In this dissertation a study was undertaken of the function of the public sector manager at the central level of government and of the role which the public manager plays in the human resources management. South Africa is a three-tier state, which consists of the central, provincial and local levels of government. The central government is the supreme body of government entrusted with the responsibility of making policies, rules and giving direction to the entire citizenry. The central government is manned by politicians from different political parties who have to decide on behalf of their electorates. It is a given fact and a reality that politicians alone cannot deliver the services to the communities. So public officials are appointed to implement the policies enacted by Parliament. Public managers have to interpret policies and give direction to the various structures of government. Among the activities of government, public managers have also to give direction as to the management of human resources in the public sector. This study investigated the function of the public manager at the central government with a reference to the management of human resources. This research was necessitated by the fact that since the new constitutional dispensation in South Africa, many changes have taken place most of which implied that the management of human resources in the public sector would have to reflect such changes. Public managers perform various functions, including generic administrative functions, auxiliary functions and functional activities. These functions are performed at senior management level. Furthermore, these functions performed by public managers will be viewed from the human resource management. Particular, attention is focused on the staffing in the public sector and how public managers can best perform their function in absorbing proper personnel in the public sector. AFRIKAANS : 'n Studie is onderneem om die funksie van die openbare sektor bestuurder op sentrale regeringsvlak te ondersoek asook die rol wat die openbare bestuurder speel in menslike hulpbronbestuur. Die verantwoordelikheid van die openbare sektor is om dienste te verskaf aan die landsburgers en om dit suksesvol te bereik meet die openbare sektor oor goed opgeleide personeel beskik. Ten einde personeel te kan bestuur behoort openbare bestuurders kennis te dra van die behoeftes, vrese en verwagtinge van die publiek. Een van die vernaamste funksies van die openbare bestuurder is om leiding te gee aan andere. Suid Afrika is 'n driedelige staat, wat bestaan uit die sentrale, provinsiale en plaaslike vlakke van regering. Die sentrale regering is die hoogste regeringsliggaam verantwoordelik vir beleidmaking, die daarsteling van reëls en om rigting te gee aan alle landsburgers. Die sentrale regering word gevorm deur politici van verskillende politieke partye wat namens hul ondersteuners besluite moet neem. Dit is 'n onomstootlike feit en werklikheid dat politici nie alleen die dienste aan die gemeenskap kan verskaf nie. Daarom word openbare amptenare aangestel om die beleid wat deur die Parlement aanvaar is, te implementeer. Openbare bestuurders moet beleid interpreteer en leiding gee binne die verskillende strukture van die regering. Die aktiwiteite van die regering bring mee dat openbare bestuurders leiding moet gee rakende die bestuur van menslike hulpbronne in die openbare sektor. Hierdie studie het die funksie van die openbare bestuurder in die sentrale regering ondersoek met verwysing na die bestuur van menslike hulpbronne. Die navorsing was genoodsaak deur die feit dat sedert die nuwe grondwetlike bedeling in Suid Afrika baie veranderinge plaasgevind het waarvan meeste impliseer dat die bestuur van menslike hulpbronne in die openbare sektor sodanige veranderinge sal reflekteer. Openbare bestuurders voer verskeie funksies uit insluitende generiese administratiewe funksies, hulpfunksies en funksionele aktiwiteite. Hierdie funksies word op senior bestuursvlak uitgevoer. Verder word hierdie funksies wat deur openbare bestuurders uitgevoer word beskou vanuit 'n menslike hulpbron oogpunt. Spesifieke aandag is gegee aan die personeel in die openbare sektor en hoe openbare bestuurders hulle funksies tot die beste van hul vermoë kan uitvoer deur bekwame personeel in diens te neem in die openbare sektor. Die studie toon aan dat daar tydens die transformasie van die Suid-Afrikaanse staatdiens politieke oorweging geskenk sal moet word aan die vervanging van wit persone met swartes, vrouens en gestremdes. In partypolitieke terme beteken dit geensins 'n balans tussen diegene wat die waardes van die ou orde aanhang en diegene wat die waardes van die nuwe orde bevorder nie. Die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika, 1996 volg 'n humanistiese benadering, wat beteken dat die armes, werkloses, verwaarloosde en wanhopige mense gehelp moet word wat in sigself nie 'n partypolitieke kwessie is nie. Verder toon internasionale onderving dat die radikale transformasie van grondwette dikwels vrees, onsekerheid en paniek onder inwoners veroorsaak. Hierdie gevoelens word dikwels op verskillende wyses deur verskillende gemeenskappe tot uiting gebring. S.A. is daarom geen uitsondering nie. Die vermoë van die staatsdiens om dienste te lewer sal nie net afhang van die politieke leierskap en bestuursvaardighede van die politieke ampsbekleders nie, maar ook van die professionalisme van staatsamptenare. Copyright / Dissertation (MAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / Unrestricted

