This thesis interrogates the dynamics of urbanisation, gender and migration in contemporary Johannesburg through the voices and images of migrant women from the rest of the African continent, now living in Johannesburg. By revealing the lives of a population group that is often hidden from view, it provides details of women’s migration to Johannesburg, and their everyday encounters in the host city. Using these experiences, it sheds light on contemporary migration and urbanisation processes on the continent, expanding our knowledge of the contours of power that shape urban life in Johannesburg and elsewhere. Using the metaphor of the “border” or “borderlands” this thesis explores how women negotiate, cross and remain “in between” the multiple physical, social and imagined borders they encounter in the city. It finds that analyses that read the city through class relationships and capital accumulation do not give adequate weight to the multiple identities and forms of solidarity that exist in cities. Women’s narratives reveal that while their class is an important identity, other identities such as ethnicity, nationality and gender also powerfully shape solidarity and modes of belonging in the city. Moreover, state-centric governance frameworks that have dominated urban policy and scholarly work on the continent are often blinded to the ways in which urban dweller’s actions shift our understanding of the nature and character of state power. Women’s encounters with the state reveal the multiple regimes of power that constitute the city, and the ways in which these subvert, fragment, and yet at times reinforce state power in unpredictable ways. The epistemological approach and findings of this research bring to the fore broader questions around the paradigmatic lenses used to read, interpret and understand African cities. Dominant paradigms tend to draw on western models of cities in ways that undermine African cities’ empirical realities and theoretical potential. For as long as scholars and policy makers fail to see African urbanity in its own terms rather than in relation to how cities elsewhere have evolved, we will continue to miss critical socio-political and economic dynamics that are shaping urbanisation in the twenty first century. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology))

After South Africa’s democratisation in 1994, the areas which had been deemed “only for whites” within the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (CoJ) were opened to all citizens. These changes attracted a high in-migration of people seeking better living in the CoJ. This influx not only challenged the provision of employment but also impacted negatively on the availability of land and housing and on the maintenance of safety and security by the police. Lack of accommodation forced immigrants to squat in the open spaces (including in the greenbelts) within the CoJ. A literature review provided an understanding of this problem locally and internationally. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the affected stakeholders. The findings showed that the measures needed to combat the causes of illegal squatting are beyond police control. The involvement of departments such as Human Development, Labour, Home Affairs and Environmental Management is needed for a successful solution to the problem. / Police Practice / M. Tech.(Policing)

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Government and Public Administration

This thesis analyzes the Cuban medical adaptation in Venezuela called Misión Barrio Adentro (MBA) and seeks to answer the question of whether MBA shows promise as a health system that improves medical accessibility for impoverished and marginalized populations. In many cases MBA succeeds by: utilizing a free universal health care system; locating health centres in previously underserved areas; providing medical education scholarships to populations from non-traditional backgrounds; creating a catchment system based on medical accessibility; scaling up the medical workforce to 60,000 community doctors by 2019; and broadening the very praxis of what health means in a Latin American social medicine approach. However, some challenges remain including issues of corruption, fragmentation, and polarization. Issues regarding internal and external migration of Misión Sucre-trained physicians remain to be comprehensively evaluated. However, the capacitation of non-traditional medical personnel, imbued with conciencia, is significant and could well become an important example for other countries.

This thesis interrogates the dynamics of urbanisation, gender and migration in contemporary Johannesburg through the voices and images of migrant women from the rest of the African continent, now living in Johannesburg. By revealing the lives of a population group that is often hidden from view, it provides details of women’s migration to Johannesburg, and their everyday encounters in the host city. Using these experiences, it sheds light on contemporary migration and urbanisation processes on the continent, expanding our knowledge of the contours of power that shape urban life in Johannesburg and elsewhere. Using the metaphor of the “border” or “borderlands” this thesis explores how women negotiate, cross and remain “in between” the multiple physical, social and imagined borders they encounter in the city. It finds that analyses that read the city through class relationships and capital accumulation do not give adequate weight to the multiple identities and forms of solidarity that exist in cities. Women’s narratives reveal that while their class is an important identity, other identities such as ethnicity, nationality and gender also powerfully shape solidarity and modes of belonging in the city. Moreover, state-centric governance frameworks that have dominated urban policy and scholarly work on the continent are often blinded to the ways in which urban dweller’s actions shift our understanding of the nature and character of state power. Women’s encounters with the state reveal the multiple regimes of power that constitute the city, and the ways in which these subvert, fragment, and yet at times reinforce state power in unpredictable ways. The epistemological approach and findings of this research bring to the fore broader questions around the paradigmatic lenses used to read, interpret and understand African cities. Dominant paradigms tend to draw on western models of cities in ways that undermine African cities’ empirical realities and theoretical potential. For as long as scholars and policy makers fail to see African urbanity in its own terms rather than in relation to how cities elsewhere have evolved, we will continue to miss critical socio-political and economic dynamics that are shaping urbanisation in the twenty first century. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology))

