South Africa is currently experiencing ever-increasing rural-urban migration with many citizens from the former homeland areas migrating to cities to seek employment. Despite long-term residence in urban areas, many township dwellers do not consider these places to be home. Research into circular migration patterns reveal the lifelong relationships that migrants (amagoduka) have with their family home (ekhayeni). This study aimed to explore this relationship, looking in particular at the meanings imbued in the locality of home. In addition, the role of natural landscapes and social components in constructing meanings and attachments to ekhayeni for Xhosa-speaking migrants in Cape Town townships, who have family linkages to rural villages in the Transkei, was also explored. The study found that the landscape of home remains central to migrants’ cultural identity, belonging and well-being. Childhood experiences in nature, and cultural and recreational activities that continue to take rural inhabitants into these landscapes, remain key to this relationship. The rural area, as a geographical entity embodied with social and cultural/spiritual components continued to supply and satisfy many human needs for migrants, which were seen as crucial for psychological, mental and spiritual well-being.

There has been insufficient academic research on the music of the Eastern Cape in general and Port Elizabeth and New Brighton in particular. This study, as part of the International Library of African Music (ILAM)lRed Location Museum Music History Project (ILAMIRLMHP) - an oral history intervention to save the music history of New Brighton from extinction through research and documentation of the memories of veteran musicians - is focused on jazz vocalists. The primary objective of my study is to investigate, critically analyze, interpret and document the career experiences of six New Brighton jazz vocalists in the context of performing in the Port Elizabeth music industry during the apartheid and the post-apartheid eras. The secondary objectives are to stimulate research interests in music students and ethnomusicologists to pursue research on the music of Port Elizabeth and the Eastern Cape and to inspire and motivate the vocalists to continue making music with renewed zeal. A qualitative research paradigm informed the field research necessary for this study. The fieldwork paved the way for an eclectic framework of analysis grounded in Pierre Bourdieu's notions of habitus, field and capital, examining the impact of the context on the vocalists' habitus which influenced how they viewed and interpreted their past and current experiences in the performance field. Data obtained through extensive interviewing of New Brighton's contemporary female vocalists and their male counterparts revealed that they have no opportunity to make commercial recordings. The musicians have to migrate to Johannesburg to have successful music careers, although personality politics, greed and lack of professionalism also work against the musicians' success. The data shows that New Brighton musicians, both male and female, do not have enough performance opportunities and there are fewer chances to tour now than there were from the 1960s through the 1980s. As in the apartheid era, female vocalists are still discriminated against in terms of pay, and men discriminate in how they pay other male musicians. Analysis of the vocalists' jazz compositions revealed that their song lyrics depict a bona fide urban African culture and reflect the emotional needs of the society in which they live.

Despite efforts to promote increased employment, people with disabilities are considerably underrepresented in the workplace. As a flagship model of skills development, the researcher conducted a longitudinal study of learners with disabilities and Learnership stakeholders to identify successes, challenges and long-term outcomes of a Western Cape Learnership. The research relies heavily upon the experiences of the Learnership stakeholders, particularly learners with disabilities, to articulate how experiences are impacted by the model design as well as societal factors. What is revealed is a social and political context whereby the artefacts of the past amalgamate with present actions of redress, which impact strategies to better prepare learners with disabilities to integrate into the formal economy. The findings examine the impacts of Learnership design and implementation; interconnectedness between disability, race and poverty; influence of government and policy; and overall efficacy.

The purpose of this treatise is to ascertain the impact of economic downturn on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Banks. This has been sparked by the huge speculations in the market as to what will happen to BEE and how will the banks cope in general with the impact of this scourge. It is imperative to understand the influence of the 2008+ economic downturn on socio-economic reconstruction and development in South Africa and the black economic empowerment and its funding mechanisms. The treatise has two phases the, namely the theoretical phase and a bit of narrative phase. In the theoretical phase the research study interrogates what the literature review reveals about the economic downturn, BEE as well as performances of different banks across the world. This shows the economic impact that the banks have had to endure during the economic downturn. This resulted in stock markets losing their value. The dividend earners were significantly affected including a sizeable number of BEE companies. The BEE companies are perceived to be too reliant on debt on to finance their deals and this treatise will look at various options of financing a BEE deal and what is deem to the most suited financing structure. The narrative phase involves semi-structured interviews that were conducted in order to ascertain the real impact that South African were faced with and how they have managed to steer clear of the turbulent waters. This also looked at how the BEE consultant views the current occurrences in the market.

