100 research outputs found
Panel discussion
No full textNeville Alexander, Jane Barrett, Devan Pillay and Raymond Suttner discuss how the issues of race and non-racialisation were tackled in the anti-apartheid era and how they impacted on the effort to craft non-racial organisations and struggles
Operating under the Radar: Forestry Plantation Workers Everyday Resistance in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe
No full textA research report Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology, In the Faculty of Humanities , School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024This thesis explores and analyses the everyday forms and practices of labour resistance that rural commercial forestry plantation labour crafts to navigate a highly insecure post-colonial capitalist plantation labour process. It attends to the scholarly puzzle that in Zimbabwe, Africa, and elsewhere quotidian forms and practices of resistance are in a much less or barely empirically demonstrated and theoretically elaborated state in both resistance and labour resistance studies. This is even more pronounced in agrarian labour politics studies, yet agriculture labour constitutes a significant proportion of the overall industrial labour-force in xii Africa and elsewhere and is arguably the most easily exploitable form of wage labour. This motivated my empirical focus on commercial plantation labour. In light of evidence from Barura plantation estate, I argue that the workers may have to accept the fact of post-colonial capitalist plantation wage employment, the plantation-specific modalities of statist ethno-national citizenship, and state-sanctioned partisan national politics while contesting the terms and conditions under which these mutual systems of domination and exploitation occur. The practices do not seek to radically decompose the historical material- cum-symbolic bases of these systems of power. The everyday practices of defiance mediate the workers’ realisation of piecemeal de facto material and status gains more than the de jure recognition of those gains. My major empirical contribution is the discovery and foregrounding of the quotidian practices of subaltern groups as an integral part of politics. In a specialised and methodical manner, I re- centre the mundane everyday acts of plantation labour as workplace politics namely labour resistance. Theoretically I deploy and test the conceptual-cum-theoretical positions of seminal scholars on (everyday) resistance and modify some of these positions in light of empirical evidence. Methodologically, I break from the intention-oriented and foreground the practice- oriented approach to everyday resistance. This study is based on a continuous fourteen-month long on-site ethnography at a state-owned commercial forestry plantation. Ethnography was instrumental for the contextualised in-depth discovery and thick description of the workers’ forms, practices, and dynamics of subterranean labour resistance. It also enabled the cultivation of high levels of trust and rapport required to discover a sensitive, incriminating, and largely backstage (hidden) social phenomenon like quotidian labour resistance. For data collection I used three levels of participant observation, unstructured in-depth interviews, casual conversations, and deep hangouts.MM202
Buchbesprechung: Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo und Roger Southall (Hrsg.), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On (2014)
No full textReview of the edited volume:Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo and Roger Southall (eds), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2014, ISBN 9781868147632, 380 pp.Besprechung des Sammelbandes:Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo und Roger Southall (Hrsg.), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2014, ISBN 9781868147632, 380 Seite
Buchbesprechung: Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo und Roger Southall (Hrsg.), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On (2014)
No full textReview of the edited volume:Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo and Roger Southall (eds), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2014, ISBN 9781868147632, 380 pp.Besprechung des Sammelbandes:Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo und Roger Southall (Hrsg.), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2014, ISBN 9781868147632, 380 Seite
Review: Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo and Roger Southall (eds), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On (2014)
No full textReview of the edited volume:Devan Pillay, Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo and Roger Southall (eds), New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2014, ISBN 9781868147632, 380 pp
Understanding the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa’s Evolving Policies on the Role of Renewable Energy in South Africa’s Mineral Energy Complex
