PhD (African Studies) / Centre for African Studies / The Thulamela Local Municipality is currently experiencing a plethora of public service delivery challenges. This often leads to court litigation and disputes with the institution of musanda. These public service delivery challenges, conflicts and court disputes in many cases leave the communities within the municipality deprived of basic services as a result of slow or a complete lack of service delivery. musanda is a Venda word that refers to the place where the thovhele (king), khosikhulu (paramountcies), khosi (chiefs), gota (headman), mukoma (petty headman), vhakoma (queen mother), vhatanuni (wives), vhakololo (princes/princesses), khadzi and makhadzi (royal aunts), ndumi (king/chiefs’ brother) and the rest of this royal structure resides. As such it also refers to the institution of royal governance. The proposed study aims to analyse the place of musanda as an institution within public service delivery and within the whole process of decentralization of services in the Thulamela Municipality. The study focuses mainly on the current public service delivery system of the government and the role of the institution of the musanda in that process. The basic service delivery system that receives direct attention falls under the Government Cluster, which covers Social Protection, and Community and Human Development. These divisions deal with Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation, Human Settlements, Rural Development and Land Reform, Basic Education and Sports and Recreation. These are the services that are supposed to be rendered by municipalities. The analysis aims to determine musanda’s position in the whole process of providing the public services indicated above.

MSc (Microbiology) / Department of Microbiology / See the attached abstract below

