Showing items 1 - 20 of 676

Your selections:

"A complex and delicate web" : a comparative study of selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy

"Form fading among fading forms" death, language and madness in the novels of Samuel Beckett

  • Authors: Springer, Michael Leicester
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989 -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Death in literature Mental illness in literature
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002240
  • Description: The primary thesis of this dissertation is that the development of narrative strategy and technique through the course of Samuel Beckett’s fictional oeuvre enacts a parody of the Cartesian method of doubt, in which the search for first principles, instead of providing grounds for certainty, is a hopeless, grotesque quest for a self which eludes any and every assertion. My chief concerns are thus, firstly, to explicate and elucidate the nature of such narrative strategies and techniques, and how these can be said to parody epistemological procedure; and secondly, to interrogate the implications of this parody for the epistemological and interpretative endeavour of which the human sciences are comprised. These two issues are explored by way of an examination of Beckett’s earliest novel, Murphy, and the narrative impasse that arises from the contradiction between this work’s largely realist form and quasi-postmodern content. I thereafter argue that the later fiction, most particularly the Trilogy, achieves formal and stylistic solutions to the aesthetic and epistemological challenges raised by the earlier work. Beckett’s fictional oeuvre, I contend, can best be construed as an attempt to attain that which exceeds and escapes narrative in and through narrative, namely madness or death. The achievement of either would entail the obliteration of the possibility of narrating at all, and the novels, engaging in a self-deconstructing endeavour, thus occupy a profoundly paradoxical position. Any attempt to interpret a body of work of this nature can only respond in an analogous manner, by trying to make meaning of the subversion of meaning, and deconstructing the assumptions that inform its procedures. This dissertation argues that it is precisely in the way in which it necessitates such selfreflexive discursive analysis that the import of Samuel Beckett’s fiction lies, and extrapolates the significance of this for an understanding of discourse, literary criticism, and epistemological procedure.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

"Something rotten in this age of hope": Wesley Deintje directs The HamletMachine (Rhodes University Theatre, 28 September 2007)

  • Authors: Wright, Laurence
  • Date: 2008
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:7048 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007390
  • Description: Heiner Müller’s most famous play (Die Hamletmaschine, 1977) has evolved into something of a familiar war-horse for student theatre. The United States in particular has taken to the work; indeed, it was meant in part for them: “Heil Coca-cola!” says the script. For today’s South African ears this has become, very aptly, “Hail the Rainbow Nation!” What young director can resist it? Only eight pages in extent, the sparse yet densely referential text offers unfettered scope for interpretation and contextualization. Sure, the original offered Muller’s despairing take on the collapse of western civilisation, typified in the East German predicament where intellectuals felt trapped between the total failure of ‘actually existing socialism’ – that ideological mirage – in the German Democratic Republic, and the horrors of emergent bandit capitalism presaging an uncomfortable future. But the spaces in the text are so capacious that almost any claim to climactic despair can be entertained: idiot consumerism, gender oppression and aggression, political treachery and malfeasance, fascism, existential angst, intellectual cowardice, the postmodern condition, the rejection of hope.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

"The struggle of memory against forgetting" contemporary fictions and rewriting of histories

