Genetically modified (GM) crops gained attention in southern Africa as countries are struggling with food insecurity and poverty to achieve sustainable development. The controversy around GM crops have provoked heated debates. GM crops are often perceived as a global risk to human health and the environment. The research question is what are the perceptions of environmental educators regarding the use of GM crops toward sustainable development. In the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development environmental educators will need to be key role players in addressing crucial issues such as GM crops. Their perceptions hold many implications for educational programmes. Environmental educators interviewed perceive GM crops as a serious issue. As mediators in a multidisciplinary setting between science and society, environmental educators can play a functional role. Open processes that require greater participation, criticality and reflexivity need to be facilitated in a complex biophysical and social context in southern Africa. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Environmental Education)

In Africa we are confronted daily with a society that has lost its moral fibre, resulting in seemingly endless problems in the educational sector. Universities have the special task of promoting the humanities and applying social values and the social relevance in their teaching, which should lead to effective learning and an improvement in the quality of learning. Neither the written text (Hebrew Bible) nor the archaeological discoveries have provided us with sufficient information on certain Israelite practices and customs. Africa has traditions that need to be respected. A study of oral traditions may provide a supplementary, or perhaps alternate, view. A comparative study between Lemba and proto-Israelite customs and beliefs indicates that there is yet another group whose customs and rituals correspond to a great extent with those of the proto-Israelites. It is comparison in aid of cross-cultural interpretation, as is now forcefully stated in more recent studies in religion. / Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies

Despite the fact that the Bible as the inspired Word of God deals primarily with the relationship between God and humankind and the way to salvation and eternal life, the Bible also presents tenets that entreat the protection of the natural and biophysical world. Consequently, since the environment is a foremost aspect of God’s creation it is appropriate to establish the Biblical perspective on creation as a whole and Christians’ subsequent position and duty to creation. Humankind has been ecologically irresponsible. Greed, inadequate knowledge and negligence have led to exploitation, degradation, and disregard for the natural environment. Unfortunately, there appears to be a “deep silence” within the Christian Church worldwide as well as in South Africa on believers’ role and duty towards the natural created environment. The premise underpinning this thesis is that God’s redemptive care applies not only to people, but also to the whole of creation and that believers have a Biblical mandate to care for the natural environment and afford it its concomitant value. The Bible provides believers with directives regarding environmental care summarised in God’s requirement for man to “work [the earth] and take care of it” (Gen. 2: 15). The anticipated outcomes of this research were to establish the status of Environmental Stewardship as a dimension Christian Stewardship and the level of Environmental Literacy provided for in the curricula of theological seminaries of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa. The study further attempted to determine the level of understanding and stance of ministers, lecturers, elders and students towards these issues. Believers have a duty of care in relation to God’s creation in totality – both humanity and the natural environment. There is a great need for Christian discussion on and improvement in the appropriate use and protection of the environment. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

The aim of this study was to determine which strategy would be most appropriate to enhance regional trade integration in COMESA so that it can provide to its member states the benefits they expect to have from it.

In Africa we are confronted daily with a society that has lost its moral fibre, resulting in seemingly endless problems in the educational sector. Universities have the special task of promoting the humanities and applying social values and the social relevance in their teaching, which should lead to effective learning and an improvement in the quality of learning. Neither the written text (Hebrew Bible) nor the archaeological discoveries have provided us with sufficient information on certain Israelite practices and customs. Africa has traditions that need to be respected. A study of oral traditions may provide a supplementary, or perhaps alternate, view. A comparative study between Lemba and proto-Israelite customs and beliefs indicates that there is yet another group whose customs and rituals correspond to a great extent with those of the proto-Israelites. It is comparison in aid of cross-cultural interpretation, as is now forcefully stated in more recent studies in religion. / Biblical and Ancient Studies

M.A. (History) / In the last three decades Zambia's relations with neighboring states in southern Africa have undergone many changes and have fluctuated from one extreme to the other. From having been in a "state of war" with some of her neighbors, and then having moved away from this to a state where co-operation has taken place, illustrates the extremities of the two poles between which Zambia's foreign relations function. The factors which have influenced this ever changing foreign policy are extremely complex and are intricately interwoven. No single factor can be identified as the most important, although the geographical constraints of Zambia's position, and the many factors which are linked to them, tend to dominate the making of foreign policy. The main dilemma facing Zambia is that she is economically dependent on the countries with which she has had poor relations. While having had to criticize, condemn and be actively involved in attempting to bring an end to the racial policies followed by some of her southern African neighbors, she has also had to, at times, back down on her criticisms when economic or military reprisals from these neighboring states hate detrimentally affected her own position too much. However, when having backed down, or modified her aggressive attitude to these minority governments, she has, as a FrontIine State incurred the wrath of certain independent African states. Because of this fluctuating foreign policy, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, has been accused of following a policy of "gross duplicity," as well as of backing down when the price of principles has become too high.