PhDRDV / Institute for Rural Development / Providing access to knowledge and connecting it to the needs of individuals as well as grassroots community have always been at the centre of the mission and purpose of public libraries. Numerous studies conducted in various parts of the world have shown that public libraries are the anchor of the lives of communities where they are established. These studies have revealed that information needs may not be the same for different age groups and for different genders. For that reason many countries have been investing in the establishment of community libraries. In South Africa, a community libraries conditional grant was introduced in 2007 to build capacity for public libraries through building additional libraries and renovating existing ones so that they provide information that will satisfy information needs of all community members. However, there are still concerns about the functionality of public libraries and need to strengthening their capacity so that they adequately address community information. This study was conducted on rural community libraries in Mutale located in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The main objective was to develop a model for enhanced functionality of public libraries for rural community development. The study was conceptualized around the ecological framework (Asselin and Doiron, 2014). The specific objectives were: to identify challenges faced by the library in providing services to adults, youth and children: to establish if information needs of adults, youth and children varied due to age, and to assess the level of satisfaction of adults, youth and children with the services of the local public library. The study used an exploratory sequential mixed method design with the qualitative phase preceding the quantitative phase. The qualitative phase had two phases. In the first, phase fourteen key informants were purposefully selected and engaged in face-to-face interviews as well as one focus group. Qualitative data from this phase were analysed using atlas.ti version 8. Results distilled showed that the library was hampered by centralized library services which were run from the district level, insufficient funding, inadequate library operating hours and lack of ICT support. In the second phase, a total of 150 adults, youth and children were purposefully selected and engaged in face-to-face interviews as well as focus group discussions. An interview guide complimented by camera, and voice recorder were used to collect data from the respondents. Atlas ti version 8 was used to analyse the data. The results showed that information needs of the community were not fully met by provisions in the library. A variety of information resources expected to satisfy the needs of adults, youth and children respectively include increased number of computers with internet connection, extended library opening hours including Saturdays , stakeholder engagement to be recognized, the extensive marketing of the library for it to be used by the community and the need to improve the amenities and library infrastructure. Results obtained in the qualitative phase of the study informed the second quantitative phase . During this phase, an evaluative survey was conducted with adults, youth and children. Convenience and snowballing techniques were used to sample 176 respondents. A questionnaire with a Likert-type ranking scale was used to collect data. The International Business Machines, Statistical Product and Service Solutions (IBM SPSS) version 24 was used to analyse the data. Chi Square and Crammer’s V tests were performed on the data. It was established that more female (59%) than male (41%) respondents used the library. Of the respondents engaged 26% o were children; 30% were youth and 55% were adults. In terms of travelling to access the library services 32% of the respondents travels less than two kilometers while 68% travel more than two kilometers. This indicates that the majority of the users have a challenge of accessing the library due to distance. The majority of the respondents (70%) did not use the library frequently, with only 30% being active library users. Significant differences in accessing library services were observed according to age in terms of “Current books on all subjects”, “Major reference works such as Encyclopaedias and dictionaries”, “Books on arts and crafts”, “Audio-visual materials” and “Electronic databases”. No significant differences according to gender were observed on all aspects on availability of materials except for “Children’s materials”. Only the perception on availability of “Current books on all subjects” showed a moderate relationship across age (based on the Cramer’s V value >.3). However, on all the aspects where the results showed an association by age and gender the relationship was deemed weak as demonstrated by Cramer’ V values (<.3). Generally, all the respondents (adults, youth and children) were not satisfied with the ICTs, availability of information and available services and amenities. Chi-square tests showed no significant associations between age and perceptions on ICT resources of an ideal library, available services, available amenities, marketing of library services, availability of materials in the library and type of information needed to make informed decisions. These results imply that for the library to provide unhindered services, there must be an enabling environment for the smooth running of the library. There is a need for government to review the policy of running the libraries from districts, as this negatively impacts on opening hours, acquisitions of materials and ICTs support. The library needs to do a periodic survey of the information needs of the community so that it responds by providing relevant and current resources. The study proposed a conceptual model that will enhance the functionality of libraries and to enhance their capacity to offer better services to their users. The proposed model is anchored on nine broad areas which are strengthening human resources, funding, access and accessibility, partnerships, infrastructure, ICTs, management, stakeholder consultation and periodic users’ surveys. Thus, if these interventions are heeded to, there is a higher possibility that the library will be more functional and better positioned to close the information gap. The study contributes to the body of knowledge through provision of a conceptual model which highlights factors that hamper smooth provision of library services, and offers pillars (components of the model) that can enhance the functionality of public libraries in rural areas. It further contributes by highlighting those services regard by users to be important for maximal usage of libraries. This study was unique in that as at the time of completion according to the investigator’s knowledge no other study on rural public libraries has looked into the functionality of libraries funded by the conditional grant using a variety of methods, different perspectives through engaging key informants, factoring in the different age groups and bringing in the gender perspective in a single study. Use of different computer assisted software packages (Atlas version 8 and SPSS version 24) over and above the thematic content analysis to analyse the data was also unique as most other known studies only used thematic content analysis for their qualitative data. Based on the findings it was concluded that decentralized services to local municipal level could reduce many of the challenges that hinder libraries from providing smooth and quality services to their communities. Improved materials collections to satisfy individual and communal information needs, user friendly opening hours as well as engaging the community in library decisions could go a long way in ensuring the library is recognized as a community development hub that fulfills its mission of keeping the community informed. It was therefore recommended that the policy on the running of public libraries should be reviewed with the view to decentralize the running of public libraries to local municipalities,. More still, policy on library funding should be reviewed, library opening hours should be extended, better trained ICT technicians should be placed in local libraries, librarians should be appointed on a permanent basis, and a comparative study of all libraries in Vhembe should be conducted to gauge if the community is deriving any benefits from the provision of computers and access to the internet through “Mzansi Online” project. / Staff Capacity Development

This study aimed to investigate the spatial extent of Land-Use Land-Cover (LULC) change and the implications for ecosystem services in order to develop a sustainable land-use management framework for traditional authorities in South Africa. Effectively, this study undertook an insightful examination of the impacts that arise from policy decisions and practices, which unfortunately were found to be ineffective. The methodologies and approaches used in this study included both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The critical quantitative method employed in this research was the use of survey questionnaires to collect primary data. Qualitative approaches, such as one-on-one and key informant interviews, were used to triangulate the findings. Remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) methods were used to investigate changes in LULC from 1990 to 2018 through the use of data obtained from the South African National Land-Cover project. Stochastic models were used to predict future LULC changes from 2018 to 2050. The Co$ting Nature Policy Support System was used to identify and undertake economic valuation of services provided by ecosystems. Statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to identify correlations and the reliability of the data, while graphs and tables were generated to identify patterns and lessons from the research. Between 1990 and 2018, significant changes in land cover were noticed for thickets and dense bush, woodlands, waterbodies, subsistence agriculture, and built-up areas. Woodlands changed by over 1 000 hectares (ha) per year, while thickets decreased by over 900 ha per year. Drivers of these changes include deforestation, among others. Future predictions for LULC revealed that between 2018 and 2050, almost 500 ha of woodlands would be lost to built-up areas. The aggregate value of the services flowing from ecosystems was found to be R9 509 044 608.00. A significant issue was that 90% of the traditional leaders interviewed could not positively respond to whether they knew the extent of the land they presided over, which raised questions regarding the effectiveness of their management systems. Recommendations were made in this study to address the limitations identified in the land-use management practices by adapting elements of the main theoretical frameworks, namely the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services framework; the Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses framework; the sustainability theory; and the hierarchy of plans, into a new framework designed specifically for traditional leaders, titled the “Traditional leaders land-use decision support framework”. / Environmental Sciences / D. Phil. (Environmental Management)

This study is about the gender dimensions of land reform in South Africa. The case study is that of a housing and resettlement project in Daggakraal, Mpumalanga Province. The aim of the study was to describe and analyse empirical realities for rural women, in relation to land, in Daggakraal. The focus was on the research questions for the study namely the nature of land reform practice; whether gender issues were central in land reform at all stages of the project; whether or not participation of women was truly genuine; and the constraints that were faced in the process of land reform delivery. The study was conducted in Daggakraal, a rural town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Research methods employed were both quantitative and qualitative with more emphasis on the latter. A total of 100 respondents participated in the study. This number included 10 key informants 3 of whom were trained as research assistants. The findings indicate that there was very little gender analysis carried out prior to land reform. For this reason land reform has not benefitted the women and men of Daggakraal. Land reform policies and other legislation put in place were not followed to the letter in Daggakraal and in other areas of the country where land reform was implemented; the first land reform (SLAG) has not benefitted the poor, especially women; the rural terrain is an area of contestation and competing interests between women and men. There is also a lack of institutional arrangements to implement a gendered approach to land reform. This study demonstrates the need to tackle and transform the existing power relations at the household level, if government is serious about the gender dimension of land reform in South Africa. In a small way it is hoped that this study will contribute to the limited writing on land reform and gender and also provide a gendered critique of the land reform programme in South Africa. The Gender Analysis Framework (GAF) and the feminist and gender perspectives have helped the researcher to understand and explain the gender dynamics in Daggakraal. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Traditional development theories concentrated on stimulating economic growth without considering the extent to which growth would affect rural people's quality of life. Modernisation has failed to improve life in rural Third World areas. Current development thinking emphasises the human aspect of development and IS more inclined towards participatory rural development. Referring specifically to the Batlharos Water project, the study investigates and identifies the causes ofthe limited initiatives in participatory development within the Kudumane district in the North-West Province of South Africa. Trends in the evolution of development thought to people's participation, including factors, processes and approaches that may facilitate participatory development in the Kudumane area are discussed. Factors that have affected and limited earlier participatory initiatives in this area are isolated. The study concludes that unless rural communities constantly become the planners, initiators and executors of local development, no real transformation of their lives can be accomplished. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Administration)

Traditional development theories concentrated on stimulating economic growth without considering the extent to which growth would affect rural people's quality of life. Modernisation has failed to improve life in rural Third World areas. Current development thinking emphasises the human aspect of development and IS more inclined towards participatory rural development. Referring specifically to the Batlharos Water project, the study investigates and identifies the causes ofthe limited initiatives in participatory development within the Kudumane district in the North-West Province of South Africa. Trends in the evolution of development thought to people's participation, including factors, processes and approaches that may facilitate participatory development in the Kudumane area are discussed. Factors that have affected and limited earlier participatory initiatives in this area are isolated. The study concludes that unless rural communities constantly become the planners, initiators and executors of local development, no real transformation of their lives can be accomplished. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Administration)

