No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 2002.

Coal mining on the Highveld has historically served, and continues to serve as an indissoluble cog in South Africa’s development. The study contends that the inherent speculative character of coal as a finite resource results in bearing costs beyond the financial sphere. These costs at some stage of the mine life-cycle have to be accounted for. By using a Polanyian interpretation of double movement and crisis, the study argues that the manner in which natural factors such as coal have historically been inscribed in the production process, alongside labour and technology, to a large degree determine the character of productive relations in a particular society. More fundamentally, it is argued, this interaction between capital, society and nature determines the extent to which the State is able to perform its role of counter-movement against the over-exploitation of society and nature. This is demonstrated by situating the development of a former coal mining village, Rietspruit colliery, within the necessary historical phase of South African development – as hinged upon the accessibility and availability of coal, in particular from the Witbank coalfield. It is however, in a post-coal mining context that the study alludes to the unintended social costs arising from coal-led development, arguing social costs and inequality as evident at Rietspruit colliery, as effectively institutionalised. This is due to the historic function of the State vis-à-vis facilitating mineral extraction. On this basis, the study calls into question recent sustainable development discourse such as the Department of Minerals and Energy’s Sustainable Development through Mining (2009) (SDM) initiative. The study argues the notion of mineral extraction and coal mining in particular, serving as the means de jour for achieving sustainable development, as flawed. This is illustrated at Rietspruit colliery by reflecting upon the manner in which a post-mining sustainability plan was implemented. The core issue concerns the dis-embedding of social costs related to mining, including mine closure, from the necessary historical, socio-political and socio-ecological context. Compounded by a poorly enforced regulatory environment, this approach views mine closure, including the social aspects of mine closure, in a de-politicised, technocratic manner of rationalising closure as cost-effectively as possible. It is here that the utility of the socio-ecological approach is made evident, by opening up the discursive space for social justice discourses relating to the social costs of coal mining, to find common ground with discourses concerned with environmental activism. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

<p>This study focused on municipal service delivery campaigns before the advent of the integrated development planning framework. In particular, the focus was on the role played by the Masakhane campaign in improving service delivery and contributing to a better life for the community of the greater Middelburg in Mpumalanga Province. The municipality of the greater Middelburg won several awards in recognition of its achievements in the Masakhane campaign and serves as a model example for other municipalities.</p>

Since the advent of the democratic dispensation in 1994, the government of South Africa has made significant steps in addressing issues of national concern. One of the major highlights is a Bill of Rights, as stipulated in the South African Constitution, Act 106 of 1996, which states that every child has a right to basic education. However, in spite of compulsory education, an extremely high rate of absenteeism has been noticed in many primary schools of the Eastern Cape Province in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan region. The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of the major factors that contribute to absenteeism in the Govan Mbeki area of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Region, with the ultimate aim of promoting school attendance among learners. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to collect the data in two schools. Using purposive sampling, two schools in the Govan Mbeki area were identified. These two schools were known to have a high rate of learner absenteeism. In each of the schools – which, in this research, are referred to as school A and school B, 20 parents, 6 teachers and 20 learners (10 per school) were identified as participants. The major findings of this study show that the factors affecting school attendance are interlinked; and, they include – although they are not limited to – bullying, poverty in households, poor teacher-student relationships, a poor learning environment, and the underperformance of the learners, which, in turn, result in disinterested learners. The study recommends a joint engagement of school, homes and the Department of Education to develop mechanisms, which might help both parents and teachers to navigate potential solutions to curb the trend. Furthermore, there needs to be a concerted effort to reduce household poverty and to sensitize teachers of their responsibilities towards their learners.

