern biogenic structures, the biological origin of the structures is uncertain. Their strong compass orientations are, however, also inconsistent with an inorganic origin, even though they may resemble pipey concretions generated by flowing groundwater. Nonetheless, this paper, based on spatiotemporal distribution patterns of the oriented structures, their locally high abundance and association with obvious trace fossils, as well as other sedimentological and palaeontological lines of evidence, argues that the compass structures may be products of ancient social invertebrates living in a resource-limited, semi-arid to arid environment. Furthermore, the compass structures as well as the accompanying structures of the predominantly aeolian Clarens Formation collectively imply the recurrence of favourable ecological parameters (e.g., moist ubstrates) related to episodic climate fluctuations in the Early Jurassic of southern Pangaea (i.e., southern Gondwana).
- Full Text:
- Authors: Bordy, Emese M
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6730 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007538
- Description: The Lower Jurassic aeolienites of the Clarens Formation in southern Africa contain unique sedimentary structures that are unlikely to be non-biogenic. They are also unlike any known modern or ancient trace fossils. Here, some nigmatic, horizontal,regularly-oriented sedimentary structures are described, which occur in association with other trace fossils as well as features that were previously nterpreted as nests of termites or termite-like ancient social nsects. These spectacular structures are exposed in enormous profusion as straight, ~5 mm cylinders with strong compass orientation, in parallel alignment with one another and to ancient horizontal bedding planes. Their fill is identical to that of the host rock: clean, well-sorted, very fine- to finegrained quartz-arenite. In cross-section, each structure is defined by a subtle, ~0.1 mm thin, concentric gap. Without comparable modern biogenic structures, the biological origin of the structures is uncertain. Their strong compass orientations are, however, also inconsistent with an inorganic origin, even though they may resemble pipey concretions generated by flowing groundwater. Nonetheless, this paper, based on spatiotemporal distribution patterns of the oriented structures, their locally high abundance and association with obvious trace fossils, as well as other sedimentological and palaeontological lines of evidence, argues that the compass structures may be products of ancient social invertebrates living in a resource-limited, semi-arid to arid environment. Furthermore, the compass structures as well as the accompanying structures of the predominantly aeolian Clarens Formation collectively imply the recurrence of favourable ecological parameters (e.g., moist ubstrates) related to episodic climate fluctuations in the Early Jurassic of southern Pangaea (i.e., southern Gondwana).
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Capital or critique?: when journalism education seeks to influence the field
- Boshoff, Priscilla A, Garman, Anthea
- Authors: Boshoff, Priscilla A , Garman, Anthea
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143392 , vital:38242 , DOI: 10.1080/02560046.2016.1262437
- Description: Drawing on Bourdieu’s theories of field and capital, we examine the limitations that a journalism school at a prestigious university faces in making a meaningful contribution to the field within a developing country. In the postapartheid South African media landscape, journalism is under pressure both from global forces and a political imperative to address social justice. Given the heterogeneity of the journalistic field and the fact that what counts as capital in it is contested, the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University attempts to redefine the parameters by inculcating a particular approach to and philosophy of journalism practice. While Rhodes wants to educate excellent (professional) journalists, it is guided by an overt political mission to cultivate a journalism that is not necessarily ‘in sync’ with the wider field. Ironically, most undergraduates come from the economic and cultural elite, with specific intentions to accumulate the capital which Rhodes bestows. Students are confronted with their privilege and with alternative ideas about the purpose of journalism, and are asked to make choices and take up positions. We consider whether this critical praxis approach is able to influence the ‘state of play’ – or the distribution of power – within the field.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Boshoff, Priscilla A , Garman, Anthea
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143392 , vital:38242 , DOI: 10.1080/02560046.2016.1262437
- Description: Drawing on Bourdieu’s theories of field and capital, we examine the limitations that a journalism school at a prestigious university faces in making a meaningful contribution to the field within a developing country. In the postapartheid South African media landscape, journalism is under pressure both from global forces and a political imperative to address social justice. Given the heterogeneity of the journalistic field and the fact that what counts as capital in it is contested, the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University attempts to redefine the parameters by inculcating a particular approach to and philosophy of journalism practice. While Rhodes wants to educate excellent (professional) journalists, it is guided by an overt political mission to cultivate a journalism that is not necessarily ‘in sync’ with the wider field. Ironically, most undergraduates come from the economic and cultural elite, with specific intentions to accumulate the capital which Rhodes bestows. Students are confronted with their privilege and with alternative ideas about the purpose of journalism, and are asked to make choices and take up positions. We consider whether this critical praxis approach is able to influence the ‘state of play’ – or the distribution of power – within the field.
