The primary motivation for this research was to examine political apathy amongst students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The secondary motivation was to question whether youth political apathy threatens the consolidation of democracy. More specifically, the purpose of the study was to critically analyze contemporary literature on the politics of young people in post apartheid South Africa, in order to identify its shortcomings and give an in-depth explanation for youth political apathy, and how it impacts democracy. The writer has employed a qualitative method. Four focus groups were arranged by the researcher at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. All participants of the study were Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) undergraduate and postgraduate black students aged 21-35. The sample of this study included fifty participants. Thus the researcher has utilized a purposive sampling technique. Participants were encouraged by the researcher to have maximum participation in the focus group deliberations. The researcher also made use of elite interviews in the study. The findings of this study suggest that political apathy amongst students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University does exist. Most of the participants in the focus groups indicated that young people in post-apartheid South Africa have no interest in politics.

A common issue in leadership development is the high flyers who reach a position where their lack of “soft” skills hampers their performance and proves a barrier to their continued progression to higher levels of responsibility (Newell, 2002: 288). Business Schools offering Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programmes assist in developing managers with not just managerial competence but also with “soft” skills. By delivering educated business managers, these managers through their intellectual skills and community sensitive values, will lead future transformational processes. It is useful and interesting to consider how important emotional intelligence is for effective performance at work. A considerable body of research suggests that an employee’s ability to perceive, identify, and manage emotion provides the basis for the kinds of social and emotional competencies that are important for success in almost any position. Furthermore, as the pace of change increases and the world of work make ever-greater demands on an employee’s cognitive, emotional, and physical resources, this particular set of abilities will become increasingly important (Cherniss, 2000). The primary objective of this study is to determine the perceptions of the Masters in Business Administration (MBA), B-Tech in Business Administration (BBA), Advanced Business Programme (ABP) programmes and the Business School Alumni to determine the overall emotional intelligence profile of students as well as the effective team functions of the syndicate groups. Based on the main findings of the survey, it was concluded that emotional intelligence is an important factor for the NMMU Business School, MBA Unit students. The skills attained through the course work will not only improve team effectiveness in the syndicate group functioning but also enhance their performance in the business environment. The MBA team learning experiences enhances workplace learning as the ability to work in a team and ability to think and act independently are highly desired skills and competencies for success in the workplace.

Tito Mboweni (2011) said one of South Africa’s biggest tests is the overwhelming the skills shortage. He was echoing the views of Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande who himself said “South Africa could not afford to have an economy "constrained by a severe lack of skills". There are numerous initiatives that having been undertaken by government in an attempt to solve the skills shortage problem. However, these initiatives are not aimed at the tertiary education system. The tertiary education system is the focus of this study as the author investigates how the NMMU Business School can play a significant role in addressing the skills shortage in the credit risk management sector. Following a literature review, surveys were completed by the NMMU Business School MBA students (ninety of them completed it) and personal interviews were conducted with three Provincial HR managers from South Africa’s “four big banks” in Nelson Mandela Bay (Nedbank, Standard Bank and ABSA). The study found that the skills shortage is indeed a problem. The study found that reasons including the legacy left by apartheid and students pursuing the wrong degrees were highlighted as some of the reason for this skills shortage. An opportunity for the NMMU Business School was identified to support the banking industry in addressing credit risk management skills shortage. The benefits include financial reward and more importantly an opportunity to differentiate the Business School and the courses offered at the school from the rest. Some of the recommendations included sourcing of the best practices from institutions like the Millpark Business School on effective partnering with the banking industry as well as a proactive approach to be adopted by the banking industry in terms of lobbying support from other potential role players for example but not limited to, student bodies, BankSeta and the smaller banks in the industry.

