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‘n Morfologies-sistematiese analise van die komposisiestrukture in “vier pogings in linguistiese sinaps-opsporing” in Mede-wete (2014) deur Antjie Krog
No full textAfrikaans: Met die lees van Antjie Krog se bundel Mede-wete (2014) asook resensie-artikels wat daaroor geskryf is deur onder andere Helize van Vuuren (2014), Marlies Taljard (2014), Louis Esterhuizen (2014), Jacomien van Niekerk (2014), Louise Viljoen (2014 en 2016), Andries Visagie (2015), Ihette Jacobs (2015) en Susan Smith (2016), val dit die leser op dat Krog veral belangstelling toon in die werk van die Roemeens-gebore Duitse skrywer en vertaler Paul Celan (1920-1970).
Paul Celan is ‘n digter en Holocaust-oorlewende uit ‘n Joodse familie en alhoewel hy reeds op ‘n jong ouderdom verskeie tale kon praat, het hy op aandrang van sy ma Duits gepraat en geskryf. Weens ‘n weersin in dié taal (die taal van sy ma se moordenaars), maar aan die anderkant ook ‘n liefde daarvoor (in herinnering aan sy ouers), skep hy ‘n nuwe taal deur sekere tegnieke te gebruik om woorde op te breek en iets “medemensliks” daaruit te kry. Volgens Krog sluit die tegnieke innoverende neologismes en morfologiese afwykinge in.
Antjie Krog maak kennis met dié tegnieke tydens haar verblyf in Duitsland in 2008 en maak dit haar eie nadat sy privaatonderrig oor die werk van Celan ontvang en van sy gedigte vertaal. Dit is ook dié tegnieke wat die leser van Mede-wete beïndruk deur die wyse waarop Krog die taal en spesifiek woorde verander en nuut maak deur verskillende woordvormingsprosesse. Meer spesifiek is dit die wending weg van Standaardafrikaans wat Krog in die laaste afdeling, getiteld “vier pogings in linguistiese sinaps-opsporing”, neem. Tot dusver is daar nog nie navorsing oor hierdie proses beskikbaar nie. In hierdie studie word aandag gegee aan ‘n morfologies-sistematiese analise van die laaste afdeling in Mede-wete. Aan die hand van die morfologiese ontledings en woordvormingsreëls van J.H.G. Combrink (1990:53-58) word daar na die verskillende woordvormingsprosesse in Afrikaans gekyk. Volgens Combrink is daar verskillende komposisiestrukture, afhangende van die wyse waarop hierdie strukture gevorm is en word daar onderskei tussen drie hoof-woordvormingsprosesse, naamlik REDUKSIE (Akronieme, Knipsels, Truvorme of Inkortings), KOMBINASIE (Afleidings, Samestellings, Samestellende afleidings, Samestellende samestellings of Vloekwoordinlywing) en REDUKSIE-PLUS-KOMBINASIE (Reduksieafleidings, Reduksiesamestellings, Tegnoafleidings of Tegnosamestellings), asook ander prosesse soos VERSMELTINGS. ‘n Korpus van 196 leksikale items in die laaste gedigreeks, as verteenwoordige deursnit wat die vyf tipes kombinasie-prosesse insluit, word vanuit ‘n morfologiese perspektief belig en ook op ‘n semantiese vlak in konteks met die bestaande temas in die res van die bundel geëvalueer. Hieruit blyk dit dat sekere prosesse die digter-spreker gelei het na die vorming van dié nuwe woorde en is daar duidelik ‘n onderliggende morfologiese sistematiek te bespeur. So ‘n taalkundige ondersoek verbreed ‘n digterlik-gebaseerde onderwerp en dwing die leser om nog dieper te kyk na dit wat die digter-spreker nie net met digterlike styl kan vermag nie, maar ook met morfologiese woordhervorming om ‘n hele nuwe leksikon te skep.English: By reading Antjie Krog‘s volume of poetry, Mede-wete (2014), as well as review articles written by Helize van Vuuren (2014), Marlies Taljard (2014), Louis Esterhuizen (2014), Jacomien van Niekerk (2014), Louise Viljoen (2014 and 2016), Andries Visagie (2015), Ihette Jacobs (2015) and Susan Smith (2016), it strikes the reader that Krog shows particular interest in the work of the Romanian-born German writer and translator Paul Celan (1920-1970). Paul Celan is a poet and Holocaust survivor from a Jewish family. Although he could speak several languages at a young age, he spoke and wrote German at his mother‘s insistence. Due to a dislike for this language (the language of his mother‘s killers), but also a love for it (in memory of his parents), he creates a new language by using certain techniques to break up words and get something "humane" out of it. According to Krog, these techniques include innovative neologisms and morphological deviations. In 2008 Antjie Krog became acquainted with these techniques during her stay in Germany after receiving private instruction on the work of Celan and translating some of his poems. These techniques impress the reader of Mede-wete, especially how Krog changes and renews words through word-formation processes. More specifically, it is the deviation from Standard Afrikaans that Krog uses in the last section, entitled "vier pogings in linguistiese sinaps-opsporing" ("four efforts in linguistic synapse tracing"). Till now, no research on this process is available. In this study, attention is paid to a morphological-systematical analysis of the last section in Mede-wete based on the morphological analysis and word-formation rules of J.H.G. Combrink (1990:53-58) which include REDUCTIONS (Acronyms, Clippings, Back-formations or Abbreviations), COMBINATION-FORMS (Derivations and Compounds) and other combination-forms like Reduction derivations, Techno derivations as well as Fusions. A corpus of 196 lexical items, as represented diameter, is analysed from a morphological-systematical perspective, but also on a semantical level to determine if Krog was led by certain processes in creating these neologisms.Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) (literally South African Academy for Science and Arts
Strategy implementation in local authorities in Mashonaland west, Zimbabwe
No full textLocal authorities are the mainstay of economies and societies of many countries around the world, and they are critical to the economy because of the way in which they contribute to the gross domestic product, innovation, the provision of goods and services, the creation of employment opportunities, social stability and improvement of economic welfare. Strategy implementation has become the subject of debate in many organizations today. It remains practically of central concern in contemporary management, and its successful implementation is a central challenge for virtually any organization. The success of strategy implementation is hindered by barriers where the organization’s environment keeps changing. Consequently, organizations themselves are faced with a need to change. Local authorities in Zimbabwe operate within an economic environment characterized by volatility, dynamism and competitive markets that may seriously threaten their survival. Therefore, to remain viable, local authorities must strive to formulate strategies and successfully implement them. However, the process of strategy implementation is faced with implementation barriers, which this research sought to investigate further. While strategic implementation research in large organizations has been studied extensively, little attention has been paid to strategy implementation barriers in local authorities. Strategy implementation has not significantly filtered down to the public sector. There is little evidence of empirical research that has sought to analyse strategy implementation barriers within the sphere of local authorities research. Therefore, despite the widespread recognition of the important and significant contributions of local authorities, research about them remains scarce. The study sought to determine the challenges faced by Zimbabwean local authorities in their endeavour to implement Government formulated strategies. The study analysed service provision levels, identified barriers to strategy implementation and assumed that there was no rational approach to strategy implementation by local authorities in Zimbabwe and that this resulted in poor performance, as evidenced by poor service delivery. The major research objective of the study was to determine the strategy implementation barriers and challenges faced by local councils of Mashonaland West in implementation. The study further examined strategy implementation models and approaches, and suggests the best strategy implementation model and approach for local authorities in Zimbabwe based on the situation of Mashonaland West Province. The literature review revealed that the commonly cited reasons for failure by local authorities in strategy implementation include a lack of resources (including inadequate funding from central government), bureaucracy in decision-making and implementation of strategies, political interference, organizational structure and culture, strategy leadership, communication, accountability problems, shortage of skills, poor relationships between elected representatives and administrators as well as a lack of cooperation from central and/or local government. A mixed research methodology was employed to carry out the study. The quantitative approach involved the use of 288 questionnaires to collect data, and 220 questionnaires were returned and used. The qualitative data for the study were collected through an in-depth interview guide distributed to selected staff of four local authorities, using the purposive sampling method. Descriptive, factor, correlation and regression analyses were performed, and the findings were discussed. This research has identified the major barriers hindering the local authorities’ efforts to provide acceptable service. The study provides answers to all research questions, and the objectives of the study were achieved. The research concludes that strategy implementation variables are positively and significantly related to performance variables of local authorities, and that they have an impact on the performance of the local authorities. The study also provides policy and managerial recommendations that the researcher deemed useful for the local authorities
Assessing the level of disaster preparedness of the City of Ekurhuleni using the climate related incident of 2015
No full textProblem statement: The City of Ekurhuleni is known for its extreme precipitation events which, sometimes, lead to late afternoon thunderstorms and frequent nature related disasters. From 2010 to 2016, the city declared four states of disasters because of climate hazards such as floods, tornado or hailstorm. Although the city had a number of extreme weather events and disaster declarations, the literature review revealed insufficient research regarding the level of the city’s disaster preparedness to respond to major emergency incidents and /or disasters related to climate change. The insufficient information on the city’s disaster preparedness meant that the city could not determine its level of preparedness for disasters, hence the intention of this study. Purpose: The primary aim of this study was to examine the City of Ekurhuleni disaster preparedness, using the 16 November 2015 climate related hailstorm disaster in the city, from the views of the ward committee members and the municipal government officials. The four objectives that were evaluated to determine the primary objective were the disaster planning regime, the early warning systems, municipal response mechanism and public education and training programme. Methods: The methodology that was employed in the study was a mixed research method. The sample of the study consisted of 78 ward committee members from eight (8) customer care centre affected by the 2015 hailstorm disaster and 68 City of Ekurhuleni’s local government officials that might have responded to the same disaster. Questionnaires were administered to 97 participants and 49 participants were earmarked for interviews to collect data. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) with the assistance of an experienced researcher. Findings: The study findings after triangulation were as follows: • The community vulnerability assessment tool was not being used to plan for disaster preparedness. • Few households in the communities’ have households’ disaster preparedness plans; the majority does not have any plans in place. • The study showed that to some extent the city institutes disaster preparedness planning for their area of responsibility. • The early warning system in the city to a greater degree was confirmed to be in existence for the communities. • The implementation of the response mechanisms of disaster and emergency response in city is balanced. • The city’s disaster and emergency public education and training programmes in the communities had a limited impact for disaster preparedness. Recommendations: The main recommendations of the study based on the four objectives were as follows: (i) Disaster Planning Regime • The city should involve the internal departments and other stakeholders through the Municipal Advisory Forum and the communities through the process of the Integrated Development Plans to improve on the usage of the disaster community vulnerability assessment to prepare for disasters. • The Disaster Management Service in the city should raise the awareness on this critical aspect of disaster preparedness through communicating community risk and possible mitigation strategies to protect themselves. • The city has to broaden their municipal planning for disaster preparedness similar to the use of the community vulnerability assessment which was stated as the involvement of the internal departments and other stakeholders’ through the Municipal Advisory Forum and the communities through the process of the Integrated Development Plans. (ii) Early Warning System • The city can upgrade and maintain the elements of the early warning strategy to increase the spread of coverage for this system to strengthen disasters preparedness. (iii) Municipal Response Mechanism • The response mechanisms of the city should be improved through media communication that includes the communication of community’s risks and available resources and mechanisms in the city to respond to dominant disaster hazards. (iv) Public Education and Training Programme • Refining programmes by including ward committees and non-governmental organisations as partners in the planning and implementation. Conclusion: The implication of the study’s’ findings was that it confirmed the conclusion that the City of Ekurhuleni had some components of disaster preparedness that existed though not at the required level to enable it to respond effectively to major emergency incidents and /or disasters. Therefore, it might be required for the city to have a deliberate strategy to develop a disaster preparedness plan to be able to response to their challenges of extreme weather incidents and disasters
Prevalence of latex allergy in spina bifida patients in Universitas Academic Hospital
No full textBackground: Latex allergy in spina bifida patients has attracted a great deal of interest around the world, especially in Europe and the United States, where it is estimated to be as high as 67%. It is one of the primary reasons for anaphylaxis in the operating theatre, which occurs in about 50% of patients with myelomeningocele. Epidemiology from South Africa is scarce, especially for the Free State province. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of latex sensitivity and latex allergy in a population of patients with spina bifida at Universitas Academic Hospital and to describe associated risk factors. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional observational study was undertaken. A questionnaire gathered information on family and personal history of allergy, number and types of surgeries undergone, history of symptoms caused by contact with latex, previous hospitalisation, and therapy given. Patients with spina bifida participated in the study after parents gave consent. Patients underwent blood tests for total serum immunoglobulin E and specific immunoglobulin E for latex. Patients with negative immunoglobulin were set to undergo skin-prick tests. Results: In total 39 patients diagnosed with spina bifida were assessed, 25 (64%) of whom were male; their ages ranged from 1 to 156 months. Not all patients completed skin-prick tests, due to staff shortages in the dermatology department. Of the 39 patients, 8 (21%) had latex allergy (positive specific IgE and personal history of allergy reaction in contact with latex); 24(61%) were not allergic, and 7 (17%) showed sensitivity, but not allergy. Of the 21% defined as latex allergic, 50% had been operated on more than five times. Conclusion: According to this study, the prevalence of latex allergy and sensitivity in patients with spina bifida at Universitas Academic Hospital is 21% and 17% respectively
Competences of South African midwifery educators: a transformative framework
No full textMidwifery educators’ competencies are a crucial component in strengthening midwifery education and maternal healthcare. Moreover, quality midwifery education is fundamental in reaching universal health coverage by 2030. In this research, a transformative paradigm with the focus on gender inequality as the social justice element, enhanced by theoretical perspectives from feminism and social constructionism, was followed. A concurrent mixed-method design was deemed most appropriate to answer the research question: ”How can midwifery educators’ competencies best be strengthened to transform midwifery education in South Africa?” Competence strengths were defined and discovered, dreams were expressed, and the designed destiny framed during an Appreciate Inquiry session. The strengths-based approach was integrated with a realistic view of South African midwifery educators’ competencies gained by the self-administered WHO Midwifery Educator Core Competency Gap Analysis Tool. After analysis of the separate data sets, inference of the findings in triangulation with literature culminated in a transformative framework, which was refined by experts in maternal healthcare and midwifery education through a non-consensus Delphi. The meaning of all the contributions from the different perspectives of the interprofessional stakeholders were incorporated to strengthen the framework, thus taking a dialectic stance. The transformative framework consists of consecutive building blocks. Compliance with global standards for midwifery education, regulation and essential competencies forms the foundation. An enabling environment is the next element that facilitates national capacity building to address gaps in midwifery educators’ competence. Supported by the building blocks, midwifery education competence could ultimately improve the quality of midwifery care. The context of midwifery, including education, is framed by four elements emanating from a feminist approach, resulting in agency for midwives and women. This agency contributes to empowerment of women and decolonisation of midwifery, aimed at knowledge democracy. The transformative framework is presented to strengthen midwifery educators’ competencies and transform midwifery education in South Africa
Low dislocation rates achieved when using dual mobility cup hip implants for femur neck fractures
No full textBackground: Total hip replacements (THA) done for intracapsular neck of femur fractures (NOF) have a dislocation rate of up to 14%. This is seven times higher than in THA done for osteoarthritis. Using a dual mobility cup (DMC) has been shown to be effective in addressing dislocation in elective THA. Our hypothesis is that the use of DMC in NOF will do the same. This study aims to determine the incidence proportion of dislocation of DMCs one year after surgery in patients who received THA for NOF and to compare it to dislocation rates as documented in existing studies. Methods: A retrospective study was done on 86 patients treated with DMC-THA for an intracapsular NOF fracture from 2012 until 2016. A minimum one-year follow-up period was required for inclusion into the study. The number of dislocations at one year after surgery were noted. Results: Forty-one patients with a mean age of 60,7 years were included (26 females and 15 males). All patients were operated via the posterior approach. None of the patients had dislocated after one year. Conclusion: Low dislocation rates can be achieved using DMC THA in the management of intracapsular NOF fractures. Our one-year dislocation rate of 0% compares favourably to conventional THA and is comparable to similar DMC studies done outside of South Africa
The adsorption potential of arsenic and selenium in soils: a laboratory and pedogeochemical modelling study
No full textThe environmental effects of mine waste recently became of greater interest for environmentalists and researchers in South Africa. Therefore, the rehabilitation of mine waste and tailings and the potential uses of treated mine water became of utter importance. One potential use for treated mine wastewater is as irrigation water for crops. Studies on the possibility of irrigating agricultural fields with treated mine wastewater only focused on the behaviour of metalloid cations present in these waters and the possible contamination of these elements. Consequently, inadequate attention was given to the behaviour and potential contamination of metalloid anions such as Arsenic (As) and Selenium (Se) within these environments. This study discusses the impact of As and Se in water on soil material replicating soils found in the Witwatersrand gold mining area as well as in the Karoo. The study used batch extractions and geochemical surface complexation modelling by means of the double layer diffusion model to determine the adsorption potential of As and Se on two artificially prepared (soil) substrates at four pH values, representing typical soils found in the Witwatersrand and Karoo areas of South Africa. The prepared substrates represented the average montmorillonite clay and goethite Fe-oxide content in topsoils found in the Karoo region and Witwatersrand tailings. The modelled results were finally compared with experimental data replicating the modelled conditions. The adsorption of both As (as As5+, AsO4-3 species) and Se (as Se6+, SeO4-2 species) in these substrates decreased with an increase in pH, increasing the possibility of leaching to and contamination of groundwater systems in both mine tailings and irrigated agricultural fields through irrigation with treated mine wastewaters. Due to the high adsorption rates of As within these substrates, the mobility thereof at agronomically high pH values of 7 to 9 in the Witwatersrand substrate or 6 to 9 in the Karoo substrate (or substrates or soils with a similar clay and Fe-oxide content) should not be of major concern. However, this is specific to the conditions and parameters stated in this study. This is also stated without acknowledging the possibility of As accumulation within the mine tailings or soils. Close monitoring should therefore be done to ensure that there is no As accumulation in the soil and that dangerous amounts of As are not taken up by crops or leached into the groundwater systems. Furthermore, it was shown that Se adsorb less than As and that Se started to sorb less at pH values lower than 5 with respect to As. It was therefore concluded that Se would be more mobile than As at agronomic pH values between 5 and 9 in both the Witwatersrand and Karoo substrates (or substrates or soils with a similar montmorillonite clay and Fe-oxides). The adsorption of Se was however much lower in the Karoo than in the Witwatersrand substrates, possibly due to the much lower montmorillonite clay and goethite content of the Karoo substrates, which do not provide as many sorption sites. The adsorption of Se in the Karoo substrate decreased from pH values >5 and from pH values >7 in the Witwatersrand substrates. The low adsorption rates of Se greatly increases the probability and therefore the risk for Se to leach into the groundwater systems or to be taken up by plants. The irrigation of Witwatersrand and Karoo substrates or soils with a similar montmorillonite clay and Fe-oxides is therefore not recommended
The morphological, physiological, physico-chemical evaluation and sensory profiling of Nopalitos from 20 South African cactus pear cultivars
No full textDissertation (M.Sc.(Food Science))--University of the Free State, 2020The exponential increase of food insecurity around the world warrants for the development of mitigation strategies which include looking for new food sources that will not only minimise the effects of food insecurity but are also sustainable. The cactus Opuntia produces edible stems (cladodes) and fruits with high nutritional value in terms of minerals, protein, dietary fibre and phytochemicals, and with the increase in the global shift towards the use of natural plant materials in various industries including food, cosmetics as well as pharmaceuticals, the cactus pear plant makes for great interest. In addition to its multifaceted properties, the plant is appealing all the more in the South African landscape because of its high ecological adaptivity, with most of its species being able to survive in arid and semi-arid places. As such, a comprehensive study on the young edible stems (nopalitos) from twenty South African
cactus pear cultivars was conducted because they are the one part of the cactus plant that is underutilised and consequently almost exclusively used for animal feed.
Nopalitos from the twenty South African cultivars were harvested and various morphological, physiological, physico-chemical and chemical tests were conducted over 2 years (2018 and 2019). These tests included the weight, moisture content, solids, sugar content, acidity, colour, mucilage content and viscosity thereof, and pH which are some of the main factors which affect the palatability and overall functionality of the vegetable. Further investigations included
the nutritional content of the stems as well as the sensorial attributes to determine the overall eating quality and acceptability of the stems.
Upon concluding the various experiments, interesting trends were noticed between the two years with the 2018 harvest having produced more favourable attributes than the 2019 harvest. The 2018 harvest produced nopalitos which were thinner and greener stems which had the least mucilage content and viscosity while presenting high values of solids and sugar. These attributes are important as they affect the taste, keeping qualities and overall acceptability of the samples the most.
When comparing the effects of cultivar, year of harvest and the effects of cultivar and year of harvest interaction on the various nopalito attributes, it was observed that the effect of cultivar on the various parameters had the most significant differences. These significant differences were found in the weight (g), length (cm), width (cm), diameter (cm), pulp (before centrifuge) (g), extracted mucilage (g), waste (g), % mucilage yield, firmness (mm), titratable acidity expressed as % citric acid, line-spread (cm) method of determining viscosity, sugar (TSS °Brix) content as well as the colour coordinates of the various nopalito cultivars (L*, a*, b*, Chroma (Saturation Index) and hue angle). The best overall cultivars following this investigation were Meyers, Malta, Nudosa, Fusicaulis, Fresno and Morado.
Sensory profiling of the nopalitos from twenty South African cactus pear cultivars aimed to determine consumer acceptability showed interesting variations. The cultivars were easily comparable with green pepper and cucumber in certain aspects. Among the twenty nopalito cultivars, Skinners Court, Turpin, Fusicaulis, R1251 and Rossa were ‘neither liked nor disliked’ by the consumers, as they were all ranked higher than the other cultivars, while Robusta was the least liked cultivar.
Nutritional analyses were conducted for the six nopalito cultivars which were deemed to be the overall best following the morphological and physico-chemical analyses as well as the consideration of the sensorial properties of the different cultivars. From this investigation, Malta, Fusicaulis and Meyers were deemed as the best cultivars out of the six as they presented the highest nutritional content.
Overall, the reported work has shown the high quality of the nopalitos as a vegetable source which is easily and competitively compared to other known vegetables/crops such as green pepper and cucumber in terms of sensorial properties and oranges, soybeans and other nopalito cultivars found in various parts of the world in terms of nutritional, morphological and physico-chemical properties.
It is recommended that future research into the nopalitos include ways in which the stems can be prepared and incorporated into different products to increase the overall acceptability of South African consumers
Investigating the psycho-educational challenges of HIV and AIDS orphans in Mphaki, Quthing
No full textThe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have been the leading cause of orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa, including Lesotho (Ramjatan, 2015). Many parents die at the productive stage and their children are left with elders or in child-headed families, leaving these orphaned children with many challenges. The study focused on investigating the psycho-educational challenges of HIV and AIDS orphans. The theoretical framework that guided the study was Maslow’s hierarchy of needs supported by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. The study used a qualitative research design. This incorporated drawing as visual-participatory method and unstructured interviews as methods for collecting data. Nine HIV- and AIDS-orphaned learners and three of their teachers from rural primary schools participated in the research, making a total of 12 participants. The prompt, “What challenges do you experience as orphans in day-to-day life activities?” was used as a tool to guide learner participants in drawing the challenges they experience in everyday life. The teachers were interviewed to triangulate and supplement the information obtained from the learners. Results revealed that orphans experience economic, social and psychological challenges that affect their learning and their education as a whole. Some challenges include basic needs such as food, clothes, shelter, love, and educational needs. Common educational challenges include absenteeism, poor performance, punctuality problems and lack of concentration. The findings further revealed that orphans do receive support from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders, but these are not enough to contribute to the holistic development of orphans
The influence of human resource development challenges on public health service delivery in Mangaung
No full textPurpose – It is a constitutional mandate that all three spheres of government should provide quality services to citizens of South Africa. There has been an increasing demand from the public for quality health service delivery as shown in the high number of public protests against poor health service delivery. It, therefore, appears as if the National, the Pelonomi Regional, and the Universitas Academic Hospitals have been overwhelmed by having a financial shortfall that had a direct influence on the development of administrative staff, whose development was neglected. The study aims to determine the human resource development (HRD) challenges that the administrative staff of the National, Pelonomi Regional and the Universitas Academic Hospitals face in its mandate to provide efficient, effective and economical service delivery. Quality health services can only be provided if there are equipped public servants who can perform their job well. Public servants’ ability depends on the extent to which they are developed through HRD. Research design, approach, and method - The study employed a qualitative research design. Focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were used as qualitative research instruments. Focus group discussions were conducted with seventy-one (71) administrative staff and semi-structured interviews consisted of six (6) staff responsible for the management of HRD. Findings – The paper concludes that the FSDoH is still faced with the problem of a skills audit and insufficient budget allocations. Therefore, there is a dire need by the FSDoH to acquire skilled HRD professionals or to upgrade their skills and knowledge to meet the requirements of the now changing Public Sector. Hence, to realize the need and value of HRD, FSDoH needs to see the importance of continuous education and training towards the development of administrative staff. The more reason and need to employ effective public servants to provide quality health service delivery and accomplish the department’s goals. Practical implications – FSDoH officials, as well as other stakeholders such as politicians, have an important role to play in understanding the value of HRD in public health service delivery. Therefore, a serious internal organizational HRD framework is required that will enhance the staff’s ability to perform and deliver quality health services to the citizens. Contribution – This thesis should be of significance to each administrative staff member to promote the use of HRD as a tool to improve service delivery in the FSDoH. It is also hoped that this will encourage scholars to investigate the relevance of HRD in service delivery within the public health institutions