A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements of the Masters Degree in the Department of Sociology at the University of Zululand, 2008. / The major aim of the present study was to determine the role played by the local district municipalities in the development process of uThungulu district area in KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. The sample for the present study comprises of fifty one (51) males and twenty nine (29) female respondents. The focus of the study was mainly after the 1999 elections and the introduction of local municipalities that incorporated rural areas for the first time in the history of South Africa. From the findings of the study, it became evident that local authorities are well suited to attend to the developmental needs of communities in a manner that would address issues as they are being perceived. The findings of the study were also supported by the Parsonian model which depicts society as being a social system containing roles within responsibilities for solving basic system problems at the societal level. In view of the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: There is a necessity for suitable political system in municipalities for development to take place. The government should adhere to the Freedom Charter adopted in the 1950's for the Reconstruction and Development with the aim of making a "Better Life for AIF\ The level of education and skills development especially in Uthungulu district should receive special attention. Health centers should be made available in every local municipality since poverty and HIV/ AIDS among other things, threatens the survival of the people.

No description available.

The master thesis focuses on the management of the municipality and its sources of information. Thesis mainly applies on the information based on the accounting reform of public finances in 2010. The aim is to describe the information, show its explanatory power and its power in the control of the municipality management performed by taxpayer. In terms of the volume of resources, taxpayers should to be the most important stakeholder group using municipality management information. They provide the largest amount of funds as a form of compulsory payments to the public exchequer for providing activities of the municipality. The last part of thesis presents information on the usability of the data on the economy of the town Semily in 2013.

Published Article / The South African Public Sector is based on democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution. One of those crucial principles is the promotion of efficiency and the economic and effective utilisation of resources. By implication, the achievement of this principle is only possible if people with the correct skills, qualifications and knowledge are selected to lead government projects and programmes. However, the country's unrepresentative labour force, as well as their disadvantage with regard to skills, poses a challenge within the Public Sector. The purpose of this paper is to assess the implementation of employment equity in a category C District Municipality. Focus-group discussions targeting the respective District Municipalities were conducted. The interview schedule demarcated three sections. The first focused on the respondents' awareness of legislative directives, the second on the implementation of a 2005 Employment Equity Plan, and the third on the importance of relevant legislation that was passed by the Government to address imbalances in employment equity. Results indicate that even though some progress was evident, the implementation of the 2005 Employment Equity Plan was slow and consequently the District Municipality under investigation was unable to reach its set targets. Although several reasons are given for this state of affairs, the biggest concern is the absence of the commitment of the Municipal Council in implementing the Plan.

No description available.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Course-work Degree of Masters of Recreation and Tourism in the Department for Recreation and Tourism at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014. / The study was based on community based tourism and was conducted to find out whether the local residents are involved and participate in community based tourism within the study area of uMhlathuze Municipality. Community based tourism provides job opportunities to those who participate and should, ideally, involve every resident of the study area. Men and women are to be given the equal participation opportunities. The study had the following specific objectives: (a) To establish the extent to which the local community understands the importance of tourism in the study area. (b) To find out the level of participation and involvement of the local community in community based tourism (c) To identify the types of community tourism facilities available in the study area. (d) To establish the strategies that can be used to promote involvement and participation in community based tourism within the study area. The findings of the study revealed that some community members do not even know the local tourism authorities who should be promoting community based tourism within the study area. Misconceptions about tourism became evident as some respondents viewed tourism as an activity for the rich and for the white people. The study is concluded by recommending the promotion of community based tourism within the study area applying the managerial strategies to promote participation and involvement by local communities.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master in Community Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014 / Juvenile Delinquency is not an inherent condition, but it is learned through association, imitation, pressure, needs, wants, influence and desires. There is a growing tendency in South Africa of juvenile involvement in crime. Somehow, it is believed that the juveniles are motivated by the Bill of Rights, Section 28 of the South African Constitution, which prohibits co operative punishment. In the year 2008 statistics of Empangeni Magistrates court, 15 % of juveniles appeared in court for different offences. In the year 2009 juvenile cases showed a 21 % increase and in 2011 they increased by 32 %. It is believed that if nothing is done, the economy of the country will never improve. In this study 25 Juvenile offenders were interviewed. 2 case studies of juvenile offenders who had been arrested and charged were done and 3 parents of juvenile offenders who had been arrested then successfully put on non custodial rehabilitation were interviewed. The results proved that causes are systemic. This explains that the whole community is part of the causes. Therefore, the involvement of the community is essential in the prevention of juvenile crimes. The revolutionary awareness campaigns around Umhlathuze are essential. The offender rehabilitation organizations should be given slots at schools, community meetings and conferences. Juveniles with antisocial behavior should be treated for the prevention of crime as a career. The Department of Social Development should be given staff to enable to plan, implement and evaluate policies and programs. The recreational constructive facilities should be offered in an environment that is safe. Adequate support should be given to parents as well. The South African Police need community support in this area.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / Municipalities support social and economic development through infrastructure investment and help to alleviate poverty by providing free basic services to the poor households. The primary funding mechanisms to support municipal service delivery to the poor is the MIG allocated to the municipalities in the form of conditional grant. The MIG programme was specifically established to assist the poor to gain access to infrastructure and can only be used for infrastructure towards basic services. This study investigates the impact of Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) on basic service delivery in Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality which is in Limpopo Province. The findings and recommendations are mainly and only applicable to this specific municipality although there may be areas of possible extrapolation. This study employed primarily a qualitative research as a methodological approach to address the specific research questions. The interview schedule and semi-structured questionnaire were used together with the examination of existing documents. A total of 28 municipal officials and community representatives were involved in this study. Data was analysis using qualitative content analysis method and descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that: Firstly, the finding highlights that the municipality makes all efforts to comply with the requirements of MIG. (a) The spending trend of the municipality shows effective utilization of MIG. However, records show that the municipality has a tendency of spending after three months (October) after commencement of the financial year (It should be noted that the municipal financial year starts from July to June of the next calendar year). The result also reveals that at the project level there might be some over spending tendencies. (b) It is also evident that the municipality has the capacity and the mechanisms to manage MIG implementation; nonetheless, there is a sign that there is inadequate capacity of technical administrative skills and project management skills which are essential for MIG administration. (c) Mechanisms to monitor MIG implementation are indicated by site visits, site meetings and monthly service provider meetings. (d) The municipality demonstrates iv accountability in terms of the administration of MIG by submission of monthly reports, annual reports; implementation plans; cash-flow budget to the national office through provincial office; and by submitting financial statements to Treasury. (e) There is an average understanding of knowledge of MIG and of decisions about projects budgets by community representatives. Secondly, although the finding reveals that the municipality is rendering basic services to its residents using the MIG, some officials indicated that there is a backlog in roads infrastructure and that the municipality needs more funding to address the backlog. The community representatives were recorded saying that the communities are not satisfied with the services rendered by the municipality. It was also evident that the municipality is struggling to address the backlog because of the mushrooming of new settlements and the limited MIG funds. Finally, the finding shows that MIG programme has contributed to improving basic service delivery in Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality. Respondents from municipal office specified that MIG is the main source of funding for delivery of basic service to its communities. The community representatives revealed that they have benefited from different types of projects delivered by the municipality in their wards such as: water, sanitation, electricity, high mast lights, roads and storm water, community halls, crèches, sports facilities, parks, low level bridges and schools. It was also stated by community representatives that the infrastructural projects implemented are not properly maintained. In addition, the finding shows that most respondents are still not well-informed about MIG. That is the reason that they have inadequate information about the projects at local level. Keywords: Infrastructure; Grant; Service; Impact; Municipality

M. Tech. Agriculture / Shortly after World War two (WWII), the South African government responded to the mounting food production crisis in the homelands by introducing public tractor services. Establishment of irrigation schemes and provision of public tractor services for use by smallholders were two important government-initiated modernisation projects in the homelands. It was in line with the idea of modernisation that smallholder irrigation schemes were the prime target for public tractor services, and this lead to the rapid abandonment of the use of animal draught for cultivation on these schemes. By the time public tractor services were completely dismantled, cultivation on smallholder irrigation schemes had become almost entirely dependent on tractor draught. Thereafter, hiring the services of privately owned tractor enterprises became the principal way in which farmers on smallholder irrigation schemes in Limpopo Province cultivated their plots. The rising cost of hiring private tractors placed financial stress on the cropping enterprises of smallholder irrigators, generating interest in alternatives that were more affordable. Animal draught represents an attractive alternative to tractor draught. Whereas prevailing economic circumstances on smallholder irrigation schemes favour the adoption of cultivation systems that are cheaper than those offered by private tractor enterprises, it is not known whether animal draught land preparation enterprises are an appropriate alternative to the existing tractor enterprises from an economic and social perspective. In order to resolve this knowledge problem, the current study was done with the following two main objectives: to determine the profitability of the different types of land preparation enterprises operating on smallholder canal irrigation schemes in Vhembe District Municipality; and to determine the social acceptability of these different types of land preparation enterprises by measuring the perceptions of the quality of the cultivation services provided by these enterprises among plot holders on these schemes.

The aim of my thesis was to describe and analyze the current state of the city of Příbram in terms of the efficient use of the European, state and regional funding and suggest new solutions for the city development.