In terms of assessment practices, in all facets of education there is a strong focus on assessment at the end of learning. New trends in the literature motivate for the continuous use of assessment strategies in classrooms, with a learner-centred approach. Many questions arise on this topic: When lecturers review their own higher education classroom assessment practices, what will be the extent of their discovery? Are they still inclined to do assessment after teaching and learning has taken place? Or are they moving towards continuous classroom assessment practices in line with the new trends? Is there still a place for classroom assessment at the end of teaching and learning? Should the one or the other be used or should there be a balance between the various strategies? With students perceiving assessment as being judgemental and oppressive and as the most political of all educational processes (Reynolds et al., 2000:268), how does the power struggle unfold in the classroom? By means of participatory action research I encouraged lecturers to reflect critically on their own classroom assessment practices. The lecturers engaged in critical discourses regarding their teaching, learning and assessment strategies and subsequently engaged in transformative actions resulting from their critical reflections. The aim of the research was to determine whether an emancipatory praxis had been developed and whether their reflections had brought about change and improved their classroom assessments. I wished to understand how the changes they had experienced were infused with theories of empowerment, emancipation and liberation. The nature of curriculum praxis of classroom assessment was investigated to determine the status of classroom assessment in a specific higher education context and to see how the balanced assessment system is reflected and how classroom assessment develops as an emancipatory praxis. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In terms of assessment practices, in all facets of education there is a strong focus on assessment at the end of learning. New trends in the literature motivate for the continuous use of assessment strategies in classrooms, with a learner-centred approach. Many questions arise on this topic: When lecturers review their own higher education classroom assessment practices, what will be the extent of their discovery? Are they still inclined to do assessment after teaching and learning has taken place? Or are they moving towards continuous classroom assessment practices in line with the new trends? Is there still a place for classroom assessment at the end of teaching and learning? Should the one or the other be used or should there be a balance between the various strategies? With students perceiving assessment as being judgemental and oppressive and as the most political of all educational processes (Reynolds et al., 2000:268), how does the power struggle unfold in the classroom? By means of participatory action research I encouraged lecturers to reflect critically on their own classroom assessment practices. The lecturers engaged in critical discourses regarding their teaching, learning and assessment strategies and subsequently engaged in transformative actions resulting from their critical reflections. The aim of the research was to determine whether an emancipatory praxis had been developed and whether their reflections had brought about change and improved their classroom assessments. I wished to understand how the changes they had experienced were infused with theories of empowerment, emancipation and liberation. The nature of curriculum praxis of classroom assessment was investigated to determine the status of classroom assessment in a specific higher education context and to see how the balanced assessment system is reflected and how classroom assessment develops as an emancipatory praxis. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This thesis is an account of our study of two branches of dynamical systems theory, namely the mean and pointwise ergodic theory. In our work on mean ergodic theorems, we investigate the spectral theory of integrable actions of a locally compact abelian group on a locally convex vector space. We start with an analysis of various spectral subspaces induced by the action of the group. This is applied to analyse the spectral theory of operators on the space generated by measures on the group. We apply these results to derive general Tauberian theorems that apply to arbitrary locally compact abelian groups acting on a large class of locally convex vector spaces which includes Fr echet spaces. We show how these theorems simplify the derivation of Mean Ergodic