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Occurrence of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) off the Wild Coast of South Africa using photographic identification:
- Caputo, Michelle, Bouveroux, Thibaut, Froneman, Pierre William, Shaanika, Titus, Plön, Stephanie
- Authors: Caputo, Michelle , Bouveroux, Thibaut , Froneman, Pierre William , Shaanika, Titus , Plön, Stephanie
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/160367 , vital:40439 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/mms.12740
- Description: The present study represents the first reported boat‐based photographic identification study of Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) off the Wild Coast of southeast South Africa. This area is known for the annual sardine run, which attracts apex predators to the region during the austral winter. Dedicated photo‐identification surveys were conducted along this coast at three different study sites in February, June, and November of each year from 2014 to 2016.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Caputo, Michelle , Bouveroux, Thibaut , Froneman, Pierre William , Shaanika, Titus , Plön, Stephanie
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/160367 , vital:40439 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/mms.12740
- Description: The present study represents the first reported boat‐based photographic identification study of Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) off the Wild Coast of southeast South Africa. This area is known for the annual sardine run, which attracts apex predators to the region during the austral winter. Dedicated photo‐identification surveys were conducted along this coast at three different study sites in February, June, and November of each year from 2014 to 2016.
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Minimum dietary diversity scores for women indicate micronutrient adequacy and food insecurity status in South African towns
- Chakona, Gamuchirai, Shackleton, C M (Charles Michael)
- Authors: Chakona, Gamuchirai , Shackleton, C M (Charles Michael)
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60930 , vital:27892 , http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9080812
- Description: The lack of dietary diversity is a severe problem experienced by most poor households globally. In particular; women of reproductive age (WRA) are at high risk of inadequate intake of micronutrients resulting from diets dominated by starchy staples. The present study considered the diets, dietary diversity, and food security of women aged 15-49 years along the rural-urban continuum in three South African towns situated along an agro-ecological gradient. A 48 h dietary recall was conducted across two seasons with 554 women from rural, peri-urban, and urban locations of Richards Bay, Dundee, and Harrismith. Minimum Dietary Diversity for WRA (MDD-W) were calculated and a dichotomous indicator based on a set of ten food groups was used to determine if women had consumed at least five food groups the previous 48 h to achieve minimum dietary intake for women. The mean (±sd) MDD-W for Richards Bay (3.78 ± 0.07) was significantly higher than at Dundee (3.21 ± 0.08) and Harrismith (3.36 ± 0.07). Food security and MDD-W were significantly higher in urban locations than in peri-urban or rural ones. There was lower dependence on food purchasing in Richards Bay compared to Dundee and Harrismith. The majority of women in Richards Bay practiced subsistence agriculture, produced a surplus for sale, and collected wild foods which improved dietary intake and food security. The peri-urban populations had limited dietary intake and were more food insecure because of high levels of poverty, unemployment, and lack of land. Peri-urban dwellers are therefore more sensitive to changes in incomes and food prices because they lack safety nets to absorb income or price shocks as they purchase more, rather than growing their own food. This compromises dietary diversity as they have limited access to diverse foods.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chakona, Gamuchirai , Shackleton, C M (Charles Michael)
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60930 , vital:27892 , http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9080812
- Description: The lack of dietary diversity is a severe problem experienced by most poor households globally. In particular; women of reproductive age (WRA) are at high risk of inadequate intake of micronutrients resulting from diets dominated by starchy staples. The present study considered the diets, dietary diversity, and food security of women aged 15-49 years along the rural-urban continuum in three South African towns situated along an agro-ecological gradient. A 48 h dietary recall was conducted across two seasons with 554 women from rural, peri-urban, and urban locations of Richards Bay, Dundee, and Harrismith. Minimum Dietary Diversity for WRA (MDD-W) were calculated and a dichotomous indicator based on a set of ten food groups was used to determine if women had consumed at least five food groups the previous 48 h to achieve minimum dietary intake for women. The mean (±sd) MDD-W for Richards Bay (3.78 ± 0.07) was significantly higher than at Dundee (3.21 ± 0.08) and Harrismith (3.36 ± 0.07). Food security and MDD-W were significantly higher in urban locations than in peri-urban or rural ones. There was lower dependence on food purchasing in Richards Bay compared to Dundee and Harrismith. The majority of women in Richards Bay practiced subsistence agriculture, produced a surplus for sale, and collected wild foods which improved dietary intake and food security. The peri-urban populations had limited dietary intake and were more food insecure because of high levels of poverty, unemployment, and lack of land. Peri-urban dwellers are therefore more sensitive to changes in incomes and food prices because they lack safety nets to absorb income or price shocks as they purchase more, rather than growing their own food. This compromises dietary diversity as they have limited access to diverse foods.
