Phylogeographic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) population structure was determined for Aethomys namaquensis and A. ineptus from southern Africa and Swaziland. It was evident from the study that A. namaquensis reflected a pattern of phylogenetic discontinuity with and without spatial separation between populations. Previously documented mtDNA phylogeographic patterns recorded in the rock hyrax, Procavia capensis and the red rock rabbit species, Pronolagus rupestris and P. randensis, coincided with the phylogeographic break that was detected in one of the mtDNA lineages (C) within A. namaquensis. Similar vicariant events may have been responsible for shaping evolutionary processes in the independent Procavia, Pronolagus and Aethomys lineages. In contrast, A. ineptus showed a pattern of shallow phylogeographic structuring. The marked genetic differences detected in A. namaquensis and A. ineptus may reflect the influences of habitat specificity, its fragmentation and the effects of life history on mtDNA gene flow. The study also revealed three genetically well-supported lineages within A. namaquensis: a lineage (A) found in the Limpopo valley, a lineage (B) widely distributed across the Karoo and a lineage (C) found across the grasslands of the North-West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces. These spatial distributions broadly coincided with the ranges of four previously proposed morphologically defined subspecies. From the present sample sizes, there is only good support, from a molecular point of view, for the subspecies A. n. lehocla (lineage B). In addition to the three well-supported lineages, six geographically restricted lineages were identified that could not be assigned to any of the four previously proposed subspecies, A. n. namaquensis, A. n. monticularis, A. n. alborarius and A. n. lehocla. Molecular techniques, specifically the analysis of the mtDNA cytochrome b gene, have been useful in the identification of sibling species. This technique has also proved to be useful in the identification of two cryptic species, A. chrysophilus and A. ineptus in this study. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two maternal groups corresponding to A. chrysophilus and A. ineptus. Distributional data of these two species, suggest that A. chrysophilus occupies the low elevations of the Limpopo River drainage, while A. ineptus occupies the remainder of South Africa at higher elevations, but expands into lower elevations in the southern portion of its range. Phylogenetic relationships among four southern African species of Aethomys suggest the presence of two clades that included: 1) A. chrysophilus and A. ineptus and 2) A. namaquensis and A. granti. This study, however, revealed that Aethomys may be paraphyletic, suggesting that the allocation of A. namaquensis and A. granti to the subgenus Micaelamys needs to be investigated further. / Dissertation (MSc (Genetics))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Genetics / unrestricted

Attaining high levels of economic growth and development has been one the goals of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This paper investigates the relationship between financial liberalisation and economic growth in SADC countries. Annual data for the 15 SADC countries for the period 1985-2011 was used to develop a fixed effect model, generalised method of moments (GMM) as well as the fully-modified OLS (FMOLS) cointegration test. The results revealed that there is a positive relationship between financial liberalisation and economic growth in SADC but there is no long-run relationship between the two variables. It is recommended that the SADC adopt measures to increase the level of financial openness in the region in order to increase economic growth but this policy should be supplemented by other growth enhancing policies in order to increase economic growth over the long-term. However, prior to the increase in the level of financial openness, well-defined property rights and a sound regulatory framework should be in place to monitor the financial liberalisation process in order to avoid financial crises.

Human subsistence within the Cape Floristic Region (Cape) dates back to our inception as a distinct species. Unique archaeological evidence found here for the defining attribute of cognitive modernity, as well as coinciding paleo-climatic challenges to survival, both highlight the Cape’s potential to support the existence of pre-historic hunter-gatherers. This habitat, with its unprecedented diversity of geophytes and other plant growth forms, has not yet revealed its potential to provide carbohydrate resources for early Homo sapiens sapiens. In order to investigate this potential, an ethnobotanical survey of the south Cape coastal area near Still Bay was conducted. Despite 17th Century colonialism marking the onset of indigenous plant knowledge decline, the 18 people of Khoe-San descent interviewed in this survey still actively used 58 indigenous edible plant species with a variety of 69 uses. Fruit showed the highest popularity of plants used (52 percent) followed by nectar, with plants having underground storage organs (USOs) ranking third (34 percent). Among growth forms, shrubs dominated (34 percent) followed by geophytes and trees (both 21 percent). With the exception of Prionium serratum, which was rare in the research area, this study failed to identify species that could have formed a staple source of carbohydrate for pre-colonial Khoe-San peoples of the Cape south coast. While eight species of USOs were identified (12 percent of total) only Cyphia species emerged as an important carbohydrate source. This study indicated the importance of Thicket Biome species as a source of edible plants. The second component of the study comprised a two year phenological survey of indigenous edible plant species in four primary vegetation types. A total of 32 USO species and 21 species with aboveground edible carbohydrates (fruiting species) were identified across all sites. Limestone Fynbos had the richest flora of edible species (21 USO species and 18 fruiting species), followed by Strandveld (15 USOs and 13 fruiting species), Renosterveld (8 and 8, respectively) and lastly Sand Fynbos (5 and 5, respectively). The season of highest apparency showed slight variation amongst the four sites over the two years, with more variation evident in the period of apparency. The first survey year had below average rainfall, while the second year received an average rainfall amount. The second year saw a dramatic increase in apparency of abundance for all sites (50 to 60 percent increase) except for the Sand Fynbos site, which showed little change. The other sites showed a one month increase in the period of apparency in the second survey year. Overall, late summer to autumn was the period of lowest apparency of USOs. The ripening of certain fruiting species during this time would have provided a source of carbohydrate when USO availability was at its lowest. Strandveld had the highest biomass in the peak of apparency (over 80 kgha-1) in the first year with a nearly 20 percent increase for the second year. The combined biomass for the four study sites in the first survey year was roughly 150 kgha-1 and 185 kgha-1 for the second year. The apparency of abundance (ripe and edible phase) of fruiting species did not increase much for Renosterveld and Strandveld in the second survey year, except for Limestone Fynbos (49 percent increase) and Sand Fynbos (53 percent). A multivariate analysis showed seven phenophases for high apparency of edible USOs and ripe fruit across the four vegetation types. Given the contribution of evergreen USOs and fruiting species, there would always have been carbohydrates available for foragers to collect in the major vegetation types of the south Cape coast. However, harvesting and processing this carbohydrate resource would have posed cognitive challenges for MSA hunter-gatherers, given the interwoven taxonomic complexity of numerous toxic plant species, and the diverse phenology of edible plant species within the varied vegetation types. These challenges were undoubtedly mastered, highlighting the Cape environment as a possible catalyst to improved human cognitive maturity.

Proactive coping involves individuals developing resources to facilitate their promotion toward personal growth. The aim of this study was to determine whether differences occurred in the use of a proactive coping style between students from various Southern African countries and universities, in order to form cross-cultural comparisons for this construct. The Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI) was electronically distributed to collect the empirical data, with purposeful non-probability sampling being employed. The sample consisted of 622 students from three universities, one each in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Eleven hypotheses were set for investigation. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in the emergence of two distinct factors in the PCI, implying two separate subscales. A statistically significant relationship was found between proactive coping and both instrumental and emotional support seeking. A small, practically significant gender difference was discovered for emotional support seeking, and moderate differences were found between age and proactive coping. Southern African university students exhibit higher levels of proactive coping than preventative coping, strategic planning or emotional support seeking. Furthermore, they make use of proactive coping to a greater extent than individuals outside of the Southern Africa region. In terms of national and institutional culture, no statistically significant differences occurred for proactive coping between any of the countries or universities under study. These findings imply that regardless of a Southern African student's home country or university, he or she is likely to cope proactively. A possible explanation is because Africans generally value social support systems and collectivism, which assist individuals in coping proactively. These results also suggest that all three universities under study are effectively encouraging students to cope in a proactive manner, whether formally or informally, which is in line with the values of these institutions. It is recommended that Southern African universities focus more intentionally on becoming positive socialising systems through integrating the development of human strengths, thus enhancing the value that students and society gain from tertiary education. These findings add to the current body of knowledge relating to proactive coping, which is lacking in a Southern African context.

M.A. / The rationale for economic integration is that countries combine to form regional groupings with the belief that this is a more effective way to improve their well-being politically and economically. Theories of economic integration show that integration may have both positive and negative outcomes. Despite the long standing debates on the negative consequences of regional integration, the dominant views indicate that regional integration may improve the welfare of member nations. The political decision has already been made in favour of trade integration within the SADC region. It is for this reason that this study has been undertaken to determine prospects and problems of economic integration in the SADC. Despite the anticipated problems and challenges for economic integration within the region, some studies and findings show positive prospects. The major findings of this study are that the region is on the right path to economic recovery, and has an opportunity to play a meaningful role within the world economy. The dominant and most industrialized, South Africa, will serve as an economic power within the region. The reform process that have been initiated by the SADC member countries have now put the regional economies on the right track. The region also had a remarkable economic performance as a result of the implementation of the positive macroeconomic policies and strategies. Although Africa is not the main player within the world economy, the region has a meaningful role to play, especially if the region's foreign trade increases by the estimated 18 percent. The role of South Africa as an economic power within the region is expected to serve as a spring-board of economic development within the region. It is also anticipated that economic growth within South Africa may spill-over into the whole region. The smaller SADC economies are likely to benefit from the relocation of South African industries into the region as a result of external tariffs vis-a-vis non member states, as well as higher South African wage levels. It is, however, acknowledged that integration would benefit some countries more than others. What is of paramount importance is that integration will leave all the countries either better off or not worse off, inside the grouping than the country would have been outside the grouping. This means that the economic welfare increases within the region as long as no member country will not be worse off than before joining the union. To remedy the possible unequal benefits of economic integration, compensatory and transfer-of-funds strategies will have to be adopted to minimize all the negative impacts of the imbalance between member countries. The SADC's global competitiveness changed lately as a result of initial steps toward integration and some member countries, are now ranked higher than most countries in the continent of Africa.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Zoology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / It cannot be overemphasised that birds, which form a group of animals that are conspicuous in many habitats, occur worldwide, and are ecologically diverse and better known than any other vertebrate groups. Some species present no geographical variation while others exhibit complex geographic variation rendering them polytypic. The Southern Boubou Laniarius ferrugineus (Gmelin, 1788) is a polymorphic and highly vocal resident species endemic to Southern Africa. It overlaps with the Tropical Boubou Laniarius aethiopicus in the extreme north of South Africa. The taxonomic circumscription presents six subspecies of L. ferrugineus which vary in size and plumage colourations. Although L. ferrugineus is of least concern (LC), its wide distribution range calls for its precise taxonomic delineation and our knowledge of its genetic structure hence the need to investigate the status and level of morphological, genetic and vocal differentiation in this species complex. Morphological, genetic and song variation were analysed from museum study skins, DNA sequences spanning one coding mitochondrial gene and three noncoding nuclear introns generated from modern and ancient samples and songs from various sound libraries respectively. While morphometric analyses and Bayesian phylogenetic inference recovered two major lineages in L. ferrugineus: 1) L. f. ferrugineus / L. f. pondoensis / L. f. natalensis (southern clade) and 2) L. f. transvaalensis / L. f. tongensis / L. f. savensis (northern clade), L. f. transvaalensis overlapped between the two lineages in MDS and Box and whisker plots. The 95% parsimony ATP6 network similarly revealed two distinct lineages with the population demographic histories of the two clades showing expansion. The divergence between the two lineages occurred approximately 1.5 million years ago during the Pleistocene epoch. Laniarius ferrugineus pondoensis is the most distinctly dark morph. The moist habitat of L. f. pondoensis could be having an effect on plumage while there is no genetic basis for the difference in plumage colouration. Almost all L. ferrugineus subspecies render a tonal song duet made up of ‘bou’ and ‘whistle’ elements with the significant difference being observed in maximum peak frequency. Laniarius ferrugineus (Gmelin, 1788) should at best be split into two species, one representing members of the southern clade to be named Laniarius ferrugineus (Gmelin, 1788) and another species representing members of the northern clade iv named Laniarius transvaalensis Roberts, 1922 based on the Principle of Priority. The current study expanded our knowledge base as far as ornithology is concerned and shed light on the phylogeographic patterns of the Southern Boubou Laniarius ferrugineus (Gmelin, 1788). The findings significantly contributed to our understanding of the evolutionary processes governing the geographical variation in Laniarius ferrugineus complex and the findings could possibly be extrapolated to other species. It was critical that the taxonomic affinities of L. ferrugineus were investigated due to its extensive distribution range for better management and conservation. Future work should further unravel the less differentiation within the south and north lineages with additional songs being analysed to understand the song pattern across the range. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

The design of a country’s tax system is important because of the critical role played by taxation in financing public spending towards economic and social development. In this regard, there is need to enhance the understanding of whether current tax systems in the SADC provide sufficient tax revenue to meet public spending needs. This study provides empirical evidence on the outcomes of existing tax systems in the SADC with the aim of offering a basis for normative evaluation of the regions’ tax policies. Literature posits that there are numerous economic and institutional factors that limit the amount of taxes that a country can actually raise. Against this background, the substantive aim of this study was to assess the determinants of tax capacity and tax effort in the SADC in view of providing a pragmatic approach to tax policy design. The methodology of this study involved the use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis (mixed methods approach) where the latter was used to augment the findings of the former. The first phase involved the use of a multi-step procedure to estimate determinants of tax capacity and tax effort using stochastic tax function and unbalanced panel data for 13 SADC countries. The study disentangled the error term to estimates the random-effects separately from tax effort in order to capture the time- invariant country-specific effects. Further, tax effort was classified persistent (long-run) and transient (short-run). The study was able to estimate the determinants of tax effort and to rank each member state according to its tax effort. The second phase involves a narrative analysis of tax legislation in the SADC over the period 2002-2016. The study used budget statements and Acts of parliament as the major sources of information to identify significant changes in tax legislation over this period. The findings of the quantitative analysis indicate that financial deepening, economic development and trade openness influence tax capacity, while corruption and inflation influence tax effort. In addition, the findings show that the region has low persistent tax effort than transient tax effort, implying that improving tax administration has superseded tax policy reforms. This result is augmented by the narrative record which seemingly shows that tax legislation efforts were largely successful in tax administration but rather limited in view of tax policy. In this regard, the study recommends that tax policy design should be informed by the conditions of a country and policy considerations relating to peculiar circumstances to obtain robust tax policies. / Economics / D. Com. (Economics)

Salsola L. is one of the largest genera within the Chenopodiaceae. It has been suggested that almost 90 species occur in southern Africa where the plants are most conspicuous in karroid areas. Members of Salsola are of considerable importance as pasture plants in the Karoo, especially during winter and periods of prolonged drought. Some species also have medicinal and other valuable properties. However, not all Salsola species are beneficial; some may cause diseases and deficiencies in livestock, leading to high mortalities and severe financial loss. Because of the occurrence of harmful and beneficial species within the same area, correct identification of the different species is of extreme importance. Correct identification is, however, rendered problematic by the great morphological similarity of almost all southern African Salsola species and uncertainties concerning the infrageneric classification of the group. There is a great need for a system of easy identification that can be used in the herbarium as well as in the field. This is especially so since available keys to the group cannot be used to identify sterile specimens. There also exists great uncertainty as to the exact identity of most of the 69 new species described by V.P. Botschantzev (Komarov Botanical Institute, St Petersburg) between 1972 and 1983. For this reason many of the names have hardly been taken up and used by South African botanists. A clear delimitation of the different character states within the genus would greatly facilitate and enhance the process of solving the systematic problems that exist within the genus. A comparative anatomical study of the leaves of southern African Salsola species was conducted using LM and SEM techniques. Leaf anatomy proved to be very useful for delimiting groups within the genus. Of particular importance is the structure of the leaf in transverse section and the type of the indumentum. The investigated species can be primarily divided into two main leaf types, according to the presence or absence of a uniseriate hypodermis underlying the adaxial epidermis. A secondary division can be made by indumentum types. Four main indumentum types have been identified based on the appearance of the abaxial leaf surface. One of these indumentum types can be further subdivided according to the area of the leaf covered by trichomes and the number of elongated cells in the trichomes. There is a weak association between leaf type and subsection, as well as between leaf type and indumentum type. No obvious association could be found between leaf or indumentum type and fruit type or any other macromorphological character. Further investigation in this respect is required. In general the species possessing an adaxial hypodermis tend to have a denser covering of trichomes than those species lacking one. This denser indumentum probably provides the plants with better insulation to help prevent excessive water loss and to protect subtending tissues from extreme heat in their arid environment. When studied in combination with other anatomical and ecological evidence these characteristics might prove to be very useful to help establish a classification system whereby Salsola species can be more easily identified. / Dissertation (MSc (Botany))--University of Pretoria, 2000. / Plant Science / unrestricted

No description available.

This dissertation analyses and appraises factors that lead SADCC/SADC to restructure in 1992 and in 1999 respectively. Regime theory is used as an analytical tool of these factors throughout this study. The restructuring of regional organisation in the world is often associated with a decision that is taken by regional leaders, only to hide failures of these organisations to deliver. Studies of this phenomenon, however, frequently fail to research the underlying causes. In the case of SADCC/SADC, apart from the fact that the organisation failed to achieve its intended objectives, such as regional integration, economic independence, regional security, and more, this study argues that there were a lot of elements that influenced the pace and the operations of SADCC/C in achieving regional integration and other objectives. The basic debate in this study thus revolves around the fact that the restructuring exercise in SADCC/SADC was a result of many factors and this argument is supported by the regime theory. / Political Science / M.A. (Political Science)