No full textA research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Labour, Policy, and Globalisation) to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024The concept of the just transition is widely regarded as organised labour’s response to the negative impact of climate change. It is used as a mechanism to reconcile the movement’s mandate to provide workers with decent jobs and the need to protect the environment. NUMSA is an example of a union that, during 2011-12, responded to the impact of climate change by developing its own policies and directly challenging government’s renewable energy policies. The union’s vision for South Africa is a socially owned renewable energy sector made up of a mix of energy parastatals, cooperatives, municipal-owned entities, and other forms of community energy enterprises. South Africa is heavily reliant on coal for its electricity generation. The government, the private sector, civil society, and organised labour mostly agree that there is a need to transition away from coal to renewable energy. Initially, the transition to renewable energy was framed as a choice between ‘jobs and environment’ and ‘jobs versus environment’. NUMSA’s vision of socially owned renewable energy displayed characteristics of active labour environmentalism that called for the transformative ‘jobs and environment with just transition’ despite its location in the fossil fuel sector. However, a series of events and decisions by a top leadership that is viewed as authoritarian and unenthusiastic about eco-socialism, has resulted in NUMSA adopting strategies in recent years that are, at best, seen as reactive and narrowly protecting workers – even though they purport to support a just transition to renewable energy. At worst, the union has been accused of anti-environmentalism and protecting coal and electricity workers regardless of the impact on the environment. It was this apparent shift and criticism of NUMSA that necessitated an analysis of its opposition to the closure of coal fired power stations to make way for renewable energy independent power producers. The findings point to a union that relies on its pioneering decarbonization policies to shield itself from legitimate criticism from labour climate activists and progressive environmental groups of its actual practice.GM202
Electricity conservation : factors influencing sustainable energy efficient consumer behaviour in the South African household
No full textDissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.The primary focus of this body of research is to understand the drivers of consumer behaviour, towards electricity conservation in South African households. The underlying rationale is to influence a reduction in energy consumption by stimulating energy efficient behaviours, thereby reducing the impact of energy use on the environment. The outcomes shall be of benefit to policy makers who need to introduce the most effective interventions, and businesses that are engaged in the design and manufacture of energy efficient technologies and services. Owing to the limited research in South Africa on the subject of electricity conservation behaviour, the study applied a qualitative research methodology to validate the existing theory on energy efficient consumer behaviour, as well as to establish new insights from South African residential electricity consumers. The research findings are consistent with that of past research conducted in the US and Europe with the major difference noted on the level of environmental consciousness. While South Africans are conscious of the concepts of climate change and environmental degradation, they do not readily perceive domestic consumption of electricity as having a detrimental impact on the environment. Their foremost motivation to conserve electricity is inspired by the personal financial savings or potential savings, rather than to appease their conscience with regard to environmental impact. CopyrightGordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)unrestricte
Südafrika: Zustand der Nation
No full textRezension zu: 1) Gilbert Khadiagala, Prishani Naidoo, Devan Pillay & Roger Southall (Eds.): New South African Review 4. A Fragile Democracy - 20 Years on. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press 2014. 2) Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Muxe Nkondo, Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Moses Sithole & Francis Nyamnjoh (Eds.): State of the Nation 2014. South Africa 1994-2014: A Twenty-Year Review of Freedom and Democracy. Cape Town: HSRC Press 2014
The purification of corn steep liquor as a fermentation feedstock by ultrafiltration
No full textThesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the Degree of Master of Technology: Chemical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2010.THE OBJECTIVE of this study was to devise a purification process, using ultrafiltration membranes as the core technology, for the preparation of corn steep liquor (CSL) as a fermentation feedstock. This process inherently required the development of a pretreatment system for the ultrafiltration membranes for the removal of suspended solids and high fouling material from corn steep liquor. The ultrafiltration membrane system was required for the separation and removal of colloidal solids from corn steep liquor, and to fractionate and separate out unwanted proteins, to render the feedstock suitable for sterilisation and subsequent fermentation. THE CONCEPT of membrane technology was investigated in order to find a more practical alternative for what was deemed to be a difficult process problem. In particular, various pretreatment technologies were investigated to form a compact and robust process package. THE CORN STEEP LIQUOR, a by-product of the corn wet milling process, was obtained from African Products, Germiston, in the form of a concentrated slurry directly from an evaporator system. A diagnostic of the feedstock was carried out and from this information, it was decided that three pretreatment options would be investigated. The first option was the pH treatment of the corn liquor, by the addition of ammonia which induced the precipitation of solids. This was followed by liquid-solid separation, and the clarified liquor was fed to the membrane system. The second option looked at the separation of suspended solids from the liquor by the use of broth conditioning additives and separation of the solids by a decanter centrifuge. The third option investigated was the use of a gyratory screening system for the removal of all solids greater than 100 μ in size. IN THE pH TREATMENT of CSL, the process is effected by the addition of base to pH 7. The technology involves neutralisation of CSL in a mixing system, under predetermined conditions of temperature, agitation and rate of addition, followed by subsequent liquid-solid separation. Trials were conducted on a pilot plant to test the process. Initial trials, conducted on a small scale pilot filter press, proved to be successful for this application. A suspended solids removal of up to 98% was achieved. The average suspended solids in the filtrate was found to range between 0.1 to 0.25 %. Tests were also conducted on a hired “state of art” filtration plant under various conditions. A diaphragm membrane press was found to provide the best performance. Protein recoveries of above 95 % at fluxes of 35 L/m2h at temperatures above 50 °C, and an incremental application of feed pressure was most suited for the process. The removal of the colloidal solids by the above-mentioned process was found to improve the quality of sterilisation. A reduction of more than 90 % in coagulated solids was achieved.
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IT WAS OBSERVED that the separation of suspended solids from CSL is enhanced by the use of coagulation and flocculation. Although not commonly used for this purpose, it was felt that a decanter centrifuge was well suited for the subsequent separation of the flocs from the clarified liquor. This work describes the results of the trials with such a device and the impact of broth conditioning on the efficiency of the separation. Trials have been conducted using an Alfa-Laval Model NX210 decanter, which was not specifically built for the work and therefore imposed several limitations on its performance. Despite these shortcomings, preliminary trials proved to be successful in achieving the separation objective. Tests were conducted using five different batches of CSL. With a maximum suspended solids loading of 4.3 % and a feed rate of 700 L/h, a solids recovery of 90 % was achieved. The clarified liquor contained residual solids between 0.5 and 0.8 %. The sludge had a solids concentration that ranged between 43 % and 65 %. COAGULATION AND FLOCCULATION dosages were kept within the limits of the laboratory evaluations. Flocculant dosages were controlled between 100 and 200 ppm, with the coagulant operating at higher dosages of between 400 and 2000 ppm. The only controllable parameter on the machine itself was the scroll differential speed. The best performance in terms of the cake dryness and centrate clarity was obtained at the lowest scroll differential speed of 4 rpm. THE USE OF GYRATORY SCREENS entailed passing the raw liquor through a set of two screens. The technology involves the use of a gyratory mechanism, which aids in the cleaning of the screens during continuous operation. Trials have been conducted on a pilot plant to test the system. Since the unit used was designed specifically for quick on-site screening exercises, it did not possess the added flexibility and robustness of a properly designed full scale unit. This imposed some limitations on its performance. However, despite these shortcomings, the trials conducted on the pilot plant proved to be successful in meeting the outlined objectives.
A NUMBER OF TRIALS were performed on various batches of CSL. There was considerable batch to batch variation in the suspended solids content of the CSL and this was found to ultimately affect the throughput of the screening process. The feed suspended solids varied between 10 and 18 %. The highest throughput achieved was 400 L/h at a feed suspended solids loading of 14.5 %. It was found that temperature made a significant impact on the separation. The loss of heat in the feed stream caused excessive coagulation to occur thus increasing the suspended solids loading and lowering the throughput. The total solids in the sludge stream varied between 45 and 77 %. Protein loss in the sludge stream was around 1 %. Careful attention had to be given to the handling of the sludge stream. This stream displayed rheological characteristics typical of a non-Newtonian thixotropic fluid. The 100 μm screen operated best
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when prior separation was done using a 180 to 200 μm screen. This reduced the solids loading on the tighter screen and increased the throughput by 10 to 15 %. The self cleaning mechanism also performed more efficiently under these conditions. THE SELECTED OPTION was then based on the influence the operation had on the ultrafiltration membranes, sterilisation of the product prior to fermentation and ultimately the fermentation performance. Subsequent testing of the pretreatment options were performed on an ultrafiltration membrane test cell. The product from the gyratory screens were found to produce the best overall results, where the highest fluxes and least amount of fouling occurred on the membranes tested. ONCE THE PRETREATMENT OPTION was decided, the development of the membane ultrafiltration system was then pursued. Trials were conducted on a laboratory scale, in a membrane test cell, to determine the preliminary screening of the membrane type, fouling effects and fluxes. It was found that polyvinylidene and polyacrylonitrile membranes produced the best overall fluxes of 11.25 and 10.96 L/m2h respectively. These membranes produced permeate protein concentrations of 121 and 115 g/L respectively. Sterilisation tests conducted on the permeate streams produced also showed that these two membranes had the lowest suspended solids concentrations. FERMENTABILITY tests conducted, showed that the ultrafiltered CSL, from these two membranes, produced increased cell counts and protein utilisation along with an increased product yield. Approximately 42 g/L of biomass was generated with lysine yields of 46 g/L. Further testwork revealed the non-Newtonian nature of CSL and its inherent viscosity effects. BENCH-SCALE testwork was conducted for various membrane configurations. With tubular membranes and hollow fibre membranes, average fluxes of 6.23 and 4.5 L/m2h were achieved respectively. Spiral wound membranes were found to be more consistent in their performance, with average fluxes of around 6.25 L/m2h. For the spiral wound membranes, it was found that the Desal-2 mesh spacer with a 80 mil thickness was most appropriate for the duty. PILOT PLANT testwork was conducted to scale-up the membrane system and to eliminate possible risks associated with the technology. The pilot plant studies showed up a number of principle design variables which needed careful attention. The flaws in the piloting system were subsequently rectified and this helped to improve the overall performance of the system.
Collective bargaining, decentralisation and crisis management in the German metalworking industries since 1990
No full textCollective bargaining in the German metal and electrical engineering (M+E) industries has undergone a phase of considerable development since the 1990s. The profound changes which underwent collective bargaining in M+E over the last two decades have to be regarded against the background of a new global and national political and economic environment which emerged after the end of the Cold War. The M+E sector with at its core the automobile industry underwent successive waves of restructuring which shaped the bargaining agenda. This discussion paper examines these developments, putting a special focus on the changing bargaining agendas at both sectoral and company level and looks in particular at the decentralisation of collective bargaining. The management of the crisis of 2008 - 2010 in metal manufacturing is a further topic.A first version of this paper was presented at a meeting of the European GUSTO research project on 6 September 2011 in Barcelona. -- Die Tarifpolitik in der deutschen Metall- und Elektroindustrie hat seit den 1990er Jahren einen tief greifenden Wandel durchlaufen. Die Entwicklung der letzten zwei Jahrzehnte ist vor dem Hintergrund der Veränderungen in den globalen wie nationalen politischen und ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen zu betrachten, die sich nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges herausbildeten. Die Metall- und Elektroindustrie und insbesondere die Automobilindustrie erlebten aufeinander folgende Restrukturierungswellen, die die Inhalte der tariflichen und betrieblichen Aushandlungsprozesse prägten. Dieses Diskussionspapier untersucht diese Entwicklungen und die Veränderungen in der Betriebs- und Tarifpolitik, wobei besonders die Dezentralisierung der Tarifpolitik betrachtet wird. Das Krisenmanagement der Jahre 2008 bis 2010 in der Metall- und Elektroindustrie ist ein weiterer Punkt.Eine erste Version dieses Papier wurde am 6. September 2011 bei einem Treffen des europäischen GUSTO Forschungsprojekts in Barcelona vorgestellt.
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