  • Authors: Patchay, Sheenadevi
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Morrison, Toni. Beloved Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nevous conditions Høeg, Peter, 1957- Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne Nahai, Gina Barkhordar. Moonlight on the avenue of faith Roy, Arundhati. God of small things Fiction -- History and criticism History in literature Contemporary, The, in literature Postcolonialism in literature Psychic trauma in literature
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2210 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002253
  • Description: This thesis argues that a prominent concern among contemporary writers of fiction is the recuperation of lost or occluded histories. Increasingly, contemporary writers, especially postcolonial writers, are using the medium of fiction to explore those areas of political and cultural history that have been written over or unwritten by the dominant narrative of “official” History. The act of excavating these past histories is simultaneously both traumatic and liberating – which is not to suggest that liberation itself is without pain and trauma. The retelling of traumatic pasts can lead, as is portrayed in The God of Small Things (1997), to further trauma and pain. Postcolonial writers (and much of the world today can be construed as postcolonial in one way or another) are seeking to bring to the fore stories of the past which break down the rigid binaries upon which colonialism built its various empires, literal and ideological. Such writing has in a sense been enabled by the collapse, in postcolonial and postmodernist discourse, of the Grand Narrative of History, and its fragmentation into a plurality of competing discourses and histories. The associated collapse of the boundary between history and fiction is recognized in the useful generic marker “historiographic metafiction,” coined by Linda Hutcheon. The texts examined in this study are all variants of this emerging contemporary genre. What they also have in common is a concern with the consequences of exile or diaspora. This study thus explores some of the representations of how the exilic experience impinges on the development of identity in the postcolonial world. The identities of “displaced” people must undergo constant change in order to adjust to the new spaces into which they move, both literal and metaphorical, and yet critical to this adjustment is the cultural continuity provided by psychologically satisfying stories about the past. The study shows that what the chosen texts share at bottom is their mutual need to retell the lost pasts of their characters, the trauma that such retelling evokes and the new histories to which they give birth. These texts generate new histories which subvert, enrich, and pre-empt formal closure for the narratives of history which determine the identities of nations.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

'The Most Amazing Show': performative interactions with postelection South African society and culture

  • Authors: Scholtz, Brink
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57538 , vital:26962
  • Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subvet1s the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and no6ons of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
  • Full Text: false
  • Date Issued: 2008

'The Most Amazing Show': performative interactions with postelection South African society and culture

  • Authors: Scholtz, Brink
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57527 , vital:26963
  • Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subverts the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and notions of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

40 000 years of climatic change in the Eastern Cape

  • Authors: Lewis, Colin A
  • Date: 2008
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6711 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006748
  • Description: This article outlines the major climatic conditions that have occurred in the Eastern Cape over the last 40 000 years. They have been dated using radiocarbon analyses. Changes that are older than 40 000 years are beyond the range of radiocarbon dating and are not discussed.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A Bernsteinian analysis of the integration of natural resource management in the curriculum of a rural disadvantaged school

  • Authors: Nsubuga, Yvonne
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/386415 , vital:68139 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/122771"
  • Description: Knowledge integration is one of the key principles that underpin curriculum reform in post-apartheid South Africa. One form of teacher support that has been adopted in South Africa is to provide schools throughout the country with samples of pedagogic texts such as curriculum documents and examination exemplars to act as guidelines to teachers as they implement this new curriculum requirement. In the isolated and under-resourced rural schools of South Africa, these texts are the main form of curriculum guidance to teachers. Hence the knowledge integration principles and messages conveyed within these texts are of crucial importance. One contributory factor to the lack of information on knowledge integration at rural underresourced schools is the lack of simple and effective research tools by which to analyse and compare the extent of knowledge integration within pedagogic texts and classroom practices. This article reports on a Bernstein informed analysis that was carried out on three different Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts in order to assess the extent to which they integrate natural resource management (NRM). The study involved the construction of two indicator frameworks as the research tools with which the analysis was conducted. Results from the analysis showed that although the official Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts contained very high levels of NRM integration, this was not the case for the Grade 10 Life Sciences text that was produced at the school level. The study provides useful insight into curriculum recontextualisation at a rural under-resourced school through the lens of NRM integration within the Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts. Such insight has the potential to contribute to better curriculum design and implementation strategies to service schools. This will hopefully help to narrow the gap that currently exists between the official and enacted curricula.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A Biblical theology of ministry to refugees for Baptist Churches in South Africa

  • Authors: Stemmett, David John
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Baptists -- South Africa , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Church work with refugees
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , M Th
  • Identifier: vital:11799 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/131 , Baptists -- South Africa , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Church work with refugees
  • Description: The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New Testaments pertaining to refugees. The dissertation then seeks to develop a theology of ministry to refugees based upon the biblical material that can be used to motivate local Baptist congregations to minister to refugees. In the final section the theology of ministry to refugees is used to evaluate current models of ministry directed towards refugees.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A bioinorganic study of some cobalt(II) Schiff base complexes of variously substituted hydroxybenzaldimines

  • Authors: Shaibu, Rafiu Olarewaju
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Cobalt Schiff bases Artemia Spectrum analysis Ligands -- Analysis Bioinorganic chemistry Antineoplastic agents Cancer -- Chemotherapy Ligands -- Toxicity
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:4394 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006009
  • Description: Syntheses of Schiff bases were carried out by reacting salicylaldyhde, ortho-vanillin, para-vanillin or vanillin with aniline, 1-aminonaphthalene, 4- and 3-aminopyridine, and also with 2- and 3-aminomethylpyridine. The various Schiff bases obtained from the condensation reaction were reacted with CoCl₂.6H₂0, triethylamine stripped CoCl₂.6H₂0 or Co(CH₃COO)₂ to form cobalt(Il) complexes of ratio 2:1. The complexes obtained from cobalt chloride designated as the "A series" are of the general formulae ML₂X₂.nH₂0 , (L = Schiff base, X = chlorine) while those obtained from cobalt acetate or triethylamine stripped cobalt chloride denoted as "B" and C" are of the general formulae ML₂. nH₂0. The few complexes that do not follow the general formulae highlighted above are: IA [M(HL)₃.Cl₂], (L = N-phenylsalicylaldimine), 4A = (MLCl₂), (L = N-phenylvanaldiminato), 7 A and 21 A (ML₂), (L = N-naphthyl-o-vanaldiminato, and N-methy-2-pyridylsalicylaldiminato respectively), 8A = MLCI, (L = N-naphthylvanaldiminato), 12A = M₂L₃Cl₂, (L = N-4-pyridylvanaldiminato), 15A (MLCI), (L = N-3-pyridyl-o-vanaldiminato). The ligands and their complexes were characterized using elemental analyses and cobalt analysis using ICP, FT-IR spectroscopy (mid and far-IR), NIR-UV/vis (diffuse reflectance), UV/vis in an aprotic and a protic solvents, while mass spectrometry, ¹HNMR and ¹³CNMR, was used to further characterized the ligands. The tautomeric nature of the Schiff bases were determined by examining the behaviour of Schiff bases and their complexes in a protic (e.g. MeOH) and non-protic (e.g. DMF) polar solvents. The effects of solvents on the electronic behaviour of the compounds were also examined. Using CDCl₃, the NMR technique was further used to confirm the structures of the Schiff bases. The tentative geometry of the complexes was determined using the spectra information obtained from the far infrared and the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. With few exceptions, most of the "A" series are tetrahedral or distorted tetrahedral, while the "B + C" are octahedral or pseudooctahedral. A small number of complexes are assigned square-planar geometry owing to the characteristic spectral behaviour shown. In order to determine their biological activity, two biological assay methods (antimicrobial testing and brine shrimp lethality assay) were used. Using disc method, the bacteriostatic and fungicidal activities of the various Schiff bases and their respective complexes to Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as Aspergillus niger, were measured and the average inhibition zones are tabulated and analysed. Both the Schiff bases and their complexes showed varying bacteriostatic and fungicidal activity against the bacteria and fungus tested. The inhibition activity is concentration dependent and potential antibiotic and fungicides are identified. To determine the toxicity of the ligands and their corresponding cobalt(II) complexes, brine shrimp lethality assay was used. The LD₅₀ of the tested compounds were calculated and the results obtained were tabulated for comparison.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A book history study of Michael Radford's filmic production William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

  • Authors: Green, Bryony Rose Humphries
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Film adaptations Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Merchant of Venice Merchant of Venice (Motion picture: 2004) English drama -- Film and video adaptations Film adaptations -- History and criticism
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2197 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002239
  • Description: Falling within the ambit of the Department of English Literature but with interdisciplinary scope and method, the research undertaken in this thesis examines Michael Radford’s 2004 film production William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice using the Book History approach to textual study. Previously applied almost exclusively to the study of books, Book History examines the text in terms of both its medium and its content, bringing together bibliographical, literary and historical approaches to the study of books within one theoretical paradigm. My research extends this interdisciplinary approach into the filmic medium by using a modified version of Robert Darnton’s “communication circuit” to examine the process of transmission of this Shakespearean film adaptation from creation to reception. The research is not intended as a complete Book History study and even less as a comprehensive investigation of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Rather, it uses a Shakespearean case study to bring together the two previously discrete fields of Book History and filmic investigation. Drawing on film studies, literary concepts, cultural and media studies, modern management theory as well as reception theories and with the use of both quantitative and qualitative data, I show Book History to be an eminently useful and constructive approach to the study of film.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A broad host range reporter plasmid for the analysis of divergent promoter regions

  • Authors: Jiwaji, Meesbah , Matcher, Gwynneth F , Dorrington, Rosemary A
  • Date: 2008
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6476 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006164 , http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S0038-23532008000400013&script=sci_arttext
  • Description: Although many vectors exist for Escherichia coli and closely related species, there are few broad host range vectors that can be conjugated into a large variety of Gram-negative bacteria. We have constructed a broad host range vector, pMJ445, that facilitates the analysis of divergent promoters in Gram-negative bacteria. The vector was validated using two intergenic regions derived from gene clusters involved in hydantoin hydrolysis, from the environmental isolates Pseudomonas putida and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The DNA sequences analysed were capable of activating expression of the reporter enzymes, β-glucuronidase and β-galactosidase, present on pMJ445, indicating the presence of divergent promoters in the sequences selected. In addition, we demonstrated that pMJ445 can be applied to gene regulation studies.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A Canonical Implementation Of The Advanced Encryption Standard On The Graphics Processing Unit

  • Authors: Pilkington, Nick , Irwin, Barry V W
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430007 , vital:72659 , https://digifors.cs.up.ac.za/issa/2008/Proceedings/Research/47.pdf
  • Description: This paper will present an implementation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) on the graphics processing unit (GPU). It investigates the ease of implementation from first principles and the difficulties encountered. It also presents a performance analysis to evaluate if the GPU is a viable option for a cryptographics platform. The AES implementation is found to yield orders of maginitude increased performance when compared to CPU based implementations. Although the implementation introduces complica-tions, these are quickly becoming mitigated by the growing accessibility pro-vided by general programming on graphics processing units (GPGPU) frameworks like NVIDIA’s Compute Uniform Device Architechture (CUDA) and AMD/ATI’s Close to Metal (CTM).
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A case for institutional investigations in economic research methods with reference to South Africa's agricultural sector

  • Authors: Mbatha, Cyril
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Economic development -- South Africa Economic development -- Research -- Methodology Agriculture -- South Africa Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa Agricultural productivity -- South Africa Agriculture -- Research -- South Africa South Africa -- Economic conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:972 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002706
  • Description: Economic development remains elusive for many world economies, but especially those of African countries. The current global inequalities in terms of GNP per capita and human living standards between developed and developing nations have ensured that the challenges of food insecurities are only some of the many negative experiences of underdevelopment in the African continent. Hence, delivery pressures are increasing on policy makers and researchers to provide tangible and timely economic solutions to the resilient state of underdevelopment. In the policy fights against the challenges posed by a lack of development in South Africa, the agricultural sector has in the past and continues in the present to play a central role. Such is the case because the majority of citizens rely on agricultural production activities for their livelihoods. For instance, even though the sector only contributed four percent towards the national Gross Domestic Product in 2006, in the Eastern Cape Province, more than seventy percent of the total population resided in rural areas. Moreover, in 2004 more than sixty percent of the national formal and informal employment levels were found in the sector. These economic indicators do not only reinforce the assertions that high levels of geographical and sectoral inequalities exist in the country’s economy, but they also illustrate the importance of the agricultural sector in public policy attempts, which are aimed at achieving food security alongside long-term developmental objectives. Some economists, especially the proponents of institutionalism, have argued that most of the recommendations to public policy interventions from mainstream economic research endeavours are not adequately helpful. The recommendations generally lack well considered and socially effective ideas, mainly because there remains some level of ignorance about the impacts that institutions have on economic and social systems. Some argue that this ignorance is reflected in (flawed) hedonistic and rationalist assumptions made about economic actors and in the methodological thinking of many research designs and economic analyses. The misuse of formal tools and statistical methods, for example, are some of the important factors, which have led to failures of the discipline of economics to provide effective policy solutions to problems of underdevelopment and poverty, especially in poor country environments. The thesis, having taken account of the majority of criticisms levelled against the classical and new-classical economic schools of thought, argues that the discipline as a whole lacks a paradigmatic integration of institutional and new-classical economic perspectives to offer appropriate guidelines for a methodology aimed at achieving socially responsive research outputs. The lack of this integration has resulted in a skewed selection of methods by economists, which are employed in research without a supportive and in-depth understanding of institutional and social factors. To support the thesis, a more effective and integrated framework for economic research is developed and presented with case study illustrations in a cumulative manner. The 20th century history of agricultural policies in South Africa, the agricultural and institutional case studies from the Eastern Cape Province alongside reviews of other agricultural studies are all used in presenting a case for rigorous institutional investigations in general economic research. These are also used in developing the proposed integrated framework, which aims to give guidance in developing research methods, which are more socially responsive. Having shown the usefulness of the proposed research framework, the thesis recommends that public policy interventions (at national and local levels) should aim to eliminate all types of institutions which have high associated transactional costs. The interventions should also encourage the emergence and growth of the types of institutions, which present the lowest costs to initiatives of economic development. In the primary case studies from the Eastern Cape Province, the insecurity of land tenure and the various local initiatives of business ventures are highlighted as two examples of the types of institutions, which respectively present high and low transactional costs to local initiatives of agricultural and economic development.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A case study approach to assess the growth towards world class at EH Walton Packaging (Pty) Ltd