This study investigates the use of telecentres for educational purposes in telecommunications under-serviced regions of South Africa. The problem addressed by this research has both equity and efficiency aspects. In particular, the thesis examines the impact of telecentres on the formal and non-formal education outcomes of recipient communities - four telecentres, two in townships and two in rural areas. The urban telecentres are Siyabonga in Orange Farm near Johannesburg and Mamelodi Communication and Information Services (MACIS), in Mamelodi township, near Pretoria in Gauteng Province. The rural telecentres are Tombo near Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape Province and Hoxani near Bushbuckridge on the Mpumalanga-Limpopo Province border. The main aim of the research is to conduct a quantitative survey of the telecentre users’ use of telecentres in the above mentioned locations. On the basis of this, the thesis seeks to come to some conclusions about the use and effectiveness of the South African telecentre program. The quantitative analysis of users is supported by a qualitative report and analysis of data gathered through personal interviews of telecentre operators and employees. The thesis reports on the outputs of the centres, limitations in their function, inhibitors to their economic performance, and recommendations for improving their operations. Some of the findings are that telecentres established through public-private partnership (PPP) funding are more effective and successful, computer literacy is a major resource offered, Hoxani telecentre offers outcomes-based education management skills training for local teachers, while Tombo, MACIS and Siyabonga telecentres offer additional business and electronic courses. The thesis also reviews the South African telecentre program against the background of similar programs in selected Asian and Latin American countries, Australia, Canada, and Europe and against the background of an analysis of South African post-apartheid telecommunications sector reforms (1996 to 2007). Insights into the unique nature of challenges facing geographically located telecentres as well as a new model for understanding telecentre operations in South Africa are offered. / Communication Science / D.Litt. et Phil.(Communication Science)

Reproductive health is very important as it shapes a woman's whole life. Currently there are a lot of obstacles which deny women their rights to reproductive health. The aim of this research was to find out what obstacles deny women the freedom to enjoy their reproductive health in order to establish a contribution which can be used by the Department of Health to improve their services. Descriptive research was conducted, using a survey approach. Convenience sampling was utilized. Participants were selected from a sample of people attending the reproductive health clinic at a hospital and a clinic in the Northern Province. The findings indicate that women are not enjoying reproductive health rights due to low educational level, cultural and societal constraints, low socio economic status and the negative attitude of the providers, of reproductive health services. / Contraceptives / Family planning / Health and gender / Health rights / Reproductive choice / Reproductive health / Reproductive rights / Reproductive health care / Women's rights / Rural women / Health Science / M.A.Cur.(Nursing Science)

This study investigates the use of telecentres for educational purposes in telecommunications under-serviced regions of South Africa. The problem addressed by this research has both equity and efficiency aspects. In particular, the thesis examines the impact of telecentres on the formal and non-formal education outcomes of recipient communities - four telecentres, two in townships and two in rural areas. The urban telecentres are Siyabonga in Orange Farm near Johannesburg and Mamelodi Communication and Information Services (MACIS), in Mamelodi township, near Pretoria in Gauteng Province. The rural telecentres are Tombo near Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape Province and Hoxani near Bushbuckridge on the Mpumalanga-Limpopo Province border. The main aim of the research is to conduct a quantitative survey of the telecentre users’ use of telecentres in the above mentioned locations. On the basis of this, the thesis seeks to come to some conclusions about the use and effectiveness of the South African telecentre program. The quantitative analysis of users is supported by a qualitative report and analysis of data gathered through personal interviews of telecentre operators and employees. The thesis reports on the outputs of the centres, limitations in their function, inhibitors to their economic performance, and recommendations for improving their operations. Some of the findings are that telecentres established through public-private partnership (PPP) funding are more effective and successful, computer literacy is a major resource offered, Hoxani telecentre offers outcomes-based education management skills training for local teachers, while Tombo, MACIS and Siyabonga telecentres offer additional business and electronic courses. The thesis also reviews the South African telecentre program against the background of similar programs in selected Asian and Latin American countries, Australia, Canada, and Europe and against the background of an analysis of South African post-apartheid telecommunications sector reforms (1996 to 2007). Insights into the unique nature of challenges facing geographically located telecentres as well as a new model for understanding telecentre operations in South Africa are offered. / Communication Science / D.Litt. et Phil.(Communication Science)