M. Tech. Comparative Local Development. Department of Economics / Indigenous knowledge is the systematic body of knowledge acquired by local people through accumulation of formal and informal experiences, as well as intimate understanding of the environment in a given culture. This study was aimed at reviewing the current indigenous knowledge systems in South Africa, with particular emphasis on its preservation and as a tool for development.

This study explores knowledge of some medicinal plants amongst the sub-urban community of and around a township in the Eastern Cape province. This qualitative interpretivist case study presents the prior knowledge of medicinal plants possessed by Grade 9 learners, which is used as a springboard toward interviewing traditional healers, herbal practitioners and lecturers at a university in the departments of Botany and Pharmacy. The data obtained from the informants reveals the factors that can influence integration of indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants in the learning programme for grade 9 General Science. These factors include: prior knowledge and enthusiasm of Grade 9 learners and teachers, support of the community which include parents, traditional healers, herbal practitioners and professionals who could introduce indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants into formal education, availability of resource materials and complexity of identifying pharmacologically tested plants from other indigenous medicinal plants. The analysis and discussion of the findings, have led me to conclude that the enthusiasm of learners who have a rich background of indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants is likely to be hampered by the unenthusiastic teachers as well as the reluctance of herbal practitioners in their communities to part with this knowledge. Hence I recommend that teachers be motivated through workshops and in-service training, conducted by goverr\ment paid herbal practitioners using the prior knowledge of learners as a stepping-stone.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (PhD (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / PhD / unrestricted

Arable crop production in Nkonkobe Municipality is low due to abandonment of potentially productive land and low productivity of the cultivated land. Little attention has been given to farmers perspectives with regards to crop production and land abandonment. Understanding the relationships of indigenous knowledge systems, where local approaches to soil classification, appraisal, use and management and land evaluation, and scientific approaches could be important for the effective use of available soil resources while avoiding those resources that are vulnerable to degradation. In addition, the interactions between soil factors and climate could be useful in understanding the erodibility of soils. The intergration of scientific research and indigenous knowledge systems could help in the identification and delineation of high potential land and on crop suitability evaluation. The objectives of the study were: (i) to determine farmers‟ perspectives with regards to land utilisation and abandonment, constraints on crop production and crop preferences, (ii) to integrate and compare indigenous knowledge systems with scientific approaches of soil classification and potential, (iii) to determine the effect of climate and soil factors on erodibilities of soils in the Municipality (iv) to delineate arable land and evaluate its suitability for maize, potato, sorghum and cowpea under rainfed agriculture. Using semi-structured and open-ended interviews, information on limitations to crop production, cropping preferences, indigenous soil classifications, cropping potential ratings and erosion was captured. Descriptive and correlation statistics were used to analyse farmers‟ responses. The information was later used for a pilot participatory mapping and the determination of the agricultural potential of the soils in three selected villages of the Municipality. Field boundaries of soil texture, colour, depth, and slope position were captured using global positioning systems (GPS). The relationship between the degree of erosion and soil and slope factors was analysed by step-wise regression. Crop suitability for rainfed agriculture was done using the FAO guidelines for Land evaluation for rainfed agriculture. The spatially referenced crop suitability classes were produced by applying the Law of Limiting Combinationusing GIS Boolean Logic. The major biophysical factors, affecting crop production and land utilisation were soil degradation and low and erratic rainfall, while other factors included lack of farming equipment and security concerns. Maize, spinach and cabbage were the main crops grown, with maize sorghum and wheat the most abandoned crops. While it was difficult to accurately correlate indigenous classification with international