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Indigenous nature conservation : reconstruction of pre-colonial ecological and cultural heritage landscape of Ntabamnyama in South Africa
No full textAbstracts in English, Zulu and SwatiThis study examines the historical and current impacts of fortress conservation on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in Ntabamnyama, a rural area in Okhahlamba, KwaZulu-Natal, near the Free State border. Anchored ecologically by the uThukela River, Ntabamnyama history is marked by colonial dispossession, forced removals, and exclusionary conservation that displaced Indigenous communities and disrupted their ecological governance.
The study addresses ecological harm, cultural dislocation, and epistemic violence caused by colonial wars, fortress conservation, and commercial agriculture. These forces degraded ecosystems, caused species loss, and marginalised Indigenous Knowledge. Communities were separated from ancestral lands, breaking ecological continuity. Colonial conservation imposed foreign species and management systems, side-lining a reciprocal Indigenous governance, farming, and ecological practices-leading to cultural loss and silencing. The study seeks to recover and centre Indigenous Sciences through a decolonial lens. It explores fortress conservation’s effects on Indigenous communities through Collective Cultural Memory (CCM) while exploring how it can guide the reconstruction to restore precolonial ecological landscapes and revival of elements of Indigenous Sciences. The study examines policy barriers to Indigenous ecological heritage; and applies radical indigeneity as a theoretical framework asserting Indigenous epistemologies in land governance. It also examines the theoretical and practical role of radical indigeneity in restoring epistemic agency and shaping more just, inclusive models of environmental governance.
The study uses qualitative ethnography, with two years of immersive fieldwork involving oral histories, ecological observation, and Participatory GIS which enabled Indigenous communities to reconstruct ancestral ecological knowledge with academic collaboration.
Findings show that fortress conservation and colonial land laws, including Section 25(7) of the Constitution, have erased Indigenous ecological governance. The study calls for decolonial restitution, revival of IKS, conservation reform aligned with spiritual heritage, cultural memory, and ecological justice.Lolucwaningo luphenya amagalelo asemlandweni nasaqhubeka nokwenzeka awukuvikelwa kwezemvelo ngenqaba-kulindamvelo okukhubaze uLwazi lwezoMdabu eNtabamnyama, endaweni ekuMasipala wasekhaya oKhahlamba, emngceleni weFreestate, KwaZulu-Natal eSouth Africa. Lendawo igxila kwezembelo ngomfula uThukela nedamu iSpioenkop. Njengoba umlando weNtabamnyama uyinkambabeyibuza ngenxa yokwephucwa umhlaba kwabantu beNdabuko bephucwa abashokobezi baseDutch naseBritain, besuswa ngendluzula emhlabeni yoyisemkhulu, nokuphathwa kwezemvelo ngobandlululo kuphucwa abantu bomdabu ngendluzula umhlaba woyisemkhulu okwaholela ukuba ezemvelo zabo zisale dengwane zingasavikeliwe ngokwendabuko.
Lolucwaningo luqondisa izigwegwe ezadala ukuhlukumezeka kwendalo, okwaba nezingxabo ekulahlekeni kwezamasiko nendluzula eyahlukumeza uLwazi-ngqangi okwadalwa izimpi zabashokobezi baseNtshonalanga (Anglo-Boer War) ngokusebenzisa inqaba-kuvikela-mvelo nezolimo-hwebo. Lezizinhlelo zemba olungeqiwa ntwala kwezemvelo, ukulahleka unomphela kwezimila nezilwanyana nokugculazeka koLwazi lwezemvelo ngokweSintu lokuphathwa kwezemvelo. Imiphakathi yeSiNtu yehlukaniswa nezindawo zawoyisemkhulu okwajivaza ukhondolo lokudlulisela ulwazi ezizukulwaneni zakamuva. Abashokobezi baseNtshonalanga baxhila izwe laseSouth Africa ngezimila nezilwane abafika nazo bebamba ngobhongwane, bechilizela mahlanze izindlela zeSintu zokulawula ezemvelo, ezokwelapha, ezolimo nokufuya neMfundiso yezeMvelo. Loku kwaholela ophathe ezamasiko, kwadala ububha, nokubamba ngesamuku ulwazi lweSintu. Lolucwaningo luhlongoza ukubuyiswa kwesithunzi kweziMfundiso-lwazi zeSintu zasendulo kusetshenziswa iphekula-bushokobezi zibuyiselwe endaweni yokuphathwa kwezemvelo ngokweSintu kugunyaze inqubomgomo kaHulumeni yamanje.
