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Thesis (M.A. (African languages) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / The study examines a variety of problems that are associated with the translation of the Maintenance Act of South Africa (1998) from English into Tshivenḓa. The study also analyses various translation methods and procedures, and attempts to apply them in the translation of the aforementioned Act. Currently, there seems to be a great lack of legal terminology in Tshivenḓa. As a result, officials end up using English when they interact with their clients who are largely illiterate. Therefore, the study focuses on translation strategies that can be invoked in order to solve the problem of lack of terminology in indigenous languages in general and Tshivenḓa in particular. Chapter two gives a review of the literature and theories pertaining to various translation topics such as, definition of translation, types of translation, methods of translation and procedure of translation. Chapter three addresses issues pertaining to the strategies of translation, methods of translation and terminology development or term formation processes in African languages. These aspects are used by the researcher to expand on the aims and objectives of this research study. Chapter four analyses the respondents’ responses with regard to the translation of legal terminology used in the Maintenance Act (no: 99 of 1998) from English into Tshivenḓa language. A questionnaire was used to examine whether respondents would correctly translate legal terminology from English into Tshivenḓa language. Their responses are also discussed here. Chapter five gives a conclusion to this study.

Policy implementation is an important aspect of service delivery. It is a process that requires all the involved parties to work together. In addition, the policy to be implemented has to be preceded by extensive planning and capacity to ensure effective implementation. According to Parsons (1995:465), "effective implementation requires a good chain of command and a capacity to co-ordinate and control...". The Child Support Grant (CSG) is one of the social security grants created by the South African Government to offer financial support to children in need. The CSG is the one that is widely accessed by children. This grant has reached millions of children in South Africa since its initial implementation; however a large number of children still do not receive this grant due to administration problems (Skweyiya 2005:2). This research project provides a critical analysis of the implementation of CSG between the years 2000 and 2004. A conceptual analysis (content analysis) of secondary studies on the implementation of the Child Support Grant is the scope of this investigation. The study analysed the manner in which the CSG had been implemented by the Department of Social Development (DSD) between the years 2000 and 2004. The findings show that there were many problems that related to the administration of the CSG. The problems ranged from lack of capacity (human as well as organizational) by government officials, to the mode (top-down) of implementation, the employment of bureaucratic methods of implementing policy, lack of system upgrade, street level bureucrats methods of implementing policies and insufficient monitoring and evaluation by the National Department of Social Development. The DSD neglected to provide infrastructural support to facilitate the additional number of beneficiaries that resulted from the extension of the CSG to children under 14 years old. These organizational capacity development problems manifested in the lack of sufficient equipment in welfare offices. Many welfare offices did not have essential equipment (such as chairs, working computers and working telephones) needed to perform their duties. Technical resources such as working computers and telephones are an essential part of implementation. Lack of proper monitoring and evaluation of the administration of the Grant has created loopholes in the system that have cost the Department about R1.5 billion each year from 2000 to 2004. Another problem was that there were staff shortages in most areas. In areas where staff was available they lacked the capacity to administer the Grant. As a result, wrong information was disseminated to the public concerning the eligibility for the CSG. The data capturing system the Department uses, Social Pension System (SOCPEN), had not been upgraded to handle greater numbers of applicants. This has led to applicants not being processed, thus affecting service delivery. The study has shown the impacts these problems can have on policy. Due to the manner in which policy was implemented the DSD ended up losing money, which was intended for beneficiaries, through fraud and maladministration. In addition to money lost, potential beneficiaries could not access the Grant due to obstacles created by government officials as their way of implementing policy effectively. According to Lipsky (1980:149), low ranking street level bureaucrats create ways of coping with their duties through simplifying their authority. This enables them to utilise their authority and impose their job restrictions for reasons of lack of service delivery on their clients . Due to the scope of "allowed" discretion that street level bureaucrats can exercise, fragmentation of policy is most often experienced during implementation. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Research has shown that both males and females agree that child-support payments should be consistent. However, census bureau data has indicated that nonpayment of child support is a significant problem in the United States. This study investigated the ways in which females make sense of the phenomenon of child support nonpayment via the construction of personal narratives.Ten adult females were interviewed to obtain stories of child-support nonpayment. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and discrete narratives were isolated for analysis. The constant comparative method was used to compare and contrast the data in order to discover the themes inherent to the process of sense-making through the construction of personal narratives.The analysis revealed three categories of narratives of child-support nonpayment: Action, Coping, and Prescriptive. The findings suggested that each of the categories revealed salient dimensions (i.e., themes) inherent to those categories. Furthermore, these themes were utilized to assign meaning to, and hence make sense of, the experience of child-support nonpayment. / Department of Speech Communication