This thesis explores the role of water in urban landscape architectural design and identifies strategies that will conserve and optimise the use of water in the built environment. This is done through selecting a site in Pretoria at the intersection of the Apies River channel and Nelson Mandela drive and designing an Urban Water Centre that explores; exposes and celebrates water in the urban context. The design creates opportunities for kids from nearby schools, students from TUT, residents from the area, pedestrians and tourists to interact on a physical and emotional level with water. Educating people about water conservation is an important aspect of the project and raising awareness is the first step. The design addresses the city-wide need for green public open space and provides opportunities for urbanites to connect with water and the Apies River. This connection is established through the facilitation of significant encounters with water. These include physical contact play with water, creating interest and anticipation around rain events and through translating some of the associated attributes of water into a solid surface. The design approach is influenced by studying the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s ecosystem service approach. Green Star SA is investigated for a possible application to landscape architecture. The findings from the Sustainable Sites Initiative are enhanced by General Systems Theory and then used to generate systems that supports the desired experiences. The first and largest system lifts some of the base flow from the Apies River channel with a waterwheel, where after it is purified in a constructed wetland and a chlorine-free disinfecting process. The clean water is then displayed in a play pond that partially drains through a gravity driven vortex generator. The vortex generator aerates and cools down the water while adding movement; sound and a sense of the passage of time to the human experience. From the vortex, water flows into a constructed pebble lined stream that children can play in and experience stream ecology. The pebbles and vegetation refers back to the Apies River before it was lined with concrete. From the stream the water rejoins the channel. The second on site water system addresses rainwater. The design creates anticipation and curiosity associated with rain events. Rainwater from one of the on site buildings are harvested and displayed in a rain-meter garden. A first-flush system intercepts the first dirty water where after it drizzles down a rain-curtain into a rain-meter system. The rain-meters are large bullet resistant glass tank-like containers, calibrated to show how many millimetres of rain have fallen during the shower. A rain-sensor drains the water into a temporary wetland and lets in percolate into the underground storage tank. The third on site water system treats grey water from buildings through a stepped constructed wetland and displays the cleaned water in a jubilant motion activated display at one of the pedestrian entrances. Water from the rain-meter system; the grey water system and harvested surface runoff all contributes towards meeting the water needs of irrigation and buildings. Other eco-system service strategies identified in the study are applied in the design. These include the protection of on site biomass along with the introduction of region appropriate planting; design for- and use of waste reducing materials and the integration of on site systems to enrich the experience. Copyright / Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Architecture / unrestricted

“Nation building without city building is a senseless exercise” - Tomlinson et al (eds.) 2003: x. What is the nation in the 21st century and how is it represented in the urban built environment? This question underlies an anthropological investigation into the meanings of the Nelson Mandela Bridge project - a simulacrum for the making of a particular Johannesburg experience. The multi-million Rand fantasy of the urban imagineers showcases a post-apartheid inner city revival through the personification of a mayoral dream for a world-class city. The city’s textured socio-cultural and political-economic urbanity, its haphazard mining town origins and the aggressive apartheid urban politics, filter into its post-apartheid urban reconfiguration. The artful juggling of socio-cultural, political and economic elements launches the project as physical and symbolic entry-point into a new urban and historical era – a new urban frontier. The project’s technological innovation and slick excesses mirrors 21st century capitalist thinking – a packaging of local experiences into a marketable landscape commodified for moneyed consumption and participation. The privatisation of public space through modes of urban gentrification elicits elitist urban engagement in a partitioned and generic urban space. The latter conflicts with the project’s official branding as: “[being]‘for the good of all’. This research interrogates the adaptation of international best practices, the machinations of trans-nationalism in setting up urban experiences that contest individual constitutional and democratic rights. Contrasted here are the un-narrated voices of the city’s dark underbelly, the uncertainties of a marginalized majority struggling for a meagre existence in the inner-city in the face of the grand-scale urban regeneration project.

Magister Artium - MA (English) / After the 1976 student uprising, South Africa entered a period of increased violent state repression. The struggle against apartheid also became increasingly globalised, as can be seen in the UN resolution and the rise of various international anti-apartheid organisations. My thesis looks at the various ways in which art was used as a response to the crisis of late apartheid in the 1980s, focusing on a landmark international exhibition, the Art Contre Apartheid exhibition which opened in Paris on 1983. It examines the context and history of the Art Contre Apartheid collection, and follows its path to its current location at the Mayibuye Archive at the University of the Western Cape, where it mostly languishes in packing crates. My research locates its analysis of the works in broader debates around art and politics during the struggle years in South Africa, but also to highlights the continuities and contrasts between international responses to apartheid, and local struggle art produced in the period surrounding the launch of the exhibition. Some of most compelling works of art in the collection depict the human form, and register acts of torture. The analysis focuses specifically on depictions of a fragmentation and dismemberment of the human body. Drawing on Elaine Scarry's argument about the limitations of language as an adequate response to trauma, my research develops an analysis of these works that demonstrates how the body becomes a privileged site in which violent political contestations are made visible. The thesis also deals extensively with the 'absence of form', which highlights the various instances in the ACA collection where abstract art was used as a signifier of pain, and thus the unspeakable effects of apartheid.

