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The use of lesson study to assist junior primary ‘in-service training teachers’ to develop learners’ number sense using number talks
No full textThesis embargoed. To be released in 2025.Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 202
The programmatic enforcement of the affirmative action provisions of the employment equity act, 55 of 1998
Get PDFThis study explores the mechanisms contained in the Employment Equity Act of 1998 (EEA) that are in place to ensure that all employers comply with the EEA. The research introduces the topic and the background of the EEA and further discusses its important provisions. The EEA is an Act which was adopted to enable section 9 and 23 (1) of the Constitution. It is there to ensure equality in the workplace. The purpose of the EEA is to eliminate unfair discrimination in the workplace and promote equity for designated groups. This research discusses the application of the EEA and its interpretation by our courts. It does this by discussing leading cases of the EEA and other relevant fields of the labour law. Amongst other discussions in the research is the case of South African Police Service v Solidarity obo Bernard. In this case, a white female employee referred a matter of unfair discrimination to the court for her non-appointment, even though she was the only one who qualified for the job. The employer had preferred a black female candidate for the position. The court held that the discrimination was fair and relied on the employers Employment Equity Plan to determine whether the discrimination was just and equitable in terms of section 36 of the Constitution. Thereafter, this research considers the role of different bodies or structures that are in place to ensure compliance and implementation of affirmative action policies as outlined in the EEA. At the centre of this research is the role played by the inspectorate, the Commission for Employment Equity, and the Director General of the Department of Employment and Labour. These are the structures of the Department of Employment and Labour that are charged with enforcement of the labour laws and policies. Each structure has its own legislative duties. For example, in terms of the EEA, the inspector must conduct inspections for the employer’s workplace, make recommendations for compliance where it is necessary, and issue fines as a final sanction for non-compliance. On the other hand, the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) investigating compliance, issuing annual reports, doing compliance reviews, issuing certificates of compliance and non-compliance and awards etc. In addition, the research also explores the enforcement penalties imposed by the EEA. It also incorporates a comparative study between the penalties imposed by South Africa with that of Namibia and Canada. This study will show how Canada’s EEA and South Africa are lenient compared to the Namibian one. In Namibia, non-compliance is not only sanctioned with fines but with other harsh sanctions that have detrimental effects on non-complying employers. Finally, the research makes a summary and findings of the study. Thereafter, it discusses the failures and shortfalls of the EEA. These critiques are made in comparison with other EEA such as Namibia, and further the researcher offers her personal critiques and recommendations to the current system. It then concludes by summarising the findings of the final chapterThesis (LLM) -- Faculty of Law, School of of Labour Law, 202
An evaluation of the national minimum wage dispensation
Get PDFAfter South Africa became a democratic country, there was a shift in the labour and employment sector. This led to introduction of new labour laws which would be in harmony with the constitutional dream and objectives. As such, the BCEA was introduced to bring about change to the basic conditions of employment. As a result of this, new minimum wages policies and laws were enacted. The wages were to be determined by the following means: first way was by means of bargaining council agreements, the second way by means of statutory council agreements, and the third way by means of sectoral determinations. The sectoral determinations policy was introduced through the BCEA. The BCEA through the ECC promulgated sectoral determinations which was aimed to establish minimum wages and conditions of employment for workers in the sectors deemed to be vulnerable. A minimum wage was firstly adopted in New Zealand and in European countries as early as the 19th century. This policy was then widely adopted after the establishment of the International Labour Organisation. The purpose or aim of a minimum wage is to protect workers against exploitatively low pay and to ensure a just and equitable share of the profits of work, thus creating a minimum living wage for all those that are employed and in need of such protection. Minimum wages are also often used as a policy tool to reduce poverty and inequality, including between men and women, by advocating for equal pay for work of equal value. Convention No. 131 and Recommendation No 135 are the key international conventions that determine minimum wage fixing. Convention No. 131 and Recommendation No. 135 seek to ensure that the minimum wage is set at a certain level that allows workers and their families to meet their needs. Article 4 of Convention No. 131 requires the creation and maintenance of machinery adapted to national conditions and requirements whereby minimum wages for groups of wage earners covered under article 1 can be fixed and adjusted from time to time. However, the situation of minimum wages differs between developed and developing countries. This raises a concern, more particularly, whether developing countries can be able to adopt the minimum wage policy. This research makes investigate the adoption of iv minimum wage policy in developed and developing countries, and how it affected their socio-economic status. On about 2018, South Africa enacted the National Minimum Wage Act. This Act was aimed at establishing a floor of minimum wage for all employees. This Act was intended to promote and protect vulnerable workers who were left out from the previous wage policies. The long-term aim of a minimum wage was to remove the problem of poverty pay, which exists when the earnings from paid work do not result in a living minimum wage and fail to push people out of poverty. When this Act was enacted, the national minimum wage floor was set at R20 per hour. However, in EPWP, Domestic Worker, and Farm workers had lower rates because they were regulated by other laws. Furthermore, there were challenges of non-compliance by employers. The national minimum wage policy as a socio-economic tool has had an impact on several levels of the economy. This policy has contributed to either alleviation or elevation of poverty and unemployment. Therefore, this study looks at the impact the minimum wage has had on these 2 aspects of life. The research provides a specific asymmetric data of the impact of the policy in all sectors throughout the time since this policy was adopted. It further shows how the minimum wage policy intervention has been affected by covid 19 pandemic. This empirical evidence is provided by way of charts and graphs to demonstrate the changes that has occurred. At the end of the treatise a conclusion on how this policy has affected the South African economy is reached. Furthermore, recommendations on how economic risks posed by the minimum wage policy can be reduced.Thesis (LLM) -- Faculty of Law, School of Mercantile law, 202
Experiences of youths participating in combination social protection and HIV prevention programme in resource constrained settings of Gauteng Province in South Africa: a collective case study design
Get PDFSouth Africa continues to experience unacceptably high Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV incidence rates among youths aged 15 to 24 years. Remarkably, this is despite the numerous youth HIV prevention programmes that have been implemented in the country. Unfortunately, the programmes have not significantly curbed the spread of HIV due to the partial and fragmented nature of their implementation. The programmes are also observed to be weak in addressing complex economic factors recognised as important structural drivers for vulnerabilities that put youths at risk of HIV infection. To address this challenge, there is increased adoption and implementation of the Combination Social Protection introduced in this research as the CSP by Non-Governmental Organisations NGOs. The CSP is a youth empowerment programming strategy whose critical foundations are entrenched in combining economic strengthening interventions and HIV prevention education. CSP could provide youths with a set of indispensable life skills that enhance their competencies and agency to make informed and effective decisions regarding their health and economic lives. Despite its growing traction, little is known regarding links between the CSP and its abilities to improve HIV prevention outcomes for youths. Given the paucity of research, this study aimed to explore the experiences of youths participating in the CSP and HIV prevention programme, with a particular focus on the resource-constrained settings of Gauteng Province in South Africa. This study employed a collective case study design, within the qualitative approach, and was exploratory. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 30 youths from six established NGOs in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). Qualitative thematic analysis was employed as a data analysis strategy. Focus groups were separately with six practitioners from the same six NGOs, and five officials from the Department of Social Development (DSD). Both phases of data collection were guided by interview themes, which were aligned with the objectives of the study. The findings of the study point to the fact that the CSP’s innovative and holistic approach offered numerous transformative and empowering benefits to youths. It equipped them with basic informational resources, capabilities, and social assets to safeguard their health and aid their economic advancement. The programme’s mixedgender sessions provided space, freedom, and support for youths to engage on issues of gender, differential access to health and socio-economic opportunities. Another major finding of the study was that improvement of economic aptitude (brought about by financial literacy education), employability, and entrepreneurship training stirred a sense of agency and purposefulness among youths, which in turn, prompted them to be more focused on achieving long-term objectives instead of indulging in risky sexual practices. Conversely, findings revealed that the programme had limited opportunities and did not create an adequate supportive environment for youths to develop successful entrepreneurial or income-generating projects. There was also no structure to assist youths to access apprenticeship and employment markets. The study specifically recognised that the programme’s efforts to develop youths’ entrepreneurship and employability capabilities were curtailed by a lack of mentorshipnand access to financial capital for start-up costs. With these findings in mind, recommendations are made for the creation of an enabling environment by purposefully engaging youths, establishing collaborative relations with communities, and building networks with businesses and financial institutions that can help youths with capital, mentorship, and linkages to internship and wage employment. Such collaborations could be fundamental in unravelling the impact of the programme on building livelihoods and reducing HIV among youths. Hence, this study proposes a model with strategies to support the successful implementation of economic strengthening interventions for youths.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 202
Effect of livestock management and services to ecosystems on rangeland health and resilience in the NamaKaroo
Get PDFRangelands offer great opportunities for mutualisms between nature conservation and economic productivity if positive feedback loops can be identified and described. The effects of different livestock management practices are controversial. This research examined the effect of different grazing intensities on soil health using springtails (Collembola) and ants (Formicidae) as bioindicators, combined with soil and vegetation variables. The relationship between rangeland managers and rangeland ecosystems, particularly with regard to feedback loops between land care and economic production, was also investigated. Bioindicator samples were collected at different treatments of livestock grazing intensity and a questionnaire was submitted to 65 rangeland managers in the semi-arid Nama-Karoo biome of South Africa. In most cases we found no significant relationship between grazing intensity and Collembola and ant community composition, vegetation variables, and soil variables. The few significant relationships we found were contradictory in their implications for the effect of high intensity grazing on soil health. The results suggested that differences in livestock management are relatively unimportant for soil health, at least in semi-arid systems under conditions immediately following a drought. The questionnaire yielded results on outline of management practices, basis of management decisions, consequences of monitoring veld to inform management decisions, and indicators of successful management. Respondents characterized by higher ecological fluency focused on livestock production when making management decisions, stocked at higher densities, and monitored the rangeland ecosystem to inform their decisions. For monitoring the ecosystem, they used bioindicators such as diversity of biota, successional stage, and ecologically important functional groups. We concluded that the development of ecological knowledge in rangeland managers enables the establishment of feedback loops between ecosystem services and services to ecosystems, which are desirable for economic productivity and nature conservation. Development of relevant ecological knowledge and management techniques should be based on forums and dialogue among rangeland managers, developing distributed cognition and resilience in the community of rangeland managers.Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, School Natural Resource Science and Management, 202
A risk management model for commercial property development and investment in Ghana
Get PDFCommercial property development and investment provide many benefits to individuals and governments around the globe; these include the generation of income for investors, employment, tax revenues, and contributions to a country‘s GDP. Yet commercial property development and investment projects involve construction, economic and management risks. A lack of effective risk assessment and management tools may lead to developers and investors incurring losses. To curtail such losses, this study sought to create a credible management model that can be used to assess and manage risks in Ghana‘s commercial property development and investment industry. An extensive literature review was done, covering all 12 identified study constructs: real estate trends and cycle, construction project management, outside advice/mentorship, spatial development, strategic factors, business management skills, PMBOK, PESTEL analysis, general management skills, governance structures, financial feasibility, professional feasibility, and risk management. Each construct was defined and operationalised. A positivistic philosophical approach was used, and quantitative approach was used to solicit data from the main respondents through the distribution of questionnaires to the target population sample. CB-SEM and SPSS version 24 were used to analyse data, SEM to test the positive relationships hypothesised between the identified variables and SPSS to analyse the demographic data. The major findings are that there is a lack of financial and professional feasibility analysis among respondents along the following factors: the PMBOK, real estate trends and cycles, general management, business management, strategic factors, spatial development, and PESTEL analysis. It was found that these factors have positive and favourable influences on CPDI projects. The study recommends that developers and investors do financial and professional feasibility studies before they embark on projects. This could improve project viability in commercial property development and investment. The study has contributed to the body of knowledge in CPDI sector by developing a new risk assessment/risk management model.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Engineering Built Environment and Technology, School of the built Environment, 202
The in-vitro proliferation-suppression of MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines mediated by differently substituted ionic phthalocyanines in sonodynamic therapy supplemented-photodynamic therapy
Get PDFThis work focuses on the study of the effects of the ultrasonic frequency (MHz) and power (W.cm−2) on the stability, reactive oxygen species yields and cytotoxicity activities of differently substituted ionic phthalocyanines (Pcs) in sonodynamic therapy (SDT). Four ultrasonic parameters were investigated: Par I (1 MHz: 1 W.cm−2), Par II (1 MHz: 2 W.cm−2), Par III (3 MHz: 1 W.cm−2) and Par IV (3 MHz: 2 W.cm−2). A higher degradation of the Pcs was observed with increasing power at the Par II. Two reactive oxygen species (ROS) were detected in the ultrasound treated Pcs: singlet oxygen and hydroxyl radicals. Due to minimal degradation of most Pcs, Par I was chosen for SDT, photodynamic therapy (PDT), and photo-sonodynamic therapy (PSDT) against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 and Henrietta Lacks cancer cell lines. PSDT generally showed improved therapeutic efficacies of the Pcs compared to the SDT and PDT mono treatments
Implementation of technological innovations within the South African construction industry
Get PDFIn South Africa the construction industry has grown by more than 15% per annum over the past five-years and the construction industry is facing several pressures to decrease costs, improve productivity and to develop a competitive edge in terms of quality of service and customer satisfaction. Faced with a growing demand for service delivery the industry must seek new and improved ways to stay competitive in this market space. By effectively analysing the construction market all role players within the AEC industry can adopt new trends and techniques being implemented by either their foreign counterparts or direct competitors. One of these trends within the industry is technological innovations; each designed to play a beneficial role in construction industry advancements. It is clear that our industry is moving forward at an alarming rate, yet our foreign counterparts seem to be one step ahead. Based on the 2010 Soccer World Cup it was clear that the South African AEC Industry had the ability to conform and deliver on world class infrastructure, yet we still seem to have a slow adoption rate surrounding technological innovations. Investigating the depth of knowledge based around the most popular technological innovations currently being implemented can provide a clear view as to what S.A industry role players see as potentially profitable within our marketplace and the steps that could be taken to provide further research pertaining to those technological innovations which are being overlooked. Establishing the most prominent barriers preventing technological adoption within the South African AEC Industry can effectively be compared with those faced by foreign counterparts to mirror their solutions to similar problems. Finally, by establishing whether resistance to a changing environment plays a vital role in the hindrance to technological adoption one can access the extent to which the AEC Industry may effectively change based on a projected industry time frame.Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology, 202
Agricultural disturbance affects taxonomic and functional diversity of Afrotropical macroinvertebrate composition in a South African river system
Get PDFDeveloping species-level biomonitoring tools to monitor riverine systems threatened by anthropogenic pollution, including local agricultural activities in the Afrotropical region, remain a critical challenge. Here we explored the utility of taxonomic-based (diversity, richness, and composition) as well as functional-based (functional diversity) indices to examine the effects of agricultural disturbance on macroinvertebrate communities in the Kat River, Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. We collected physicochemical parameters and macroinvertebrates from eight sites delineated into four land-use categories (highly impacted, HIC; impacted category, IC; moderately impacted, MIC and least impacted, LIC) using agricultural land cover. We recorded 70 macroinvertebrate taxa belonging to 49 families and 48 genera in the Kat River. Redundancy analysis (RDA) and Pearson correlation analysis revealed that species of Lymnaeidae, Belostomatidae, Planorbidae and Libellulidae families and class Oligochaeta were tolerant to agricultural disturbance, as they were dominant in the highly impacted sites and were significantly associated with high salinity, temperature, total dissolved solids (TDS), flow velocity and nutrients. Conversely, species of Baetidae, Caenidae and Potamonautidae were negatively associated with the highly impacted sites and high salinity, temperature, and nutrients. On the other hand, taxonomic indices showed more sensitivity to indicators of agricultural pollution than functional indices, with taxon richness, Shannon index, Simpson's index and Margalef's index declining significantly in the highly disturbed sites (p less than 0.05). They were negatively associated with high electrical conductivity, large river width, and high nitrite and nitrate concentrations; hence they were identified as indicator metrics sensitive to agricultural pollution. Overall, our study revealed that agricultural disturbance could differentially affect the structure and function of macroinvertebrates, and indicator taxonomic and functional indices were identified for long-term monitoring of rivers that drain agricultural landscapes
The complexities of trans women’s access to healthcare in South Africa: moving health systems beyond the gender binary towards gender equity
Get PDFPublic health research highlights the influence of socio-political biases shaping obstacles to fair healthcare access based on gender. South Africa has shown commitment to resolving gender imbalances in healthcare, historically emphasizing cisgender women’s challenges. However, research gaps exist in exploring how public health systems perpetuate disparities among gender-diverse persons, like trans women, who face exclusion due to their deviation from cisgender norms in healthcare. Critical, intersectionality-informed health research carries the potential to reveal the diversity of gendered healthcare experiences and expose the systems and processes that marginalize trans patients