M.Sc. (Geology) / Despite Chrissie Lake being South Africa's largest freshwater lake, the chemistry of this lake and the surrounding lakes and pans in the Mpumalanga Lake District has never been studied in detail. These closed systems show varying chemistry while being in very close proximity to one another, adding to the uniqueness of this area where pans, usually typical of arid regions, are found in a humid area. The factors affecting the water chemistry of these lakes needed to be identified and explained. In order to evaluate the water chemistry in this unique environment, water samples were taken at the end ofthe wet and dry seasons, in April and September 2007 respectively. The major pans were sampled, as were adjacent fountains or springs, indicative of the perched groundwater aquifers found in this area, as well as borehole water from the surrounding farms. Alkalinity was determined by manual titration upon returning from the field while pH and conductivity measurements were performed on site. Major cations and anions were analysed for using ICP-OES and Ion Chromatography respectively. Sediment samples were collected from the floor of each pan in the summer sampling and the mineralogy determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). During September 2007 sampling, precipitates found on the floors and banks of the pans were also collected and analysed using XRD, to identify mineral species precipitating from solution. Initial results show pH values ranging from 7.0-10.5 for the lakes and pans and from 6.0-8.0 for the borehole water and springs. Values as low as 100 mglL Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) were measured for the pans, with maximum values set at 10 giL for the most saline of these bodies of water in the wet season and as much as 90glL for a pan almost completely dried out in the dry season. The water in the closed pan systems are dominated by Na-CI- HCO~ and have varying concentrations of major cations. The dilute spring waters have TDS values ranging from 20-200 mg/L, indicating the excellent quality of the groundwater, while some boreholes reach values of I 000 mg/L TDS showing possible linkage to pans or leaking of the pan water into the surrounding strata. To understand the main processes affecting the inorganic chemistry of the surface and shallow groundwater of this area, major ions were plotted against chloride. The latter behaves conservatively and can thus be used to monitor the behaviour of solutes in the pan waters. These plots illustrate that the dominant process in the evolution of the waters in the MLD is evaporative concentration. Removal of species through mineral precipitation is clearly seen; carbonate species...

M.Sc. (Environmental Management) / The use of atmospheric dispersion models to predict ground level pollutants concentrations has been on an increase in South Africa in the last decade. At this stage National Department of Environmental Affairs has published a draft document to provide guidelines on the type or use of models. Most Air Quality Specialists in the country make use of the United States Environmental Protection Agency approved atmospheric dispersion models to conduct air quality investigations. These models were developed in the United States of America after having considered the environmental set up and monitoring capabilities. In light of the above, much of the required input data are not readily available and calculations have been conducted to make up for the shortfall. For domestic emissions, quantifying the emissions factors is proving to be a challenge for modellers. They calculate emissions factors using different data sets from variable sources – sometimes the data are not up to date. This variability could potentially compromise the output of the model. This study aim was to model domestic emissions from an isolated rural township, Leandra, in the Mpumalanga Province – located within a nationally declared Highveld air quality management priority area – for two one month periods – in both the winter – July 2008 – and the summer – October 2008. This was achieved by using a United States Environmental Protection Agency approved AERMOD atmospheric dispersion model. Hourly surface measured meteorology data were obtained from the Langverwacht ambient air quality monitoring station and upper air data from the Irene monitoring station. The data were screened for any suspect values, formatted and then pre-processed by AERMET to be used by AERMOD. The study also investigated and compared the modelled time-series and monitored time-series data. This study calculated the effective emissions rate of 0.3 g PM10 s-1 m-2 by using a combination of monitored hourly PM10 concentrations and dispersion modelling time series data, for a typical Highveld township. Furthermore, the study revealed that, during winter when air is stagnant, Leandra was demonstrably isolated from other emissions sources of strength in the region – i.e. power station and domestic emissions were the dominant emissions sources. Under these circumstances, indoor and outdoor emissions were above the acceptable standards – i.e. they constituted unhealthy ambient air conditions. During summer – with the higher average wind speeds – Leandra was under the influence of industrial sources and the argument of isolation was not valid.

Ph.D. (Geology) / The Paleoproterozoic (i.e. 2500 Ma to 1600 Ma) apparent polar wander path (APWP) for the Kaapvaal craton (KC) is not well constrained, due to the lack of reliable paleopoles and absence of numerical ages for existing poles. In addition, the duration of emplacement, and timing of remanence acquisition of the Rustenburg Layered Suite (RLS) and other units of the Bushveld Large Igneous Province (LIP) are still unclear. During the present paleomagnetic study, samples were collected from the small intrusions that occur around the RLS and that are believed to be related to the Bushveld LIP for the establishment of new paleomagnetic and virtual geomagnetic poles. In addition, samples from post-Transvaal sills and dykes were targeted for U-Pb dating and geochemical analyses. Geochronological and geochemical data helped to constrain the timing of the newly defined paleopoles. These paleopoles were used in conjunction with previously published ones from KC to evaluate the APWP for this craton during the Paleoproterozoic. Two of the studied post-Transvaal sills in the eastern KC revealed U-Pb ages that are identical to the age recently reported from the Marginal Zone of the RLS. Geochemical signatures of sill samples were in very good agreement with the newly obtained ages. New ages and geochemical data provided constraints on the magnetic components recorded by the sills. The results confirm the existence of B1 Bushveld magma-related sills on KC as well as pre and post-Bushveld sills as previously suggested. Particularly, dataset from the B1 Bushveld magma-related sills allowed for understanding the magnetic history of the RLS at the early stages (Marginal Zone) of its formation. Paleomagnetic sampling of the Uitkomst Complex provided constraints on the remanence acquisition of this complex and also helped to understand the timing of the Bushveld magmatism outside of the main complex. Paleomagnetic data from a post-Transvaal dolerite dyke swarm near Lydenburg revealed a complex magnetic history. Characteristic magnetic components constrained by geochemical analyses were not similar to the RLS, but indicate probable relationship to other units of the Bushveld LIP. The new ages generated in this study coupled to those previously obtained from the upper layers of the RLS suggested that this suite emplaced within a time period of at least 4 million years. Paleomagnetic results from the B1 Bushveld magma-related sills and available data from the upper layers of the RLS reveal that during the RLS emplacement, the Earth’s magnetic field reversed at least eight times. These results, together with data from the Lydenburg dykes, further indicate a minimum of nine changes in polarity of the Earth’s magnetic field during the formation of the Bushveld LIP. During the present study, new pole positions of different reliability were added to the existing paleomagnetic database for the KC. Paleopoles from the Paleoproterozoic database of the KC (including those generated in the present study) were used to propose a new APWP for this craton from ~2200 Ma to ~1800 Ma. Particularly, poles from the B1 Bushveld magma-related sills and Uitkomst Complex provide the information to identify striking features in the APWP of the Paleoproterozoic KC.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The purpose of the study was to examine how the transition process from the foundation to the intermediate phases could be properly managed to minimise challenges that are part of it, some of which disturb a smooth integration into the intermediate phase. This is a qualitative case study which employed interviews, document review and observation methods to collect data. Data were analysed through the thematic content analysis and the constant comparative methods. Findings of the study revealed amongst others that shifting of language of instruction from mother tongue in the foundation phase to English in the intermediate phase requires attention. In addition, changed teachers’ handwritings from foundation to intermediate gave learners a problem. Finally, teachers who were not trained to teach a foundation phase were found to be complicating the transition from the foundation to the intermediate phases by learners. On the basis of the shared findings, the researcher recommends that English be made a language of instruction from the foundation phase, not from the intermediate phase as it is the currently the case in primary schools The researcher further, recommends that it be made mandatory for teachers from the foundation and intermediate phases to use print method when writing inside the classroom with learners as a way of addressing the problem of different handwritings by teachers. Some of teachers’ handwritings give learners a huge problem to see clearly. Hence the recommendation of the print method. Finally, the researcher strongly recommends that only well trained and qualified teachers be permitted to teach foundation and intermediate phases. This is likely to ascertain that a good educational foundation is laid at an early stage, when learners are still so young and cognitively highly receptive.

The research attempts to establish how an identification parade should be conducted, for evidence derived from it to be admissible in court. To conduct effective investigation, it is important for investigators to be familiar with the concept “identification parade”, its purpose, the procedures to conduct it and its values. To achieve the goals and objectives of the practice of an identification parade, investigators must know how to conduct it, what the value of its evidence is, and how to use it as a technique to identify suspects. The direction, by implication, and clarification of the crime situation, is hardly possible without the determination of the identity of the perpetrator or suspect of a criminal act. The recognition of the identification parade as a form of evidence gathered is of the utmost importance. / Criminology / Thesis (M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation))

The aim of this study is to determine the role that innovation plays in economic development and how an economic environment can be created that is conducive to innovation. The urgent need for development in large parts of the world indicates the importance of the increase in innovative activities because innovation is indicated as the “engine of growth and development”. It was found that innovation takes place within an innovation system and should be studied from a system perspective. The system perspective implies that there are different participants and that these participants function individually but that they also interact (wittingly or unwittingly) with one another. The innovation system is defined as a system that includes the participants or actors and their activities and interactions, as well as the socio-economic environment within which these actors or participants function, which determine the innovative performance of the system. A system approach is therefore necessary to study the influence of innovation on development. The role that innovation plays in economic development has been established by means of the historical patterns of economic development and major innovations as well as an analysis of literature of empirical studies. The historical pattern indicates the importance of innovation for economic development, but literature revealed the complexity of the relationship due to the non-linear relationship among different actors or participants in an innovation system. The main determinants of innovation was identified and a conceptual, descriptive model for an innovation system was developed, indicating the different participants, their roles, the interaction among them, and the economic environment within which the participants function. The model was applied to the Mpumalanga province in South Africa as case study. Strengths and weaknesses were identified in the Mpumalanga innovation system and recommendations were made for the improvement of the Mpumalanga innovation system which in turn should lead to an improvement in the economic development of the province. / Economics / D.Comm. (Economics)