M.A. / Die gewilde media skep die persepsie dat arbeid in die Iandbousektor ten gunste van meganisasie afgeskaal word. Die navorsingsvraag wat hieruit voortgespruit het, is die volgende: wat is die invloed van omgewingsveranderlikes op die werkskeppingspotensiaal van die Iandbousektor? Meganisasie word nie hier gesien as die veranderlike wat direk aanleiding gee tot die afname van werkgeleenthede in die Iandbousektor nie, maar dat Iaasgenoemde eerder die gevoig van bepaalde omgewingsveranderlikes soos onder andere, onlangse arbeidswetgewing is. Arbeidswetgewing word hier dus gesien as die oorsaak van 'n verlaging in die werkskeppingspotensiaal van die Iandbousektor terwyl meganisasie gesien word as die metode waardeur die Iandbousektor in reaksie op die arbeidswetgewing poog om sy ekonomiese oorlewing te verseker. 'n Newe effek hiervan is noodwendig 'n verlaagde werkskeppingspotensiaal in dielandbousektor. Gedurende die regeringstermyn van die huidige regering, is daar abeids- en ander wetgewing op die Iandbousektor van toepassing gemaak wat die vraag Iaat ontstaan wat die impak van hierdie soort veranderinge in die taakomgewing van die Iandbou-organisasie op die werkskeppingspotensiaal van hierdie sektor gaan wees. 'n Hipotese-stelling is soos voig geformuleer: 'n verandering in die taakomgewing van 'n organisasie, in hierdie geval die Suid-Afrikaanse Landbousektor, gaan noodwendig tot gevoig he dat die organisasie veranderinge sal moet aanbring om te kan oorleef. Hierdie veranderinge word geantisipeer in die rigting van 'n verlaging van die werkskeppingspotensiaal van die betrokke organisasie, in hierdie geval die landbousektor, te wees. Verandering is in die arbeids- en ander wetgewing wat op die landbousektor van toepassing is, aangebring. Daar word ook na ander invloede, soos misdaad, grondhervorming en klimatologiese veranderinge gekyk, om te bepaal of al hierdie faktore gesamentlik aanleiding gee tot die verlaging in die werk-skeppingspotensiaal van die landbousektor.

This study attempts to make a contribution to the debate on the role of South Africa within Southern African Development Community. An attempt is made to analyse this role within the context of regional integration debate. This role has been conceptualised within the dichotomies of hegemon versus partner. The study argues that South Africa is a hegemon in the region of SADC, and that given its overarching economic dominance and it has the potential of establishing its hegemony in the region. It maintains that there are several factors, which could facilitate South Africa's hegemonic dominance such as in military, technology and manufacturing sector. It concludes by arguing that given the changing geopolitical factors both within the region and the globe impedes South Africa from firmly expressing this hegemonic dominance. Furthermore, South Africa's pioneering role in the struggle to change the status quo globally in favour of the Southern states is another crucial factor, which imposes limitations on its hegemonic intentions regionally.

This study examines the wide-ranging and critical factors which have impacted on the African National Congress' (ANC) emerging foreign investment policy. It identifies and analyses the matrix of political and socio-economic factors which have combined at global and national levels to shape ANC policy perspectives towards foreign direct investment (FDI). In so doing, the study adopts an eclectic theoretical and methodological approach. It draws on various theoretical traditions to propose a framework that is heuristic and contingent, rather than axiomatic. With regard to foreign investment, in particular, it recommends a theoretical pluralism emphasising 'engagement' through praxis and sound political (state) action. The study argues that the ANC has reconsidered many of its basic assumptions on the nature of the post-apartheid economy and discusses the reasons for those shifts. The reasons include, in particular, global political and economic trends and the balance of forces in South Africa. These have combined to ensure the ANC's broad acceptance of an 'open-door policy' towards FDI so long as it occurs on terms not inconsistent with national objectives. The emerging policy sees the state playing an active role in encouraging and guiding FDI to specific areas and sectors supportive of broad-based development. Foreign investors will be encouraged to form joint ventures with emerging black businesses and agree to foster training, skills development and affirmative action. Harnessing the benefits of FDI will be important for the success of wider strategies designed to place the economy on a firmer, more sustainable growth path.