theorems. Next we turn to the topic of pointwise ergodic theorems. We analyse the Transfer Principle, which is used to generate weak type maximal inequalities for ergodic operators, and extend it to the general case of -compact locally compact Hausdor groups acting measure-preservingly on - nite measure spaces. We show how the techniques developed here generate various weak type maximal inequalities on di erent Banach function spaces, and how the properties of these function spaces in- uence the weak type inequalities that can be obtained. Finally, we demonstrate how the techniques developed imply almost sure pointwise convergence of a wide class of ergodic averages. Our investigations of these two parts of ergodic theory are uni ed by the techniques used - locally convex vector spaces, harmonic analysis, measure theory - and by the strong interaction of the nal results, which are obtained in greater generality than hitherto achieved. / PhD (Mathematics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This thesis is an account of our study of two branches of dynamical systems theory, namely the mean and pointwise ergodic theory. In our work on mean ergodic theorems, we investigate the spectral theory of integrable actions of a locally compact abelian group on a locally convex vector space. We start with an analysis of various spectral subspaces induced by the action of the group. This is applied to analyse the spectral theory of operators on the space generated by measures on the group. We apply these results to derive general Tauberian theorems that apply to arbitrary locally compact abelian groups acting on a large class of locally convex vector spaces which includes Fr echet spaces. We show how these theorems simplify the derivation of Mean Ergodic theorems. Next we turn to the topic of pointwise ergodic theorems. We analyse the Transfer Principle, which is used to generate weak type maximal inequalities for ergodic operators, and extend it to the general case of -compact locally compact Hausdor groups acting measure-preservingly on - nite measure spaces. We show how the techniques developed here generate various weak type maximal inequalities on di erent Banach function spaces, and how the properties of these function spaces in- uence the weak type inequalities that can be obtained. Finally, we demonstrate how the techniques developed imply almost sure pointwise convergence of a wide class of ergodic averages. Our investigations of these two parts of ergodic theory are uni ed by the techniques used - locally convex vector spaces, harmonic analysis, measure theory - and by the strong interaction of the nal results, which are obtained in greater generality than hitherto achieved. / PhD (Mathematics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In South Africa there are great polarities in terms of needs in resource–poor communities versus communities with available resources. This is evident during visits to Sir Lowry's Pass Village and when available statistics on trends in the community are taken into account. A potentially valuable resource in resource–poor communities is outreach programmes by a faith–based organisation (FBO) such as Jabulani Africa Ministries (JAM). JAM is a Christian FBO with a strong community focus. This study focuses on the resource–poor community of Sir Lowry's Pass Village, situated in the Helderberg Basin in the Western Cape. Sir Lowry's Pass Village is just one of a few resource–poor communities to whom JAM reaches out on a weekly basis since through their outreach programme aimed at middle–childhood children. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the content of this outreach programme of JAM in Sir Lowry's Pass Village aimed at middle–childhood children in order to provide guidelines to more specifically target the needs of the particular group of children. Data were collected from various sources according to principles of participatory action research. Data were organised through thematic data analysis to identify themes. Two core themes emerged; one theme is a mutual lack of understanding of the broader field by JAM members and the target of their interventions, middle–childhood children. The other theme centred on the moral value system of the particular group of children. The central theoretical argument of this study is that outreach programmes by faith–based organisations (such as JAM) in resource–poor communities should be directed as effectively as possible to meet the needs of middle–childhood children. / http://hdl.handle.net//10394/7006 / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

In South Africa there are great polarities in terms of needs in resource–poor communities versus communities with available resources. This is evident during visits to Sir Lowry's Pass Village and when available statistics on trends in the community are taken into account. A potentially valuable resource in resource–poor communities is outreach programmes by a faith–based organisation (FBO) such as Jabulani Africa Ministries (JAM). JAM is a Christian FBO with a strong community focus. This study focuses on the resource–poor community of Sir Lowry's Pass Village, situated in the Helderberg Basin in the Western Cape. Sir Lowry's Pass Village is just one of a few resource–poor communities to whom JAM reaches out on a weekly basis since through their outreach programme aimed at middle–childhood children. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the content of this outreach programme of JAM in Sir Lowry's Pass Village aimed at middle–childhood children in order to provide guidelines to more specifically target the needs of the particular group of children. Data were collected from various sources according to principles of participatory action research. Data were organised through thematic data analysis to identify themes. Two core themes emerged; one theme is a mutual lack of understanding of the broader field by JAM members and the target of their interventions, middle–childhood children. The other theme centred on the moral value system of the particular group of children. The central theoretical argument of this study is that outreach programmes by faith–based organisations (such as JAM) in resource–poor communities should be directed as effectively as possible to meet the needs of middle–childhood children. / http://hdl.handle.net//10394/7006 / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The Mpumalanga Education Department has put in place various mechanisms aimed at promoting equity and equality between male and female educators and learners within the education system. Such initiatives were established from a position of strength that sociocultural stereotypes such as patriarchy, lack of access to resources and the sexual division of labour have been internalised and reinforced as acts of discrimination within the school system, community, home and workplace. Within the school system, gender stereotypes are used to determine and perpetuate the educational provisioning for learners as separate groups (boys - girls) through the school curriculum and the educators' classroom practices of "masculine" and "feminine" activities. Equally so, senior management positions are mostly occupied by males whilst females are relegated to lower positions of the management echelon. The focus of this study was to identify the root causes of inequalities in senior management positions between male and female managers. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) method using a case study and a literature review were used as data collection techniques. Affirmative Action policies and programmes are recommended as strategies for empowering women and girls with an aim of preparing them to be competent in the labour market. There are diverse interpretations of the affirmative action concept and different people attach different meanings to its definition. It (Affirmative Action) impacts differently on different groups under different conditions. The study also suggests that education, training and development (ETD) are dependent variables of affirmative action in the sense that they create an environment where individuals who were (under)privileged can learn to accept and understand one another as partners. AFRIKAANS : Die Mpumalanga Onderwysdepartement het verskeie meganismes daargestel om billikheid en gelykheid tussen manlike en vroulike opvoeders en leerders binne die onderwysstelsel te bevorder. Sodanige inisiatiewe is gevestig vanuit 'n aanname dat sosio-kulturele stereotipes soos patriargie, gebrek aan toegang tot hulpbronne en verdeling van werk op geslagsgrondslag gei'nternaliseer en versterk is as diskriminerende handelinge binne die skoolstelsel, gemeenskap, huis en werkplek. Binne die onderwysstelsel word geslagstereotipes gebruik om onderwysvoorsiening vir leerders as afsonderlike groepe (seuns dogters) te bepaal en te laat voortbestaan deur die skoolkurrikulum en die klaskamerpraktyk van die opvoeders wat "manlike" en "vroulike" aktiwiteite gebruik. Insgelyks word senior bestuursposisies gewoonlik deur mans beklee terwyl vroue gerelegeer word na laer posisies in die bestuurskader. Die doe I van hierdie studie was om die hoofoorsake van ongelykhede in senior bestuursposisies tussen manlike en vroulike bestuurders te identifiseer. Die PAR-metode wat van 'n gevallestudie gebruik maak en 'n literatuurstudie is aangewend as data-insamelingstegniek. Die beleid van regstellende aksie, asook programme met betrekking daarop, word aanbeveel as strategiee om vroue en dogters te bemagtig met die doel om hulle voor te berei om bevoeg te wees in die arbeidsmark. Daar is 'n verskeidenheid vertolkings van die begrip regstellende aksie en verskillende mense koppel verskillende betekenisse aan die definisie. Regstellende aksie het verskillende invloede op verskillende groepe onder verskillende omstandighede. Die studie dui ook aan dat Onderwys, Opleiding en Ontwikkeling (000) afhanklike veranderlikes van regstellende aksie is in die sin dat hulle 'n omgewing skep waar individue wat (minder)bevoorreg was kan leer om mekaar te aanvaar en te begryp as vennote. / Dissertation (MEd (Education Management))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted