Thesis (MScAgric)--Stellenbosch University, 1932. / No Abstract Available

The purpose of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of the formation and performance of the international water management institutions operating in the Orange-Senqu basin shared between Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia. The research examines the influence of interstate interaction on adaptive capacity and the allocation of water and related benefits within the Orange-Senqu basin and provides explanations for how and why particular cooperative arrangements emerged and produce differential effects. By applying a structure-agent approach to regime analysis, this study draws attention to four key factors underpinning the formation and performance of the Orange-Senqu water governance regime: power asymmetry, problem structure (i.e., the combination of interest asymmetry and uncertainty), expert networks, and political context. The study demonstrates that each of these four factors provides important and complementary insight into the process of interaction of and the positive and negative effects produced by international water management institutions in the basin and opportunities for generating change. Among these factors, the study argues, power asymmetry and problem structure are critical for understanding transboundary water governance dynamics and identifying strategies for challenging the status quo.

D.Comm. / The objective of this dissertation is to examine the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as the logical outflow of market forces compelling regions or groups of states to increase the dynamics of their economies by removing all barriers and obstacles to the free flow of goods and services between them in accordance with what has been happening elsewhere in the world. The concept of regional economic integration has come strongly forward since the early fifties in many areas of the world. Regional economic integration can be described as a process by which countries work together for the mutual benefit of all. The exchange of information and ideas may lead to better institutional liaison and capacities, more coordinated policy formulation and more rapid economic growth. Regional economic integration can take many forms. Regional economic blocs may be classified into five categories, namely: preferential trading arrangements, in which regional partners enjoy more favourable trading conditions, including lower tariffs, than other countries; free trade areas, entailing the abolition of tariffs and other barriers to trade in goods and services between participating countries; customs unions, which entail establishing free trade areas, common external tariffs and the formation of commercial policies towards third countries; common markets or economic communities, which permit the free movement not only of goods and services but also of capital and labour between participating countries; and economic unions, entailing full coordination of regulatory, fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies within the confines of a common market. Economic integration may ultimately, as in the European Union, culminate in a monetary union, providing for a common currency.

This study covers an investigation into project management best practices in Southern Africa. The purpose of the research was to determine which of the current accepted project management tools and techniques are seen as critical in the region. It also focuses on determining any external or internal factors that hamper effective development of project management in the Southern African region. The study further tries to determine whether there are any noticeable differences between accepted project management practices in the developed world and practices used in the region. The study was conducted using a survey with a mix of open and scaled questions and was sent out to a number of companies selected because they employ established project managers. A total number of 400 questionnaires were sent out and 42 completed questionnaires were received from respondents. The study found that there are no significant differences between the techniques used for project management in Southern Africa and techniques used in the rest of the world. There are, however, several factors influencing project management development in the region that are unique to the region including a severe shortage of skilled people and infrastructure problems. There is also a lack of knowledge about project management practices amongst respondents and amongst other members of their organizations including senior management. This lack of knowledge combined with the shortage of skilled people can result in serious problems with the execution and management of projects in the Southern African region. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

M.Comm. / This paper empirically examines the effect of financial development on growth in the SADC during the period 1993-2003. To perform this analysis, the study employed a single indicator of financial development, i.e. financial deepening and applied balanced panel model data using a suite of panel models: Ordinary Least Square (OLS), Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) and Random Effect Model (REM) econometric methodologies. The results of the study support the view that financial development positively affects economic growth both including and excluding South Africa. This finding suggests that the financial reforms launched in the 1990s can to a certain extent explain the rebound in the economic performance since then. However, further deepening of the financial sector through more financial liberalization in the SADC region will be an important instrument in stimulating investment through more savings and therefore more long-run economic growth.

Ph.D. (Geography) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersraild, Johannesburg for the Degree of Master of Science. / Six general circulation model simulations of present-day southern African climate are assessed, Each of these models are early-generation equilibrium climate models linked to simple mixed-slab oceans. Simulations of surface air temperature over the subcontinent are sensitive to the grid-scale parameterisation of convection in summer. At high latitudes, large simulation errors are caused by errors in the specification of sea-ice albedo feedbacks. Increased spatial resolution and the inclusion of a gravity wave drag term in the momentum equations results in a markedly-improved simulated mean sea level pressure distribution. Tho models successfully simulate the pattern of rainfall seasonality over the Subcontinent, although grid-point simulation of precipitation is unreliable. Treatment of convection, cloud radiative feedbacks and the oceans by this generation of models is simplistic, and consequently there is a large degree of uncertainty associated with predictions of future climate under doubled-carbon dioxide conditions. For this reason, more reliable estimates of future conditions will be achieved using only those models which reproduce present climate most accurately. Early-generation general circulation models suggest a warming of 4°C to 5°C for the southern African region as a whole throughout the year. Over the subcontinent, warming is expected to be least in the tropics, and greatest in the dry subtropical regions in winter. Estimated changes in mean sea level pressure indicate a southward shlft of all pressure systems, with a weakening of the subtropical high pressure belt and mid-latitude westerlies. Little agreement exists between the models concerning predictions of regional precipitation change. However, broad scale changes in precipitation patterns are in accordance with predicted circulation changes over the subcontinent. Generally wetter conditions may be expected in the tropics throughout the year and over the summer rainfall region during summer. Decreased winter rainfall may be expected over the winter rainfall region of the south-western Cape. However, estimated precipitation changes are grid-point specific and therefore must riot be over-interpreted. The present climate validation has resulted in more reliable estimates of future conditions for the southern African region. This approach should be extended to recent slrnulations which include more comprehensive treatment of important physical processes. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Myriophyllum spicatum L. (Haloragaceae), a submerged macrophyte, has been recorded in southern Africa since 1829, but only considered problematic as recently as 2005. In light of this, water resource managers are looking to control M. spicatum in southern African water bodies where it is problematic. Amongst control options available in South Africa, biological control is potentially the most cost effective and sustainable option for M. spicatum. However, there is a debate over the status of this plant in southern Africa with several authors reporting it as a native component of the aquatic ecosystem, while others argue that it has been introduced from Europe or Asia. The aim of this thesis is to use a multifaceted approach to resolve the status of M. spicatum, by studying aspects of its history, distribution, mechanisms of its adaptations, biotic interactions and genetic relationships in southern Africa. By resolving the status of this plant as either native or exotic, appropriate management strategies can be initiated for its control in situations where it is considered a problem.A review of the evidence collected from this thesis does not provide convincing evidence for the anthropogenic introduction of M. spicatum into southern Africa, and it is probably native to the region. The disjunct distribution as well as regular local extinctions of populations is relatively common for species that are at the edge of their range. The populations in southern Africa could thus be relics from a much wider distribution in the past. The development of local adaptations in southern Africa provides evidence for this and suggests that the populations have been isolated for a substantial period of time and have had a long evolutionary history in the region. The lack of specialist herbivores should suggest that M. spicatum has been introduced, but the complete lack of herbivores, including generalists, may weaken that argument. The lack of herbivores could be a result of something inherent in the plant, irrespective of a lack of evolutionary history in the region. The genetic evidence suggests a European origin, but is characteristic of a population (southern Africa as a whole) that has been isolated for a considerable time. Despite the findings of this research, M. spicatum is considered problematic in southern Africa and warrants control in certain systems. Whether or not biological control should be a component of the management strategy is open to further debate. The benefits in a southern African context may outweigh the risks, based on the specificity of the biological control agent proposed. However, the perceived negative impacts of M. spicatum are likely to be a symptom of a more serious underlying cause, such as nutrient loading and changes in land use patterns. Therefore the control of this native species is a water resource management issue and not a biological control issue.

No description available.

The amaNdzundza are a South African abaNtu people. This thesis sets forth to determine the role of their world (in the Heideggerian sense) as it impacts on their Architecture. First the evolutionary process of the amaNdzundza architecture is established. An infinite series of memes (much like genes) that function both on an intra- and inter-cultural level govern this process. Next, the cultural interaction of the amaNdzundza over a period of half a millenium are mapped (and a space-time matrix drawn up: ch.3), as to find the sources of introduction on an intercultural level. Finally, the architecture of the amaNdzundza milieu, both of their settlements and of the cultures with which they shared their environment, is analyzed and a sample of memes identified, which best illustrate the meme-exchange and evolution. This is done in a structure comprising the analysis of selected religious spatial incentives, and some aspects and elements of the settlement, the dwelling and the mural. A summary is given of the memes involved in the amaNdzundza architecture, and their evolutionary dynamics and origins. The researcher thus concludes that, rather than a singular factor such as the patronage of apartheid, the cultural 'memes' in the amaNdebele ya amaNdzundza milieu played the predominant role in the shaping of their existential, spatial and structural dwelling, through a process of 'loci meme' evolution.