The fact that South Africa has a floating exchange rate policy as well as an open trade policy leaves the country’s import, producer and consumer prices susceptible to the effects of exchange rate movements. Given the central role that inflation targeting occupies in South Africa’s monetary policy, it becomes necessary to determine the nature of influence of exchange rate changes on domestic prices. To this end, this thesis examines the magnitude and speed of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to import, producer and consumer prices in South Africa. Furthermore, it explores whether the direction and size of changes in the exchange rate have different pass-through effects on import prices, that is, whether the exchange rate pass-through is symmetric or asymmetric. The paper uses monthly data covering the period January 1980 to December 2005. In investigating ERPT, two main stages are identified. The initial stage is the transmission of fluctuations in the exchange rate to import prices, while the second-stage entails the pass-through of changes in import prices to producer and consumer prices. The first stage is estimated using the Johansen (1991) and (1995) cointegration techniques and a vector error correction model (VECM). The second stage pass-through is determined by estimating impulse response and variance decomposition functions, as well as conducting block exogeneity Wald tests. The study follows Wickremasinghe and Silvapulle’s (2004) approach in estimating pass-through asymmetry with respect to appreciations and depreciations. In addition, the thesis adapts the analytical framework of Wickremasinghe and Silvapulle (2004) to investigate the pass-through of large and small changes in the exchange rate to import prices. The results suggest that ERPT in South Africa is incomplete but relatively high. Furthermore, ERPT is found to be higher in periods of rand depreciation than appreciation which supports the binding quantity constraint theory. There is also some evidence that pass-through is higher in periods of small changes than large changes in the exchange rate, which supports the menu cost theory when invoices are denominated in the exporters’ currency.

This thesis focuses on monetary policy transmission and particularly seeks to examine the impact of credit and exchange rate channels of monetary policy transmission in the South African economy. South Africa's monetary policy has gone through several changes over the past thirty years. In this respect, there is a need for robust empirical evidence on the effects of these channels on inflation and output. The thesis employs a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model to identify monetary transmission in South Africa for the period 1994:q4 - 2008:q2. The form of the SVAR used in this thesis is based on the fact that South Africa is a small open economy, which means that external shocks are an important driver of domestic activity. The impulse responses and variance decomposition results show that the repo rate, credit and exchange rate play a role in terms of their impact on inflation and output. The dynamic responses to the identified monetary policy shock are consistent with standard theory and highlight the importance of the interest rate channel. A shock to the interest rate, increasing it by one standard deviation, results in a persistent fall in credit. The response of output is immediate as it falls and bottoms out within the second year. Inflation shows a lagged response, it is positive within the first year as the exchange rate depreciates but in subsequent quarters inflation responds negatively as expected. Inflation falls and reaches a minimum by approximately eight quarters then moves towards baseline. The exchange rate shows delayed appreciation. The shock to the repo interest rate leads to an immediate depreciation of the exchange rate in the first two quarters as output declines, followed by an appreciation in the third and sixth quarter. Due to larger error bounds the impact of the repo rate on the exchange rate could be less effective within the first two years. The impulse responses suggest that monetary policy plays an effective role in stabilising the economy in response to a credit shock, notwithstanding large standard error bounds. Hence, the monetary authority reacts by increasing the repo rate as a result of inflation. The impact of credit on output is positive but is offset to some extent by the rising repo rate. In response to the rand appreciation, the monetary authority reduces the repo rate significantly during the first year with the maximum impact in the second year and then returns to baseline thereafter. Therefore the monetary authority reduces the repo rate, probably to stabilise falling inflation. The result shows that inflation falls as a result of the rand appreciation. A shock to the exchange rate causes a rise in output, though small in magnitude, which is persistent but reaches baseline at the end of the period. This result could reflect the effects of the resultant fall in the repo rate and a persistent rise in credit over the whole period, which tends to increase output. The exchange rate shows an obvious and stronger immediate impact on inflation compared to credit impact on inflation. However, the credit shock has an obvious and stronger impact on output compared to an exchange rate impact on output. However, the large standard error bounds may imply that credit and exchange rate channels are not as effective in the short run. It is important to note that the results are based on the SVAR model estimated with percentage growth rate of the variables. The variance decomposition result is in line with the impulse responses and shows that the exchange rate and credit channels could be important transmission channels in South Africa over the chosen sample period. The exchange rate and credit shocks show a stronger effect on inflation than on output, looking at both the impulse responses and variance decomposition results. The reaction of the repo interest rate to the credit and exchange rate shocks comes out as expected. The repo rate increases as a result of an increase in the credit and falls as a result of the currency appreciation.