D.Phil. (Economics) / This thesis presents a discussion of the economic integration between South Africa and the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so called BRICs. The thesis analyses four channels of interdependence: trade, investment, business cycle and the increasing importance of shocks originating from China. It makes significant and original contributions to the empirical literature by employing several econometric techniques. In the first two cases, a global vector autoregressive (global VAR) model is used to analyse the trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) linkages between South Africa and the BRIC countries over the period 1995-2009. The results show trade linkages between these economies whose magnitude differs between countries. Shocks from each BRIC country are shown to have considerable impact on South African real imports and output. However, there is no evidence of FDI linkages between these economies. This shows that the notable performance of the BRIC economies are not transmitted to the South African economy by FDI flows, but rather through the exchange rates for some countries and trade for the others. In the third application, the nature of co-movement between South Africa and the BRIC countries is examined by applying the dynamic factor model to a set of 307 macroeconomic series over the 1995-2009 period. Particularly, the extent of co-movement between the cyclical component of real output across South Africa and the BRICs is assessed. The results show significant degree of co-movement between South Africa and the BRICs over the business cycle and the long-run, although the magnitude of the co-movement differs with each country. In terms of the lead and lag relationships across South Africa and the BRIC countries, the study ends that only India leads South Africa over the cyclical period. The findings suggest that the first two factors are BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) factorswhile the third factor can be considered a United States factor. The last application investigates, using a factor model estimated with quarterly data from 1995 to 2009, how China’s shocks are transmitted to BRIS (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa). The results show that China’s supply shocks are more important than its demand shocks. Supply shocks produce positive and significant output responses in all BRIS countries. However, their extent is significant only for short horizon in India. Positive demand shocks from China have positive and significant extent on Brazil’s and South Africa’s output only. The intensity of economic relationship and channels of transmission of shocks are different between China and BRIS. The results based on the variance share of the common component suggest that South Africa and Russia are linked intensively to China, while Brazil and India have only moderate linkages with China. International trade is an important channel for the transmission of shocks across China and BRIS countries indicating that supply and demand shocks in China do not have similar extent on the BRIS countries and therefore they require different policy responses.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / This thesis reports on the investigation of two genetic aspects of Southern African populations of Drosophila Melanogaster: the " family of transposable elements and the allelic variation present in several enzyme systems. (Abbreviation abstract) / Andrew Chakane 2018

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witvvatersrand, for the degree of Master of Arts. / Research for this thesis began in the anticipation of the SADCC's tenth anniversary. It proved to be an opportune moment to assess the organisation's achievements and to re-examine its goals. ln February 1990, F W de Klerk formally initiated a policy of domestic reforms that was to see South Africa re-accepted Into international society. At the same time the Southern Africa region was for a variety of reasons undergoing political and economic upheaval. Speculation about joint ventures between the re-admitted South African state and the SADCC became increasingly popular amongst political commentators. South African businesses, stifled by years of isolation, began to view the region as a lucrative market; and the SADCC, sensing approaching stagnation and a loss of initiative, proposed a restructuring of the organisation. The new organisation, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) was formally launched in August 1992. It has not been given the same adulation as that accorded to its predeqessor, and in many respects is viewed with the same scepticism as other regional organisations in the developing world. / Andrew Chakane 2018

MSc., Faculty of Science, University of Witwatersrand, 2011 / Studies of San rock art in southern Africa have appealed to researchers for specificities of individual rock art sites in order to counter the prevailing practice of conceptualising San rock art as a homogenous entity. This research attempts to analyse social interaction through looking at diverse ethnographies and how such ethnographies can reveal information regarding one rock art site. Individual rock art sites like Xoro Gwai can start to unravel the nuanced, diverse and complex nature of San religious beliefs and rites and how these beliefs were affected or influenced by social contact with other social formations.