Even though the post-apartheid democratic government introduced a “social model” approach to address disability, there is still low employment rate of People with Disabilities. Government has enacted different legislation aimed at the inclusion of people with disabilities into the mainstream of society; however, the majority of people with disabilities are unemployed and often denied employment opportunities. The study seeks to evaluate employment of people with disabilities, identify challenges facing the government departments and local municipalities in employing people with disabilities, and to determine what measures can be taken to improve the employment of this group. A purposive sampling was used to select the government departments and the municipalities. A total of seven organisations, participated in the study consisting of four government departments and three local municipalities of the Joe Gabi District. During the interviews, a semi-structured interview guide was used to generate in-depth interpretation from the participants. The data was then analysed using quantitative methods such as graphs and tables and qualitative methods such as data coding through Tech's (1990) framework as described in (Creswell, 2003). The findings of the research revealed that government departments and municipalities still experience challenges in recruiting and providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities. There are a number of factors perceived by participants as challenges to low recruitment and employment of people with disabilities. These include: A lack of clear internal policies and guidelines at district levels of the government departments; Tendency by the government departments and municipalities to use the Employment Equity Plans only as a tool for compliance with legislation; A lack of effective recruitment strategies especially for people with disabilities. The participants also suggested a number of ways to improve employment and recruitment of people with disabilities, which include partnering with relevant organisations that could help in providing work-seekers who are persons with disability, developing effective internal recruitment strategies, HR managers to be trained in disability management and all relevant legislation and finally departments to fund posts specifically for people with disabilities.

Due to the continual constant battle women have to face in order to progress in the workplace, it has become necessary to assess the degree of transformational change within the workplace within South Africa to try to establish just what these barriers are and how it can be overcome. To examine the main problem, three sub-problems were identified. The first sub-problem that had been identified dealt with what the women’s rights in the new South Africa. It was investigated by evaluating the situation in the New South Africa and what has changed from the past. Is there more gender equality or not. The second sub-problem looked at the barriers that women face in the workplace. It is evident that sexual harassment, male chauvinism, trying to balance work and family as well as organisational structure and culture were among the top barriers that are a hindrance to women’s advancement in the workplace. Finally, the third sub-problem investigated what the glass ceiling effect is and the effect that this has on women in the workplace. The investigation evaluated, and emphasised the difficulties that women face in order to progress in the hierarchy of not only management but other occupations as well. Results have shown that most females and males believe that the glass ceiling is prevalent in the workplace. Most people believe that women can however break through the glass ceiling but now there is a new phenomenon, “The Glass Cliff” which allows women to break through the glass ceiling but only of organisations that are already in trouble.

The role that women play in the economy of any society is a desirable goal for equity and efficiency considerations. Just as with the rest of the world, the South African women lagged behind their male counterparts within the economic empowerment space and in the formal labour force. However, the role of women has undergone some transformations with issues relating to employment opportunities, such that their labour force participation has risen considerably since 1994. The female labour force participation rate is still seen to be persistently lower compared to the male participation rate even in the second decade of democracy. The rate of women labour force participation is even lower than the average. On the other hand, the increases have also been coupled with the rising rate of unemployment among women. The objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of female labour force participation in the South African labour market. The study uses a regression analysis on a cross sectional panel data covering a period of 1995 to 2010. Unlike most popular beliefs, the findings of this study reveal that fertility though not statistically significant, positively influences labour force participation of women. Other variables that are statistically significant in explaining female labour force are HIV/AIDS, marital status, age, household income and education. Race was found to be insignificant in explaining female labour force participation in the South African labour force.

Crime in South Africa is one of the serious challenges facing post- apartheid democracy. As a result, many people find themselves jailed for different crimes which impact their ability to obtain formal employment upon release from jail. Therefore, employment is considered to be a significant contributor to an ex-offender not returning to offending behaviour. It is thus proposed that society has an essential and active role to play in attempts to lower recidivism rates. The hypothesis of this research was that lack of job opportunities for ex-offenders contributes to them breaking parole conditions. Also, communities where ex-offenders come from are not well prepared to welcome them back as transformed people. This treatment of ex-offenders contributes to them reoffending. Furthermore, the brick making industry plays a crucial role in the lives of ex-offenders by giving them an opportunity to be employed after serving their sentences. Finally, employment in the brick making business brings dignity back to the lives of ex-offenders. This study used qualitative research methods to address the research questions and gather relevant data. The use of a qualitative approach was adopted as it allows a deeper exploration of the different research objectives and questions of the study. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings of this study have revealed that the brick making business in the Mthatha region, in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, is making a big difference in the lives of ex-offenders by offering them the opportunity to gain paid employment, thus contributing to their proper reintegration in their communities.

The main purpose of this qualitative research study was to investigate strategies to improve the representation of black females in senior levels within the South African banking industry. This was done through investigating the challenges that black women face in their career advancement within the banking industry and the strategies which currently exist and can be implemented to improve this representation. In as much as the research is aimed at seeking strategies to improve black women representation in senior positions, it also seeks to understand the barriers experienced by black women in different levels within the industry as these levels serve as a pipeline for senior management. This problem was addressed through answering the research objectives. The research objectives were achieved through conducting a literature review to explore the existing research topic and conducting an empirical study. Empirical evidence was obtained through conducting semi-structured interviews with seven black women who are currently working in the banking sector. Semi-structured interviews were used due to the target population being specific to black women as well as the need to acquire in-depth knowledge from black women of their experiences in climbing the corporate ladder in the sector. The key findings of the research found that the participant’s perception was that black women were at the bottom, that black women were displaying behaviours that were inhibiting their progress to senior positions. The study also found that black women struggled to advance to senior positions due to different challenges that they encountered. The study is finalised by the participants providing recommendations in terms of how the representation of black women could be improved.

Since 1994, South Africa has undergone socio-economic, political and demographic transformation. The Employment Equity Act (No 55) of 1998 aims to facilitate workplace transformation through the elimination of unfair discrimination and the implementation of affirmative action measures to enable equitable representation of employees in all occupational categories and levels in the workplace. This legislation was amended on 1 August 2014, and South Africa has watched with keen interest to see what the impact of the amendments to the Employment Equity Act would be on the world of work. For many it was to see whether job seekers and individuals from the designated groups experienced equity in access to the workplace and fair treatment in employment. For others, it was to see to what extent businesses would either benefit from its accountability and fairness to all employees or suffer from increased regulatory compliance to employment equity and affirmative action amendments. At the heart of the amendments was a need to make the South African Constitution real for South Africans in facilitating work inclusive environments in which people are enabled and motivated to contribute to the goals of the organisation. The state must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights, one of these rights being equality. Affirmative action as a component of employment equity is inherently part of the process of increasing and managing diversity and identifying barriers to fair employment. Transformation does make business sense. No business will survive in the long-run, unless it reinvents itself and constantly adapts to the ever-changing demands of an increasingly competitive global environment in which it operates. An organisation’s ability to create a work culture in which diversity management is effectively managed is more likely to experience the positive effects thereof on its business. Organisations require a diverse workforce with the requisite multidisciplinary talents and knowledge to achieve its goals in an ever-changing environment. The evaluation of the extent of the progress and the narrative is to be drawn from the reported workplace demographics. This is made up of statistical analyses of the representation of individuals from designated groups at different occupational levels, as well as training and progression of designated employees by reporting employers. The ultimate test of transformation however, is in the extent to which employees would vouch for the inclusivity of the workplace environment and the total absence of unfair discrimination based on listed and arbitrary grounds. For the Commission to be able to comment on the experience of diversity management and inclusion as part of employment equity, a different approach needs to be taken. I am excited to share that the Commission’s strategic plan for the period 2016 to 2021 has prioritised the need to go beyond workforce demographic statistics and move towards a better understanding of the experience of fair treatment, diversity and “inclusion” Management. There is a significant shift in the way in which the Commission is approaching its work, in the interest of the country. It is not the aim of the Commission for Employment Equity to focus its attention on the punitive measures for non-compliance only, and accordingly the third Commission hosted the Employment Equity Awards, which recognise the good work done by organisations towards furthering the transformation agenda. The third Commission moreover developed a number of Codes of Good Practice to support the implementation of employment equity. A lot of ground was covered to enable the fourth Commission to focus on their mandate more effectively. We are grateful for their hard work and we wish them well as we look forward to realising our objectives. On a different note, the United Nations offices in New York were a hub of activity and rigorous debate during the March 2016 Summit on the Status of Women. One of the themes extensively interrogated at the summit was “Women Empowerment in the economic space”. Globally, not enough is happening to turn the economic status of women. The United Nations Sustainable Goal 5 is “Gender Equality”. A 50-50 target has been set for female representivity at all occupational levels globally. South Africa needs to work towards this goal as part of their contribution. The Summit echoed the words “Women leaders in the business world is everyone’s business”. It would do us proud in the future to be able to report significant progress in this area. Another topical issue was “Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value”. Three countries, namely Canada, Sweden and Iceland have committed themselves to pay parity across gender by 2022. South Africa on the other hand has already enacted this policy. We need to see significant change in this area. In line with the discussions during the summit, I would also like to encourage designated employers in South Africa to review policies in favour of transparency around remuneration. This will go a long way in creating an enabling environment for elimination of unfair discrimination in the workplace.