Planning for economic development at the local level has become increasingly important in many countries of the world. South Africa is no exception and has had the local focus entrenched through constitutional provisions for developmental local government. This developmental approach has been intimately linked to, and influenced by, the broader legislative, policy and planning context within which the development challenges of post-Apartheid South Africa have been addressed. It has also been implemented in a context of far-reaching transformation of public institutions aimed, in the final analysis, at the effective functioning of three spheres of government. In this thesis, the Mbashe Local Municipal area is used as a case study for an examination of the linkages between economic development planning at the local, provincial and national levels. It is not a case study in the sense that an in-depth analysis of practice is undertaken; it is used rather as a lens through which the economic development planning activities of the three spheres of government are viewed. Its value as a lens lies in its location in the former Transkei, which is characterised by high levels of unemployment and poverty and low levels of service infrastructure, and in its status as one of the newly demarcated local municipalities in South Africa. Mbashe is a pilot site of the Promotion of Rural Livelihoods Programme, which has been linked to the Eastern Cape Province's Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme. It also includes one of the nodes of the Wild Coast Spatial Development Initiative, which has, since 1998, been promoted as a vehicle for economic development in the former Transkei. Research comprised extensive documentary research, individual interviews with key role players in the Mbashe Local Municipality, the Promotion of Rural Livelihoods Programme and the Wild Coast Spatial Development Initiative, and a group interview with members of the Local Economic Development Sub-Committee of the Mbashe Local Municipal Council. An attempt was made to understand the complex layers of policy and planning frameworks that guide planning at the national and provincial levels and within which local level economic development is situated, and to explore the responses that have been forged by agents within the Mbashe area. Key in this endeavour has been the initiatives developed under the guidance of the Mbashe Local Economic Development Sub-Committee. It is argued that the severe resource constraints faced within Mbashe, combined with limited knowledge of and participation in larger planning and resource mobilisation frameworks, lock Local Economic Development within the top-down and investmentled approaches, rather than the more integrated approach that is promoted in terms of legislation and that is required if poverty is to be addressed successfully. The limitations on state fiscal expenditure and the market-led approach to service provision and economic development, implemented in terms of South Africa's macroeconomic framework, combined with limited synchronisation of planning cycles in which integrated development planning at the local level is privileged, leave little scope for endogenous economic development at local level. There is scope for creative engagement with the interlocking local, provincial, national and continental economies by actively shifting resources in support of integrated, endogenous approaches. Such approaches could serve as counter-narratives to the dominance of neoliberalism and allow for the establishment of local economic development practice that addresses the needs of the poor and that builds integrated local economies under the control of democratic institutions. It is only with such a shifting of approach that economic development within Mbashe will shift the structural conditions that lock it into economic dependence and poverty.

The scarcity of skills is a global phenomenon, affecting the capacity building, economic growth and development components of all nations. The African continent has been affected by skills shortages, emanating from certain socio-economic factors. This resulted in the ‘brain drain’, emigration and absorption of skilled talent to developed countries, in search of a better standard of living and employment opportunities. The issue of scarce skills in South Africa was identified by the Government in 2006, due to an identified shortage of expertise and proficiencies, required to fill numerous vacant positions within the local government to meet service delivery needs. The identification of skills shortages led to the formulation of macro-economic policies to address the issue of scarce skills and the identification of the most affected professions, which included, inter alia, engineers; technicians; project managers; and architects. Despite the implementation of these policies, underlying factors compound the issue, complicating and limiting remedial efforts. The South African Government is faced with the challenge of providing quality basic services for the public, especially at the local level. The country has since 2010 experienced multiple incidents of service delivery protests, predominantly in the under-developed communities. The Eastern Cape is no exception, as the Nelson Mandela Bay area has experienced protests, concerning poor service delivery, primarily in Walmer Township. The provision of basic services, are of dire necessity to the communities, as the Eastern Cape is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. The educational system at primary and secondary levels is faced with challenges in the Eastern Cape province. These challenges are the shortage of teachers; poor infrastructure; and teacher absenteeism. This compounds the issue of scarce skills acquisition and development; the volume of skilled, expert and proficient talent available to the municipality, to fill in vacancies, gaps and areas with shortfalls and deficits within the entity, is reduced and minimal, underscoring the depth of the entrenchment of this scarcity of skills issue. The primary focus of the study is to expose the factors contributing to skills shortages and the implications, apropos service delivery, from the municipal workers’ perceptions. The study highlights and describes the factors affecting scarce skills acquisition and development in South Africa, along with providing a background of the Eastern Cape and demonstrating that the shortage of skills, within the Infrastructure and Engineering Department of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, has an impact on the production, efficacy and efficiency of services for communities. The study also emphasises the essentiality of quality leadership and management within the organisation, a pivotal aspect in ensuring the municipality performs at optimal level, meeting organisational goals. This is a critical issue, as the study revealed that sound management and leadership is lacking within the municipality, affecting quality of the service delivery output. The findings of this study further revealed that adequate training and development is lacking in the municipality. This is hampering skills development, outstandingly with regard to technical skills talents, as their training needs are not met.

The government of South Africa has seen many financial reforms in the finance industry since the attainment of freedom in 1994. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) have emerged in the name of poverty reduction, however the impact of MFIs on poverty reduction in rural areas has not been significantly high. Poverty has been reduced but still the inequality gap has even widened (HSRC, 2004). The study is concerned with analysing the impact of MFIs in poverty reduction among the rural poor. Empirical evidence from many developing nations around the world has shown that microfinance is a tool that is relevant in reducing poverty within rural areas. This study investigates the impact of microfinance institutions on household income levels, education and business skills. The study followed a qualitative approach in terms of the research methodology and a survey research design. Data was collected using questionnaires, scheduled interviews, focus group discussions and key informants. Two sample techniques were used for the selection of the MFIs and the household respondents, that is purposive sampling and cluster sampling. In total, 150 households, 15 MFIs and five key informants were interviewed. Descriptive analysis methods were employed and the study showed that only 10 percent of the total households have been able to access microfinance. The number of people who gained business skills was also low (10 percent). The MFIs who provide financial services excluding the other services like business training programmes were 80 percent of the total number of MFIs interviewed. This data showed that only a few (20 percent) MFIs are willing to go an extra mile rendering business skills to their clients. Overally the major finding of the study was that although, MFIs are reaching out to the rural communities, their levels of outreach is still very low within the rural areas. However this does not mean that the impact of MFIs funding is not felt among the rural poor. The levels of income and educational benefits have been increased and felt by the 10 percent of the rural poor clients. This study advocates for an entrepreneurship development pathway to poverty reduction. Microfinance should be used as a source of finance to initiate entrepreneurial activities among the poor in order to generate income. In this study, the use of microfinance finance for consumption by the poor is discouraged because it depletes the funds that can be channeled for selfhelp projects within the rural communities. The study findings motivated the recommendations that encourage an inclusive financial system that is capable of reaching out to the rural poor.

M.A. / The objective of this study is to examine the economic growth and job creation in relation to macro economic policies in South Africa since 1994 to date. Economic growth theories help to explain the economic growth problem as well as the possibility to create jobs. Since 1994, the government has introduced three economic policy programmes namely the RDP, GEAR and MTEF. However, the unemployment rate is increasing and the economic growth is still low. The aim of this study is to: demonstrate that economic growth is the driving force to job creation; analyse the human resource development; examine the international experience in relation to South Africa; critically analyse labour market development and macro economic policies; provide recommendations to employment creation.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Apartheid systematically and purposefully restricted the majority of South Africans from meaningful participation in the economy of the country. The society was characterised by entrenched gender inequality, and defined by wealth disparities and general economic exclusion of certain groups of society such as blacks, women and youth, as well as people living with disabilities. The period since 1994 has seen the South African economy undergoing restructuring. One of the major milestones in this regard was the introduction of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment policy. The principal aim was to undo the legacy of dispossession and disempowerment that characterised economic development until 1994. This study was undertaken to investigate the implementation of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Policy (B-BBEE) in the Limpopo Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs. (CoGHSTA). It is also the aim of the study to investigate the processes and systems that ensure that the B-BBEE policy is fairly and equitably implemented. The study further aims at investigating the challenges in the implementation of the B-BBEE policy and suggests appropriate recommendations. The research methodology followed in this study is qualitative in nature. Semi-structured questionnaires were distributed to respondents for the collection of primary data. The main finding of the study is that, although the main aim behind the introduction of the policy is to undo the legacy of dispossession and disempowerment of the majority of South Africans, only a few politically “well connected elites” are actual beneficiaries of the empowerment deals in real terms. One of the striking findings is that officials are often not well trained on the imperatives of the policy. As such it is recommended by the study that rolling out training programmes for staff members, especially those closely working with bids in Supply Chain Management, be considered.