After South Africa’s democratisation in 1994, the areas which had been deemed “only for whites” within the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (CoJ) were opened to all citizens. These changes attracted a high in-migration of people seeking better living in the CoJ. This influx not only challenged the provision of employment but also impacted negatively on the availability of land and housing and on the maintenance of safety and security by the police. Lack of accommodation forced immigrants to squat in the open spaces (including in the greenbelts) within the CoJ. A literature review provided an understanding of this problem locally and internationally. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the affected stakeholders. The findings showed that the measures needed to combat the causes of illegal squatting are beyond police control. The involvement of departments such as Human Development, Labour, Home Affairs and Environmental Management is needed for a successful solution to the problem. / Police Practice / M. Tech.(Policing)

This study explores the changing nature of filial piety in contemporary society in rural China. With the economic, social and political upheavals that followed the Revolution, can 'great peace under heaven' still be found for the rural Chinese family as in the traditional Confucian proverb,"make yourself useful, look after your family, look after your country, and all is peaceful under heaven"? This study explores this question, in terms not so much of financial prosperity, but of non-tangible cultural values of filial piety, changing familial and gender roles, and economic migration. In particular, it examines how macro level changes in economic, social and demographic policies have affected family life in rural China. The primary policies examined were collectivisation, the hukou registration system, marketization, and the One-Child policy. Ethnographic interviews reveal how migration has affected rural family structures beyond the usual quantifiable economic measures. Using the village of Meijia, Sichuan province, as a paradigmatic sample of family, where members have moved to work in the cities, leaving their children behind with the grandparents, the study demonstrates how migration and modernization are reshaping familial roles, changing filial expectations, reshuffling notions of care-taking, and transforming traditional views on the value of daughters and daughters-in-law. The study concludes that the choices families make around migration, child-rearing and elder-care cannot be fully explained by either an income diversification model or a survival model, but rather through notions of filial piety. Yet the concept of filial piety itself is changing, particularly in relation to gender and perceptions about the worth of daughters and the mother/ daughter-in-law relationship. Understanding these new family dynamics will be important for both policy planners and economic analysts.

The persistence and enormity of the housing backlog facing the poorest of the poor is an indication of the gravity of the housing crisis in Gauteng. The challenge exists despite government efforts to provide low-cost housing and formalize informal settlements. Against the background of this persistent need, this study investigates the City of Tshwane Municipality’s response to informal settlements in Mamelodi Phase 3, Gauteng. Participants from Mamelodi Phase 3 and officials from the City of Tshwane Municipality were purposively sampled. Research findings indicated that informal settlements in Mamelodi are caused by various factors, which include movement from rural to urban areas, movement from other provinces to Gauteng and natural population growth. Furthermore, the persistence of the informal settlements is caused by poverty. Most people continue to live in informal settlements since they cannot access financial assistance from the banks as per the National Credit Regulation (NCR). Corruption is also a formidable problem as some informal settlement dwellers alleged that officials of the City of Tshwane Municipality allocated houses in contravention of set procedures. This research shows that the City of Tshwane’s informal upgrading policies have failed in terms of providing adequate housing. Further, the housing policy has not succeeded in creating long-term sustainability in the delivery of low-cost housing to deal with the problems of the informal settlements. Although the City of Tshwane has implemented the Re aga Tshwane, which involves a wide range of policies, programmes and strategies to address the developmental challenges facing dwellers in informal settlements, more is required. On this basis, it is recommended that proper consultation with the community should be held to improve the lives of people in informal settlements in line with Section 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), regarding every person’s right to have access to adequate housing. / Public Administration and Management / M.B.A. (Public Administration)