  • Authors: Piron, Susan
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Total quality management , Manufacturing resource planning
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: vital:9816 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018759
  • Description: The Printing and Packaging Industry in South Africa has become very competitive over the last decade. Imports and the move towards environmentally friendly packaging have put additional strain on certain sectors of this industry. EH Walton Packaging (Pty) Ltd is one of oldest converters in the industry, established in 1845, and has always been a leader with regards to new technology. It has grown from a small, family business to one of the biggest and most respected in South Africa, but it is still a private company. Due to the rapid growth the shareholders approved a multi-million rand expansion project in 2000. After completion the anticipated increase in shareholder value did not materialize, even though the production facility is always busy. The objective of this research study is to demonstrate to senior management that quality does not end with accreditation of ISO 9001:2000, but that total quality management is invaluable as a business strategy to reach world class manufacturing standards and to sustain organisational excellence. The research will investigate the origins and development of total quality management and world-class manufacturing and extract the most important elements that form the basis of sustainable competitiveness, as well as research done on the reasons why businesses fail. These elements will be further investigated, with special emphasis on the African/South African environment. Research showed that sustained excellence in business and quality is based on customer focus, guided by strategic planning, with leadership at the core, enhanced by philosophy, employee improvement and involvement, and quality assurance. Failure of achieving excellence is best summarized by Deming’s Seven Deadly Sins. The case study approach that was followed to determine the status of total quality elements within the company yielded contrasting results. A number of the “sins” were identified as present in the business strategy; levels of leadership varies from traditional Summary to high performance; understanding of where the company is heading is fragmented; there are no social programs in place and training only concentrates on apprenticeships and not on developing shop floor skills – to mention a few. Surprising is the world-class orientation with regards to customers; but again, this is contrasted with the lack of active customer satisfaction initiatives. The study concludes that although many negative aspects exist and that the prevailing culture does not appear to support change towards world-class growth, there is an element of positive energy among employees. Most of the employees who participated in the study believe that the company has a bright future. It is these attitudes that must be used to drive change, with a clear vision, good strategies and world-class leaders.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A comparative analysis of the rights of the child with particular reference to child soldiers

  • Authors: Anwo, Joel Olasunkanmi
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Children's rights -- Child welfare -- Demobilization of children , Disarmament -- Reintegration
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , LLD
  • Identifier: vital:11108 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/102 , Children's rights -- Child welfare -- Demobilization of children , Disarmament -- Reintegration
  • Description: The recruitment, enlistment and forceful conscription of children as soldiers is a cause for grave concern all over the world and most especially in Africa, where years of factional fighting, civil wars and cross border conflicts have raged, children and youth have been pulled into violence not only as victims, but also as perpetrators. The involvement of children in war posses a severe challenge to prevailing moral and legal norms of the conduct of modern warfare. A major problem and most controversial issue, among others, is on the age at which children should be eligible to become combatants. Children, who may be viewed as a valuable resource due to their often inherent malleability, wish to avenge family member(s) killed in war, sense of immunity to danger, and or feeling of power in participating in the violence. Can the use of children as soldiers be effectively regulated in Africa? All efforts to assist child soldiers in recovering from the devastating effects of wars often unwillingly helped promote the growing number of child soldiers. This is in part because wars are now more fought internally among rebel armies and factions vying for power with the government and thus enlist children into their various armies. The study comes to a conclusion that drastic steps need to be taken to ameliorate this unfortunate situation. This formed the basis of the recommendations offered in the thesis to assist the African continent.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A comparison between the South African "source rules" in relation to income tax and the "permanent establishment rules" as contained in double taxation agreements

  • Authors: Fourie, Leonie
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Income tax -- South Africa , Income tax -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Double taxation -- South Africa , Business enterprises -- Taxation -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: vital:905 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008203
  • Description: South Africa's right to tax the income of a non-resident is determined in terms of the South African "source rules" established by court decisions in relation to the imposition of tax in terms of the Income Tax Act. Unless a non-resident's income is captured by the South African "source rules" (on the basis that hi slits income is derived from a South African source), South Africa would have no right to tax such income, even if such non-resident creates a permanent establishment in South Africa by performing business activities within South Africa which could be considered essential (but not dominant) in nature. In such scenario the activities performed by the non-resident in South Africa may utilise the natural resources and the infrastructure of South Africa, but the South African fiscus would be deprived of the right to any tax revenues attributable to the income produced partly by such activities within South Africa. The South African "source rules" refer only to the main or dominant activities giving rise to the income for the purpose of determining the source of such income (and accordingly the right to tax such income). On the other hand, the "permanent establishment rules" as set out under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital refer to all the taxpayer's essential business activities for the purpose of determining whether or not such activities create a pennanent establishment. The result of the narrow nature of the South African "source rules" is that, under certain circumstances, the South African fiscus would not necessarily be granted the right to tax all income produced partly within South Africa. The research demonstrated that incorporating the principles underlying the "pennanent establishment rules" into South African legislation would be a reasonable and logical solution to the problem of detennining the source of income. In so doing, the South African "source rules" would determine the source of income, and consequently South Africa's taxing rights, with reference to the essential business activities giving rise to such income. In such case South Africa would be afforded the right to tax the income of a non-resident in the event that it performs any of its essential business activities within South Africa, albeit not the dominant or main activities giving rise to the income.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A comparison between the South African and Kenyan labour law systems

  • Authors: Munuve, Lilian Kasyoka
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- Kenya , Labor law -- South Africa , Labor law -- Kenya
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
  • Identifier: vital:10205 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/752 , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- Kenya , Labor law -- South Africa , Labor law -- Kenya
  • Description: Labour law is a system of rules regulating the labour force in the society. These rules of labour are legal rules and are legally enforceable which means that if there is a breach of rules a party may approach a court of law or any other institution to obtain relief in respect of the breach of the rules. As a large percentage of the population at any given time in the world is involved with employment relationship, the labour relationships between employer and employee cannot be ignored as it affects both socio-economic and political factors in our society. Labour Law in general focuses on various relationships, including the relationship between the employer and employee, between the employer and a trade union or a group of employees, employers and employers’ organization. From the foregoing it can be deduced that there are two components of labour law which must be distinguished, namely individual and collective labour. The individual relationship focuses on the relationship between the employer and the employee while collective labour laws deal with matters such as legal nature of trade unions (and employers’ organization), the legal nature and enforceability of collective agreements, collective bargaining institutions and the legal consequences that flow from strikes, lock outs and other forms of industrial action. Collective labour law can therefore be said to be the body of rules which regulates the following collective relationships between: • employees and the trade union they belong to • employers and employers’ organization • employers and /or employers organization and trade unions • the government and trade unions • the government and employers organization However the collective labour law cannot be said to be absolute but is interdependent with individual labour law because the collectively agreed terms become part of the individual employment relation. This study mainly focuses on the collective labour aspect of the labour law system which shall be discussed in detail in the chapters to follow.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A comparison of ethical models for conflict resolution in the African context

  • Authors: Mbangu, Muyingi
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Africa -- Politics and government , Conflict management
  • Language: English
  • Type: Master's theses , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/25052 , vital:63948
  • Description: Remarkably little research has been done about the potential of ethical models for violent conflict resolution in the African context. I will argue here that ethical models such as Utilitarianism, Deontologism, Virtue ethics, and African ethics can exert influence to help resolve conflict situations peacefully for the sake of African civilians generally and the DRC civilians in particular. This influence firstly becomes visible in the fact that ethical models can guide conflict resolution attempts to bring about conditions of peace, justice and freedom among African civilians in whichever nations state they find themselves. Secondly, ethical models can be established in the resolution of conflict for a lasting peace in the African context, and lastly, ethical models can be proposed as a guideline for all African leaders to lead their countries in peace. The conclusion I draw is that a normative framework of ethical models can be applied in conflict resolution in the African context. This framework draws on all four models, but leans toward deontology because of its strictness or rigour of universal rules or principles in any situation. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2008
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008

A comparison of the values of water inflows into selected South African estuaries : the Heuningnes, Kleinmond, Klein, Palmiet, Cefane, Kwelera and Haga-Haga

  • Authors: Dikgang, Johane
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Estuaries -- South Africa -- Cost efffectiveness , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Economic aspects
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: vital:8994 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/804 , Estuaries -- South Africa -- Cost efffectiveness , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Economic aspects
  • Description: “An estuary is a partially or fully enclosed body of watera) which is open to the sea permanently or periodically; b) within which the sea water can be diluted, to an extent that is measurable, with freshwater drained from inland” (National Water Act, 1998). Estuaries are ecologically important because they are habitats for birds, fish and plants and they are valuable because they provide human beings with food (fish) and recreational pleasure in the form of unique views, bird watching and opportunities for swimming and boating. It is in this context that they may be said to provide economic goods and services for current and future generations. The provision of these services is dependent on the inflow of freshwater into estuaries. The problem with estuarine freshwater demand is that estuaries are the ‘last in line’, literally and perhaps in the typical prioritisation of human wants by government. Clearly it is imperative that the value of freshwater inflows into estuaries be determined and these values incorporated into catchment management decision making. South African estuaries have in the past mainly been managed on a piecemeal basissometimes in the interest of fishermen, sometimes property development owners and sometimes other local interest groups. This situation changed with the National Water Act of 1998. One of its objectives was to address the mismanagement and inadequate research about water inflow impacts on estuaries (Allanson and Baird, 1999). The global warming phenomenon is going to negatively affect estuaries and put more pressure on the availability of freshwater inflows into estuaries, as well as the availability of drinking water. The majority of South African estuaries are temporally open/closed and experiencing reduced functioning due to reductions of freshwater inflow to them. Given the overwhelming evidence available on the significance of freshwater inflow to estuary functionality, it is clear that an important component of catchment management is the allocation of river water into estuaries. Economic guidance comes in the form of comparisons of value. There are seven estuaries for which values were generated, the Heuningnes, Kleinmond, Klein, Palmiet, Cefane, Kwelera and Haga- Haga. All of the seven estuaries fall in areas characterized by warm temperate climates and low rainfall levels. Estuary services, like many other environmental services, are not traded in the markets. For this reason, in order to estimate their value, reference must be made to proxy markets, and methods of valuation have to be employed that can use proxy market information - like the contingent valuation method (CVM), the travel cost method (TCM) and the hedonic pricing method (HPM). For the purpose of this research the CVM was preferred because it is best suited to including passive or nonuse values. The CVM estimated values are compared with other values generated using the TCM. The information required to make the CVs was gathered through surveys in at the seven selected estuaries from December 2005 to April 2006. From this information sample mean and median Willingness to Pay (WTP) values for freshwater were calculated, socio economic profiles were generated, the importance that respondents attached to various activities in the estuary was deduced, and, Tobit and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) statistics models were used to predict household WTP. The Total WTP (TWTP) for each estuary was obtained by multiplying the median WTP by the total number of households that use the estuary. The median WTP is preferred to the mean WTP because of a skewed bid distribution of WTP among the users. The value per m3 of freshwater was obtained by dividing the TWTP by the total forecast reduction in water inflows into the estuary.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2008
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact