Thesis (M.A.) (Public Administration) --University of Limpopo, 2009. / The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999) (as amended by Act No. 29 of 1999) is one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by the first democratic government in South Africa. The Act promotes the objective of good financial management in order to maximise service delivery through the effective and efficient use of the limited resources. The key objectives of the Act are to modernise the system of financial management in the public sector; enable public sector managers to manage, but at the same time be held more accountable; ensure the timely provision of quality information; and eliminate the waste and corruption in the use of public assets. The Act, which came into effect from 1 April 2000, gives effect to Sections 213 and 215 to 219 of The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 for implementation at the national and provincial spheres of government. These sections require national legislation to establish a national treasury; to introduce uniform treasury norms and standards; to prescribe measures to ensure transparency and expenditure control in all spheres of government; and to set the operational procedures for borrowing, guarantees, procurement and oversight over the various national and provincial revenue funds. The Public Finance Management Act adopts an approach to financial management that focuses on outputs and responsibilities rather than the rule-driven approach of the previous Exchequer Acts. The Act is part of a broader strategy on improving financial management in the public sector. The Public Finance Management Act replaced or superceded the various national and provincial Exchequer Acts and the Reporting of Public Entities Act. The study concerns itself with the evaluation of compliance with the Public Finance Management Act by the Department of Labour in Limpopo. The objective of the study is to analyze and assess the implementation and execution of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), and to evaluate the compliance of Public Finance Management Act by the Department of Labour in Limpopo Province. Quantitative research methodology was chosen for this study. Data collection strategy used was questionnaires. The researcher employs a strategy of inquiry, such as survey, to investigate a research question. The findings of this research were that communication barrier and lack of training in financial related matters is a challenge for the Department of Labour in Limpopo. The researcher also found that the Accounting Officer at DoL Limpopo did not introduce a system of internal audit under the control and direction of an Audit Committee as it is a prerequisite of the Public Finance Management Act.

Under the Resource Management Act 1991, the interpretation and implementation of environmental policy is primarily the responsibility of local government. The management of forestry operations may be influenced via two written means: statutory rules published in regional and district plans, and recommended best management practices (BMPs) published in guidelines. There are concerns that inconsistency between jurisdictions’ regulations have a negative impact on the forestry industry; both in terms of cost and achieving positive environmental outcomes. This research has investigated and quantified the variation in Permitted Activity rules and BMPs between the sixteen Regional Councils of New Zealand, with a focus on culvert installation and earthworks. This research quantified variation on both a national scale and between neighbouring councils. A peer review exercise was carried out to test the possible subjectivity of results, and found that an expert panel largely agreed with the results produced. It has been found that there is significant variation in these regional rules and BMPs. Variation in both the level of control, i.e., the number of rules and BMPs per council, and the nature of control, i.e., the proportion of rules or BMPs utilised, is considerable. Further, the rules and BMPs of one council are seldom the same as another. This variation is apparent on both a national scale and when considering only neighbouring pairs of councils. The findings on levels of variation between councils show that the variation is high, given that the parameters of this research excluded rules and BMPs which pertained to areas of special significance or value. As only ‘general’ rules and BMPs were examined, one would expect variation between councils to be low. The results, however, indicate that there is only limited agreement between Regional Councils. New Zealand’s resource management rules and policies regarding plantation forestry are currently under review. By highlighting the existing regional variation, this research may help to promote the need for a more consistent and effective approach to the regulation of forestry operations.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the effect of Ontario’s Nutrient Management Act (NMA) on farm level profitability of dairy sector. NMA came into force in 2003 and sets standards for the storage and handling of nutrients for regulating farms that fit certain criteria to reduce the risk of nutrients entering surface water or groundwater, especially for farms with herd size that can produce Nutrient Units above a certain level (i.e. 300 Nutrient Units). While the Act may affect its regulated farms by incorporating additional compliance costs, it may not have the same effect on unregulated farms. Increase in the weighted-average production costs of all farms may lead to elevated milk price within a national cost of production (COP) pricing formula for dairy industry. A theoretical framework that describes the pathway by which farms’ economic performance can be affected by NMA is developed in this study. To empirically test whether NMA has effect on farm level profitability, a RE model is estimated by using the unbalanced panel data from Ontario Dairy Farm Accounting Project (ODFAP) from year 2000 to 2010. The empirical results of this study indicate that NMA may not have statistically significant effect on the profitability of regulated farms with no less than 300 Nutrient Units (NUs). A discussion is further developed to take into consideration factors that may affect this empirical results. / OMAFRA funding code: 200222

Magister Legum - LLM

Previous disaster management studies allude to the problems of coordination and the difficulties that may be associated with the implementation of recovery programmes in New Zealand. These studies have also indicated opportunities for improving the current recovery and reconstruction framework in advance of a major disaster. They have shown that much existing legislation were not drafted to cope with wide-scale devastations and were not developed to operate under the conditions that will inevitably prevail in the aftermath of a severe disaster. This thesis therefore explores improvements that could be made to legislative provisions so that they facilitate large-scale recovery management in New Zealand. Three legislative documents are in view: Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Act, Resource Management Act (RMA) and Building Act (BA). The research investigations involved qualitative research methodology using multi-methods to determine the practical implication of implementing current reconstruction arrangement under these legislative documents. The methods employed include: interviews, document analysis, focus group study, surveys, and the use of subject matter experts for research verification. Results show that the three legislative documents may become sources of vulnerability in post disaster reconstruction because of their influence on the timely achievement of recovery objectives. The impediments posed by these legislative documents are mainly in the form of procedural constraints; ambiguities in rights and responsibilities for recovery management; and deficiencies in the intents and purposes of the legislative documents. More general results show that pre-planning the management of disaster resources; and collaborative arrangements for response and recovery programmes are a pre-cursor to effective and efficient management of reconstruction in New Zealand. The research concludes by providing useful recommendations that are specific to the three legislative documents and other general recommendations. It is hoped the implementation of these recommendations could improve the robustness of the current reconstruction framework so that it is able to cater for the complex needs of rebuilding for resilience in New Zealand.

Little is known about the effectiveness of district plans in protecting built heritage, which is a matter of national importance under New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991 (RMAct). This is despite the fact that the RMAct directs planning agencies to evaluate the effectiveness of plan provisions. This lack of evaluation is not unique to New Zealand or merely symptomatic of heritage planning. Instead, it is a shortcoming in planning theory and practice internationally; a well recognised impediment being that planning lacks a suitable evaluation approach. This thesis aims to address this deficiency by proposing a methodology for evaluating plan effectiveness and applying it to the built heritage provisions of two district plans. The methodology adopted has been shaped by the theory-based and realist evaluation approaches, as developed in the field of programme evaluation. Both approaches share a common ontology regarding claims of causality, which stresses 'knowledge in context'. Thus, a central endeavour of the research is not only to identify the environmental outcomes arising from plan implementation, but also to understand how and why the implementation context promoted or inhibited the achievement of plan goals. In so doing, the causal and implementation theories underpinning the plans' heritage provisions are exposed, modelled and tested. The findings reveal that plan implementation failed to prevent the loss of built heritage values in many instances. While the plans' causal theory was largely sound, key aspects of the implementation theory were not realised during the development control process. Plan quality was a significant factor, as was the commitment and capacity of developers to comply with the plans. The institutional fixation on consent processing speed rather than environmental outcomes was a further impediment. Overall, the theory-based approach provided a useful framework for determining plan effectiveness and holds promise for evaluating plan issues other than built heritage.

Doctor Educationis / President Cyril Ramaphosa first addressed the nation regarding the Covid-19 pandemic on the 15th of March 2020, when he announced the national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act (DMA) to prevent the rise of Covid-19 infections.1 On the 23rd of March 2020 in his second address, the President announced a national Lockdown, initially for 21 days, and outlined more stringent interventions to limit the transmission of the coronavirus and to mitigate its economic and social impact.2 Since then, there have been at least four sets of directions issued to the provinces and municipalities in terms of the Disaster Management Act, with the first set of directions to provinces and municipalities taking effect on the 25th of March 2020. The purpose of the directions issued to municipalities were to direct municipalities in respect of the following matters in response to Covid-19 namely, the provision of water and sanitation services, hygiene education, communication, and awareness. For the purposes of this research, the word coronavirus will be used interchangeably with Covid-19. The first set of directions titled ‘COGTA COVID-19 Disaster Response Directions 2020’ took effect on the 25th of March 2020.3 The directions stipulated that no council meetings outside the District Command Centre meetings may be undertaken during the initial 21 Day Lockdown period, or any other extended period that may be declared. Since then, there have been amendments to these directions. The directions which commenced on the 3rd of July 2020, as far as local governance is concerned, stated that municipalities and municipal entities could convene council meetings.

With the advent of the Municipal Management Finance Management Act, (Act 56 of 2003), working capital issues have been legislatively forced onto managers’ daily agenda. Municipal finance officials have been given a clear mandate to focus greater attention on issues such as debt and cash management and stricter policies relating to short term credit financing. The MFMA allows for the unlocking of the fiscal powers of a municipality to generate its own income. Research objectivesThisresearch is intended as a pilot study that argues greater focus on and improvement of, working capital procedures would assist a municipality to exploit this fiscal capacity. Other objectives include: - Generate greater interest in this topic amongst researchers. - Identify factors that limit the implementing good working capital policy. - Identify factors the affect the income earning ability of municipalities. - Identify possible best practices benchmarking.

The Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 took effect on March 1, 1977. By this Act the United States extended its management over fisheries to 200 nautical miles from shore. Extended fishery jurisdiction was expected to promote industry development and expand the contribution of the fishing industry to the economies of the coastal regions. Benefits to the Pacific Coast groundfish industry have, however, been less than were expected when the Act was passed. A spatial equilibrium model was formulated for the broader United States interregional/international groundfish market. Two steps were involved: First, a system of simultaneous econometric equations was estimated for each of the three product forms—fresh and frozen cod, ocean perch, and flounder fillets. Second, regionalized forms of these equations were collapsed into simple equations and combined with transportation and storage costs in a larger mathematical programming model. The resulting quadratic programming (QP) problem was then solved (for each product) for the competitive equilibrium quantities demanded and supplied, prices, and product movements. Two objectives were achieved: A model was formulated that accounts for most of the relevant factors influencing the United States groundfish market; and the multiregional nature of this market was established. The estimated price and income elasticities were similar to those suggested by earlier studies, and the estimated product movements were consistent with survey data in the Pacific Northwest. The various policies evaluated in this study (using the spatial equilibrium model) suggest mixed blessings to the Pacific Coast groundfish industry. There is no evidence to suggest that harvesting some average quantities uniformly throughout the year would improve industry revenues. In general, increasing Pacific Coast landings by 30 percent (or more) would depress wholesale revenues but substantially increase fleet revenues. On the other hand, both wholesale and fleet revenues would increase if at least 80 percent of the increase in landings could be sold in markets outside the region. This suggests that an industry policy aimed at expanding landings on the Pacific Coast will improve revenues for all industry participants only if access to outside markets also takes place. / Graduation date: 1987

With the advent of the Municipal Management Finance Management Act, (Act 56 of 2003), working capital issues have been legislatively forced onto managers’ daily agenda. Municipal finance officials have been given a clear mandate to focus greater attention on issues such as debt and cash management and stricter policies relating to short term credit financing. The MFMA allows for the unlocking of the fiscal powers of a municipality to generate its own income. Research objectivesThisresearch is intended as a pilot study that argues greater focus on and improvement of, working capital procedures would assist a municipality to exploit this fiscal capacity. Other objectives include: - Generate greater interest in this topic amongst researchers. - Identify factors that limit the implementing good working capital policy. - Identify factors the affect the income earning ability of municipalities. - Identify possible best practices benchmarking.