Academic literature on the topic 'ZSouth Africa'

A structural study of Witteberg Group Rocks was conducted along the Soutkloof River, approximately 14 km east of Steytlerville, Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Here a north to south geotraverse was studied in an attempt at unravelling the structural geology of the rocks belonging to the Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous Witteberg Group (Upper Cape Supergroup). These rocks are mostly arenaceous and include quartzite, sandstone, siltstone and shale which have been folded, faulted and metamorphosed. Thrust, normal and strike-slip faulting occur in the area. Shallow south-dipping low-angle thrust fault planes are displaced by steep south-dipping thrust planes and subordinate north-dipping backthrusts. Displacement along thrust planes is predominantly northwards. Steeply dipping thrust fault planes are often reactivated as east-west striking normal faults. Strike-slip faulting postdates all observed structural features and displaces normal and thrust fault planes. Open to tight folds are present and are mostly northvergent and often steepened or truncated by steep south-dipping thrust fault planes. South-vergent folds are related to backthrusting and post-fold faulting. The study has revealed that the current geological map and the local stratigraphy were compiled without recognising major structural features such as thrust, normal and strike-slip faulting and their (the map and currently accepted stratigraphy) validity are therefore questioned. The presence of extensive faulting suggests that the conventional stratigraphic interpretation of the Witteberg Group should be revised.

This study investigates the causes of the service delivery protests in South African municipalities that occurred between 2005 to 2013. In a sense, the recent widespread service delivery protests which, in many instances, have turned violent, have sounded an alarm that cannot be ignored. The study is premised on the fact that no political democracy can survive and flourish if the mass of its people remain in poverty, and in a state of inequality and unemployed without tangible prospects for a better life. In this regard, the presence of service delivery protests, especially violent ones, is a threat to South Africa’s young democracy and its sustainability. This study is based on the assumption that the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, like other municipalities in South Africa, could be confronted with the possibility of further violent service delivery protests if the current causes were not scientifically investigated and solutions found. The study adopted a hypothesis with a view that South African municipalities could succeed in rendering effective public services if matters of poor public participation, corruption, service delivery inhibiting systemic factors, a cumbersome legislative environment, political infighting, poor intergovernmental fiscal regime and the low capacity of municipalities were adequately addressed. The study proposed to provide a brief literature review on the emergence of service delivery protests against the backdrop of a theoretical investigation on the new local government developmental mandate. The empirical survey and research methodology employed in the study is described, followed by the operationalisation of the survey questionnaire used for gathering field data. The research findings of the empirical survey are then statistically analysed, interpreted and reported. Some of the findings on the causes of service delivery protests includes slow pace of service delivery, especially in the delivery of sustainable human settlements, poor public participation and other underpinning systemic factors. Recommendations flowing from, inter alia, the results of the empirical study, are presented on how the existing status quo can be changed to enhance service delivery and development. If adopted, these recommendations will enable the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, as a development agent, to fulfil its developmental mandate thereby addressing the causes of the service delivery protests currently facing it.

Access to water services in South Africa still remains a dream for most people, especially those who live in remote areas. The poverty stricken communities of the former Transkei in the Eastern Cape are in need of water and sanitation services. The findings of the study reveal that most community members are dissatisfied with the water service delivery. During an interview with ward 6 residents who reside in an urban area of the OR Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM), they revealed that pipe bursting is one of the main causes why from time to time they do not have water. The other factor is when there is no electricity; the water system depends on the availability of electricity. The South African local government has been mandated to consult with its citizenry in respect of the processes relating to water service delivery. South Africa has developed a wide range of legislation that ensures community consultation on a continuous basis with regard to how water services should be delivered. It is the community‟s right to be consulted and to give input on issues that directly affect them. The researcher used a qualitative research method since it would provide the reader with more insight into how water services are delivered in the ORTDM. Both community members and municipal officials were interviewed. A number of findings have been made during the research. Some community members are of the view that constant community consultation could reduce service delivery protests. Political intervention needs to be made by the leadership with regard to service delivery and more resources need to be committed toward those processes. This study was conducted from April 2012 to November 2012 and was aimed at assessing the performance of OR Tambo District Municipality regarding water service delivery. According to OR Tambo DM (2011/12: 3), the communities through the consultation processes conducted throughout five (5) local municipalities made it clear that ensuring increased access to water and sanitation services is still the main priority.