scientific classification, the importance of colour, texture and soil depth for both classification and soil potential, suggests that some form of correlation is possible which enabled communication and other extension information to be conveyed. The shallow and stony soil (urhete) correlated well with the Leptosols in World Reference Base (WRB) or Mispah and shallow Glenrosa soils in the South African system. The red structured clays (umhlaba obomvu) matched the Nitisols in WRB or Shortlands in the South African system. The non-swelling black clayey soils (umhlaba omnyama) matched soils with melanic A horizons in both the WRB and South African soil classification systems. The dongwe and santi soils developed in alluvial sediments belonged to the Dundee, Oakleaf or Augrabies soils in the South African classification system and fluvisols or Cambisols in the WRB system. There was good agreement between farmers assessment of the cropping potential and scientific approaches but scientifically high potential red soils were rated lowly by the farmers due to difficulties in management caused by shortages of farm machinery, especially under dryland farming. Overall, the soil factors affecting erosion were influenced largely by climate, while parent material was also important. Climate had a dominant influence on soil factors most notably fine sand and very fine sand fractions and exchangeable sodium percentage being more important on soil forms occurring in arid and semi-arid climate and less in the sub-humid and humid areas, where clay mineralogy, particularly kaolinite and sesquioxide dominated. Dolerite derived soils were the most stable and should be given the highest priority for cropping development while mudstone and shale derived soils had a lower cropping potential. While slope gradient and length had some effect on soil erosion in arid and semi arid environments its influence was generally overshadowed by soil factors especially in humid zones. Cow pea and sorghum were the most adapted crops in the region while potato and maize were marginally suitable under rainfed agriculture. The study revealed that most adapted crops were not necessarily the most preferred crops by the farmers. A small percentage of the land was delineated as arable and therefore optimisation of this available land should be prioritized.

The study was conducted in Eastern Cape Province to 1) investigate local people’s knowledge and perceptions on Euryops floribundus and 2) landscape distribution and effect of Euryops floribundus on herbaceous vegetation and soil. A total of 90 households who own livestock were randomly selected from the three communal areas, namely; Tsengiwe, Upper Mnxe and Manzimdaka for household surveys and group discussions. For landscape study, a total of about 5 ha of land were selected at Upper Mnxe communal area. Selection criteria included the presence of E. floribundus and different landscape gradients. A total of four 50mx50 plots were marked along the landscape gradients: Bottom, Middle, and Upper Slope and upland positions. To study the effect of E. floribundus invasion on the herbaceous vegetation and soil, a total of 4 ha communal land was selected in an accessible area which had a largely flat terrain. The area was selected to have adjacent sites with no invasion (< 5% shrub cover), light (5-15% shrub cover), moderate (>15-35) and heavy invasions (>35% shrub cover) of E. floribundus. The average household size in the study area was 6.8± 0.7. All people in the three communal areas unanimously ranked sheep as the most important species for their livelihood, but the ranking of cattle and goat varied among the communal areas. All elder groups agreed that Europs floribundus decreases both the quantity and quality of herbaceous forage as well as livestock production. Moreover, invaded patches create more bare areas which are responsible for the loss of top fertile soils and the formation of rills and gullies. The result showed that the total density of E. floribundus significantly increased from the topland (2301 plants ha-1) moving to the bottomland (4888 plants ha-1). Canopy cover was significantly lowest in the topland (17.9%), but the remaining gradients had similar cover. Grass dry matter yield was higher in the bottomlands and sloppy gradients than the toplands. Soil organic carbon was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the flat than the sloppy terrain. Soils from higher elevations (toplands and upper sloppy) had significantly higher N than the lower elevations (bottomlands and Middle sloppy). The lowest dry matter was observed at low invasion and non-invaded sites. Soil chemical properties were generally different from all density levels. In conclusion, E. floribundus encroachment was found to be major cause of decline in the peoples’ livelihood because as this reduces the vegetation diversity and livestock production, both of which are the major of their livelihoods.

Traditional healing is one of the most trusted methods of healing in South Africa, especially in rural areas, where health-care infrastructure is inadequate. People have depended on this method of healing since time immemorial. That belief has been strengthened by the fact that this method keeps people in touch with their ancestors. Traditional healers are trusted and believed to be the link between people and their ancestors. The Dwesa community is amongst the areas that still have strong belief in traditional healing. Traditional healers have a variety of methods of healing that they use, these methods have been trusted for people of all age groups. These methods are ukugabha, ukufutha and ukucima. Traditional healers prescribe them for both major and minor illnesses. They are believed to play a role in cleansing people from inside and outside. These methods together with other methods that are used in traditional healing are being explored in this study. This exploration is based on the fact that this information will be integrated into the teaching of isiXhosa to Pharmacy students at Rhodes University. This is an initiative to create awareness amongst health-care practitioners about traditional healing methods, so that they can caution and advise their patients about medicine taking behaviours, also to make them approach the subject in a sensitive manner. An isiXhosa course has been taught to Pharmacy students, as a pilot in 2007 and as an elective in 2008 onwards. This course deals with cultural issues in a broad manner, the issue of traditional healing specifically, and these methods of healing are outlined in the course, such that students have an understanding first of what a traditional healer is and their role in providing health-care services.

The founding documents for a new, democratic South Africa adopted a more inclusive and people-driven approach to innovation. The literature and policy analysis reveals a „shift‟ away from this approach to a more market-driven, exclusivist approach to innovation. R&D (research and development) and technology-driven innovation had been institutionalised at the expense of social, cultural and indigenous innovations. This „shift‟ limits the potential of innovation to benefit a wider segment of society. The absence of a „model‟ of innovation that exploits the strengths of all forms of innovation runs the risk of defeating the normative intentions of the founding innovation policies of the new, post-Apartheid and democratic South Africa. The OECD, from which South Africa „inherited‟ its notion of innovation, acknowledges the shortcomings of the technological innovation and calls for a conceptual framework that will address the shortcomings of the dominant, exclusivist notion of innovation. This inquiry was conducted to investigate an appropriate conceptual framework of innovation that would contribute towards achieving normative policy intentions of post-Apartheid South Africa. It employed a grounded theory design that used semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, observations and cooperative inquiry. The data analysed suggest the following propositions: 1. Thesis 1: Innovation is constrained by the dominant science and technology paradigm. 2. Thesis 2: Inclusive and integrative innovation cannot exist within an exclusivist innovation paradigm. 3. Thesis 3: Transforming an exclusivist paradigm into an inclusivist paradigm requires change at constitutive level and not just at regulatory level.4. Thesis 4: Synthesising an inclusive and integrative innovation requires creativity, open dialogue and imagination. Against the above propositions, this thesis recommends a conceptual framework that is underpinned by an inclusive and integrative paradigm. Such a framework proposes transformative actions that have potential to achieve normative policy intentions of post-Apartheid South Africa. Further research into a constitutive design for an inclusive and integrative innovation policies and practices is recommended. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Education, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / This thesis focuses on the alarming situation of the rate of HIV infection which is escalating every day in South Africa, and what can be done to address the rate of HIV infection. Much has been tried to curb this escalation, but all efforts have had little effect. This concerns me deeply. So I have looked at the problem from the perspective of education. I have personally experienced how Zulu indigenous knowledge, in the form of traditional modes of Zulu sexuality education, was used in the past to address the problems of sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy before it was sanctioned. I have seen that the rituals performed as part of traditional Zulu sexuality education have been effective. I believe that indigenous knowledge systems in the South African context refer to a body of knowledge embedded in African philosophical thinking and social practices that have evolved over thousands years. Indigenous knowledge systems acknowledge the rich history and heritage of the people as important contributors to nurturing the values and norms in society, and so form the basis of education for the people. I believe that our indigenous knowledge systems according to the dictates of rites and rituals observed by our forefathers can play a major role in the (sexuality) education of our youth, and can optimise our efforts to fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic. This study focuses on the adolescent stage. Adolescence is a phase of discovery and experimentation in which young people develop new feelings, which (coupled with physical maturing) lead to exploring new behaviors and relationships, including sexual behaviours and sexual relationships. Therefore, I believe that adolescents should be targeted because they are just beginning to face social situations in which their decisions and actions about their sexual behaviours and sexual relationships will determine their future. In addition, adolescents are – or should be – school going, so they can be influenced by what is in their school curriculum. I have made suggestions about how the Life Orientation Grades 10—12 curriculum can be used to include traditional sexuality education for this purpose. In doing so, I do not suggest that all South African school going teenagers should perform the traditional Zulu rituals, but I am suggesting that the revival and adaption of traditional modes of sexuality education in all cultures could be helpful in the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic. I use the Zulu traditions because they are the traditions with which I am familiar. I have carried out this study to promote the use of Zulu traditional sexuality education to curb the rate of HIV infection among young Zulu people. I believe that this traditional method, if it is used optimally, can reduce the rate of infection and the speed of mortality, as well as the problem of early pregnancy among our Zulu youth, in South Africa. / National Research Foundation

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study analyses the extent to which the current intellectual property system is suited to the protection of traditional knowledge in the Western Cape. Employing a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates economic and legal theory as well as legal philosophy, this study argues that although advances in the fields of biotechnology has brought with it the need for greater intellectual property rights protection, the protection of traditional knowledge has largely been ignored. Traditional ethnobotanical knowledge holds immense economic value for both commercial entities seeking to develop products based on traditional knowledge as well as for the communities that possess such knowledge. Protecting traditional knowledge is necessary to ensure that the communities contributing their knowledge are recognized and compensated for such contributions. In order for a system to provide adequate protection for traditional knowledge it has to be consistent with and suited to the needs of traditional knowledge holders. This study therefore evaluates the prevailing system of knowledge protection as embodied in the intellectual property rights regime as a means of protecting traditional knowledge. The analysis reveals that the dominant justification for the existence ofIPRs is based on utilitarian considerations that promote IPRs as a necessary incentive encouraging innovative activity. This utilitarian justification also provides the basis for an economic justification for the existence of IPRs that suggests that the conferring of exclusive rights (in the form of IPRs) to innovators ensure that such innovators are able to recover their research costs and realize profits from their inventions. The IPR system as it exists is underpinned by these considerations and embedded in principles of individualism and private property. The WTO reinforces and promotes this approach to intellectual property in the TRIPs agreement by recognizing intellectual property as a 'trade related' issue. The inclusion of IPRs as a 'trade related' issue in the multilateral framework of the WTO reflects the interests of multinational corporations and developed nations who rely extensively on these mechanisms to maintain their power and wealth in an increasingly knowledge driven global economy. The exclusion of traditional knowledge within the TRIPs, coupled with the desire to extend patents to cover life forms is also indicative of this bias inherent in the system. South African intellectual property legislation is then applied to the traditional knowledge of an indigenous medicinal plant to test whether IPRs are able to provide adequate protection to traditional knowledge. In this regard it is found that patent protection, which could potentially provide the greatest form of protection for traditional knowledge is. not suited to the needs of traditional knowledge holders. Problems of identifying owners, determining inventors and novelty, time limited rights and costs all limits the potential of patents as a tool for protecting traditional knowledge. Similar constraints limit the potential of other categories of IPRs to provide protection for traditional knowledge. However, it was found that IPRs do provide a certain measure of defensive protection. The study therefore concludes that the IPR system as it exists, both in the international trade environment as well as at the national level, fails to adequately address the threat of appropriation and the concerns of traditional knowledge holders. Amending the IPR system and/or developing sui generis systems of protection are therefore necessary to ensure that the knowledge of communities are protected and such communities are able to benefit from the exploitation oftheir knowledge and resources. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om vas te stel in hoe 'n mate die huidige sisteem vir die beskerming van intellektuele eiendom geskik is vir die beskerming van tradisionele kennis in die Wes-Kaap. 'n Multidissiplinêre benadering, wat uit elemente van ekonomiese- en regsteorie sowel as regsfilosofie haal, is gevolg om te wys dat die beskerming van tradisionele kennis grootliks geïgnoreer is, alhoewel nuwe deurbrake in biotegnologie die behoefte skep vir groter bekerming van intellektuele eiendom. Tradisionele etnobotaniese kennis het geweldige ekonomiese waarde vir beide die kommersiële entiteite wat produkte uit sodanige kennis wil produseer sowel as vir tradisionele gemeenskappe aan wie die kennis behoort. Dus, indien sulke gemeenskappe voordeel wil trek uit hierdie kennis, is dit nodig dat hul bydraes erken moet word, en dat hulle daarvoor vergoed moet word. Sulke beskerming sal net doeltreffend wees indien dit aangepas is by die behoeftes van hierdie gemeenskappe. Dus word die huidige sisteem vir die beskerming van tradisionele kennis geevalueer in hierdie studie. Die ondersoek wys dat die sisteem vir die beskerming van intellektuele eiendom berus op die teoretiese basis van nutsmaksimering, waar die hoofdoel te vinde is in die bydrae wat dit kan maak tot ekonomiese welvaart deur middel van innovasie. In hierdie opsig word beskerming van intellektuele eiendom beskou as 'n manier waardeur die innoveerder sy navorsings- en ontwikkelingskostes kan delg en wins kan maak. Hierdie benadering word onderskryf deur die WTO in die TRIPS Ooreenkoms. In hierdie opsig word die belange van veral die ryk lande en die multinasionale maatskappye bevorder, 'n sleutelvoordeel in 'n wêreld waar kennis gepaardgaan met mag in die mark. Hierdie verskynsel word versterk deur die uitsluiting van tradisionele kennis van die TRIPS Ooreenkoms en die behoefte daaraan om patentregte uit te brei. Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing oor intellektuele eiendom word vervolgens toegepas op die geval van tradisionele kennis oor 'n inheemse medisinale plant om te toets of intellektuele eiendomsreg genoegsame beskerming aan tradisionele kennis bied. Daar is gevind dat patentregte, wat potensieël die grootste mate van beskerming sou kon bied, nie gepas is in die geval van houers van tradisionele kennis nie. Probleme wat voorkom sluit in die identifisering van eienaars, innoveerders en innoverings, die tydsbeperking op regte, asook kosteoorwegings. Ander vorms van beskerming is aan soortgelyke kritiek onderhewig, alhoewel bevind is dat intellektuele eiendomsreg wel 'n mate van defensiewe beskerming bied. Die gevolgtrekking word dus gemaak dat die huidige vorms van beskerming vir intellektuele eiendomsreg, beide internasionaal sowel as in Suid-Afrika, nie die belange van die houers van tradisionele kennis beskerm nie. Dit is dus nodig om die huidige vorms aan te spreek, of om sui generis beskerming te ontwikkel om hiervoor te sorg.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Information and Communications Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / Existing literature indicates that the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKSs) in the school curriculum have the potential to increase academic performance. However, formal education is still unable to integrate ICTs into the teaching and learning of school subjects, especially, those that are related to IKSs. This research therefore aims to construct a model of the factors shaping learners’ perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for the teaching and learning of IKSs. This aim is sub-divided into four research objectives: (a) to identify appropriate technology diffusion theories for the investigation of the factors shaping learners’ perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for the teaching and learning of IKSs, (b) to construct a theoretical model of the factors shaping learners’ perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for the teaching and learning of IKSs, (c) to perform an empirical confirmation of the above announced theoretical model of the factors shaping the perceptions of learners on the usefulness of ICTs for the teaching and learning of IKSs, and (d) to suggest new ideas for future research on learners’ perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for the teaching and learning of IKSs. A review of existing literature on eLearning adoption by students and learners was conducted in order to achieve objectives a, b, and d. As for objective c, it was achieved through the survey of 115 Hospitality studies learners from the ILembe and UMgungundlovu municipality districts in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province of South Africa. The study’s findings can be summarized as follows: (a) The Technology Adoption Model (TAM) is the backbone of the model designed by this study on the factors affecting learners’ perceptions of the usefulness of ICTs for the teaching and learning of IKSs; (b) Learners’ perceived usefulness of ICTs is hypothetically affected by the following factors: demographics, computer self-efficacy, trust in ICTs, and level of conscientiousness, (c) All these factors were empirically confirmed through a survey conducted by the current study, except that the only validated demographics were : school location, cell phone access, class grade and preferred subject; (d) This research recommends further investigation on the factors affecting learners’ perceived usefulness of ICTs for the teaching and learning of IKSs, mainly because of the insufficient literature on this subject. / M