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A challenge to conventional wisdom: locating agency in Angola’s and Ghana’s economic engagements with China
- Chipaike, Ronald, Bischoff, Paul Henri
- Authors: Chipaike, Ronald , Bischoff, Paul Henri
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/161537 , vital:40636 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1177/00219096187639223
- Description: This article makes the point that African states with significant strategic resources and democratic governance systems bargain better in economic and development assistance engagements with China and other partners. In democratic African states, non-state actors play critical complementary roles to the state, leading to multi-faceted forms of African agency. For non-democratic states, a significant limiting factor in their agency is the lack of working relationships between the state and non-state actors. Concomitantly, such states find themselves with weak bargaining and negotiating capacities. If African agency is to be assertive, then state and non-state actors should work together when engaging external partners.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chipaike, Ronald , Bischoff, Paul Henri
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/161537 , vital:40636 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1177/00219096187639223
- Description: This article makes the point that African states with significant strategic resources and democratic governance systems bargain better in economic and development assistance engagements with China and other partners. In democratic African states, non-state actors play critical complementary roles to the state, leading to multi-faceted forms of African agency. For non-democratic states, a significant limiting factor in their agency is the lack of working relationships between the state and non-state actors. Concomitantly, such states find themselves with weak bargaining and negotiating capacities. If African agency is to be assertive, then state and non-state actors should work together when engaging external partners.
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Peer tutors as learning and teaching partners: a cumulative approach to building peer tutoring capacity in higher education
- Authors: Clarence, Sherran
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61335 , vital:28016 , http://cristal.epubs.ac.za/index.php/cristal/article/view/69
- Description: Peer tutors in higher education are frequently given vital teaching and learning work to do, but the training or professional development and support opportunities they are offered vary, and more often than not peer tutors are under-supported. In order to create and sustain teaching and learning environments that are better able to facilitate students’ engagement with knowledge and learning, the role of peer tutors needs to be recognised differently, as that of learning and teaching partners to both lecturers and students. Tutors then need to be offered opportunities for more in-depth professional academic development in order to fully realise this role. This paper explores a tutor development programme within a South African writing centre that aimed at offering tutors such ongoing and cumulative opportunities for learning and growth using a balanced approach, which included scholarly research and practice-based training. Using narrative data tutors provided in reflective written reports, the paper explores the kinds of development in tutors’ thinking and action that are possible when training and development is theoretically informed, coherent, and oriented towards improving practice.
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- Authors: Clarence, Sherran
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61335 , vital:28016 , http://cristal.epubs.ac.za/index.php/cristal/article/view/69
- Description: Peer tutors in higher education are frequently given vital teaching and learning work to do, but the training or professional development and support opportunities they are offered vary, and more often than not peer tutors are under-supported. In order to create and sustain teaching and learning environments that are better able to facilitate students’ engagement with knowledge and learning, the role of peer tutors needs to be recognised differently, as that of learning and teaching partners to both lecturers and students. Tutors then need to be offered opportunities for more in-depth professional academic development in order to fully realise this role. This paper explores a tutor development programme within a South African writing centre that aimed at offering tutors such ongoing and cumulative opportunities for learning and growth using a balanced approach, which included scholarly research and practice-based training. Using narrative data tutors provided in reflective written reports, the paper explores the kinds of development in tutors’ thinking and action that are possible when training and development is theoretically informed, coherent, and oriented towards improving practice.
