In this study the main focus is on the experiences of former street children as learners. The main emphasis of this study is the manner in which such experiences influence these children’s learning towards constructing new identities. By examining the experiences of former street children in a school environment, namely a teaching and learning environment, this study will contribute towards the literature by providing focused and relevant information pertaining to the way former street children experience learning. By focusing on these particular learners from the street, the study attempts to explore and build an insightful knowledge in terms of understanding how former street children perceive learning in relation to their present personal and past life on the streets. Through this study the researcher will hopefully be able to determine how former street children feel, experience and relate to teaching and learning within a school context. Data collection for this study included the researcher’s observations and face-to-face unstructured in-depth phenomenological interviews with learners who are formerly from the streets. Among others, the study found that these particular learners have low self- esteem, a low opinion of themselves, and lack of self- confidence. The study also revealed that some of these learners are struggling academically and would appreciate it if academic was parallel with vocational skills so as to equip them for the world of work. It also transpired that learners who have relationships with those who have not been to the streets changed their lives for the better by learning from their peers but those who have relationships with other former street children at this school continue to engage in deviant behaviour, for many schooling has helped them to reclaim their childhood identity.

This study investigates the temporal, spatial and impact characteristics of severe convective storm hazard and risk in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Using historical data on severe convective storms dating from 1897, patterns of the hazard threat and risk to various geographic populations were investigated. A conceptual framework that emphasises the combined role hazard and vulnerability play in defining risk was used for the study. A methodology for ranking the severity of the storms in the historical dataset, based on recorded damage/impact, was specifically developed for the study. It is intended that this methodology will have a potentially wider application and may be adapted to a range of hazard impact and risk studies in South Africa and internationally. The study was undertaken within the context of the South African Disaster Management Act of 2002. Findings of the study show that severe convective storms can occur throughout the province, but there are clearly demarcated areas of higher frequency and concentration. The impact of storms is particularly severe on impoverished and vulnerable rural populations in the eastern parts of the province, where there is an urgent need for building capacity in disaster risk management. A major outcome of the study is the production of a severe convective storm hazard/risk map of the Eastern Cape, which it is hoped will be of benefit to a number of stakeholders in the province, particularly disaster management, but also the South African Weather Service, agricultural organisations, development/planning authorities, educational authorities and risk insurers. It is hoped that this map and the study in general will assist in guiding the operational responses of the various authorities, especially in terms of those interventions aimed at disaster risk reduction in the Eastern Cape.

Desertification is the diminution or destruction of the biological potential of land, and can lead ultimately to desert-like conditions. The vegetation of southern Africa is claimed to have altered over the past 100 years and much of the change is attributed to pastoral practice. In recent years however there has been much debate around the issue of the deterioration and loss of productivity of the natural rangelands, specifically those under communal management. It is one thing to claim that the vegetation has changed but quite another to produce data and analyses to show this unequivocally. Furthermore it is generally difficult to determine the nature and extent of change in natural ecosystems, as one does not know what the optimal base-line conditions should be. For this reason emphasis has been placed on developing models of potential or expected vegetation. By comparing a model of potential or expected vegetation with that of the contemporary vegetation, areas that deviate from expectation can be identified, in so doing providing evidence of the direction of change in the rangelands under various management treatments. The objective of this study was to determine shifts in the vegetation under different land-use treatments, by developing a technique to predict the potential vegetation of an area. In order to explore the nature and extent of degradation at the landscape scale a study site was selected where a range of land-use and rangeland management practices could be studied in parallel. The mid-Fish River valley consists of three markedly different units of land management, namely commercial rangelands, communal rangelands and nature conservation areas. The vegetation within the mid-Fish River valley falls within the Thicket biome and consists of three main vegetation types namely, Short Succulent Thicket, Medium Succulent Thicket and Mesic Bushclump Savanna. The creation of this potential vegetation model was dependent on the direct gradient analysis approach of relating the community patterns with environmental variables. To achieve this, floristic information was collected at sites along a topographical-moisture gradient. A Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) between the environmental variables and the plant communities produced a classification from which the conditions normally associated with the major plant communities were predicted. When projected as a digital map, the qualifying sites provided a testable hypothesis of the potential vegetation. The results of this study showed a definite grazing gradient, which reflects a change from a more mesic environment towards a more arid environment with an increase in utilisation pressure. The predictive vegetation model proved to be useful for predicting the occurrence of the valley thicket communities within the Eastern Cape.

Land use and land transformation are major threats to biodiversity. Only a small percentage of land and thus biodiversity is protected within reserves. The majority of biodiversity lies in the hands of private and communal farmers and in order to protect biodiversity they must perceive it as having some value and have the means and incentive to conserve it. This study examined two things: (i) the relationship between biodiversity and measures of ecosystem health, range condition, primary production and presence of useful plants that would be expected to be of relevant use to land users, (ii) the perceptions of farmers of vegetation states that differ in the abovementioned attributes. Within the Eastern Province Thornveld of the Smaldeel area, four different vegetation states were selected for the study, namely park-like grassland with scattered Acacia karroo (“savanna”), heavily infested Acacia karroo grassland (“acacia”), thicket-grassland mosaic (“thicket”) and heavily utilised thicketgrassland in communal lands (“communal”). The four states are a consequence of different patterns of browsing and fire, in both pre-colonial and recent times. Different ecological attributes were assessed and compared for each state and the relationships between the different attributes determined. Ecosystem health, in terms of stability or resistance to erosion, infiltration/water-holding capacity, and nutrient cycling were compared using Landscape Function Analysis. The agricultural value of the different landscapes was measured using range condition assessment techniques. Plant species richness and other measures of diversity, along with their conservation and usefulness values, were compared between states. Plant productivity and biomass were compared using satellite data. The thicket state was found to be the most functional due to the added habitat complexity provided by the vegetation. It was the most biodiverse, the most useful and contained many, but not all of the important conservation species. The communal state had high biodiversity and was be fairly resilient to heavy usage, not showing the expected signs of land degradation. The savanna state, although thought of as the optimum state for cattle production, was not significantly different from the other states in terms of agricultural potential, but had the lowest values for plant diversity, browse potential, abundance of useful plant species and biomass. The acacia state had the highest and least stable values in terms of biomass production, however it was found to contain species of conservation importance. The preference that four groups of land users, namely men and women from commercial and communal farming areas, expressed for the four vegetation states was assessed using semi-structured interviews in conjunction with A3 colour photographs. The men and women from the communal areas and the men from the commercial areas valued the thicket state highly for its farming potential. The male commercial farmers also valued the savanna state highly as they perceived it as being most productive for cattle farming. Both the thicket state and the savanna state were found aesthetically pleasing by all the user groups, in line with theories of preference for modified savannas and for familiar environments. There appears to be potential for preserving biodiversity on farmland. The farmers in this study, with their very utilitarian perspective, were found to intuitively gauge the health of the landscape and recognise biodiversity as indicating good farming land. The commercial farmers were strongly influenced by economic motives and thus attracted to the savanna state, but also recognised the opportunity for a wider variety of farming activities in the thicket state. The communal farmers have a high dependence on the land for their livelihoods and preferred the thicket state for its overall usefulness. The views of the farmers indicate that the opportunity for conservation is good, however much of the thicket state lies in the communal land, where the openaccess land use system makes managing for biodiversity difficult.

From an apicultural point of view the Cape fynbos is under-utilised and our knowledge of its utilization by the Cape honeybees is incomplete. The key aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the Cape honeybees utilize the fynbos species as the preferred source of nectar and pollen. Subsidiary aims included distinguishing vegetation communities in the area, identifying pollen and nectar sources, the relationship between brood population and seasonal pollen collection patterns, examining the effect of meteorological factors on pollen collection. The study site was on Rivendell Farm within the Eastern Cape Albany district: an area of high species richness. A checklist of vascular plant species was produced revealing 97 families, 271 genera and 448 species. A classification by two-way indicator species (TWINSPAN) recognized seven vegetation communities: Forest, Bush clumps, Acacia savanna, Grassland, Grassy fynbos, Fynbos and Shrubland. Direct field observations of the foraging of Cape honeybees identified 54 nectar and pollen source plant species. Honeybee pollen loads trapped from four colonies of hives identified 37 pollen source plants of which Metalasia muricata, Eucalyptus grandis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Erica chamissonis, Helichrysum odoratissimum, Helichrysum anomalum, Crassula cultrata and Acacia longifolia were the predominant pollen source plants. It was also found that 60% of pollen yield derived from fynbos vegetation. The pollen source plants came from both Cape endemic and from nonendemic species. Thus we reject the hypothesis that Cape honeybees selectively forage fynbos species as a preferred source of pollen and nectar. The examination of the effect of temperature, wind-speed and temperature on pollen collection activity of honeybees revealed that: a temperature range of between 14°C to 26°C was optimal for pollen collection; wind speeds of up to 4m/s were conducive for pollen collection; relative humidity was found to have no significant influence on pollen collection. Pollen collection and brood rearing patterns are positively correlated with flowering intensities, but we found in our Eastern Cape study site that brood rearing was not limited to the spring flowering season but did extend to the end of summer. In order to determine the available nectar yield of common plant species hourly secretion of nectar volumes was measured for 24 hours to determine the variation of available nectar during different times of the day. In all nectar producing species the nectar volume was high in the early morning and declined as the day progressed. We found that the volume of available nectar was affected by prevailing temperature and humidity around the flowers.

An intensive study was conducted on the free-living larvae and parasitic life stages of R.glabroscutatum on Angora and Boer goats in the Uitenhage district. Free-living larvae exhibited periods of maximum relative abundance during months of generally lower rainfall, from the end of autumn to the beginning of spring. Relative larval abundance in open and gully sites was low while larvae were rarely found in bush sites. Relative abundance was higher at 20h00 than at 08h00 and 14h00. Repeated sampling in the same areas did not reduce larval numbers. Over 99% of parasitic ticks removed from Angora and Boer goats were located on the feet. The annual occurrence of a low and variable number of parasitic immatures was synchronous with the occurrence of free-living larvae. High, less variable numbers of adult ticks were removed from goat feet from September to December, the highest numbers being recorded during October and November. The occurrence of a single period of parasitic adult abundance annually indicated a life cycle with 1 generation per anum. There were higher numbers of adult ticks on the feet of the Angora goats than on the Boer goats. Adult numbers were higher on the hind feet of both breeds of goats than on the front feet. R.glabroscutatum adults seem to be implicated in the aetiology of foot abscesses since more infections were observed in Angora goats than in Boer goats and on the hind feet rather than the front feet within both goat groups. In addition R.glabroscutatum adults attached at interdigital sites where abscesses also originated and reached highest numbers in October and November when abscesses were most frequently observed. A review of distribution and host records indicated that R.glabroscutatum was limited in its distribution to the eastern Cape Province, being primarily located in South Africa's major mohair producing areas. R.glabroscutatum was classed an obligative xerophile on the basis of its recorded occurrence in non coastal areas with a low annual rainfall and Karoo and Karroid Bush vegetation. Host records for R.glabroscutatum included 10 species of wild ungulate, sheep, goats and cattle. The common site of occurrence on small stock and on small to medium sized wild animals appeared to be the legs and feet.

This study examines how well the Mgwalana Traditional Authority (MTA) is performing its role of governing and developing its area and the municipal area of Nkonkobe in the Province of the Eastern Cape. The Chief of the MTA is one of the 2400 traditional leaders in South Africa who are responsible for giving leadership and development services to approximately 16 million people living in the rural areas. This study tries to find answers to two research questions: 1) What role does the Mgwalana traditional council play in governance and development? 2) Has the South African government managed to add traditional leadership to the local government structures? The study shows that the MTA is finding it difficult to do much socio-economic development because the Nkonkobe Local Municipality considers governance and development as its own role, and the traditional leadership is supposed to join only in customary and cultural activities. The research concludes that these two bodies could move out of the cross-road if they were to follow the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act 41 of 2003), and if the municipality were to work with local stakeholders, including the MTA, to achieve the goals for local government laid down in section 152 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

The study focused on the role of the State and the environment in indigenous livestock farming in Debe Marela in Middledrift. Although communal farmers in the area used ethnoveterinary medicines to treat and prevent animal diseases, they also widely used conventional medicines, as these often provided a remedy to animal diseases. The livestock farmers believed in indigenous knowledge which empowered them in using herbs to a certain extent, but the latter was preferred. The Department of Agriculture has featured as a support institution and although livestock farmers in the area have participated in and benefitted from state programmes, they believe that they needed more interventions such as visits from veterinary surgeons, Extension Officers and Animal Health Technicians. The study therefore attempts to address the gaps highlighted in the work of other researchers.

Herbal remedies are commonly used in developing countries for the treatment of various diseases, including constipation. The rationale for utilizing medicinal plants for the treatment of diseases rested largely on the belief that they are safe and free of side effects. However, there is limited scientific evidence on the safety and efficacy of these herbal medicines to back up their continued therapeutic application. Aloe ferox Mill. (Aspodelaceae), known as Cape aloe, locally called ikhala is a medicinal plant used by the people of the Eastern Cape Province for the treatment of gastrointestinal problems and constipation. The plant is a perennial shrub with thick succulent leaves bearing brown thorns on the margin and bright orange flowers arranged in oval lanceolate. It occurs in all weather in bush veld, road side, gardens and undisturbed places. According to the ethnomedicinal information, A. ferox is used as purgative. This research project was therefore designed to evaluate its ability in the treatment of constipation and to investigate its possible toxicological property. At the beginning of this programme, a survey of plants used for the treatment of constipation in Nkonkobe Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province was carried out using a questionnaire, which was administered to herbalists, traditional healers and rural dwellers. The study revealed 10 plant species from 8 families that are used for the treatment of constipation in the province. Four plants, Aloe ferox Mill, Boophone distischa L.f Herb, Alepidea amatybica Eckl and Artemisia afra Jacq, were repeatedly mentioned. Based on the frequency of usage, perceived efficacy and availability to the rural dwellers and the traditional healers, Aloe ferox was the most commonly used of the plants for the treatment of constipation. The plant was thus, chosen for the study. The invivo laxative effect of the aqueous extract of Aloe ferox in the treatment of loperamide-induced constipation in Wistar rats was investigated at varying concentrations. The leaf extract at all the dosages investigated (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight) improved intestinal motility, increased fecal volume and normalized body weight in the constipated rats. This was an indication of its laxative properties. However, the laxative property of the herb at 200 mg/kg body weight of the extract showed best efficacy and compares favourably well with senokot, a standard laxative drug. These findings have therefore, lent scientific credence to the folkloric use of the herb by the people of the Eastern Cape of South Africa as a laxative agent. Toxicological evaluation of aqueous leaf extract of Aloe ferox in loperamide-induced constipation was studied at 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight. The oral administration of the extracts did not show any significant effect on the liver and kidney body weight ratios as well as the kidney and liver function indices. The extracts, at all the dosages investigated, did not alter the levels of creatinine, uric acid, urea, calcium and potassium ions. Similarly, the levels of total protein, albumin, bilirubin and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) were not significantly different from the control. The plant extract appreciably normalized the elevated activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) in the untreated constipated rats following treatment with the extract. The extract did not show a significant effect on the hematological parameters except for the increase in the lymphocyte count in the untreated constipated rats, which was attenuated after administering the herb. ThThe available evidence in this study suggests that A. ferox may be safe as an oral remedy for constipation. Generally, the effect of the extract compared favourably well with senokot, a recommended drug for the treatment of constipation. The antioxidant activities against 1, 1 diphenyl- 2 picrylhydrazl (DPPH), 2,2’ – azinobis [3- ethylbenzothiazoline -6- sulfonic acid] diammonium salt (ABTS), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), Nitric oxide (NO), lipid peroxidation and the ferric reducing agents were investigated spectrophotometrically. Alkaloids, saponins, tannins, total phenols, flavonoids, flavonols and proanthocyanidin were also determined to assess their effects on the antioxidants activity of this plant. The phytochemical content of the ethanol and acetone extracts were consistently high compared to other solvents extracts. The level of tannins was not significant (P > 0.05) as compared with other solvent extracts. The free radical scavenging activity of the extracts was high even at lower concentrations (0.025 mg/ml) except in DPPH and lipid peroxidation. The ferric reducing potential of the extracts was concentration dependent and significantly different from Vitamin C and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) that were used as standard drugs. The present study showed a high level of scavenging activity of the leaf extracts of Aloe ferox in all the solvent extracts. Both ethanol and methanolic extract showed potent antioxidant activities than acetone and aqueous extracts. The study indicated that the leaf extracts of Aloe ferox might be a valuable source of natural antioxidant for both medicine and food industries. A. ferox leaf consists of the gel, latex and mesophyll layer; however, the main active constituents of the latex and the leaf exudate of Aloe ferox are anthraquinones which are believed to be responsible for the laxative property. The laxative compound in Aloe ferox leaf extract was isolated and characterized by extracting the plant material in methanol and extract suspended in distilled water. Partitioning was done with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and butanol respectively and was co-spotted with the over-the-counter (OTC) laxative drugs. This led to the successive column chromatography and thin layer chromatography (TLC) of the most active ethyl acetate fraction on silica gel with benzene/ethanol/ammonia hydroxide (BEA: 90:10:1), ethyl acetate/methanol/water (EMW: 40:5.4:5) and chloroform/ethyl acetate/formic acid (CEF: 50:40:10) as the mobile phase. The successive chromatograph and TLC afforded two compounds of Rf 0.420 (blue) and 0.831 (yellow) with the over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. These compounds were not totally elucidated due to their small quantity and instability. However, hydroxyl (OH) and carboxyl groups (COOH) was established as common to the extracted compounds, which might be responsible for the biological activity recorded for the plant extract.

The study took a qualitative approach to the analysis of the effect of the politics-administrative interface on municipal service delivery. It was a case study of the Mnquma local municipality in the Eastern Cape Province. The researcher developed a keen interest in researching on the topic because the political infighting and clashes between politicians and administrators of the municipality have caused a public outcry for the root causes of the infighting to be effectively addressed and redressed. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations of the study will help, reshape public policy implementation, service delivery and fostering of mutual cooperative relations between politicians and administrators both at local government level and any other sphere of government in South Africa. The study, is categorized into five chronological chapters, with chapter one (introduction and background), chapter two (literature review), chapter three (research design and methodology), chapter four (data analysis, interpretation and presentation) and chapter five (conclusions and recommendations). The researcher used a sample size of 40 respondents who were selected using snowball sampling, a non-random sampling design spread accordingly over both politicians and administrators. Data collection was made possible through an open-ended questionnaire, interviews, observations and documentary analysis. Various reports and media statements were also used to augment this empirical study. The study also used an in-depth qualitative data analysis technique which was descriptive in nature and the study made numerous deductions and findings based on the collected and collated data. Findings of the study were, inter alia, too much politicization of the public sector, interference between politicians and administrators into each other’s affairs and vice versa and adverse effects of cadre deployment which are damaging service delivery. The study made numerous recommendations which included, inter alia, training and development of administrators and politicians on their respective roles and responsibilities, enforcement of the politics-administrative interface as a mutually beneficial approach to service delivery, need for proper interpretation of Acts and policy documents and the enforcing of section 139 interventions into municipalities.