Research Report submitted to the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education May 2016
This research is focused on an examination of executive leadership in education which has emerged in the South African independent schools sector over the past two decades. School leadership is based on the premise that the role of the principal or head of a school is to lead and manage teaching and learning. Executive leadership per se is generally associated with business practice in large, corporate organisations, and the introduction of executive leadership structures in education was therefore seen as a paradigm shift which warranted investigation. Shortly after the first democratic elections in 1994, the South African Schools Act (SASA) was passed by parliament in 1996. The Act provides amongst other things the right to every person to establish and maintain, at their own expense, an independent educational institution. Since then the number of independent schools in South Africa has increased and some of them have doubled or tripled in size over the years. Independent schools fall into the category of private providers of education and are required to operate within the legal and education policy framework of the Republic of South Africa and to obtain accreditation from Umalusi, which is the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training in South Africa. In addition, and as part of their membership obligations, independent schools that are affiliated to ISASA (Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa) undergo a periodic quality assurance process which is carried out by IQAA (Independent Quality Assurance Agency). Compliance and quality standards are therefore considered as key aspects of leadership and management of an independent school. This research study is located within qualitative methodology, and grounded theory was used to determine theories to explain executive leadership in the selected case study school. As there were no available previous studies or theories to explain the trend towards executive leadership, grounded theory was considered most appropriate for this study. According to Dimmock and Lam (2012), grounded theory is well suited to research in educational leadership because of ‘its ability to offer a theory of explanation of complex interactive situations involving human beings in their natural or organisational settings’ (2012: 189). One case study was selected in the Gauteng Province of South Africa and the experiences of eight participants were investigated. The participants comprised of two executive leaders (these are known as Rectors and are the current Rector of the school and his predecessor), the five designated principals of the schools within a school, and the business manager. The research instruments used included questionnaires and interviews; the questionnaires were structured with the purpose of eliciting as much data from each participant as possible. The interviews were semi-structured with follow up probing questions, designed to enable full and frank engagement by the participants. The analysis of data revealed that the role of an executive head (or Rector in the example of the selected case school) is strategic, policy-based and relational in nature. The role serves to galvanize a school towards a particular long-term shared vision and helps to focus all role-players on what must be done in the present and immediate future in order to achieve the long-term vision of the school. It was also revealed that the role of the Rector does not extend to matters of teaching and learning, and that these are delegated to the designated principal within a particular school environment. The research concluded that executive leadership structures can be of great benefit to education. The core business of schools is teaching and learning and therefore the principal’s key role should be about instructional leadership. The Rector or executive head on the other hand will be the best placed person in a school to lead and manage strategy, vision and policy compliance.

University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Humanities Wits School of Education June 2016
This research report investigates the influence of age and career phase on South African teachers’ emotional responses to curriculum change, particularly the transition to CAPS. It aims to find out how teachers of different ages at different phases of their career think and feel about the transition to CAPS, and if there are any discernible differences between the responses of older and younger teachers and what may be the causes for the patterns of the difference? A conceptual framework using Nussbaum’s (2001) understanding that emotions are always directed at an “object” and Frijda’s (1986) understanding that emotions are relevance signalling mechanisms was developed. This conceptual framework positions emotions as a conceptual and analytical lens for analysing data. Using a basic interpretive qualitative approach, the study focuses on ten teachers’ experiences of the transition to CAPS. Individual interviews and focus group discussions provided most of the data for this study. Key findings that arise from this study are: In the teachers’ emotional reaction to curriculum change, there were distinct differences depending on which ‘sub-object’ they were talking about. Yet the emotional reason for accepting CAPS was when teachers could see how CAPS enabled learning in their learners. Even so, these teacher’s emotions towards CAPS as a new curriculum was differentially shaped by their teacher education and years of experience. In addition, belonging to a community of practice enabled these teachers’ sense making of CAPS and provided vital support to cope with the challenges of teaching. The key recommendation is that teachers should embrace their emotions, and can use their emotions as vehicles for action and social justice (Winograd 2003).

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Science Development Planning to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017
The lack of capacity, coordination and pervasive corruption are the views commonly associated with local implementation agencies particularly when it comes to housing construction and delivery in South Africa. One of the reasons for these views could be associated with the increasing backlog of adequate housing couple with the ever-increasing number of housing need within the country. From the governmental point of view, a lot of progress regarding housing delivery have been recorded since 1994 through different delivery strategies. However, different spheres of government particularly the local level feels the need that a lot still needs to be done in order to keep up with the increasing demand and also to cater for the sustainability of these different housing projects. The need for a sustainable housing project has resulted to the establishment of The Housing Development Agency (HDA) in 2009 under a close supervision and monitoring by The National Department of Human Settlement (NDHS). HDA is expected to operate independently in addressing the shortage of housing. Its mandate was that of identifying, acquiring and developing well-located land for building and establishment of human settlements. Established at a National Level, the services they render cut across the provincial and municipal sphere of government. The Housing Development Agency (HDA) has been in charge of Housing delivery over the past 6 years with different development within the Gauteng City Region (GCR) i.e. Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni but despite this, most communities within Gauteng province are far from achieving an integrated and sustainable human settlement. This research seeks to understand if there are any challenges vis-à-vis coordination between HDA and local implementation agencies in Gauteng province while considering different implementation approaches, strategies, chosen catalytic and interventions in achieving spatial transformation amongst these three selected municipalities. The research utilized the various reports from present, past and future development strategies of HDA and in comparison, with the three local implementation agencies strategies, diverse qualitative information was collected and analysed in relation to the location of the identified human settlement projects within the GCR areas. Furthermore, Interview guideline questions were structured to guide various interview sessions with senior HDA administrative officials. Conversation analysis method was further used to filter the interview sessions while making sure the confidentiality of my participants is not jeopardized. Finally, finding from this study highlights that municipalities are striving to achieve a sustainable and socially integrated housing development particularly in Gauteng but the stereotype cross cutting issues like access to information, gender, race, disability and income are serious challenges HDA or any private agency needs to deal with in order for it to achieve any given mandate.
MT 2018

Dissertation presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management) to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand September 2017
The linear market model is the City of Johannesburg’s most recent street trading developmental intervention intended to manage and locate street traders in highly pedestrianised streets. The inner city of the City of Johannesburg is known for receiving a high influx of migrants from inside South Africa and outside the country seeking economic opportunities. Some of these migrants find themselves in the streets of the City of Johannesburg engaging in illegal street trading. The City of Johannesburg municipality has come up with various strategies to regulate and manage street trading including the introduction of By-laws. In 2008 the City of Johannesburg municipality introduced the linear market model as a means to provided proper structures for street traders, and models that are intended to organise them and assist in unlocking their entrepreneurial skills. The implementation of the linear market model had its own challenges, including some stakeholders believing that it is not beneficial and some traders believing that the entire process of moving them around undermined their rights. However, this research had not examined the conflicts that the municipality has with the street traders but focused on assessing the situation relating to the market, street traders’ challenges and the support they receive from the municipality. This research was conducted in the form of a case study to critically assess the linear markets located in the inner city of one of the busiest cities of the continent. The research assessed the functionality of the model focusing on the benefits that this market model brought to the street traders. The methodology applied to carry out this research does not generalise the findings for broader scope and consideration. However, the significance of the outputs through this research could be of use to provide insights within the City of Johannesburg where such infrastructure is developed. The research found that the linear market model is structurally functional but with some administration challenges. Maintenance and inadequate support by the municipality was the main challenge in these markets. This research study made recommendations to assist the municipality as it implements the linear market model in other regions of the municipality.
E.R.

M.Sc. (Eng.),Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, 2012
Mining is a sensitive business that yields high returns and at the same time is associated with high risk of injuries/fatalities and potential losses of revenue. There is increasing intolerance for injuries and fatalities by governments and the other stakeholders involved in the mining business often resulting in mine closures and revenue loss. Chief among the mining risks is the occurrence of rockfalls where people work and access. The rockfalls are bound mainly by joints that intersect the rockmass thereby forming rock blocks that may fall once an excavation has been created. There are many methods that have been used over time to predict the occurrence of rockfalls. More recently probabilistic methods have gained more ground over deterministic methods. The properties of the joints that are identifiable on exposed excavations are the main inputs used in simulating rockfalls. To date there has been little work that has been done to compare predicted rockfalls to actual rockfalls. This dissertation presents a practical method for collecting rockfall and joint data in the stope hangiwall at two mines in the Bushveld Complex. The joint data has been used in simulating rockfalls using JBlock (a probabilistic keyblock stability programme). A comparison between simulated rockfalls and mapped rockfalls has been presented. Based on this comparison, a number of iterations were done to calibrate the JBlock results until near realistic rockfalls were achieved. Three case studies have been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of different stope support systems in reducing rockfall. The potential losses and injury risk associated with the different support systems have been quantified for all the individual rockfalls. In general the rockfall frequency is directly proportional to the risks associated with the rockfalls. Through this research it has been demonstrated that it is possible to use joint data found on excavation surfaces to statistically predict the occurrence of potential rockfalls in similar ground conditions. The optimum support system that has minimum injury and cost risk can also be selected from a comparison of a number of support systems. Armed with this information, rock engineers can now make strategic decisions versus the existing common tactical approach.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Migration and Displacement), 2017
This study speaks to a broader literature on the precarity of service employees and undocumented migrants. Within this literature we see lives characterised by low paying jobs and a lack of social protection. Narratives and in-depth interviews were used in-order to find out how undocumented Zimbabwean waitrons in Johannesburg employ social networks to mitigate economic precarity. In examining Zimbabwean waitrons working the Johannesburg’s precarious hospitality sector, I found evidence that demonstrates the importance of social networks but demands we take a more nuanced look at the ways in which they work. More specifically, there are not only straight social connections, but sexual networks and, religious networks, and – perhaps most importantly – overt patterns of disconnections. While social networks can invariably play an important role in migrants’ (and others’) success, they are not without potential risks. In light of this, this study sought to systematically investigate the role of social networks in mitigating precarity. This study adds to emerging field of social networks of marginalised groups and a growing literature on migrant integration in the social and economic environments of the global south.
XL2018