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A symmoriiform chondrichthyan braincase and the origin of chimaeroid fishes
- Coates, Michael I, Gess, Robert W, Finarelli, John A, Surname, Name - one for each creator, Criswell, Katharine E, Tietjen, Kristen
- Authors: Coates, Michael I , Gess, Robert W , Finarelli, John A , Surname, Name - one for each creator , Criswell, Katharine E , Tietjen, Kristen
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72246 , vital:30021 , https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20806
- Description: Chimaeroid fishes (Holocephali) are one of the four principal divisions of modern gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates). Despite only 47 described living species1, chimaeroids are the focus of resurgent interest as potential archives of genomic data2 and for the unique perspective they provide on chondrichthyan and gnathostome ancestral conditions. Chimaeroids are also noteworthy for their highly derived body plan1,3,4. However, like other living groups with distinctive anatomies5, fossils have been of limited use in unravelling their evolutionary origin, as the earliest recognized examples already exhibit many of the specializations present in modern forms6,7. Here we report the results of a computed tomography analysis of Dwykaselachus, an enigmatic chondrichthyan braincase from the ~280 million year old Karoo sediments of South Africa8. Externally, the braincase is that of a symmoriid shark9,10,11,12,13and is by far the most complete uncrushed example yet discovered. Internally, the morphology exhibits otherwise characteristically chimaeroid specializations, including the otic labyrinth arrangement and the brain space configuration relative to exceptionally large orbits. These results have important implications for our view of modern chondrichthyan origins, add robust structure to the phylogeny of early crown group gnathostomes, reveal preconditions that suggest an initial morpho-functional basis for the derived chimaeroid cranium, and shed new light on the chondrichthyan response to the extinction at the end of the Devonian period.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Coates, Michael I , Gess, Robert W , Finarelli, John A , Surname, Name - one for each creator , Criswell, Katharine E , Tietjen, Kristen
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72246 , vital:30021 , https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20806
- Description: Chimaeroid fishes (Holocephali) are one of the four principal divisions of modern gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates). Despite only 47 described living species1, chimaeroids are the focus of resurgent interest as potential archives of genomic data2 and for the unique perspective they provide on chondrichthyan and gnathostome ancestral conditions. Chimaeroids are also noteworthy for their highly derived body plan1,3,4. However, like other living groups with distinctive anatomies5, fossils have been of limited use in unravelling their evolutionary origin, as the earliest recognized examples already exhibit many of the specializations present in modern forms6,7. Here we report the results of a computed tomography analysis of Dwykaselachus, an enigmatic chondrichthyan braincase from the ~280 million year old Karoo sediments of South Africa8. Externally, the braincase is that of a symmoriid shark9,10,11,12,13and is by far the most complete uncrushed example yet discovered. Internally, the morphology exhibits otherwise characteristically chimaeroid specializations, including the otic labyrinth arrangement and the brain space configuration relative to exceptionally large orbits. These results have important implications for our view of modern chondrichthyan origins, add robust structure to the phylogeny of early crown group gnathostomes, reveal preconditions that suggest an initial morpho-functional basis for the derived chimaeroid cranium, and shed new light on the chondrichthyan response to the extinction at the end of the Devonian period.
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Biocultural diversity: moving beyond the realm of ‘indigenous’ and ‘local’ people
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010681
- Description: During the past decade the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity has received increased attention, resulting in the identification of what the Declaration of Belém calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. Although the term biocultural diversity, introduced to denote this link, is being used increasingly, there has been little critical reflection on what it precisely refers to. I argue that it is used with particular reference to ‘indigenous traditional’ people, but that there is scope for extending its application within biocultural discourse. I therefore review the concept of culture and discuss what constitutes cultural values of the natural environment. I conclude that the concept of culture must be understood as involving a dynamic process of transcultural exchange and constant re-articulations of tradition resulting in the persistence of certain cultural practices. This approach ultimately reveals that the concept of biocultural diversity is also applicable to non-indigenous traditional communities.
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- Authors: Cocks, Michelle
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010681
- Description: During the past decade the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity has received increased attention, resulting in the identification of what the Declaration of Belém calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. Although the term biocultural diversity, introduced to denote this link, is being used increasingly, there has been little critical reflection on what it precisely refers to. I argue that it is used with particular reference to ‘indigenous traditional’ people, but that there is scope for extending its application within biocultural discourse. I therefore review the concept of culture and discuss what constitutes cultural values of the natural environment. I conclude that the concept of culture must be understood as involving a dynamic process of transcultural exchange and constant re-articulations of tradition resulting in the persistence of certain cultural practices. This approach ultimately reveals that the concept of biocultural diversity is also applicable to non-indigenous traditional communities.
- Full Text:
Seeing the wood for the trees: the role of woody resources for the construction of gender specific household cultural artefacts in non-traditional communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Cocks, Michelle, Bangay, L, Wiersum, K F, Dold, A P
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle , Bangay, L , Wiersum, K F , Dold, A P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6823 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003830
- Description: There is a growing wealth of data capturing the direct-use values of the environment and recognition of forests and wild resources as representing ‘‘the poor man’s overcoat’’. This focus has however resulted in an emphasis on the utilitarian values of wild resources for rural livelihoods and has for the most part overlooked their cultural values. In tangent to these developments within the field of anthropology there has been increased attention directed towards the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity over the past decade. This has resulted in the recognition of what the Declaration of Belem calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. The term bio-cultural diversity has been introduced as a concept denoting this link. Consequently there is a need for more elaborate assessments of the various ways in which different groups of people find value in biodiversity. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the cultural significance of wild harvested plant resources for the maintenance of two gender specific cultural artefacts for amaXhosa people in South Africa, to assess the persistence of these practices in rapidly modernizing communities. We demonstrate the endurance of these ancient cultural artefacts in present-day peri-urban communities and suggest that they point to the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity. The findings of the study should not be interpreted as illustrating stagnation in the traditional past, but rather as pointing at the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity in a dynamic sense.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle , Bangay, L , Wiersum, K F , Dold, A P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6823 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003830
- Description: There is a growing wealth of data capturing the direct-use values of the environment and recognition of forests and wild resources as representing ‘‘the poor man’s overcoat’’. This focus has however resulted in an emphasis on the utilitarian values of wild resources for rural livelihoods and has for the most part overlooked their cultural values. In tangent to these developments within the field of anthropology there has been increased attention directed towards the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity over the past decade. This has resulted in the recognition of what the Declaration of Belem calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. The term bio-cultural diversity has been introduced as a concept denoting this link. Consequently there is a need for more elaborate assessments of the various ways in which different groups of people find value in biodiversity. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the cultural significance of wild harvested plant resources for the maintenance of two gender specific cultural artefacts for amaXhosa people in South Africa, to assess the persistence of these practices in rapidly modernizing communities. We demonstrate the endurance of these ancient cultural artefacts in present-day peri-urban communities and suggest that they point to the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity. The findings of the study should not be interpreted as illustrating stagnation in the traditional past, but rather as pointing at the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity in a dynamic sense.
- Full Text:
Negotiations Bulletin - A new era in labour relations
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Oct 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/137567 , vital:37538
- Description: IN FEBRUARY 1995, Comrade Tito Mboweni published for comment and negotiations, a draft Labour Relations Bill, prepared by the Ministerial Task Team led by Halton Cheadle. The initial reactions of both business and labour were generally favourable to the Bill. We indicated that, at a glance, the Bill represented a major shift in industrial relations, an advance in our struggle and that its basic structure had many positive elements. We also indicated that some areas needed reworking and radical changes. By the end of April, labour was ready with its positions. These had been agreed upon by Cosatu’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) and in further discussions with Fedsal and Nactu. These positions were published on May Day and presented to business and the government on 4 May. Business was either not ready by then, or had made a decision to delay the process. Throughout the negotiations process, they did not table any constructive proposals. Instead they labeled ours as unworkable and unreasonable. The same approach was adopted by most of the commercial media. By the end of May it was clear to all of us that, short of a massive programme of mass action, mobilisation of the international trade union movement and a new approach to the negotiations, we were not going to have the Bill ready by this year. The result was massive marches and stay aways on 6 and 19 June. Business responded with an advertisement in all major newspapers’ claiming to have accepted the Bill. They even misrepresented Tito’s speech at the launch of the Bill. This was a sign of desperation on their part. A new round of negotiations started again on 21 June 1995 with a series of trilateral negotiations culminating in the Nedlac Agreement of 19 July. While labour was satisfied with most of the issues, we had reservations on the way some of the issues were resolved or captured. We nonetheless agreed that the process of drafting the agreements into law should begin, to ensure that the bill went through parliament before the end of the 1995 sitting, which was scheduled to rise on 15 September. We now have a new law, which, as 1 have indicated earlier, represents a victory for labour and brings in a new era of industrial relations. Most of the issues on which we had reservations, have been resolved either through drafting or the parliamentary process.
- Full Text:
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Oct 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/137567 , vital:37538
- Description: IN FEBRUARY 1995, Comrade Tito Mboweni published for comment and negotiations, a draft Labour Relations Bill, prepared by the Ministerial Task Team led by Halton Cheadle. The initial reactions of both business and labour were generally favourable to the Bill. We indicated that, at a glance, the Bill represented a major shift in industrial relations, an advance in our struggle and that its basic structure had many positive elements. We also indicated that some areas needed reworking and radical changes. By the end of April, labour was ready with its positions. These had been agreed upon by Cosatu’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) and in further discussions with Fedsal and Nactu. These positions were published on May Day and presented to business and the government on 4 May. Business was either not ready by then, or had made a decision to delay the process. Throughout the negotiations process, they did not table any constructive proposals. Instead they labeled ours as unworkable and unreasonable. The same approach was adopted by most of the commercial media. By the end of May it was clear to all of us that, short of a massive programme of mass action, mobilisation of the international trade union movement and a new approach to the negotiations, we were not going to have the Bill ready by this year. The result was massive marches and stay aways on 6 and 19 June. Business responded with an advertisement in all major newspapers’ claiming to have accepted the Bill. They even misrepresented Tito’s speech at the launch of the Bill. This was a sign of desperation on their part. A new round of negotiations started again on 21 June 1995 with a series of trilateral negotiations culminating in the Nedlac Agreement of 19 July. While labour was satisfied with most of the issues, we had reservations on the way some of the issues were resolved or captured. We nonetheless agreed that the process of drafting the agreements into law should begin, to ensure that the bill went through parliament before the end of the 1995 sitting, which was scheduled to rise on 15 September. We now have a new law, which, as 1 have indicated earlier, represents a victory for labour and brings in a new era of industrial relations. Most of the issues on which we had reservations, have been resolved either through drafting or the parliamentary process.
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Sexual Harassment Code of Conduct
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: May 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/137179 , vital:37494
- Description: COSATU and affiliates have committed themselves to preventing and addressing sexual harassment in the unions. The COSATU Sexual Harassment Code of Conduct is the outcome of a long process of debate within the federation. In 1989 the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) raised the issue of sexual harassment when they submitted a resolution on harassment to the COSATU National Congress. The resolution was referred to affiliates for further discussion. In 1991 the COSATU National Congress discussed the TGWU resolution on sexual harassment again. No agreement was reached over the resolution. In 1994 the COSATU National Congress adopted a resolution to draw up a code of conduct on sexual harassment. In May 1995 the Executive Committee adopted the code of conduct on sexual harassment.
- Full Text:
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: May 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/137179 , vital:37494
- Description: COSATU and affiliates have committed themselves to preventing and addressing sexual harassment in the unions. The COSATU Sexual Harassment Code of Conduct is the outcome of a long process of debate within the federation. In 1989 the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) raised the issue of sexual harassment when they submitted a resolution on harassment to the COSATU National Congress. The resolution was referred to affiliates for further discussion. In 1991 the COSATU National Congress discussed the TGWU resolution on sexual harassment again. No agreement was reached over the resolution. In 1994 the COSATU National Congress adopted a resolution to draw up a code of conduct on sexual harassment. In May 1995 the Executive Committee adopted the code of conduct on sexual harassment.
- Full Text:
Nature and source of suspended particulate matter and detritus along an austral temperate river–estuary continuum, assessed using stable isotope analysis
- Dalu, Tatenda, Richoux, Nicole Bertine, Froneman, Pierre William
- Authors: Dalu, Tatenda , Richoux, Nicole Bertine , Froneman, Pierre William
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68012 , vital:29181 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2480-1
- Description: Publisher version , Ecologists are interested in the factors that control, and the variability in, the contributions of different sources to mixed organic materials travelling through lotic systems. We hypothesized that the source matter fuelling mixed organic pools in a river–estuary continuum varies over space and time. Samples of the mixed organic pools were collected along a small temperate river (Kowie River) in southern Africa during early and late spring, summer and winter. The C:N ratios of suspended particulate matter (SPM) collected during summer and winter indicated that the lower reaches of the system had similar organic matter contributions. Stable isotope analysis in R revealed that aquatic macrophytes were significant contributors to SPM in the upper reaches. Bulk detritus had large allochthonous matter components in the lower reaches, and contributions of aquatic macrophytes and benthic algae were high (>50%) in the upper to middle reaches. The evaluation of organic matter contributions to SPM and detritus along the river–estuary continuum provided a baseline assessment of the nature and sources of potential food for consumers inhabiting different locations during different seasons. Incorporating SPM and detritus spatio-temporal variations in food web studies will improve our understanding of carbon flow in aquatic systems.
- Full Text: false
- Authors: Dalu, Tatenda , Richoux, Nicole Bertine , Froneman, Pierre William
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68012 , vital:29181 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2480-1
- Description: Publisher version , Ecologists are interested in the factors that control, and the variability in, the contributions of different sources to mixed organic materials travelling through lotic systems. We hypothesized that the source matter fuelling mixed organic pools in a river–estuary continuum varies over space and time. Samples of the mixed organic pools were collected along a small temperate river (Kowie River) in southern Africa during early and late spring, summer and winter. The C:N ratios of suspended particulate matter (SPM) collected during summer and winter indicated that the lower reaches of the system had similar organic matter contributions. Stable isotope analysis in R revealed that aquatic macrophytes were significant contributors to SPM in the upper reaches. Bulk detritus had large allochthonous matter components in the lower reaches, and contributions of aquatic macrophytes and benthic algae were high (>50%) in the upper to middle reaches. The evaluation of organic matter contributions to SPM and detritus along the river–estuary continuum provided a baseline assessment of the nature and sources of potential food for consumers inhabiting different locations during different seasons. Incorporating SPM and detritus spatio-temporal variations in food web studies will improve our understanding of carbon flow in aquatic systems.
- Full Text: false
Making room for the unexpected: the university and the ethical imperative of unconditional hospitality
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142108 , vital:38050 , ISBN 9781869142902 , https://books.google.co.za/books?id=49o8rgEACAAJanddq=Being+at+home:+Race,+institutional+culture+and+transformation+at+South+African+higher+education+institutionandhl=enandsa=Xandved=0ahUKEwiPgsa6mpjjAhXNN8AKHbNwAtoQ6AEIKDAA
- Description: This edited work has gathered together contributions on how to transform universities in South Africa; as many are struggling to shift their institutional culture. In a South African context, transformation means to attempt to change higher education institutions such that they no longer reflect the values promoted by apartheid but rather reflect the values embodied in South Africa's 1996 Constitution. Institutional culture is the main subject for discussion in this book. In order to transform South Africa's universities, the contributors begin by analyzing the idea of what a university is, and relatedly, what its ideal aims are. A second theme is to understand what institutional culture is and how it functions. Moreover, transformation cannot occur without transforming the broader cultures of which they are a part. Related to this theme is a general concern about how contemporary moves towards the instrumentalization of higher education affect the ability to transform institutions. These institutions are being pushed to conform to goals that are outside the traditional idea of a university, such as concerns that universities are being 'bureaucratized' and becoming corporations, instead of a place of learning open to all. In conclusion it can be said that the contemporary South African academic community has an opportunity to recreate itself as the end of apartheid created space for engaging in transformative epistemic projects. The transformation of the tertiary sector entails a transformation of institutional cultures.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142108 , vital:38050 , ISBN 9781869142902 , https://books.google.co.za/books?id=49o8rgEACAAJanddq=Being+at+home:+Race,+institutional+culture+and+transformation+at+South+African+higher+education+institutionandhl=enandsa=Xandved=0ahUKEwiPgsa6mpjjAhXNN8AKHbNwAtoQ6AEIKDAA
- Description: This edited work has gathered together contributions on how to transform universities in South Africa; as many are struggling to shift their institutional culture. In a South African context, transformation means to attempt to change higher education institutions such that they no longer reflect the values promoted by apartheid but rather reflect the values embodied in South Africa's 1996 Constitution. Institutional culture is the main subject for discussion in this book. In order to transform South Africa's universities, the contributors begin by analyzing the idea of what a university is, and relatedly, what its ideal aims are. A second theme is to understand what institutional culture is and how it functions. Moreover, transformation cannot occur without transforming the broader cultures of which they are a part. Related to this theme is a general concern about how contemporary moves towards the instrumentalization of higher education affect the ability to transform institutions. These institutions are being pushed to conform to goals that are outside the traditional idea of a university, such as concerns that universities are being 'bureaucratized' and becoming corporations, instead of a place of learning open to all. In conclusion it can be said that the contemporary South African academic community has an opportunity to recreate itself as the end of apartheid created space for engaging in transformative epistemic projects. The transformation of the tertiary sector entails a transformation of institutional cultures.
- Full Text:
'Amanuensis' and 'Steatopygia': the complexity of 'Telling the Tale 'in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142599 , vital:38094 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v38i2.3
- Description: Two words, 'amanuensis' and 'steatopygia,' each burdened with its own history, appear in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story with a frequency that commands further consideration. This study shows that these two words are in fact narratives which reveal the tension, inherent in all historical narratives, between that which is denotative or factual and that which is connotative or fictional. Similarly, the words also form the shifting horizon from which we may see history as a narrative of the past that is always also a narrative of the present. The link between these words will ultimately show the complex, compromised role of the narrator and, perhaps, of all historians.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142599 , vital:38094 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v38i2.3
- Description: Two words, 'amanuensis' and 'steatopygia,' each burdened with its own history, appear in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story with a frequency that commands further consideration. This study shows that these two words are in fact narratives which reveal the tension, inherent in all historical narratives, between that which is denotative or factual and that which is connotative or fictional. Similarly, the words also form the shifting horizon from which we may see history as a narrative of the past that is always also a narrative of the present. The link between these words will ultimately show the complex, compromised role of the narrator and, perhaps, of all historians.
