The USA's financial and economic crisis spilled over and resulted into a "global" financial crisis (GFC) that impacted several developed and developing countries. Regarding the latter, trade affairs have been identified as being a major growth component for the economies of developing countries. In particular, numerous studies have highlighted the importance and benefits of international trade on a country's path to promote economic growth rates. In lieu of the above, the main aim of this study is to assess the impact of this crisis on the South African steel trade industry, with special emphasis on the periods 'before', 'during' and 'after' the GFC. Through efficient targeting of a specific sector and its industry within the South African economy, government entities would be able to determine the extent that they could gain effective targeting and allocation of resources. Past research papers, relevant theoretical frameworks and data have been taken into consideration to form the basis of our analyses. In essence, we analysed the South African economy as a whole and tried to identify its relationship with the trade industry during this study period. Therefore, a composition of South Africa's economic activities and an economic profile was also determined and discussed. In addition. we implemented Porter's competitive strategy and diamond theory, to identify whether the South African steel trade industry has a competitive advantage. From the analyses we concluded that the steel trade industry of South Africa was adversely impacted in 2009. the 'during' period of the GFC and showed the 'after' period as the recovering period for the industry. Evidently, there is a positive correlation between the steel trade industry of South Africa and the country's economy ' before', during' and after' periods of the GFC. This positive correlation can be contributed to the trade sector's influence on the economy's overall state, as imports and exports have been identified as a key aspect to economic growth, and vice versa. Identified recommendations include the need for more research on the South African steel trade industry's competitors, in order to realize possible opportunities for the industry itself and realize increased growth patterns, as well as extensive promotion that could lead to amplifying trade flows benefiting the South African economy. / Thesis (M.Com. (Economics) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

The goal of the study was to advance a participatory development communication perspective for South Africa and suggest how the government can facilitate the country's democratisation by using government PR as a strategic planning tool and developing a government communication framework for nation-building by integrating PR approaches into the communication component of constructing national identity, social cohesion and Nation-building programmes. The primary orientation of this study is interdisciplinary combining a theoretical framework of the concept of the 'nation', the discursive construction of national identity and major debates surrounding the practice of nation-building. In addition to the background on South Africa's history and the current social, political and economic climate, this study applies critical discourse analysis to the role that PR contributes to the advancement of government communication programmes in South Africa. The aim was to explore the role played by PR within the democratic nation-building processes in South Africa and identify which discourses have been and are being mobilised in constructing South African national identity in the context of the young South African democracy and the nation as a whole. The final analysis demonstrates that while Presidential speeches promote hope, unity and citizen participation, they also portray South African citizens as united but diverse individuals whose primary responsibility is to celebrate the country's political transformation and demonstrate loyalty to the post-apartheid goals of nation-building. Furthermore, critical events like the 1994 general elections and major sporting events like the 1995 Rugby World Cup, as well as the 2010 FIFA soccer World Cup are seen as milestone moments in the history of the nation. A mixed-methods approach was used in the study, with qualitative and quantitative research methodologies complementing each other. Various domains of enquiry were used in the research. On the one hand there was a theoretical analysis and appraisal of the PR role in nation-building and Critical discourse analysis of Presidential speeches as a possible instrument for the facilitation of direct democracy. These were complemented by empirical evidence obtained from research participants with a view to reaching conclusions about the research problem. The study analysed interview variation in the constructions of themes according to the different positions people were responding from and also examined the meanings given in relation to Nation-building, national identity and social cohesion. The findings provide examples of an emphasis on the civic dimension of national identity, with speakers emphasising the rights and duties of South African citizenship. But more prominent was a discourse that goes beyond a formal, legalistic civic identity to include a more emotional, semi-cultural bond such as 'unity in diversity' and the 'Rainbow Nation' discourse. The study concludes by recommending that in order to anchor the democratic Nation-building with in the country, the government: should use PR to communicate with the citizenry and keep them in the loop about these adjustments; promote the country's Nation-building process by acknowledging that PR has a critical strategic planning function to cement national unity and develop a shared democratic national identity for South Africa. / Thesis (PhD.(Communication) North-West University, Mafikkeng Campus, 2011

The thesis looked at Conflict in the Democratic Republic Congo: Causes, Effects and Plausible Solutions (1996-2009). The DRC is a country of extraordinary natural wealth but this wealth has never been used for the benefit of the Congolese population. Instead, the country is currently emerging from one of the world's worst conflicts, which has resulted in the deaths of up to 3.5 million people. This conflict has been fuelled mainly by competition for natural resources, which has been used to fund numerous rebel groups.The conflict centered in the east of the country, it involved a range of militant groups; local militias, Congolese and Rwandan rebels and the Congolese army, that use control over the country's rich mineral deposits as a source of financing. Qualitative Research Methodology was the choice of method. Data was collected from primary and secondary sources. A sample of one hundred participants was used to respond to open-ended questions and four interviewee. It is evident that natural resources played a key role in prolonging the civil conflict and also being the cause of it because resources have been a source of finance to rebel groups to purchase necessary tools that were used during conflict. The country has been targeted by external interference that has divided the country in an effort to benefit from natural resources through aiding or bribing a certain powerful group in order to pursue their interests, and this has built a lot of grievances and anger in the lower group because they don't benefit from their resources and that leads to a startup of conflict. There is a need for political will among our leaders to bring better living conditions for Africans in the country. / Thesis (M.A.(Soc.Sc) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013

The Southern African Development Community (SADC), formerly known as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), is an organization of Southern African states initially formed to reduce economic dependence on South Africa (then an Apartheid state) and to harmonize and coordinate development in the region The vision and mission of SADC reach well beyond the harmonization of development within the region. It extends to fields that include political stability, peace building, the maintenance of security and justice as well as economic cooperation. The attainment of these goals requires well co-ordinated regional mechanisms; as such over the past decade member states have paid particular attention to the possibility of attaining these goals through regional integration. The transformation from SADCC to SADC indicated that the body would no longer be a loose association (conference) of states but rather a regional body that would have a legally binding effect on its member states. The question is, when the member states assembled in Windhoek, August 1992, did they create an institutional framework, and policies that would have enough legal force to ensure that the institutional agenda of integration is not defeated by member states? The argument of this dissertation is that the Treaty and the policies established afterwards contain principle imperfections that are self defeating for the pursuance of regional integration. The work will begin by discussing regional integration in general, highlighting the historical origins of SADC as well as the role of the African Union. The work will then discuss the dimensions and functioning of SADC, laying the foundation for a proper critique on how the institutional framework contains inherent weaknesses that eventually hinder the progression of SADC. The dissertation ultimately will discuss and benchmark the European Union against SADC, in an attempt to extract important lessons for the progression of SADC. / Thesis (LLM) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2011

In the past, rural women were looked upon as being physically weak and were assigned the main role of child-bearing and child-rearing. In recent times, however, there has been recognition that women's roles go beyond the immediate household domestic and reproductive spheres into economically productive public spheres. Women are therefore recognized as agents of development as they play a vital role in society and contribute to socio-economic development. The main aim of this research was to focus on this sphere of life and examine the contribution of women through the case study of the EPWP project in Modimola village, North-West Province of South Africa. A qualitative research approach was used in this study in the form of in-depth interviews with a sample of the women who participated in the project. This was done to establish the role, benefits, and challenges women encountered in the fore-mentioned EPWP project. It was found that women had a very productive and active toile in the project, and contributed positively towards its effectiveness and success. This was however not sustainable largely due to failure by the Department of Public Works' officials to provide continuous leadership, as well as monitoring and evaluation of the project to ensure continuous improvement and sustainability. / Thesis (M.A.(Sociology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013

Thesis (M. Tech.) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2006 / Since the earliest days, people have travelled. Not only was it time consuming, limited and only for the rich, but it was not necessarily a pleasure. Since those early days, travel and tourism has developed to such an extent that it has become one of the major industries in the world, providing the tourist with amongst others technologically advanced air transportation, luxury resorts and a variety of experiences and attractions at many different destinations. The major developments in air transportation have opened up many opportunities, but it has also placed most destinations within easy reach of the tourist, as most destinations have become more accessible. This automatically led to increased competitiveness between different destinations, both locally and internationally. Competitiveness of the destination may be based on a variety of contributing factors such as its scenic beauty, the variety of attractions offered, natural resources, the accessibility, the host population, availability and quality of infrastructure, diseases, flight availability and frequency, seasons and many other factors. However, a destination will never become the most popular or most visited one if the tourist cannot afford to visit it. Price undoubtedly plays a very important role in the decision-making process of the tourist when choosing a destination. The prices at any destination are influenced by a variety of internal and external factors which, in the end, has a direct influence of the actual travel cost of the tourist. This study focuses on South Africa’s price competitiveness as an international destination. The major travel components or products that an international tourist will spend money on during his/her visit to South Africa are international flights, accommodation, attractions and food and beverages. The prices of these components were compared to similar products of Thailand and Australia, which have previously been identified by SA Tourism as South Africa’s major competitors. The focus of the research is therefore on the expenditure patterns, price perceptions and the tourists’ perception of whether or not they perceived South Africa’s tourism products to be affordable, to offer value for money or not. Perceptions of departing international tourists who have already used these products were tested. Once established, an international travel price index and a hotel price index were formulated for South Africa, which may be used to monitor international tourist expenses. These indices may also be used as indicator of the affordability and price competitiveness of South Africa as a tourist destination. There is not one individual in South Africa that cannot, either by means of direct or indirect revenue, benefit from South Africa being a tourist destination of choice. The opportunities and possibilities created by foreign revenue spent are legio. Hence it comes as no surprise that tourism in South Africa has become the priority of many different role players such as government, commerce, product owners and private industries. As it is difficult for a destination to control the external environment, the destination’s focus should therefore rather be on the factors that it can control or influence to a certain extent. By ensuring that South Africa’s tourism products are competitively priced and offer value for money, one of the major factors that may hamper the growth of South Africa as a destination has been addressed. In economic challenging conditions, the tourist has become more value for money driven than before when choosing a destination. The focus of the research is therefore to establish if South Africa’s tourism product prices are regarded to provide value for money or not to international tourists. The research was divided into two parts: literature and empirical research. The population of this study was foreign tourists to South Africa that have completed their journey and who were questioned in the departure halls of Johannesburg’s Oliver Thambo and Cape Town International airports. An overview of the research results give a general indication that South African tourism products are more expensive than was anticipated by foreign tourists. Seventy five percent of respondents indicated that they paid more for accommodation, air transportation and attractions than they expected to pay. Of the different accommodation types used, the five star luxury hotel accommodations were found to be too expensive whilst other graded accommodation were perceived as being priced fairly, even cheaply. The paid attractions that the respondents visited were, with the exception of the Kruger National Park, all fairly priced. Cape Town was indicated as a city that was perceived to be more expensive that other cities visited by international tourists.

The analysis undertaken, firstly aims to identify the extent to which equities, their indexes and their derivatives priced in accordance with their fair value. Secondly, presuming that the traded values of the instruments do not in all instances equate to the fair value, the research aims to develop an effective means to identify and manage profitable opportunities arising from the mispricing. General concepts relating to profitability, trade identification, risk and continuous improvement of the processes are addressed. This includes recommendations on the management of the risks through a structured reporting process. The research looks at arbitrage trading in the South African market from the perspective of an empirical review into the market's participation in equity and equity derivative arbitrage. In addition to this empirical analysis, a time series analysis into various arbitrage strategies is conducted with the view to determining their relative profitability. The first component of the empirical research focuses on the arbitrage trading strategies adopted by a sample of 80 institutions. Where the institutions trade arbitrage strategies, the research undertook to establish what methods are used to identify, trade and manage the index arbitrage, single stock futures arbitrage, risk arbitrage, statistical arbitrage and volatility arbitrage trading opportunities that present themselves within the South African Market. Information gathered did not only focus on the actual trading strategies but also determined the relative cost structures, profitability and risk management processes that are employed to support these trading initiatives. The time series analysis focused on index futures, single stock futures, risk, dual listed and statistical arbitrage methods, and reflects the results before and after transaction costs. These arbitrage strategies were applied to the ALSI Top 40 index or its associated shares and generally spanned a period of about four years. Finally the research presents an arbitrage business model that is aimed at providing a blue print for arbitrage trading which covers: new arbitrage strategy, implementation, market risk, execution, profit, traders, cost Finally, the research provides a multiple regression method for application in identifying further arbitrage trading opportunities within the South African environment. / School of Business Leadaership / DBL

Public, Constitutional, & International / LLD

Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie navorsing is gerig op die vrylating van die gevangene en bet ten doel om aan die hand van 'n literatuurstudie, die Suid-Afrikaanse vrylatingstelsel binne die korrektiewe sisteem, histories met die nodige penologiese perspektief te beskryf. Aangesien bestaande Suid-Afrikaanse penologiese literatuur arm is aan inligting met betrekking tot die vrylating van die gevangene en meer spesifiek die vorme van vrylating, is verskeie bronne geidentifiseer ten einde historisiteit saam te vat en kontemporere beleid in die verband te bespreek. Alhoewel 1910 as vertrekpunt geneem is, is die fokus in die grootste mate geplaas op ontwikkeling sedert 1962. Bepaalde aksies deur onder andere die Inrigtingskomitee en Paroolraad kulmineer in die vrylating van die gevangene en om die rede bet die navorser ook die samestelling, bevoegdhede en werksaamhede van vermelde liggame nagevors en beskryf. / This research is aimed at the release of the prisoner and the objective is to historically elucidate the release system within the South African correctional system on the basis of a literature study, with the necessary penological perspective. Considering the fact that the existing literature on penology has hardly any information regarding the release of the prisoner and more specifically the different types of release, various sources have been identified in order to condense the historical information and to discuss contemporary policy in this regard. Although 1910 was taken as the starting point, the focus has largely been placed on development since 1962. Specific actions by, inter alia, the Institutional Committee and the Parole Board culminate in the release of the prisoner and for this reason the compilation, the competencies and the activities of the mentioned bodies were also described by the researcher. / M.A. (Penologie) / Sociology

The purpose of this study is to access the viability of traditional African courts in a future legal dispensation in South Africa. The research method used is a study of literature, court decisions and relevant statutes. The development of indigenous courts in South Africa is broadly outlined. As an analogy to the South African court system, the courts of Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana are used to illustrate the dual systems of courts. Rapid urbanisation is discussed to illustrate that despite the increasing urbanisation, traditional values remain inherent to South African Blacks. The salient features of indigenous courts are analysed to facilitate the development of reform measures that have to be implemented so that the courts can meet the challenge of the future. / Constitutional, International & Indigenous Law / LL.M.