The shaky political landscape in South Africa, resulting from high rate of corruption and political instability, is affecting economic growth. Among businesses, the use of insurance contracts has been advanced as one of the most effective risk management strategies to deal with the business risk. Insurance is designed to hedge against unforeseen and unplanned risks that may be attributable to manmade or natural disasters. One of the major reasons for purchasing insurance is to avert risk, whilst most firms in the manufacturing industry are driven by regulations to purchase insurance. The goal of this study was to analyse industry level demand for insurance as well as determine factors contributing to the demand for insurance by corporate firms in South Africa for the period between 2013 and 2014. This study used a multivariate approach to analyse data, to derive a clear picture of what transpires in the purchase of insurance and arrive at intelligent decisions. Multiple regression analysis was used to ascertain the factors contributing to the purchase of insurance as well as to identify dominant patterns in the data revealed by other empirical studies to understand the area under investigation. The study established six variables/factors that played an important role in the purchase of insurance. These were: firm size, operational leverage, industry type, underinvestment, turnover and depreciation and amortisation. The major players that positively influenced the demand for insurance were firm size and industry type followed by turnover, depreciation and amortisation respectively. It was also established that most firms in South Africa are regulated, therefore it was mandatory for firms to buy insurance to hedge against any risk. The policy and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Die militêre, politieke en in mindere mate, die ekonomiese geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika was reeds die onderwerp van vele navorsing. Daarenteen het die geskiedkundiege ontwikkeling van bepaalde dorpe en streke min aandag geniet in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedskrywing. In 'n uitgestrekte land soos hierdie is streeksontwikkeling en die groei van intensief gevestigde gemeenskappe belangrik in die ontwikkeling van die hele land, en die geskiedenis van die streeksontwikkeling dus belangrik die geskiednis van die geheel. My besluit om as onderwerp van die verhandeling te neem die geskiedenis van die Kakamas Arbeidskolonie is dus gemotiveer deur die rol wat hierdie Kerk-nedersetting gespeel het in die ontwikkeling van die Kaapse Noord-Weste, in die invloed wat dit uitgeoefen het op die landbou- en irrigasiebeleid van die Staat en in die bydrae wat dit gelewer het tot 'n oplossing van die Armblanke-probleem. Die Studie omvat: (a) 'n Oorsig van die vernaamste oorsake van die agterlikheid van die Suid-Afrikaanse landbou en besproeiing teen die einde van die 19de eeu. (b) Bywoners, armblankea en die Armsorg van die N.G. Kerk. Toestande in die Noordwestelike Kaap en die aanvang van die Kakamas Arbeidskolonie. (c) Die groei en ontwikkeling van die Nedersetting. Probleme, administrasie, finansies, handel en landbouontwikkeling. (d) Opvoeding van die jeug. Kerklike, sosiale en kulturele aangeleenthede in die Kolonie. (e) Verhouding tussen die Koloniste en die Arbeidskolonie Kommissie. Die stryd om eiendomsreg en selfbestuur. Verskillende regeringskommissies en hulle verslae. Ooreenkoms tussen Kerk en Staat. (f) Die jongste grondwet. Invloed van die Arbeidskolonie op besproeiingsbeleid, ens.

Bibliography: pages 122-129. / Soil erosion is regarded as a serious problem throughout the world. Erosion is caused by both water and wind. Although the two usually occur together, wind erosion has received little attention with the exception of the problems associated with croplands. Wind erosion can, however, also be a serious problem in natural grazing lands. In this research project an attempt is made to determine the areas of potential wind erosion in the Cape Province through the use of two different models. The models used were developed and applied in semi-arid areas and thus were considered to be applicable in South Africa. The models used are: The Wind Erosion Equation developed by Chepil, Woodruff and Siddoway in the United States; and Lynch and Edward's Model for the Analysis of Limited Climatic Data, developed in Australia. There are two aspects to soil erosion by wind - the erodibility of the soil as determined by moisture, grains size, aggregates, plant cover and surface topography; and soil erosivity as determined by wind strength and duration. Methods to control wind erosion are based on decreasing erosivity through the establishment of shelterbelts and by decreasing erodibility through improving plant cover, aggregate stability and moisture retention properties. Efforts at wind erosion measurement are generally ineffective. A number of models have been developed to overcome these difficulties and to allow for prediction of soil loss. Two of these models are applied to conditions in the Cape Province. This area covers a wind range of climatic, soil and agricultural conditions and as such provides an appropriate area for their application. It is, however, concluded that neither of these models can be directly applied to conditions in the Cape Province. The seasonal rainfall distribution and the uneven distribution of the data points contribute to the ineffectiveness of the models. The greatest problem, however, is the importance of management in determining whether or not wind erosion occurs. As a result, although the models illustrate the general climatic trends affecting the susceptibility of an area to wind erosion, the lack of a management factor accounts for the lack of detail.

No description available.

Bibliography: p. [A41-A42]. / Essentially, this history recounts the endeavours of a comparatively small Jewish Community, distant from the main centres of culture and population, in its search for assurance of continuity expressed in terms of an educational response to positive as well as negative forces acting on its group-existence. Interestingly enough, it is epitomised in the story of one or two Jewish schools: generally, one main school holds the stage. It is a story, however, which cannot be adequately understood without an examination of its long historical roots.

Bibliography: pages 203-223. / The medical practitioner, nurse, midwife, dentist and pharmacist have played significant roles in the history of South Africa. Various histories have dealt with their expansion into separate, clearly identifiable, professions. Nothing of a scholarly nature has been written about pharmacy in South Africa, and this work attempts to fill a part of the gap. The thesis concentrates on the major issues which affected the development of the profession and attempts to establish the reasons for the creation of the first professional society in the Eastern Cape in 1885.

Bibliography: pages 235-252. / This investigation into adoption began in January 1986 in the Republic of South Africa. The aim was to understand adoption from the subjective viewpoint of adults who were adopted as infants or children. It was based on the working hypothesis that although adoption has universal qualities, there would also be regional, cultural and time-related differences affecting both the practice and experience of adoption. Appeals were made for respondents through three popular magazines, private welfare organisations, the Registrar of Adoption and by means of "snowball sampling". Questionnaires were subsequently posted country-wide between April and October 1986. The questionnaire contained 209 open- and closed-ended questions covering the period from adoption placement to adulthood. An eighty-eight percent response rate was obtained. The material was analysed with emphasis on the qualitative interpretation of the content of the data in the open-ended responses. The sample comprised eighty-two adult adoptees between the ages of eighteen and seventy, of whom seventy-one percent were female, twenty-nine percent male, 58,5 percent Afrikaans speaking and 41,5 percent English- speaking. Cultural differences were found in the responses of the two language groups. Variables that have been considered relevant or insufficiently explored in the literature on adoption were examined. These were: age of placement; attachment in the adoptive home; manner and timing of revelation of adoptive status and adoptee reactions to this; adoptee thoughts and fears concerning birth parents, the school experience; identity problems in adolescence and adulthood manifested as insecurity or behaviour problems; the adoptee's need to know more about his or her origins and the concomitant consequences. Notable findings were: the paucity of information given to these adoptees about their origins; thoughts and fears about birth parents that occurred as early as the pre-school period; childhood fears arising from the adoptive status; sensitivity about being adopted; peer group cruelty in pre-puberty and a seventeen percent parasuicide incidence among the members of this sample. Another finding related to the adult adoptee's need for a bio-genealogical history, especially in view of the high risk of certain genetic disorders, particularly among the Afrikaner population. The majority of the adoptees in this sample entertained the possibility of meeting birth parents one day; for many this began in pre-puberty. This was contingent on the quality of the relationship with their adoptive parents in only a minority of cases. Few adoptees could share their thoughts about adoption and birth parents with their adoptive parents. Adoptees who were 'searching' or who had 'found' birth parents were motivated more by a need to know who they were and why they had been given up for adoption, than by a need to replace the 'lost parent'. Where the relationship with the adoptive parents was warm and satisfying, the finding of birth parent(s) did not affect the adoptive relationship deleteriously. These findings point to a need for more research on adoption following changes in South African adoption laws allowing adult adoptees access to court records of their adoption. Adoptees and their parents need informed assistance from those who counsel them.