- Full Text:
“[A] ll just surface and veneer”: the challenge of seeing and reading in Ishtiyaq Shukri’s I See You
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142577 , vital:38092 , DOI: 10.1080/17533171.2017.1312749
- Description: This article considers challenges posed to reading practices and hermeneutics by Ishtiyaq Shukri’s I See You. The content of the novel is at times didactic, and surface reading might seem an appropriate means of analysis, yet the form is experimental: it includes radio reports, characters’ reflections and journalistic work. The connection between these “documents” is not readily apparent, thus one is obliged to study the gaps between them to make sense of the text. Symptomatic reading might seem apposite, but the protagonist’s photographic work reveals the limits of this form of reading, too. I argue that Shukri’s text demands a process that interweaves symptomatic and surface reading in complex ways that require the reader to assess the ideological position from which s/he reads. The novel therefore draws attention to the ways in which reading, like seeing, is a political act.
- Full Text:
“[A] ll just surface and veneer”: the challenge of seeing and reading in Ishtiyaq Shukri’s I See You
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142577 , vital:38092 , DOI: 10.1080/17533171.2017.1312749
- Description: This article considers challenges posed to reading practices and hermeneutics by Ishtiyaq Shukri’s I See You. The content of the novel is at times didactic, and surface reading might seem an appropriate means of analysis, yet the form is experimental: it includes radio reports, characters’ reflections and journalistic work. The connection between these “documents” is not readily apparent, thus one is obliged to study the gaps between them to make sense of the text. Symptomatic reading might seem apposite, but the protagonist’s photographic work reveals the limits of this form of reading, too. I argue that Shukri’s text demands a process that interweaves symptomatic and surface reading in complex ways that require the reader to assess the ideological position from which s/he reads. The novel therefore draws attention to the ways in which reading, like seeing, is a political act.
- Full Text:
Municipal commonage policy and livestock owners : findings from the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Davenport, N A , Gambiza, J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6628 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006820
- Description: The new African National Congress government announced after 1994 that municipal commonage would be a pillar of their land reform programme. The Department of Land Affairs spearheaded this by acquiring new land to complement the existing ‘old’ commonages. The aim of old commonage was to supplement the income of poor urban residents through the subsistence user system whereas new commonage was intended as a ‘stepping stone’ for emergent farmers. We investigated the differences between old and new commonage farmers as well as how they perceived the Makana local municipality's capacity to manage the commonage. The results showed that local institutions were weak. Only 46% of the old commonage farmers were members of a local livestock association whereas 74% of the new commonage farmers were members. Most old commonage farmers (59%) were dissatisfied with local government's management of the commonage. In contrast, only 37% of the new commonage farmers were dissatisfied with the management of the commonage. There were no differences between old and new commonage farmers in terms of livestock owners’ characteristics and mean annual net direct-use value of livestock. There were also no differences in the age of the two types of commonage farmers. Furthermore, there was no association between the type of commonage and level of education. The mean annual net direct-use value of livestock on old commonage was R6308 compared with R9707 on new commonage. Although the income from livestock for new commonage farmers varied slightly from that of old commonage farmers, the annual productive output per farmer on old commonage was R473 ha−1, three times higher than that of new commonage farmers which was R134 ha−1. We suggest that new land policy legislation is needed in which poverty as well as the legal arrangements between all stakeholders is clearly defined. Furthermore, national departments need to be more involved with local municipalities to increase local management capacity.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Davenport, N A , Gambiza, J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6628 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006820
- Description: The new African National Congress government announced after 1994 that municipal commonage would be a pillar of their land reform programme. The Department of Land Affairs spearheaded this by acquiring new land to complement the existing ‘old’ commonages. The aim of old commonage was to supplement the income of poor urban residents through the subsistence user system whereas new commonage was intended as a ‘stepping stone’ for emergent farmers. We investigated the differences between old and new commonage farmers as well as how they perceived the Makana local municipality's capacity to manage the commonage. The results showed that local institutions were weak. Only 46% of the old commonage farmers were members of a local livestock association whereas 74% of the new commonage farmers were members. Most old commonage farmers (59%) were dissatisfied with local government's management of the commonage. In contrast, only 37% of the new commonage farmers were dissatisfied with the management of the commonage. There were no differences between old and new commonage farmers in terms of livestock owners’ characteristics and mean annual net direct-use value of livestock. There were also no differences in the age of the two types of commonage farmers. Furthermore, there was no association between the type of commonage and level of education. The mean annual net direct-use value of livestock on old commonage was R6308 compared with R9707 on new commonage. Although the income from livestock for new commonage farmers varied slightly from that of old commonage farmers, the annual productive output per farmer on old commonage was R473 ha−1, three times higher than that of new commonage farmers which was R134 ha−1. We suggest that new land policy legislation is needed in which poverty as well as the legal arrangements between all stakeholders is clearly defined. Furthermore, national departments need to be more involved with local municipalities to increase local management capacity.
- Full Text: