A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology, March 2017 / This study sought to explore how undocumented workers in the construction industry and their employers manage the employer – employee relationship in the absence of citizenship and (de facto if not de jure) labour rights for employees. Put simply, it sought to address the question, what governs workplace relations outside labour laws? Because of ‘illegal’ status in receiving countries, the literature has largely made it a norm to portray undocumented workers’ experiences as hyper-exploitative characterised by antagonistic relations with their employers. However by focusing on this subsection of the construction industry made up of Zimbabwean immigrant workers and their employers I was able to get a detailed picture of how labour relations take place in the absence of recourse to the law. Instead of antagonistic relations I found a more complicated picture which was nonetheless more harmonious and cooperative. This goes to show that while ‘illegality’ is an issue in the literature, it is less of one in a sector where ‘skilled’ work is important. These workers are able to assume greater leverage and negotiate (with employers) to a greater extent than the literature on precariousness and migrant labour reveals. This research thus calls for more investigations into spaces of negotiation in undocumented workers’ workplaces and relationships with employers so as to highlight more nuances and avoid generalising conclusions. In presenting these spaces of negotiation and workplace nuances, this study drew on narratives and experiences from both Zimbabwean employees and their employers who were in most instances subcontractors who also originated from Zimbabwe. These were obtained through in-depth interviews with workers and employers conducted between October 2016 and January 2017 and participant observations. / XL2018

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban Studies, Johannesburg 2016 / Like many cities around the world Johannesburg began marketing to attract tourists in the 1990s. Johannesburg has in the last couple of years become a ‘hot’ tourism destination and is increasingly ranked among the top global tourist destinations. Tourist cities market their cultural, historical shopping, entertainment and lifestyle attractions to attract tourists and wealthy residents. They also regenerate older historical districts or build new attractions in the form of high profile infrastructure and architecture. To attract tourists, cities use discourse to represent themselves in certain ways to the prospective tourist. This discourse found in tourism marketing and other communications; creates certain expectations or commonly held imaginings of a city as a tourism destination. These are referred to as tourism imaginaries. In cities these ‘tourism imaginaries’ become absorbed as urban imaginaries that shape not only tourist spaces, but the whole city. The research aims to deconstruct the imaginaries represented in Johannesburg’s tourism marketing to understand how tourism is shaping Johannesburg in line with this view. Discourse analysis is used as a method to achieve this. Michel Foucault understood discourse as a system of representation, where discourse is a way of creating meaning by representing knowledge and exercising power around a subject at a certain time in history and in a particular way. Besides the content analysis of the tourism marketing, the discourse analysis also captured how tourism businesses in three case study sites namely Newtown Precinct, Vilakazi Street and Montecasino Entertainment Complex have responded to the discourses in the City’s tourism marketing. A central argument made is that the drive to create tourist cities reinforces rather than reduces power inequalities and creates further fragmentation by creating pockets of exceptionalism reserved for tourists. The research contributes to the recent interest in the cultural and political understandings of cities which considers the often invisible or overlooked manifestations of power that shape cities. In the research tourism imaginaries are conceptualised as central in the generation and shaping of social practices in the City. It was concluded that the move to create tourist cities has given tourists and other tourism actors symbolic power, shaping the city by remote control, and therefore reinforcing global power dynamics that have shaped the world since colonial times. / XL2018

Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2014. / In the case of Johannesburg, unlike cities around the world that experienced inner city decline, its city centre was never entirely abandoned. It experienced rapid social change. As Johannesburg was beginning to change, the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) was experiencing a declining number of visitors. Unable to engage with the changing social structure, a fence was built around it and JAG turned itself inwards. This thesis explores the intention to take advantage of the rich and dynamic informal industry of hair that has emerged around JAG. Hair is loaded with social, sexual and political undercurrents. In an African city that has been colonized and becoming increasingly globalised, hair’s relevance in terms of politics must be brought to the forefront. By acknowledging the thriving inner workings and its contributors and by engaging in a critical discussion that people can relate to, JAG will be embraced by the community again. An intervention of mediation through architecture is proposed. A Hair Museum perched on the opposite side of the railway that weaves JAG closer into its current context by opening and improving dialogue between the disjointed surroundings. A new museum as a mediator explores the idea of museum-asurban system. The question is asked whether a public institution is capable of assisting a society through a museum by looking at the concept of the Greek ideal of kalokagathia, which means the perfection of the body and city based on balance, justice and proportion. This thesis essentially explores Julian Carman’s idea of a museum1; that the key to JAG’s survival and upliftment lies only if it inspires public ownership. This thesis will explore the significance of celebrating hair in an African city with visible impacts of an imperialist past. By celebrating hair, thereby beginning the discourse of it’s connotations, will allow for a transgression into where society and its’ perception of itself stands in a globalizating world. Museum’s play a key role in society to not only preserve memories but also re-ordering them and making sense of them for later generations (Watson, 2007: 4). The proposed Hair Museum as mediator is not so much about saving a contested and feared city- as much as it is about embracing the new spirit of the city and encouraging the potential held within. 1 Julian Carman, Author of ‘Uplifting The Colonial Philistine: Florence Phillips And The Making Of The Johannesburg Art Gallery’. See References.

Th is document is submitted in partial fulfi lment for the degree: Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2013. / A child’s world is one of imagination; of toys, play and stories. A child’s world is a world of its own with specific needs, which, if not met, will have long-lasting consequences into adult life. This is the unfortunate reality of children growing up in Hillbrow and Berea without opportunities for proper development and learning. It is through play that a child develops and learns to cope with his environment. This project therefore takes as its subject matter the place of play for city children. It constructs an argument for the ‘playscape’ which encompasses both, the spaces in which children (and adults) are invited to play as well as the idea of landscape which, from the start has been central to child design. This thesis proposes a ‘toy library’ within a larger park of play. It is a design of a child’s world and a world of play, characterised architecturally by playfulness and functionally serving the children, teachers and parents of Berea and Hillbrow.

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture (Professional), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / This thesis examines a number of issues that exist in Johannesburg across a series of scales, the urban, the architectural and the programmatic intervention. The project, situated between Fordsburg and Newtown, examines the East-West city connections and aims to provide an identity for the lost inbetween fabric of Burghersdorp. The project is made up of four themes, Disconnection, Memory, Textiles and Recycling, within a scope that examines the present based on themes from the past: The city fabric is fragmented, mainly due to city spatial planning and city politics. There is the potential and need to physically stitch or darn city fabrics through urban planning. The project looks at an urban regeneration scheme that incorporates urban devices as the tools used to stitch the street back together. There is potential to darn the programmatic functions in the city, potentially weaving local communities together, and provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge and skills.The thesis also examines the need for buildings as mnemonic aids. Historically, city fabric was erased for the building of the Oriental Plaza. The memories attached to these buildings and spaces were lost. There is a possibility for regenerating a space for memory in the city, re-weaving this forgotten city fabric into a new node and identity for Burghersdorp. The area is defined by the activities of the community that surround it. Textiles are a significant part of defining the area’s identity. A substantial amount of textiles are discarded. Waste is a valuable commodity, evidently seen from the existence of the informal waste collectors. There is an opportunity to connect these communities while closing the loop, a proposal for a circular economy for textiles in the city. / MT2017

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011.

M.A (Public Administration) / Training in local authorities in South Africa is seen against a background of development problems which include insufficient management skills and, inferior education. These are typical problem of black people in South Africa. It is against this background that, in the present day South Africa, there is a greater sensitivity to the importance of good local government management than ever before. Where skilled local government officials are scarce, as they were in the former black local authorities, they should be developed. Training and development are perhaps the first steps towards that end, though obviously they alone are not enough to solve all the human resource deficiencies within these local government structures. This dissertation identifies the priority training and development needs, describes current training and development efforts in local government and proposes further steps that local government should take to encourage, develop and support appropriate human resource development. Taking cognisance of lessons learned in training and developing elected councillors and appointed officials in local government, a need for a more scientific assessment of participants (councillors/officials) under going training and development was identified thereby ensuring that training becomes more targeted and effective. The original sample targeted for the assessment was 200 participants, being a little more than 20% of the total of potential partic.ipants. Eventually 107 respondents (11.2%) participated in the assessment. The sample is however enough to draw conclusions and make generalisations. The assessment was carried out in five centres: Germiston, Vanderbijlpark, Randfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria. It was done largely using focus group discussions where open-ended questions gave participants enough opportunity to express themselves in an informal environment this proved to be very effective. The most pressing need identified by the participants was for training on the budgetary processes.

M.A.

M.Inf. / South African libraries are enterprises where diversity is fast becoming the norm. Many South African Librarians work in libraries where the need to educate staff to respect human cultures in all their variety has been identified as a significant institution goal. Acquiring knowledge and understanding of culture factors is the key to successful communication across cultures. This study concentrates on how library managers should communicate with employees in an inter-cultural environment as well as how employees should communicate amongst themselves. Communication barriers between employees in libraries have been discussed and it was concluded that a mastery of communication skills which includes an understanding and appreciation of cultural differences is vital for South African libraries of all colours and cultures. How to go about creating a multicultural library was discussed and it was emphasised that library managers should take positive and measurable actions to transform their libraries into multicultural enterprises. The empirical study done at the Johannesburg Public Library indicated that Black South Africans would like White South Africans to learn at least one Black language in order to facilitate communication. Although not one White South African interviewed in this study spoke a Black language, they experienced a certain degree of difficulty in understanding or interpreting a Black's English or Afrikaans. With regard to non-verbal communication, eye contact was equally important to both groups. Being on time was definitely more important to Blacks than Whites. In terms of vocal quality, Whites found Blacks to speak too loudly and were inclined to shout. In terms of world views, 80% of Blacks followed an Afrocentric world view and 90% of the Whites followed a Eurocentric world view. The majority of Blacks favoured intuitive thinking, 30% confirmed that analytical thinking was the only way to think so as to arrive at a logical deduction. The question on stereotypes pointed to Blacks mainly thinking of Whites as independent. Guidelines for effective inter-cultural communication in South African libraries are provided.

M.Tech. ( Architecture) / With a lack of recreational and sporting facilities in Alexandra, the lkasi Gym (founded by local resident Tumi Masite) is one of very few establishments which promote health, in a variety of ways, in a setting where space is valuable and, heart disease is a serious concern 1. The gym has become a strong focal point for Alexandra residents in recent years. Adjacent to the lkasi Gym sits the Alexandra Interpretation Centre, designed by South African architect Peter Rich, incomplete and un-used in this prime township location ...