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State of commercial arbitration in Tanzania: a comparative study with Uganda
Get PDFIn general terms arbitration is the determination of dispute by the decision of one or more persons called arbitrators. It is an alternative means of dispute resolution to litigation. In arbitration parties have a say in the decision as to who should be involved in the determination of the dispute between them unlike in litigation where parties besides deciding on where to file a case which depends on the jurisdiction (territorial and pecuniary) of the courts, have no say not even influence on who should preside in their cases. In arbitration parties are also involved in deciding the venue of the arbitration. It is a voluntary procedure, also enforceable where parties to the dispute enter into an agreement that in case a dispute arises out of their commercial relationship, arbitration would be the mode of settling it. This means that the parties enter agreement selecting arbitration as mechanism to settle their dispute. Arbitration can be also ordered by the court on the application of the parties to the dispute. Its central features are that it is based on an agreement between the parties to the dispute, involves referral of a dispute to an independent arbitral tribunal (made up of one or more arbitrators) and produces a binding decision which may be enforced through the courts
We Belong to the Trees, A Collection of Short Stories
No full textSet in the mid 90s on the backdrop of South Africa's new found democracy, the ten stories explore the murder of a security guard at a farm in the Afrikaner town of Tzaneen, Limpopo. The aftermath exposes power dynamics between white bosses and Black workers in the area. Told from different perspectives and voices – young, adult, Black and white characters – each story provides accounts surrounding the murder. They reflect conflicts that arise, and as such relationships are tested; some break, others repair, while some are lost forever. In the past years since 1994, there have been several deaths of farm workers in Tzaneen. The stories are also an attempt to discuss the implications of the violence against the working class in the farming industry. At its core, We Belong to the Trees highlights the tropical regions of Limpopo as the ordinary navigate Post-Apartheid South Africa. It implores one to think about issues such as land-restitution, violence, racism, poverty, crime, and greed. The main concern as a writer is to reflect my surroundings, discuss and dissect through storytelling. The work encompasses my fears and concerns as a South African
From toots to returns: a thesis on financing climate adaptation via nature-based solutions in South Africa
No full textThe profound repercussions of climate change manifest acutely within Africa. As the region grapples with the disruptive forces of erratic weather patterns which have resulted in widespread droughts and floods impacting the most vulnerable of its people. The exigency to adapt emerges as a pressing mandate, underscoring the critical imperative for timely and effective climate resilience strategies. Given the inadequate public and international financing for adaptation, there is therefore an urgent need to tap into alternative sources, particularly those from the private sector. Nature-based solutions (NbSs) encompass actions and strategies that rely on the use of natural processes to address environmental challenges and have been highlighted as a potentially cost effective and eco-system enhancing means of building climate resilience. This exploratory study investigated the financing landscape in South Africa to determine barriers and success factors that hinder or enable private sector investment in NbS for climate adaptation. This study was conducted using primary data in the form of 26 interviews with professionals from across the financing landscape. Through the application of grounded theory, this study considered how industry professionals understand NBS and their perceptions of the financing of adaptation. This study identified factors which hinder the effective participation of the private sector in investing in NBS for climate adaptation. These can be categorised as: market related, project level, policy and institutional, skills and capacity, and information or data gaps. Furthermore, the study found that, whilst Development Finance Institutions have made advances in supporting climate adaptation NBSs, there isstill insufficient progressin this area. It is also evident that leveraging private sector investment effectively will require an innovative approach that recognises the existing challenges associated with climate adaptation. Whilst many difficulties lie ahead, what is clear from the study is that the sector is working towards overcoming these challenges. This study provides a significant contribution towards understanding the South African context for all stakeholders operating in this space
The role of indigenous and local knowledge on climate adaptation for smallholder farmers in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe
Get PDFIncreasing smallholder farmers' resilience to the impacts of climate change requires informed decision-making that utilises locally validated information sources, including Indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge (LK). Smallholder farmers across multiple regions of the world rely on IK and LK forecasts for climate decision making. This knowledge provides a rich foundation for locally led adaptation by smallholder farmers because of its contextual embeddedness within microclimatic conditions. Recent peer-reviewed literature on IK and LK in Africa was analysed to assess the role of IK and LK in adaptation in the water sector, showing that adaptation responses with IK and LK had higher evidence of risk reduction, but only 10% of African governments included IK and LK in adaptation planning in their intended Nationally Determined Contributions. A cross-sectional survey was used to establish the role of IK and LK in adaptation for