This study investigates the impact of the impact of Social Grants in poverty alleviation; a case in point is the Child Support Grants in Lusikisiki. Poverty is characterized by an increase in depravation, unemployment and inequality. Social Security has been introduced as a social safety net that reduces the severity of poverty. The study uncovers the significance of the Child Support Grant in sustaining families and meeting their basic human needs. The study further shows that the Child Support Grant is a reliable monthly cash injection that benefits the children and other people in the households. It gives hope, allows beneficiaries to make choices and enables them to take care of themselves and their families, therefore restores dignity. The additional support provided to the Child Support Grant recipients promotes human development and improves access to education and health. The Child Support Grant has a significant impact on poverty alleviation.

abstract: Life History Theory suggests that, in order to maximize reproductive fitness, individuals make trade-offs between allocating resources to mating and parenting. These trade-offs are influenced by an individual's sex, life history strategy, and environment. Here, I explored the usefulness of a Life History Theory framework for understanding endorsement of child support laws. This study experimentally manipulated sex ratio, and gathered information about participants' endorsement of child support, sexual restrictedness, and mate value. As predicted, women endorsed child support more than men, whereas men favored greater restriction of child support in the form of required paternity testing. However, in general, results do not support an effect of sex ratio, sexual restrictedness, or mate value on endorsement of child support. Results suggest sensitivity to exploitation in a male-biased sex ratio, reflected by an increase in men's endorsement of paternity testing requirements under a male-biased sex ratio prime. Women, on the other hand, report especially unfavorable beliefs toward paternity testing in a male-biased sex ratio. Although results of the current study are mixed, there remains much to be gained from applying an evolutionary perspective to understanding variability in endorsement of child support. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Psychology 2013

[pt] A percepção de risco em compras online é apontada por diversos autores como o obstáculo para o crescimento do comércio eletrônico. O varejo pela Internet torna impossível a avaliação de atributos tangíveis pela impossibilidade de examinar fisicamente o produto. No caso de alimentos, a Internet ainda é um canal muito pouco explorado, já que as conseqüências de um produto estragado podem ser potencialmente severas, causando danos à saúde. Este estudo pretendeu, através de um levantamento em uma amostra dos clientes de uma rede de supermercados do Rio de Janeiro, comparar o risco percebido na compra online de alimentos perecíveis por clientes dos diversos canais do supermercado. Os resultados apresentaram evidencias de que a compra de alimentos perecíveis é percebida como mais arriscada por clientes da loja física do que clientes da Internet e que o risco de desempenho/físico desempenha o papel mais importante na percepção do risco total. / [en] The perceived risk in online shopping is seen by many authors as an obstacle for the growth of electronic commerce. The online retailing makes impossible for customers to evaluate the tangible attributes due the impossibility of physical examination of the product. In the case of groceries, the Internet still is an unexplored channel, once the consequences of a spoiled product can be potentially severe, causing damage to one`s health. This study intended, through a sample of customers of a supermarket chain located in Rio de Janeiro, to compare the perceived risk in online shopping of groceries through customers of different channels of the supermarket. The results presented evidences that the shopping of groceries is perceived as more risky by costumers of physical store than by costumers of Internet and that the performance/physical risk represents the most important role in risk perception.

This thesis analyses the law of child maintenance in South Africa with particular reference to the effects of marriage, death and divorce on such an obligation. In the introductory section, the types of South African family are demographically and statistically sketched, from a socio-legal perspective with some reliance on interdisciplinary research to assess the prevalence of the AID/HIV epidemic in South Africa, and the effects of poverty and ageing on the incidence of marriage and death. In the second part of the thesis, the parental child maintenance obligation is analysed in the common law context. The effects of serial marriage and arificial conception are also analysed with regard to their effect on the concept of biological parent. The nature and definition of parenthood is examined and the diverse and fluid nature of parenthood in South African society is stressed, particularly in relation to children's welfare. One of the aims of the thesis is to indicate how parenthood refers to a fluid set of social practices which are both biologically and culturally situated and thus have a complex effect on the maintenance obligation. The procedural problems of enforcement are also analysed in the light of recent amendments to the law in terms of the Maintenance Act 99 of 1998 (not yet in force) and some further proposals for reform in this area are proposed. The third part of the thesis examines the state obligation to maintain children, especially in the light of the state's commitments to children in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act (l08 of 1996) and its international commitments in terms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which was ratified by the South African government on 16 June 1995. In the fourth part of the thesis, there is some comparative analysis, firstly, of the procedural law reforms proposed in Namibia as a result of detailed research done there. Secondly, alternative methods of assessing and enforcing child maintenance obligations in Australia and England are examined and briefly assessed in relation to their possible implementation and efficacy in a South African context. Finally, the thesis concludes with an overall synopsis of the position in this country and some proposals for reform in the light of the international and constitutional commitments of the state.

This treatise investigated the productive utilisation of child support grants (CSGs) with particular reference to Benoni town. The South African government introduced the CSG, which replaced the old maintenance grant in 1998. The aim of the CSG is to cater for the needs of vulnerable children living in South Africa such as education, basic health, food, shelter and protection. Since its introduction, CSG has been able to reach millions of vulnerable children in South Africa. Despite this success, the grant is still fraught with administrative inefficiencies and fraudulent activities committed by some CSG recipients. The researcher’s findings exposed the inappropriate and wasteful expenditure associated with the grant usage, by recipients of CSG. The researcher discovered that some mothers use grant money to buy alcohol and beauty products for themselves instead of the child’s needs. The reason associated to this wasteful expenditure was that the child is kept under the care of the grandmother who takes good care of the child, thus giving the mother the opportunity to use the grant she collects as she wishes. The main aim of this investigation was to find out how CSGs can be effectively and efficiently utilised by parents and guardians in Benoni and to make recommendations for better usage. The study also examined the effects of CSGs on children in Benoni and whether they are beneficial or not. The qualitative method of research was used and the study was descriptive in nature. Questionnaires were distributed to state officials and interviews conducted with CSG recipients. The findings from this research revealed that some of the respondents use the money to buy alcohol and beauty product for themselves instead of the child’s needs, making the implementation of CSGs ineffective and inefficient. This shows that there is a misuse of state funds by recipients of CSGs whereas there are millions of vulnerable children out there who do not have access to this cash transfer. The department of social security is encouraged to ensure effective and efficient utilisation of CSGs by recipients through state officials.

The topic of the research is derived from the researcher‟s own interest as a social worker and observations of reality within youth-headed families. Over the past few years the number of published studies on child and youth-headed households has grown out of the realisation that this multi-faceted phenomenon is growing in numbers and complexity. Most of these studies and reports concentrate on the issue of scale and the severity of the crisis of child and youth-headed households (UNICEF, 2002; Maqoko & Dryer, 2007 & Kuhanen, Shemeikka, Notkola & Nghixulifwa, 2008). These studies reveal the complex nature of the phenomenon of child and youth-headed families and the challenges that face young people within these families which impact on their growth and development. In most of the studies, the phenomenon of child and youth-headed households has been reported to have an impact on societal framework as a result of its complexity (UNICEF, 2002, 2008; van Dijk, 2008; Kuhanen et al., 2008; Evans, 2010). Over the past years there has been a steady increase in studies that has focussed on coping and resilience of children and young people. Many of these studies have identified resilience-related factors through quantitative ecological approaches to research. To date, there seems to be very few qualitative studies that have been undertaken to delineate the construct of resilience in child and youth-headed families within the South African context from the perspectives of children and young people growing up in these families (Beeka, 2008; Nkomo, 2008; Leatham, 2005). McCubbin (1999, in Smith 2006:48) argues that qualitative research is well suited to understanding processes and strategies in the study of resilience. This study therefore corresponds to McCubbin‟ calling by employing a qualitative research to the study of resilience in youth-headed families. The first goal of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences and needs of youth-headed families in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, as well as to enhance understanding of the protective factors and processes within youth-headed families and their environment that enable them to cope with their circumstances. The secondary goal of this study was to formulate practice guidelines for supporting members of youth-headed families that could be used by social workers and other service providers rendering services to these families in order to enhance their coping and resilience. The following objectives were formulated to guide the research process: - To explore and describe the experiences and needs of youth-headed families; - To explore the perceptions of community members regarding the needs of youth-headed families, as well as their perceptions regarding how these needs are addressed at community level; - To identify and describe the protective factors and/or processes within individual members of youth-headed families, their families and community context that promote the coping and resilience of youth-headed families; - To explore the views of service providers rendering services to youth-headed families regarding the nature of interventions and programmes rendered to these families; - To review the literature on existing family support programmes in order to identify good practice examples to inform the formulation of practice guidelines for supporting members of youth-headed families.