Please read the abstract in the section, 08summary of this document / Dissertation (MA (International Politics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Political Sciences / MA / unrestricted

Bibliography: pages 227-250 / The research intended to explore the narratives of coping and resilience relating to the socio economic and emotional difficulties of a group of Zimbabwean migrants residing in Johannesburg. Through a technique of social constructionism and dialogue between the researcher and the six (6) participants, the co-construction in accordance to subject matters was used, supported by way of a qualitative research strategy and the case study method. The exploration of the themes was based on the participants’ narratives. Thereafter, the thematic analysis methodology was undertaken to analyse the data and connect it to supportive literature. The sample generated a full and rich account of the participants’ experiences and this yielded awareness of the common themes, such as the challenges and coping in trying times of migration, as well as an in-depth interpretation of their resilience. A qualitative research method was employed. Purposeful sampling was used and semi-structured in-depth personal interviews were conducted with each of the six (6) participants. Three (3) male and three (3) female Zimbabwean migrants were chosen. The case study included a description of Zimbabwean migrants’ coping and resilience with socio-economic and emotional challenges. It is anticipated that the results from this study will influence the progress of a unique review and support programme for the migrants who have endured socio-economic and emotional challenges. The results disclosed the reasons for migrating to South Africa, the challenges in the country of resettlement, socio-economic and emotional challenges, and the strategies used to cope and become resilient. Additionally, the analysis concluded that the participants in the study experienced similar narratives. The female participants left their families to seek greener pastures economically, but emotionally it affected their well-being. The Zimbabwean migrants coped with resilience utilising social networks, religion, self-regulation and mobile technology. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

African immigrants in contemporary South Africa can be perceived as a problem – the threatening other. Based on a case study of the Johannesburg inner city, this thesis aims to deconstruct this notion. It does so by investigating the nature and types and contribution of African immigrant traders` businesses to the Johannesburg inner city. In deconstructing the perception that African immigrants are the threatening other, and being infinitely aware that perception issues and the experiential realities hospitable to its centred on the human subject, this case study adopted a humanist geographic and critical realist approach by deploying a qualitative in-depth interview technique of both African immigrant and South African traders. This thesis suggests three important outcomes. The first is that: to view all African immigrants as the threatening other is too simplistic an assessment of an otherwise complex and dynamic set of relationships and interrelationships amongst and between African immigrant and South African traders. Second, some African immigrant traders do make a meaningful contribution to the Johannesburg inner city, whereas others do not. Third, the activities of African immigrant traders that may be considered as a threat by a section of the population are treated as a benefit by another. These nuanced insights and findings in this study not only render any analysis that projects all African immigrants negatively as an incomplete appraisal, but also suggest that it can never be correct to view them as such without capturing the dynamics that this work suggests. Such a finding not only challenges distorted and partial reporting by the media and also questions policies, which may be built on the wrong assumption that all African immigrants are a problem, but also extends the study of migration related issues in a South African context. / Geography / D. Litt. et. Phil. (Geography)

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Immigrant societies are in the midst of heated debates about citizenship and what it means to belong to their nation-states. The main purpose of this study is to conduct exploratory and descriptive research into the concept of belonging to a host country, in order to advance an understanding of this under-conceptualised, yet topical issue. The project was based on an extensive review of literature from the fields of psychology, sociology and political science, as well as on the responses from an empirical, quantitative survey of Zimbabweans living in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The findings reveal that Zimbabwean respondents are frustrated with perceived attempts to exclude them from becoming full and equal members of host societies. Zimbabweans who feel that they will never truly belong or be fully accepted by host countries have subsequently developed a heightened sense of attachment to Zimbabwe, as a way of differentiating themselves from the dominant population. The main conclusion that can be drawn is that belonging, inclusion and identification with a host country is a complex process that involves three separate stakeholders namely the host country, members of the dominant group, and the immigrants themselves. This research thus argues that the problem of immigrant integration should be viewed through multiple lenses, by including the influence of various stakeholders. Doing so would lead to a more nuanced understanding of the forces influencing belonging, and could potentially lead to the formulation of more comprehensive and more targeted policies. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Immigrante samelewings is in die midde van hewige debatte oor burgerskap en wat dit beteken om te behoort tot hul nasie-state. Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie is om in verkennende en beskrywende ondersoek van die konsep “gasheer land intergrasie”, ten einde 'n begrip van hierdie vooraf onder-gekonseptualiseerde maar tog hedendaags belangrike konsep, te formuleer. Die projek is op 'n omvattende oorsig van die literatuur gebaseer uit die gebied van sielkunde, sosiologie en politieke wetenskap, sowel as op die antwoorde van' ʼn empiriese, kwantitatiewe opname van Zimbabwiërs wat in Suid-Afrika, die Verenigde Koninkryk en die Verenigde State van Amerika gehuisves is. Die bevinding van die studie toon dat die Zimbabwiese proefpersone gefrustreerd is met die waargenome pogings van uitsluiting deur lede van die gasheer lande ten opsigte van volle gelykstelling met bogenoemde lede. Zimbabwiërs wat voel dat hulle sal nooit werklik behoort, of nie ten volle aanvaar sal word in gasheer-lande nie, het 'n verhoogde gevoel van verbinding ontwikkel met hul tuisland Zimbabwe, as ʼn manier van onderskeiding tussen hulself en die dominante bevolking. Die belangrikste gevolgtrekking wat gemaak kan word, is dat groep behoorting, insluiting en identifikasie met 'n gasheer land 'n komplekse proses is wat drie afsonderlike belanghebbendes naamlik die gasheer land, die lede van die dominante groep en die immigrante hulself behels. Hierdie navorsing argumenteer dus dat die probleem van die immigrant integrasie uit verskeie perspektiewe geanaliseer moet word, deur die betrekking van die invloed van verskeie belanghebbendes. Dit sou lei tot 'n meer genuanseerde begrip van die kragte wat ʼn uitwerking het op intergrasie, en kan moontlik lei tot die formulering van meer omvattende en geringe beleide.