smallholder farmers in the Chiredzi District, Zimbabwe. Data were collected from 210 smallholder farmers between 2021-2022, through face-to-face interviews. The analysis of observed climate data for Chiredzi between 1972-2022 corroborated the survey data. A framework was developed and applied to assess smallholder farmers' vulnerability in relation to their use of IK and LK. The results demonstrate that IK and LK are important in reducing the vulnerability of smallholder farmers by increasing the implementation of crop adaptation responses. These include the use of indigenous, drought-resistant seed crop varieties and using IK and LK weather and seasonal climate forecasts for informed decision making on appropriate crop varieties and timing of planting to reduce crop exposure to climate risk. Farmers using IK and LK forecasts implemented adaptation responses three times more than those relying on other sources of climate forecasts. Twenty-three decision types from the IK and LK forecasts that contributed to on-farm adaptation responses were identified, including crop variety selection (e.g., drought-resistant crops), cropping area management (e.g., water conservation measures), and agricultural calendar planning and management (e.g., zero tillage, dry planting, or irrigation). A further framework was developed and applied to assess the effectiveness of IK- and LK informed adaptation responses. IK and LK adaptation responses showed limited, positive, and promising signs of effectiveness. Eight (44%) of the 18 responses showed high and medium evidence of effectiveness in reducing climate risk by reducing exposure and vulnerability components of climate risk. The IK and LK seasonal forecasts were most reliable for near- term forecasts. These findings led to the development of a conceptual framework that facilitates the inclusion of IK and LK in planned adaptation. This study broadens the understanding of how IK and LK contribute to the adaptation cycle of the global goal on adaptation of the 2015 Paris Agreement, demonstrating the value of IK and LK to the global climate agenda. The findings of this study are important for interventions that target increasing effectiveness of adaptation responses, thereby reducing smallholder farmers' vulnerability and exposure to climate change. Greater recognition of and attention to IK and LK is needed across national climate adaptation planning in Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans for its potential to be realise
Bridging the values gap: how support for women's constitutional rights changed University of Cape Town in the two decades following South Africa's democratic transition
No full textThe objective of this research is to understand how levels of support for women's Constitutional rights changed in South Africa between 1996 and 2013. It further aims to advance an explanation for the findings, within the context of the applied theoretical framework. The timeframe over which these attitudes are assessed is between 1996 and 2013. This period measures a 17-year time frame that can be roughly aggregated to demonstrate progress towards the adoption of progressive attitudes concerning the rights of women, as enshrined in the South African Constitution. This period coincides with immediate two decades following the first free and fair Democratic national elections in 1994. The theoretical framework within which this research is conducted, is Value Change Theory which will be used as an analytical lens which will be returned to for explanatory purposes rather than hypothesis testing.Here, I explore Ronald Inglehart's original thesis Value Change Theory (1971 and then 1977), as well as the various argument advanced in response. I further provide an analysis of the antagonisms inherent within Cultural Relativist and Universalist constructions of human and gender rights, and how these are relevant in the South African context. Value Change Theory advances that whilst economic modernisation and the satisfaction of material needs generate relatively rapid increments in self-expression value adoption in much of the world, in nations where democratic consolidation and economic development is slow, the adoption of progressive values - such as support for women's equal rights - tracks a far slower course. It is contended that this hastens as genuine democratic consolidation occurs over time, as a result of the forces of economic modernisation. The data that is relied upon in this study was collected and made available for independent analysis by the international research organisation, World Value Surveys (WVS) and self-processed using IMB's SPSS data processing software. The population statistics that are used to measure any substantive change in the material conditions of South Africans are derived from Statistics South Africa
Alternatives to the proposed taxation of retirement fund interests on emigration from South Africa
Get PDFThe 2021 Budget Speech, as well as the 2021 draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, included a proposal from National Treasury to implement an “exit tax” on retirement fund interests for resident individuals who emigrate from South Africa (i.e., become non-resident for tax purposes). The proposal, however, raised numerous concerns amongst experts in the industry, which ultimately led to its withdrawal in November 2021. While National Treasury indicated an intention to re-design the proposal, there has been no update since that time. This study addressed two research objectives. Firstly, it investigated the policy objectives and shortcomings of the initial proposal which ultimately led to its withdrawal. Secondly, it addressed how the approach might be re-designed by considering alternatives that would achieve the objectives of the original proposal without its shortcomings. This is a relatively new area of research with no previous published work performed on the topic (to the author's knowledge), emphasizing the relevance and significance of this study. This study was performed using a combination of doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal interpretative research methods. Doctrinal legal research was used to obtain an understanding of the prevailing legislative framework and the initial proposal from National Treasury. Non-doctrinal legal research was used to consider alternative approaches in the re-design process. The criteria for an alternative approach included the potentially competing needs for 1) equity within, 2) economic efficiency of, 3) administrability of, and 4) coherence of the tax system. The study explored four possible alternative approaches, each of which have some merits and some shortcomings. It concluded that one feasible alternative could be to migrate the retirement funding tax system to one in which contributions are afforded no tax incentives and retirement benefits are received free of taxation. However, this would be a radical departure from the existing approach, introduce more complexity into a system that is already dealing with the transitional provisions of several significant upheavals in the last few years, and would be complicated to manage on an ongoing basis. The other three alternatives considered would be less radical but would not be as effective in satisfying the evaluation criteria. National Treasury would need to weigh up whether the policy objectives and protection of the South African tax base are worth dealing with these challenges
Exploring the decolonisation of the Environmental Management Curriculum in a Rural Historically Disadvantaged Institution of Higher Education
Get PDFIn the Global South generally and South Africa specifically, calls for decolonising the university curriculum have gained momentum in the recent past. In South Africa, this was aptly demonstrated by the 2015/2016 #FeesMustFall protests which called for inter alia, a transformed university and its curriculum. This has led to calls for the decolonisation of academic disciplines like Geography, among others. Against this backdrop, this study analyses the decolonisation of the Environmental Management curriculum in a rural historically disadvantaged institution of higher education. The specific objectives are to (a) identify the basis of knowledge that constitutes the current Environmental Management curriculum in the discipline of Geography in a rural HDI using the curriculum document and the interview inputs/perceptions from academics and students, (b) assess the limitations and/or problems of the current Environmental Management curriculum using the notions of biography and geography of knowledge and (c) explore pedagogic approaches to recentre the biography and geography of knowledge in the current Environmental Management curriculum. To achieve these, a qualitative study was utilised in terms of in-depth interviews with two academic staff members and ten fourth-level (Honours) students who taught and studied this module in question, respectively. The findings suggest that the content, knowledge, and pedagogy in the Environmental Management curriculum under consideration is Eurocentric because it excludes IKS. In addition, the study findings suggest that both academics and students have identified gaps and/or limitations in the current Environmental Management curriculum because its locus of enunciation is not Africa and South Africa. This is the context within which the respondents in the study have suggested the need to include IKS which could contribute to epistemic access, epistemic presence, epistemic freedom as well as cognitive justice. All this suggests that a decolonised Environmental Management curriculum should include IKS as an integral component. In terms of pedagogy, the practical element must be emphasised together with the introduction of IKS holders into the learning spaces. By extension, assessment should address existing environmental problems in the settings where students and community members live. The suggested assessment approaches include action research. The proposed Environmental Management curriculum must not be alienated and alienating. It must be about the production of knowledge for life
The design, development, and validation of an accessible high flow nasal oxygen solution with patient scoring outputs
Get PDFIntroduction Acute respiratory failure patients are admitted to healthcare units to treat hypoxemic symptoms. High Flow Nasal Oxygen (HFNO) device are medical oxygen therapy devices, with its use emerging through the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing to treat congenital diseases, to effectively treat poor patient vitals and oxygenate patients. Clinical settings such as the general ward, for which HFNO is suitable, is left to be managed with manual patient monitoring means. Continuous monitoring methods are generally not accessible to these settings. With no high flow devices targeting means to provide this option without sophisticated medical devices, patient care may be limited. Therefore, this study aimed to develop an HFNO device that interfaced with predicate patient vital sign sensors that provided medical professionals with the Respiratory Rate and Oxygenation (ROX) patient score. The score has been validated to aid in early detection of patient deterioration and informing clinicians on treatment prognosis, improving patient care. Materials & Method A standalone HFNO device was designed with subsystems that are characteristic of the common treatment components of HFNO, which included the Oxygen Regulator and Mixer Unit, the Humidification and Heating Unit, and the Patient Airway Device. Additionally, a Patient Vitals Acquisition Unit for acquiring patient vitals was incorporated into the system architecture. The subsystem designs were based on requirements ad specifications informed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) clinical guidance and ISO 8601-2-90:2021 safety and performance requirements. An iterative and fast prototyping approach was adopted, with a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis for assessing risks in safety and failure in performances, to produce design and development outcomes for each unit and the integrated overall device. The study progressed through various processes of verification and validation. The outcomes were verified based on meeting the technical specifications outlined and conducted in the Medical Devices Laboratory (MDL) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) under simulated compressed air inputs. The system was fully integrated and validated by testing the accuracy of oxygen settings guided by ISO 80601-2-90:2021 and interfacing with all peripherals within the clinical setting, simulated within the Groote Schuur Clinical Skills department. The HFNO device with patient vitals were connected to medical oxygen source and the Simman patient simulator to demonstrate the intended use and feasibility within the relevant context. Results and Observations All units were manufactured successfully and tested for essential performance and integral safety. Initial tests with simulated compressed air supply showed flow rate outputs of up to 70 l/min with sufficient automated flow rate control and manual oxygen concentration settings of 21-100%. The humidification unit provided permissible humidification loads of up to 100%RH, and 37°C gas heating which reduced humidification loads to 48%RH at 60 l/min. The patient airway device fit the Laerdal Patient Airway Management trainer effectively. The patient vitals sensors provided respiratory rate capture of 3 to 90 breaths per minute, and the pulse oximetry data connectivity to the system. The maximum error in oxygen flow rates greater than 30 l/min was - 5.69 l/min for 30% FiO2. Maximum errors of +3.2% FiO2 were shown for flow rates less than 15 l/min and greater than 30 l/min. The respiratory rate and pulse oximetry measurements were used to produce the ROX and modified ROX scores in real-time within the clinical setting for simulated patients for unsuccessful and successful treatment pathways. Conclusions A preliminary HFNO solution was developed and performed well amongst performance criteria of commonly used products. The solution was produced affordably within a research and development context and on a basis of materials only. The automatic access to respiratory rate, a good basis for predicted outcomes illustrated the benefit of the system. Ultimately, the results and the solution had implications for improving HFNO within resource-poor settings
A legal and economic analysis of non-fungible tokens on the art market
Get PDFThis thesis conducts a legal and economic analysis of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in the art market, exploring the integration of intellectual property rights and the financial implications of these digital assets. It examines the challenges of applying existing copyright laws, such as the right of first sale and fair use doctrines, to the novel context of NFTs, highlighting the need for enhanced regulatory practices within NFT marketplaces. Proposals include the development of reverse image search technologies to mitigate copyright infringement and foster a more robust legal environment. Economically, the thesis compares the valuation of NFTs to traditional art portfolios, acknowledging the difficulty in assessing their intrinsic value due to subjective perceptions and speculative influences. To counteract speculative volatility and establish more grounded valuations, it suggests the adoption of a hybrid approach that combines the expertise of curators with machine learning models and standardized valuation frameworks. The analysis concludes that while NFTs provide significant opportunities for artists by increasing market access and liquidity, the current environment is fraught with legal uncertainties and economic instability. The thesis advocates for the ongoing evolution of economic and legal frameworks to fully leverage the benefits of NFTs in the art market, ensuring they contribute positively to the sustainability and growth of artists' careers and stakeholders
Towards Phage Therapy: Characterization of Clostridioides difficile Bacteriophages from a South African Strain Collection
Get PDFClostridioides difficile infection is a worldwide public health concern that affects persons with gastrointestinal dysbiosis, notably hospitalised patients on antibiotic therapy and those with other types of gastrointestinal conditions. This opportunistic infection is caused by a Grampositive, spore-forming bacillus, with conditions including diarrhoea, pseudomembranous colitis, and toxic megacolon. Antibiotic resistance has been reported for the standard of care antibiotics, while newer drugs are too costly for resource-limited clinical settings. Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is highly effective but may pose a risk to immunocompromised individuals. Phage therapy is being increasingly investigated as a therapy option, notably for persons who cannot receive FMT. However, the host and regional specificity of C. difficile phages must first be characterised to ensure the correct phage cocktail is used for therapy. Although C. difficile phages have been described in other parts of the world, analysis of local South African strains has not been conducted prior to this study. This project aimed to isolate and characterise phages from a stored collection of South African C. difficile isolates, focusing on ribotype 017, which has been identified in Western Cape hospitalised patients with tuberculosis. Using a bioinformatic approach, we extracted phage genomes from previously generated C. difficile genome assemblies, assessed genomic relatedness, organised phage genomes into functional modules, and identified host defence systems. Phage induction was done using mitomycin C in liquid cultures and plaque overlay assays. Attempts were made to purify phages and generate PCR amplicons for sequence confirmation. The results of this study demonstrate the presence of phages in local C. difficile isolates and provide evidence for their classification as Caudoviricetes. Further studies are needed to determine the specific taxonomy, since recent updates have rendered previous morphology-based classification of phages inadequate