Izinhloso zalolucwaningo ziwukuhlolisisa amagalelo esihlomakuvikela-mvelo emiphakathini yendabuko kusetshenziswa ukhukhulelangoqo wokukhumbula amasiko(KKS), kuphenywa ukulahleka kweMfundiso-Lwazi yeSintu nokubuyiselwa kwayo emkhondweni, kuvunjululwe izinqginamba ezikwinqubomgomo kaHulumeni ezihlukumeza amagugu ezemvelo yeSiNtu, kube kusetshenziswa iNjula-SiNtu, njengohlaka-lwazi ukuqakambisa ukulawulwa kokuphathwa kwezindawo. Imibuzongqangi ihlaba esikhonkosini ukuphendula ukuthi ungasethsenziswa kanjanini ukhukhulelangoqo wokukhumbula amasiko ukuvuselela izindawo eziyizandulelabushokobezi ukuvuselela iMfundiso-Lwazi yeSintu nemfundiso-ngqangi yeNjula-Sintu ekulawulweni kwezemvelo.
Ngokwendlela yokwenza ucwaningo, kusentshenziswe ucwaningo-mpilo jikelelele olwenziwe iminyaka emibili eNtabamnyama olubandakanya imilandompilo, ukuqaphelisisa ngemvelo, kanye nokudweba amabalazwe ngokubambisana nezakhamuzi. Izinsiza kubambisana zolwazi ngohlelo lomhlaba lusize izakhamuzi zomdabu ukuthi zisebenzise ukhukhulelangoqo wokukhumbula amasiko ukuvuselela izindlela izindlela zoBabamkhulu zokuphatha umhlaba nezemvelo ngokuhlanganyela nezindlela zamazinga emfundo aphakeme.
Imiphumela yocwaningo idalula ukuthi inqaba-kuvikela-mvelo nemithetho yezomhlaba yabashokobezi, okubandakanya isigaba 25(7) somthethosisekelo, yelekelelana ukungcwaba uhlelo lweSiNtu lokulondoloza imvelo. Lolucwaningo luhlongoza ukushushisa iphekula-bushokobezi, ukuvuselelwa kolwazi lwezomdabu, ukuhlunyeleliswa kwezokulondoloza kuyamaniswe nefa lomphefumulo, nenkumbulo yamasiko nobulungiswa kwezemvelo.Lolucwaningo luhlola umlandvo kanye nemiphumela yanyalo yekulondvolotwa kwetinqaba kuTimiso teLwati lwemaKhaya (Indigenous Knowledge Systems - IKS) eNtabamnyama, indzawo yasemaphandleni eOkhahlamba, KwaZulu-Natal, dvutane nemncele weFree State. Umlandvo waNtabamnyama, lowakhiwe ngemifula iThukela, ukhonjiswe ngekutsatfwa kwetindzawo ngemakholonisi, kususwa ngenkhani kanye nekulondvolotwa kwemvelo lokwacindzetela bantfu bendzabuko kutsi basuke etindzaweni tabo baphindze baphatamise nekuphatfwa kwetindzawo.
Lolucwaningo lubuka kulimala kwetemvelo, kuhlukunyetwa kwemasiko, kanye neludlame lolubangelwa timphi temakholonisi, kulondvolotwa kwetinqaba, kanye nekutsengiswa kwetekulima. Lamandla abhidlita imvelo, abangela kulahleka kwetinhlobo kanye nekubekelwa eceleni kweLwati lwendzabuko. Imiphakatsi beyehlukaniswa nemave abo labokhokho, lokwabangela kutsi imvelo ingasachubeki. Kugcinwa kwemakholonisi kwaphocelela tinhlobo letingafani kanye netinhlelo tekuphatsa, kwafaka eceleni kubusa kwebantfu bendzabuko, kulima, kanye nemikhuba yetemvelo - lokuholele ekulahlekelweni kwemasiko kanye nekucindzetelwa. Lolucwaningo lufuna kuvuselela nekugcila kuSayensi Yemdzabu ngekubuka tintfo letenteka ngembi kwekutsatfwa kwemabukhosi. Ihlolisisa imiphumela yekulondvolotwa kwetinqaba emiphakatsini yebantfu bendzabuko ngekusebentisa inkhumbulo yemasiko lehlanganisiwe (CCM) ngalesikhatsi ihlola kutsi ingakwati njani kucondzisa kwakhiwa kabusha kwentela kubuyisela indzawo yemvelo yangaphambi kwekukoloni kanye nekuvuselela tintfo teSayensi Yebantfu Bendzabuko. Lolucwaningo luhlola imitsetfo levimbela emagugu emvelo ebantfu bendzabuko; futsi isebentisa buve bendzabuko lobucinile njengeluhlaka lweteoreti lelicinisa ema-epistemologies ebantfu bendzabuko ekuphatfweni kwemhlaba. Kuphindze kuhlolisise indzima yemcondvo kanye neyekusebenta kwebuve lobucinile ekubuyiseleni emandla ekucabanga kanye nekwakha tindlela tekuphatsa tekuvikela indzawo.
Lolucwaningo lusebentisa luhlobo lwe-ethnography, ngeminyaka lemibili yemsebenti wekuhlanganisa indzawo lofaka ekhatsi imilandvo yemlomo, kubuka tintfo letiphilako, kanye ne-GIS lehlanganisako leyenta kutsi bantfu bendzabuko bakhone kwakha kabusha lwati lwendzawo yabobabemkhulu ngekubambisana kwetemfundvo.
Lokutfolakele kukhombisa kutsi kulondvolotwa kwetigodlo kanye nemitsetfo yemhlaba wemakholonisi, kufaka ekhatsi Sigaba 25 (7) seMtsetfosisekelo, kususe kulawulwa kwemvelo kwebantfu bendzabuko. Lolucwaningo lubita kutsi kubuyiselwe indlela yekusebentisa emakoloni, kuvuselelwe i-IKS, kuguculwe kulondvolotwa lokuhambisana nemagugu emoya, inkumbulo yesintfu, kanye nebulungiswa bemvelo.Ph. D. (Development Studies)Development Studie
An analysis of the effectiveness of section 76 of the companies act 71 of 2008 in ensuring the successful management of State-Owned Companies in South Africa
No full textThe statutory standards found in section 76 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the Companies Act) are meant to be preventative and to deter directors from acting in their own interests in their management of companies. However, notwithstanding the imposition of these standards, South Africa has seen several directors in its State-Owned Companies (SOCs) failing to act accordingly in the performance of their duties, and this has led to the mismanagement of these SOCs. In light thereof, this study investigates the extent to which section 76 of the Companies Act is effective in ensuring the successful management of SOCs in South Africa and to determine what can be done to address any inefficiencies in the provision or factors diminishing its effectiveness. As part of this study, a comparative analysis of the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) governance regime in Singapore is undertaken, as the nation is highly regarded for its SOE governance. Accordingly, the objective of this comparative analysis is draw lessons from Singapore.
The importance of this study lies in the fact that SOCs play a major role in both the economy of South Africa and the lives of ordinary South Africans. Therefore, their successful management will enable SOCs to contribute to the economic growth of the country and better the lives of ordinary South Africans. Further, the South African government has to continuously draw billions of rands from state coffers and issue bailouts to some collapsing SOCs to prevent them from absolute failure. Therefore, the successful management of SOCs will also allow the government to redirect funds which it would have used for further bailouts to more constructive matters.
This study found that section 76 of the Companies Act is not effective in ensuring the successful management of SOCs and determined that what is hindering the success of this provision is the quality of board members appointed in SOCs and their lack of independence. To remedy this issue, this study recommends amendments to the Companies Act relating to the appointment process of SOC board members and the transparency of this process, to promote direct public participation.College of La
An analysis of the concept of piercing the corporate veil in company law
No full textThis dissertation critically examines the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil, which is used by courts to remedy abuse of corporate personality. It explores the evolution, principles, and judicial application of this doctrine in South African law and English law, analysing both common law and statutory approaches.
The study identifies circumstances justifying piercing of corporate veil, such as fraud, abuse of corporate form, and evasion of legal obligations. It also highlights inconsistencies in its judicial application and analyses the impact of recent case law on the future of the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil.
The dissertation argues that inconsistent application creates legal uncertainty and calls for a more balanced approach that considers both justice and corporate accountability. To enhance clarity and fairness, it recommends legal reforms that provide clearer guidelines for courts when applying the remedy of piercing the corporate veil.LLM (Corporate Law)School of La
Search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons decaying into a top quark pair in 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
No full textAbstract
A search for heavy pseudo-scalar (A) and scalar (H) Higgs bosons decaying into a top-quark pair (
t
t
¯
) has been performed with 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of
s
= 13 TeV. Interference effects between the signal process and Standard Model (SM)
t
t
¯
production are taken into account. Final states with exactly one or exactly two electrons or muons are considered. No significant deviation from the SM prediction is observed. The results of the search are interpreted in the context of a two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) of type II in the alignment limit with mass-degenerate pseudo-scalar and scalar Higgs bosons (mA = mH) and the hMSSM parameterisation of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. Ratios of the two vacuum expectation values, tan β, smaller than 3.49 (3.16) are excluded at 95% confidence level for mA = mH = 400 GeV in the 2HDM (hMSSM). Masses up to 1240 GeV are excluded for the lowest tested tan β value of 0.4 in the 2HDM. In the hMSSM, masses up to 950 GeV are excluded for tan β = 1.0. In addition, generic exclusion limits are derived separately for single scalar and pseudo-scalar states for different choices of their mass and total width
Magnitude of emergence agitation, its interventions and associated factors among paediatric surgical patients
No full textAbstract
Background
Emergence agitation is a transient confusional state of a child associated with consciousness from general anaesthesia, commonly occurs in the postoperative setting which delays their recovery and exposes them to traumas. The main objective of the current study was to investigate the magnitude of emergence agitation, its interventions and associated factors among paediatric surgical patients at Saint Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Methods
Hospital based cross-sectional study with prospective follow-up framework was conducted on a paediatric surgical patients aged 2-14 years who underwent surgery under general anaesthesia between June 1 - October 30 2022. Stratified sampling method followed by simple random sampling technique was employed to reach study participants. Magnitude of emergence agitation and its interventions done at post-anaesthetic care units were recorded. Data analysis was carried out using a descriptive statistics method and the results were summarized using tables and diagrams. Bivariate analysis was done to identify causal relationship and multivariable analysis to assess the confounding effects of factors associated with emergence agitation. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant factor.
Results
A total of 150 participants were included in the current study, where 107 (71.3%) were male and 97 (64.7%) were preschool aged. About 81 (54%) of care givers were female and majority of them have completed primary school. The mean (standard deviation) age of the participants was 6.4 (3.57) years. Around 42.7% of them developed emergence agitation with an average duration of 8.39 ± 4.45 minutes. Factors such as propofol administration at the end of procedure (OR of 0.104 with 95% CI [0.035, 0305]), Ear, nose, throat surgery and oral maxillofacial surgery (OR of 2.341 with 95% CI [1.051, 5.211]) and arrival of patient to recovery awake (OR of 0.456 95% CI [0.209, 0.994]) showed statistically significant association with emergence agitation.
Conclusion
Almost half of the study participants experienced emergence agitation which is high magnitude. Ear, nose, throat surgery and oral maxillofacial surgeries were predictive factors of emergence agitation while propofol administration at the end of procedure and arrival of patient to recovery awake significantly decreased risk of emergence agitation. Therefore, anaesthesia personnel should have essential skills and knowledge to effectively care for children perioperatively including to minimize and treat emergence agitation
Charge Redistribution in Nise₂/Mos₂ n–n Heterojunction Towards the Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Ciprofloxacin
No full textThis study reports the photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) activity of a n–n heterojunction comprising MoS2 and NiSe2. The synthesis of the composite was achieved through a facile solvothermal method, yielding an exfoliated MoS2 layered sheet loaded with
NiSe2 nanoparticles. Under visible light radiation and an external electric field, the obtained composite NiSe2/MoS2 exhibited enhanced catalytic activity for ciprofloxacin (CIP) degradation. The NiSe2/MoS2 heterojunction achieved about 78% degradation efficiency with a first-order kinetic rate of 0.0111 min-1, compared to 38% efficiency and a first-order kinetic rate of 0.0044 min-1, observed for MoS2. The NiSe2/MoS2
heterojunction was more advantageous due to the synergy of charge carrier induction by visible light radiation and improved charge carrier separation induced by the external electric field. The formation of n–n heterojunction at the interface of the two
materials resulted in charge redistribution in the materials, with a simultaneous realignment of the band structure to achieve Fermi energy equilibration. The primary reactive species responsible for CIP degradation was identified as the photo-induced h+. Furthermore, the catalyst exhibited high stability and reusability, with no significant reduction in activity observed after five experimental cycles. This study reveals the potential of exploring the synergy between the photocatalytic and electrocatalytic processes in removing harmful pharmaceutical compounds from water
The effects of gradient index, aspect ratio, porosity, and boundary conditions on the buckling behavior of functionally graded porous beams: A k-out-of-n system reliability analysis
No full textFunctionally graded materials are a class of multifunctional materials that exhibit spatial variation in composition and microstructure. This deliberate variation is designed to effectively manage and manipulate changes in thermal, structural, or functional qualities within the material. The current study explores the system reliability of functionally graded porous beams (FGPB) subjected to buckling, focusing on the interplay of gradient index (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10), aspect ratio (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35), porosity index (0, 0.1 and 0.2) and boundary conditions (simply supported, clamped–clamped and clamped-free), with a particular emphasis on the k-out-of-n system reliability assessment, employing three distinct methods such as Evolutionary, GRG Non-linear,
and Lagrangian. The results show the system’s sensitivity to changes in distribution parameters, with the Lagrangian method being the most robust and stable. The 10-out-of-12 system reliability analysis demonstrates that aspect ratio and even porosity distribution are reliable, while uneven porosity is not. This study enhances structural reliability analysis in FGPBs, enhancing system reliability considerations and paving the way for further advancements in structural reliability analysis
Solid health care waste management practice in Ethiopia, a convergent mixed method study
No full textAbstract
Introduction
Healthcare waste is any waste generated by healthcare facilities that is considered potentially hazardous to health. Solid healthcare waste is categorized into infectious and non-infectious wastes. Infectious waste is material suspected of containing pathogens and potentially causing disease. Non-infectious waste includes wastes that have not been in contact with infectious agents, hazardous chemicals, or radioactive substances, similar to household waste, i.e. plastic, papers and leftover foods.
This study aimed to investigate solid healthcare waste management practices and develop guidelines to improve solid healthcare waste management practices in Ethiopia. The setting was all health facilities found in Hossaena town.
Method
A mixed-method study design was used. For the qualitative phase of this study, eight FGDs were conducted from 4 government health facilities, one FGD from each private health facility (which is 37 in number), and forty-five FGDs were conducted. Four FGDs were executed with cleaners; another four were only health care providers because using homogeneous groups promotes discussion. The remaining 37 FGDs in private health facilities were mixed from health professionals and cleaners because of the number of workers in the private facilities. For the quantitative phase, all health facilities and health facility workers who have direct contact with healthcare waste management practice participated in this study. Both qualitative and quantitative study participants were taken from the health facilities found in Hossaena town.
Result
Seventeen (3.1%) health facility workers have hand washing facilities. Three hundred ninety-two (72.6%) of the participants agree on the availability of one or more personal protective equipment (PPE) in the facility ‘‘the reason for the absence of some of the PPEs, like boots and goggles, and the shortage of disposable gloves owes to cost inflation from time to time and sometimes absent from the market’’. The observational finding shows that colour-coded waste bins are available in 23 (9.6%) rooms. 90% of the sharp containers were reusable, and 100% of the waste storage bins were plastic buckets that were easily cleanable. In 40 (97.56%) health facilities, infectious wastes were collected daily from the waste generation areas to the final disposal points. Two hundred seventy-one (50.2%) of the respondents were satisfied or agreed that satisfactory procedures are available in case of an accident. Only 220 (40.8%) respondents were vaccinated for the Hepatitis B virus.
Conclusion
Hand washing facilities, personal protective equipment and preventive vaccinations are not readily available for health workers. Solid waste segregation practices are poor and showed that solid waste management practices (SWMP) are below the acceptable level
Weather recognition based on still images using deep learning neural networks
No full textWeather recognition from still images remains a challenge due to weather diversity and lack of distinct characteristics amongst weather conditions. The building blocks of deep learning involves a lot of hyperparameters, which is difficult to tune manually. Fine-tuning Hyperparameter is a crucial part of building a good deep learning model. This study proposes a simplified ResNet-15 model fine-tuned by two distinct optimisers, SGD, and Adam for the purpose of optimising the momentum, number of dense layers, learning rate, batch size and dropout rate to find the optimal hyperparameters that gives the best performance on the model. The Convolutional layers are used to extract the most related visual features, then the images are classified through the fully connected layers of the Softmax classifier. To evaluate the recommended approach, a comparison of hyperparameter tuning with and without hyperparameter tuning of ResNet-15 during the experiments shows that fine-tuning of ResNet-15 hyperparameter using random search optimisation method gives more accurate result with accuracy of 97.29% than other techniques.School of Computin
Does climate news sway investors away from large financiers of fossil fuel projects
No full textDespite rapid growth in climate news coverage, some banks are increasing financing
towards greenhouse gas emitters with investors whose decisions intensify climate challenges. This study aims to establish the impact of climate news on investment decisions involving banks’ intensified fossil fuel financing and recommend remedies. Descriptive, linear regression analyses and the two-sample t-test are applied. The list of bank stems from the Consumer News and Business Channel website. Share prices, traded shares and market capitalizations are obtained from Macrotrends and Companies’ market cap websites for computing demand and holding periods. Results reveal more demand for riskier banks after European symposiums in contrast to Asia’s reduction. It is established that no significant linear relationships exist between demand and holding
periods with t 0.05. The null hypothesis of no linear relationship
is not rejected. There is more price risk in Europe than in Asia with average volatilies
of 0.439871 and 0.067472, respectively, at p-value 0.002117 < 0.05 based on the twosample t-test. The null hypothesis of no difference in volatility means is rejected. The
higher volality risk corresponds to higher demand for riskier bank shares in Europe.
Climate news persuades Asian investors to reduce the demand for the banks’ shares.
Conversely, European investors demonstrate behaviors incompatible with climate risk
mitigation, particularly in periods after symposiums. A Global climate risk blacklisting
initiative and a publicised Global climate risk index should accompany downgrades
aimed at fossil fuel project financiers. Coverage of these measures at conferences may
influence more investors to make correct decisions.Graduate School of Business Leadershi