African immigrants in contemporary South Africa can be perceived as a problem – the threatening other. Based on a case study of the Johannesburg inner city, this thesis aims to deconstruct this notion. It does so by investigating the nature and types and contribution of African immigrant traders` businesses to the Johannesburg inner city. In deconstructing the perception that African immigrants are the threatening other, and being infinitely aware that perception issues and the experiential realities hospitable to its centred on the human subject, this case study adopted a humanist geographic and critical realist approach by deploying a qualitative in-depth interview technique of both African immigrant and South African traders. This thesis suggests three important outcomes. The first is that: to view all African immigrants as the threatening other is too simplistic an assessment of an otherwise complex and dynamic set of relationships and interrelationships amongst and between African immigrant and South African traders. Second, some African immigrant traders do make a meaningful contribution to the Johannesburg inner city, whereas others do not. Third, the activities of African immigrant traders that may be considered as a threat by a section of the population are treated as a benefit by another. These nuanced insights and findings in this study not only render any analysis that projects all African immigrants negatively as an incomplete appraisal, but also suggest that it can never be correct to view them as such without capturing the dynamics that this work suggests. Such a finding not only challenges distorted and partial reporting by the media and also questions policies, which may be built on the wrong assumption that all African immigrants are a problem, but also extends the study of migration related issues in a South African context. / Geography / D. Litt. et. Phil. (Geography)

South Africa has over the years and particularly since the enactment of our new Constitution, attracted an increasing number of foreigners. One of the main problems associated with the large number of illegal immigrants in this country is that they are placing strain on South Africa‟s already scare resources such as housing and healthcare. A further problem is that these illegal immigrants are competing with South Africans for jobs which are already scarce, and thus aggravating the unemployment situation. Nevertheless, these illegal immigrants are being employed and by virtue of their circumstances are easily exploited and often the victims of cheap labour, corruption, eviction and assault. Given that these workers are illegal immigrants not in possession of the required work permits, their employment is prohibited by the Immigration Act 13 of 2002. They are thus illegal workers. Another category of illegal workers are those, predominantly women, who are employed in an industry which offers easy income with no contractual obligations – the prostitution industry. Despite the prohibition of prostitution by the Sexual Offences Act 23 of 1957, the prostitution industry throughout South Africa continues to exist. These workers are also particularly vulnerable and easily exploited and abused by their employers. Illegal immigrants and sex workers in South Africa have until recently been denied access to the protection of our labour legislation, by virtue of the illegality of their employment contracts. However two recent controversial decisions, that of the Labour Court in the Discovery Health case, and that of the Labour Appeal Court in the Kylie case, have changed this position.

MA (Political Science) / Department of Development Studies

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since the end of Apartheid, many scholars of South Africa celebrated democratisation and offered optimism for the end of racial segregation. Racial segregation, however, still exists in South Africa and in Stellenbosch each residential place is divided along skin colour lines. Such a pattern is far from the position of optimism and seems to suggest that race continues to manifest itself materially through space in Post-Apartheid South Africa, even if such segregation is not imposed by Apartheid laws. This thesis describes how different individuals, especially foreigners, enter historically designated racial areas - ‘African’, ‘Coloured’, ‘White’ – and are ‘interpellated’ into particular racial categories. It aims to grasp the process of abstraction at work when the attempt is made to construct foreigners in these racial categories, and how these individuals come to perceive South Africa. The study suggests that at the points in which the interpellation of race fails are precisely the moments in which we see the possibility for the formation of a truly post-Apartheid Subjectivity. The thesis is cognisant of the particularity of place: focusing on Stellenbosch in the Western Cape necessarily involves engaging specificities of the historical construction of race that mark place in the present, especially in this province. Whilst the discovery of gold in the former Transvaal drove the exploitation of African mine workers and was important in the formation of race there, in the Western Cape the importance economically of the slave and later free labour of Coloured farm workers is important in grasping racial formations in Stellenbosch. At the same time, however, I present the case of an unemployed South African women who is unable to live in any areas previously designated by race, and through her tale, suggest that relationships between race and labour might be being undone, even as this undoing is fraught and not producing subjects who can feel comfortable in democracy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Opsomming Sedert die einde van Apartheid is demokratisering in akademiese kringe geprys en is die einde van rasse-segregasie met optimisme begroet. Rasse-segregasie leef egter steeds voort in Suid-Afrika en in Stellenbosch is elke residensiële area volgens velkleur verdeel. Hierdie verskynsel is alles behalwe ’n bron van optimisme en blyk aan te toon dat ras voortgaan om ditself op materiële wyse deur ruimte in post-Apartheid Suid-Afrika te manifesteer, selfs in die afwesigheid van segregasie deur Apartheid-wetgewing. Hierdie tesis ondersoek hoe verskillende individue, veral buitelanders, histories-gedefinieerde rasse-areas – ‘swart’, ‘bruin’ en ‘blank’ – binnegaan en ‘geïnterpelleer’ word in spesifieke rassekategorieë. Dit poog om die proses van abstraksie te verstaan waardeur buitelanders in rassekategorieë gekonstrueer word, en hoe hierdie individue Suid-Afrika beskou. Dié studie voer aan dat die plekke waar die interpellasie van ras misluk, die presiese momente is waar die moontlikheid vir die formasie van ’n ware post-Apartheid subjektiwiteit waargeneem kan word. Hierdie studie is bewus van die spesifisiteit van plek: om te fokus op Stellenbosch in die Wes-Kaap vereis noodwendig dat daar ook aandag geskenk sal word aan die spesifisiteit van die historiese konstruksie van ras wat plek in die hede onderlê, veral in dié spesifieke provinsie. Terwyl die ontdekking van goud in die voormalige Transvaal die uitbuiting van swart mynwerkers gedryf het en belangrik was vir die vorming van ras daar, is die ekonomiese belangrikheid van slawe en later vry arbeid van bruin plaaswerkers in die Wes-Kaap belangrik om die formasie van ras in Stellenbosch te verstaan. Op dieselfde tyd bied ek die geval aan van ’n werklose Suid-Afrikaanse vrou vir wie dit nie meer moontlik is om in enige histories-gedefinieerde ras-spesifieke area te bly nie, en wie se verhaal suggereer dat verhoudings tussen ras en arbeid dalk besig is om te ontbind, selfs al is hierdie proses vervaard en nie besig om subjekte te produseer wat gemaklik onder ’n demokratiese bestel kan voel nie.

M. Tech. Business Informatics / Addresses the adoption of emerging technology through blended learning. In the study, the Department of Home Affairs has just adopted a new traveler processing system. To use this emerging technology, employees had to be trained, and blended learning was seen as an appropriate training style. The emerging technology, the new passport scanning readers, posed challenges that are unpacked in this mini-dissertation.

PhDGS / Institute of Gender and Youth Studies / The existence of humans has always been associated with movement, owing, among other reasons, conflicts, to disasters and search for more habitable areas and better living conditions. Historically, migration of women has not been given much attention by scholars; international migration literature has always been dominated by data on male migration. However, almost half of the immigrants coming into South Africa are women. Young female immigrants are considered more vulnerable than their male counterparts. Through a qualitative approach, this study aimed at investigating the vulnerability of young Zimbabwean female immigrants in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and its industrial and commercial heartland, in order to develop a comprehensive strategy to minimise their vulnerability. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used for data collection, and Atlas.ti qualitative analysis software was used to analyse the data. The population of the study was young female immigrants between the ages of 18 and 35 years residing in Johannesburg, and experts in the field of migration. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to select the participants. The findings of this study highlighted that the young Zimbabwean female immigrants are vulnerable to abuse, discrimination, xenophobia, poor health, and social and economic problems. The abuse, discrimination and xenophobia were perpetrated by their partners, the society, colleagues in the workplace, employers, and the authorities who are supposed to protect and provide services for these immigrants. These problems were a result of the intersecting factors that cause the young women’s vulnerability. These include nationality, gender, legality, language barriers, type of work, poverty (and the desperation it generates), and competition over job opportunities. The study indicated that these female immigrants do not look for the law’s protection because they are afraid of being deported, and they are afraid of the police, who are reluctant to protect them, and often further abuse them. The study recommends the adoption of the Multistakeholder Comprehensive Migration Strategy which was developed in this study to minimise the young women’s vulnerability. This strategy promotes the collaboration of different parties at all levels – individual, community, civil society, regional and national – in achieving this all-important purpose. All these stakeholders should collaborate in initiatives to promote and protect the rights of these young women, and ensure gender equality in migration. / NRF