M.Com. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Com. (Economics) / Combating poverty is at the frontier of analyses in South Africa today. The study to combat poverty in South Africa is six-fold. After setting the nature of the study to be pursued in Chapter 1, the dissertation analyses the theories of poverty in Chapter 2. The record of poverty in South Africa is analysed in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 focuses on the methods to combat poverty in South Africa. Chapter 5 is a summary of the main findings of the study. A proposed structure plan to combat poverty in South Africa is investigated in Chapter 6. Chapter I analyses the problem and its setting. Reducing poverty is the fundamental objective of economic development. It is estimated that 18 million people in the RSA live in absolute poverty. They live in households with incomes below the minimum income level ofR695 per month at 1990 prices. Sustainable economic growth is needed in the RSA to combat this poverty. Chapter 2 discusses the theories of poverty. Theories of poverty are today in a state of crisis. The alternative model derived from radical and structuralist interpretations of poverty has also proved disappointing. Myrdal's theory argues that poverty is caused by the inequality problem which is closely related to unemployment and material poverty. The minority group theory explains that poverty is caused by the death of the chief wage-earner and chronic irregularities of work opportunities. The sub-culture theory explains poverty as a way of life.

Discovering and developing one’s talents significantly increases the likelihood of one leading a meaningful and fulfilling life, realising success in the world, and breaking out of the cycle of poverty. It should be the responsibility of schools to provide opportunities for learners to discover and develop talents that they are passionate about. This passion will then create a self-reinforcing cycle in which learners are more motivated to work hard in school and further develop their talents. Therefore, discovering and developing one’s talents should be seen as both a means to improved education and an end of education itself. This research paper sought to identify the factors limiting township learners from discovering and developing their talents and to make recommendations as to how to mitigate these factors. The researcher used the partnership between the Masinyusane Development Organisation, a local education non-profit organisation, and School A, a secondary school in the township of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth as a case study. Data from the study were carefully analysed and it was concluded that the township learners are not being provided the opportunities necessary, particularly in the schools, to discover and develop their talents. This has resulted in poor academic performance, high drop-out rates, low levels of motivation, confusion with regards to career development, and missed opportunities to break out of the cycle of poverty. The researcher believes this research sheds light on the issue and lays a foundation from which to provide South African township learners with greater opportunities to discover and develop their talents. These opportunities will assist learners in improving their school performance, ensuring that they embark on career paths they will realize success in, and ultimately, in breaking out of the cycle of poverty that traps so many of them.

This study proposed a modification of the traditional cost-of-illness approach. It considered additional indirect cost parameters that yield a comprehensive cost structure for human capital at a micro level. Although HIV/AIDS is an epidemiological problem, it has enormous direct and indirect economic costs. Arguably, the most important cost associated with HIV/AIDS results from the high rates of morbidity and mortality among working age adults, the vast majority of those infected. These are essentially losses in an economy's existing stock and potential accumulation of human capital, implying lower levels of labor productivity and eventually loss of labor. These impacts are accounted for in existing macroeconomic and microeconomic impact studies. Indirect costs, such as forgone earnings due to illness, are included whereas forgone earnings of caregivers in the household are unaccounted for.

This study proposed a modification of the traditional cost-of-illness approach. It considered additional indirect cost parameters that yield a comprehensive cost structure for human capital at a micro level. Although HIV/AIDS is an epidemiological problem, it has enormous direct and indirect economic costs. Arguably, the most important cost associated with HIV/AIDS results from the high rates of morbidity and mortality among working age adults, the vast majority of those infected. These are essentially losses in an economy's existing stock and potential accumulation of human capital, implying lower levels of labor productivity and eventually loss of labor. These impacts are accounted for in existing macroeconomic and microeconomic impact studies. Indirect costs, such as forgone earnings due to illness, are included whereas forgone earnings of caregivers in the household are unaccounted for.

M.Com. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Com. (Economics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Introduction: Globally, over forty million adults are infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), with twenty-five million people having already died of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) worldwide by 2007. To date, approximately twenty-eight million members of the labour force have been lost to AIDS. In terms of the settings approach to Health Promotion, the workplace presents as one of the most effective and significant settings in which to respond to the epidemic. This study formed part of The Workplace VCT/Treatment Uptake Project (WVUP), which is a longitudinal study located in a company in the South African mining sector. The broad aim of the WVUP was to provide new knowledge on the reasons for low and slow uptake of VCT and treatment services in workplace settings and to implement and evaluate interventions to improve uptake of these services. The specific aim of this phase of the study (a Situational Assessment) was to unravel the contextual influences on VCT and treatment participation rates at the selected site, as a precursor to succeeding phases of the WVUP. Method: This Situational Assessment comprised of an archival documentary analysis (aimed at developing a historical perspective of the company’s HIV/AIDS program) and interviews and focus groups with key organisational stakeholders (aimed at a contextual assessment of the program). A qualitative approach was used for this study, as it provided an in-depth and detailed understanding of the organizational and personal experiences, incidences and occurrences that make up the contextual milieu for the VCT and HIV/AIDS treatment services at the study site. Fourteen individual interviews were conducted with key stakeholders, followed by eight focus group interviews with these constituencies. Data was collected using audiotapes and were transcribed verbatim. A quality assurance check was conducted with random sections of the tape compared against the transcripts. A list of themes across all interviews and data was developed and then reduced and coded using Nvivo7, a qualitative datamanagement software programme. This tool enabled the researcher to store and code the data and search the data thematically. The results of the study were interpreted through the lens of two theoretical frameworks, viz., the Precede-Proceed model and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Results and Conclusions: The discussion of results incorporated the findings from the archival audit and documentary analysis as well as the various factors that emerged from the key stakeholder and focus group interviews. Even though the mine had high VCT uptake rates, significant concerns were apparent with regard to the VCT and treatment programmes. Some of these concerns centered around the levels of support from mine management and Head Office, support of employees for the HIV/AIDS programme, relational challenges with the union, confidentiality issues, treatment and treatment adherence issues, environmental influences, spousal VCT uptake, race, culture and sexism, and fear. Salient findings have been discussed using the selected theoretical frameworks and several theoretically and empirically derived recommendations were offered to inform the next phase of the WVUP study. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008

The gold mining fIrm in South Africa is viewed as a normal fIrm producing gold bearing ore but faced with a quality constraint (grade). Grade, however, is never uniformly distributed in a metalliferous deposit and because high grades are mined fIrst, the quality constraint becomes increasingly severe with cumulated production. The fIrm will continue to mine gold bearing ore until it reaches its mining limit where the marginal cost of recovering the gold is equal to the marginal revenue received from that gold and at that point the economic deposit becomes exhausted. Because the mining limit is determined by cost/technology and price, it is not fIxed and thus the point of economic exhaustion may change. When high grades are mined fIrst the relationship between the tonnage of gold ore and the grade describes the rate at which the grade is expected to fall with cumulated production. In this thesis, the grade for South African Witwatersrand gold producers is modelled to fall exponentially. The mining limit, determined by costs/technology and price, can be expressed in terms of grade. By predicting the decay in grade relative to the tonnage of gold ore and applying a mining limit, a life-time size of the economic deposit can be estimated. The remaining life of a producing gold mine can then be determined and the flow of gold predicted. An empirical treatment using the disk model of a gold deposit is undertaken for a gold mine, a goldfIeld and the total Witwatersrand gold deposit. A dynamic econometric analysis of expected mining costs and gold prices is not attempted; however certain examples are used to illustrate the applicability of the model and the influence of the South African gold mining tax formula on the life of the mine.

M.Com. / The study was conducted with the primary purpose of developing, within the framework of business management, with specific reference to strategic management, a management approach for combl-taxi facilities. Currently no formal approach for the efficient management and operation of combi-taxi facilities exists. The management and operation of combi-taxi facilities occurs on an ad hoc basis, is fragmented and restricted to only a few functions that are executed. Existing combi-taxi facilities are, however, a management and financial burden for the owner (traditionally a local authority) and gave reason to the physical deterioration' of the infrastructure and poor or insufficient management and operation thereof. The quality of combi-taxi services are dependent on the standard of combi-taxi facilities and related activities. In this study a systems approach was followed for the development of a holistic approach for the management and operation of combi-taxi facilities. The objectives of this management approach from a business perspective are the creation of self supporting combi-taxi facilities that are efficiently managed and operated, as well as an effective management structure with a healthy income base. Management, as the nucleus of the successful functioning of combi-taxi facilities in the context of this study, is regarded as the planning of and the organizing, leading and control of persons in the business which are responsible for the operation of the combi-taxifacility through the execution of activities and tasks within the relevant business functions, to ensure the optimal utilisation of scarce resources and the achievement of goals.