Includes bibliography. / For the National Party of South Africa, Communism was simultaneously a legitimate concern and a useful concept with which to attract voters and deflect criticism. The threat of Communism was frequently allied with the threat of African nationalism in National Party discourse during the apartheid era. The alliance between the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, and the Soviet's role in supporting various governments and opposition movements on the subcontinent lent credence to the National Party's stance. This study, believed to be the first of its kind on the subject, examined the National Party's perception of the Communist 'threat' or 'red peril' from c. 1985 until February 1990, at a time when the Communist's role on the subcontinent was changing but 'revolutionary' unrest in South Africa was escalating. The study culminated in an assessment of National Party discourse prior to and during February 1990 to decipher the influence of the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe on the decision to lift the bans on the ANC, SACP and PAC. Secondary research examined the facets of the Communist 'threat' in South Africa. Primary research used the South African Survey, the parliamentary Hansard, key journals, party and sub-national newspapers, the papers of P. W. Botha and F.W. de Klerk, and party electioneering material to analyse National Party references to the Communist 'threat'. In addition F.W. de Klerk, and his co-author, David Steward were interviewed. The analysis was necessarily qualitative, but the volume of evidence gathered enabled a number of insights to be advanced. The National Party's references to the Communist 'threat' changed during the period in response to political settlement in South West Africa/Namibia, the increased pressure from the West to abolish apartheid, and to domestic political challenges both from traditional sources of opposition and traditional sources of support. The confusion caused by the changing loci of domestic political opposition and international criticism was also evident. While the portrayal of a Soviet driven Communist threat declined in party discourse and the National Party posited a more constructive approach to socio-economic aspects of the Communist threat (in the face of Conservative Party opposition), the portrayal of a military and political threat from Communist-backed forces remained common until 1989. The discourse between 1985-89 did not anticipate the lifting of the ban on the ANC-SACP alliance who were portrayed in party rhetoric as being committed to Communism, and therefore illegitimate negotiating partners, as late as July 1989. In this context the study examined the February 1990 lifting of the ban on the ANC-SACP alliance, against the background of the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. The study demonstrated de Klerk's misjudgement of the ANC and his belief that as a result of the collapse of Communism, the initiative could be seized at the ANC's expense, to create a new political dispensation that still 'protected' the white minority.

BIbliography: p. 151-154a.

The problem: The study of child abuse in South Africa has concentrated on management issues, and the epidemiology of child abuse and neglect has yet to be determined. Child abuse intervention programmes are based on data from studies conducted in the United States and Europe. Over the past few years practitioners in the field have expressed the need for local information to be available in order to plan future child protection programmes. A review of the literature reveals that the medico-legal model developed in the United States and the United Kingdom, based on investigation, is under strain due to the large number of reported cases of child abuse. Aims: The study aims to compare the data collected with that reported in the literature. The specific research questions include: • Can the characteristics of abused children in Cape Town be determined? • Do the characteristics of child abuse and neglect in Cape Town differ from those reported in the literature? • Should and can a child abuse reporting system be developed and implemented? • Can prevention and intervention strategies be developed based on the epidemiological data that has been collected? • Can the study in Cape Town provide an impetus for further research in the field of child abuse and neglect? • Can the results provide the basis for a National Plan of Action on child abuse and neglect? Methodology Following extensive consultation in with professionals and practitioners in the field, a child abuse reporting system was established in Cape Town, South Africa. Clear definitions of child abuse and neglect were agreed upon, and for the period October 1993 to May 1995 practitioners in the field reported all cases of child abuse and neglect to a central reporting centre. The data was entered on to a computer and analysed by the researcher. Results • The overall picture of child protection in Cape Town: • Child abuse and neglect primarily affects females in the Cape Town area; • younger children are more likely to be physically abused or neglected; • older children are more likely to be sexually abused. • Characteristics of the children abused, in particular, the differences between male and female children: • Females are at a high risk of child sexual abuse, • Males are more prone to physical abuse. • There is an absence of reported fatal child abuse. • Profile of the alleged perpetrator: • most of the abuse is either intra-familial, or inflicted by a person known to the child. • The geographical distribution of child abuse: • the distribution of abuse is influenced by the reporting agencies. In this study the incidence of reported child abuse and neglect is predominantly from the Cape Flats areas, though this does not reflect the rate of reported child abuse and neglect. • Action is taken by child protection agencies: • the majority of reported child abuse and neglect is managed by social service agencies; • the police do not investigate child reported child abuse and neglect in the majority of cases. • Comparison with the literature: • The characteristics of reported child abuse differ from that in the literature. • Child physical abuse is under-reported in comparison to other countries. • Rates of reported child sexual abuse are higher than those reported in the literature. Conclusions and recommendations Child abuse is an important problem in Cape Town, and in South Africa as a whole. The required response to this phenomenon is the development of an appropriate Child Protection Service, based on the concept of the prevention of child abuse and neglect, rather than on a reaction to abuse already present. This involves consideration of the data in this study and other studies, as well as examination of the philosophy behind the Child Protection Service to be set up. This approach can be adapted in other countries.