To be competitive, organisations need to ensure that all their resources are functioning at optimal level. The most important of these resources being its employees. This is because their commitment can guarantee the attainment of organisational goals. Commitment can be attained by an organisation through the payment of internally and externally competitive remuneration and reward packages, that communicate the value of the employees to the organisation. Remuneration and reward strategies are a critical tool for organisations, as they can motivate, attract and retain high performing employees. The theories of motivation, such as, the equity theory, state that employees compare their compensation with that of others and that if they perceive inequity, can be de-motivated or leave an organisation. Therefore, it is imperative for an organisation to ensure that its remuneration and reward strategy is aligned with its business strategy, to ensure clear communication of goals. In order to prevent labour turnover and to ensure commitment and retention, the employer needs to offer total rewards, which include base pay, benefits, variable performance pay, recognition and an enabling work environment. These can be effective as they meet all employee needs as in Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs and ensure the satisfaction of the organisation‟s need for goal attainment. To gain more insight, an empirical study was conducted at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The results of the survey indicated that the NMMU‟s remuneration and reward strategy contained certain elements of the total rewards strategy. These are variable pay in the form of a service bonus and benefits plus based pay. This strategy seems to be ineffective to motivate and retain employees due to lack of clear communication and recognition. To motivate and retain its employees, the NMMU should improve its communication and engage employees and unions in defining remuneration and reward strategies through collaboration.

A customer relationship management programme is a management tool that enables organisations to identify, satisfy and retain customers profitably by leveraging information technology. In addition to this the programme also links all the functional business units of the organisation together to operate as a single cohesive unit. This paper investigates whether or not SAB Miller should utilise a customer relationship management programme to provide off-trade retailers with world-class customer service. An important reason for this investigation is that the local beer market has experienced declining growth over the past few years. Furthermore SAB Miller which has had a monopoly in the South African beer market now faces increased competition in the premium segment of the beer market, which is experiencing growth and has good margins. In order to determine whether or not SAB Miller should institute a customer relationship management programme, a theoretical and empirical investigation was undertaken. The theoretical investigation provided a background to what components make up a customer relationship management programme and how these components are used to develop a customer relationship management strategic framework. Due to customer relationship management programmes not operating in isolation, the various key functions that support a customer relationship management programme were also introduced. Both the advantages and disadvantages of using such a programme were also introduced. The information technology aspects of the customer relationship management programme were also investigated. In terms of the empirical study it was determined that SAB Miller is not currently using a customer relationship management programme. The company, however, does make use of a tailored service package to segment their customers, to determine call frequencies by representatives, the financial needs of customers and what level of service to provide to customers. However, after conducting personal interviews with a sample of off-trade retailers in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, it was determined that SAB Miller and Namibian Breweries Ltd (Brandhouse) provided very similar levels of service in terms of key functions supported by a customer relationship management programme. Therefore, by introducing a customer relationship management programme, SAB Miller could enhance their service levels and profitability to off-trade retailers in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.

This study undertook to examine public participation as a contributor to good governance in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), as part of the process of improving this Municipality’s governance. The main objectives of the study were to analyse the existing processes and arrangements for public participation in the NMBM; to examine the extent to which community participation influences decision-making; to investigate the factors that improve or lead to good governance in a municipal environment; to examine a framework for robust participation, in which communities are able to influence decisions that affect them; and to propose recommendations to potentially improve the Municipality’s governance. The triangulation research methodology was employed with emphasis on both the quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The sample comprised of two Ward Councillors, two selected Mayoral Committee members and 14 Ward Committee members. Questionnaires, with open and closed questions, were employed for the Ward Committee members and semi-structured interviews were conducted with both the Ward Councillors and the two Mayoral Committee members. Statistical procedures supplied by the NMMU Unit of Statistics were utilised to interpret and analyse the quantitative data to determine the results for data analysis. The qualitative data analysis involved thematic content analysis. The findings suggest that the current public participation processes are inadequate. The correlation of results further revealed that a significant negative relationship exists between the Ward Councillors, the Municipality and Ward Committee members. Despite various legislative prescriptions pertaining to public participation requirements in local government, the results suggest that the NMBM may be undertaking the public participation exercise for the sake of compliance and therefore it might not be a genuine exercise. The thesis proposes specific recommendations on how the NMBM can address the current shortcomings in terms of its public participation processes and strategies. Recommendations include significant civic education for the public to understand that being in a democratic country involves active participation in local affairs; more participatory initiatives need to be done to make the public aware of the role of Ward Committees and to invite people to apply to be on these Committees; recommendations also suggested that it would be crucial that Ward Committees are not used as a political platform to push political agendas, as this deters public participation. The NMBM needs to establish a monitoring and evaluation process to track their progress with public participation and develop and implement a public participation strategy and policy for enhanced public participation is also proposed in the thesis.

The aim of this study was to explore and describe HIV and AIDS workplace programmes and policies (WPPs) in the tourism industry of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) in South Africa. This study adopted a quantitative and qualitative approach, in other words, a mixed approach. The reason for using more than one method of inquiry was to obtain a deeper understanding of the tourism industry of NMBM in terms of examined behaviour, and of the meaning of occurrences in the industry. To gather qualitative data concerning HIV and AIDS programmes, key informant stakeholders in the tourism industry at global, national, provincial, and local levels were identified to conduct in-depth interviews. These respondents were selected using the non-probability sampling method of quota sampling. This is a type of stratified sampling in which the selection of the strata within the sample is not random, but rather is typically left to the discretion of the interviewer (Wienclaw, 2015). One respondent for each level of the industry was selected, resulting in four key informant stakeholders participating in the qualitative research component of this study. The initial criterion for participation in the quantitative portion for this study was that tourism businesses based in NMBM must be able to produce robust evidence of HIV and AIDS WPPs. The researcher selected the probability sampling method of stratified random sampling with proportional allocation. This technique considers the known characteristics of the population (Wienclaw, 2015). A database of tourism businesses was obtained from the local tourism organisation, who are members of the governing body for local tourism. This database was cleaned, to eliminate any data that did not meet the participation criterion for the study. Ten per cent of the total number of businesses in the cleaned database were sampled. The simplest approach to sampling is to merely randomly select from the population by, for example, having a computer choose names at random from a list, or by selecting names from a hat (Wienclaw, 2015). Therefore, every fifth business listed on the sampled database was selected to participate. Unfortunately, surveys tend to have notoriously low return rates, and people are frequently reluctant to give out information over the phone. This was also the case for most of the tourism businesses in the sample. When emailed or telephoned, they refused to participate for various reasons. Some stated that HIV does not affect their business; others reported that their businesses were too small and therefore they could not afford to implement these programmes. Some businesses were hearing about the WPP for the very first time, while several others responded with simple disinterest in participating. The findings of the study are that although tourism is viewed as an important industry that contributes to the economy, tourism businesses do not include any intervention programmes with which to respond to the threat of HIV and AIDS to their businesses. Additionally, there is neither leadership nor support from any level of the tourism industry, to create a conducive environment for the adoption of HIV and AIDS WPPs by tourism businesses. The primary reason for the lack of uptake of these programmes is ignorance across cascading levels of the tourism industry, which includes tourism businesses. Additionally, a number of perceived barriers, such as size of business, are cited as the reasons why tourism workplaces in the NMBM fail to participate in HIV and AIDS WPPs. It is anticipated that this study will create further awareness of HIV and AIDS WPPs, in an industry that seems to have limited knowledge about such programmes. This study will also provide guidance regarding the requirements to implement effective HIV and AIDS WPPs.