Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / The research provides a broad overview of the problem statement, research objectives, demarcation of the research, research methodology, and significance of the research, a brief literature review and the ethics statement. Theoretical background through a literature review of the selected topic, as well as of the legal frameworks that guide the provisioning of sanitation. The researcher consulted literature that describes the provisioning of sanitation by the City of Cape Town, and the challenges it faces in this regard. The researcher also discussed the legislation that guides sanitation, and five broad themes relating to sanitation, around which the research questions were formulated. The researcher discovered that City of Cape Town employees face a number of challenges that make their job difficult, especially in providing water and sanitation to the communities in Site C in Khayelitsha. The researcher concludes the study and makes recommendations regarding the provision of proper sanitation by the City of Cape Town. These recommendations are based on the study's questionnaire results

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank (WB) state that worldwide access to sanitation has improved with countries in the north having 100% access to sanitation. However, only 64% of the world's population has access to improved sanitation. Sub-Saharan Africa has a noticeable improvement with South Africa improving from 73% in 2010 to 74% in 2014. They further estimate that $260 billion is lost globally each year due to lack of adequate water supply and sanitation. Universal access to water and sanitation would result in an estimated $32 billion in economic benefits per year globally from reductions in health care costs and increased productivity from reduced illness. Sub-Saharan Africa loses an estimated 4.3% ($US694 billion) of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year due to lack of adequate water supply and sanitation. Furthermore, the UNDP (2015) indicates that sanitation is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), however many regions are performing poorly in attaining their declared sanitation targets. South African has not reached its target but it is maintaining its commitment to the provision of sanitation as a basic human right. However, it has left the responsibility to local government to work out how this should be done with no legislation. Currently there is no policy on sanitation and municipalities only develop by-laws that serve as guidelines in managing waste and providing the service. The available literature on this subject speaks very little about the knowledge and understanding that the communities have with regard to faecal sludge management and no study at all deals with the perceptions of people on this issue, particularly around Polokwane Municipality. It is for these reasons that the study was aimed at investigating the perceptions of Polokwane residents regarding alternative faecal sludge management. Methodologically the study used qualitative research approach where in face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews were conducted around Polokwane Municipality. Among the participants interviewed were Ward Councillors, Community Development Workers, Ward Committees and Traditional Authorities. These stakeholders were intentionally chosen as they are at the coalface of service delivery on a daily basis and they are part of the forums that interact with the Municipality on basic services and other related community matters. Data for this study were analysed using thematic data analysis approach. vi  The findings of this study suggest that the “concerned residents” under Polokwane Municipality see themselves being victims and vulnerable to controllable health threats. In addition, the study discovered that the majority of participants were aware of the delegated sewage maintenance duties on the Polokwane Municipality. This study findings further indicated that there is a growing concern among municipal authorities and communities‟ especially in Africa and South Africa in particular, to improve the inadequate faecal management. The objectives of the study were among others to determine the perceptions and awareness of the Polokwane Local Municipality residents regarding alternative faecal sludge management methods. Indeed, it has been discovered that some of the residents are aware of various management methods but expect authority to develop policies and improve the inadequate methods that are currently used in managing faecal sludge. The study among others discovered that this study should be used as a point of reference for municipal projects administration, i.e. for the development of Integrated Development Plan (IDP) on the water and sanitation and faecal sludge management in future. The Ministry of environmental health and management at Polokwane Local Municipality should organise solid and integrated awareness with the community to ensure a healthy environment for all. The study further realised that there is a need to equip most of residents in Polokwane Local Municipality with knowledge on how best man can improve environmental health, as well as how worse can a person destroy the environment. It should be an important task for the Polokwane Local Municipality to ensure that residents understand the faecal sludge management enterprise developments in the area to reduce the incompleteness of the perceptions among the residents. Various faecal sludge methods should be adopted and encouraged among the Polokwane Local Municipality residents in order to promote the preference for the sanitation methods. Key words: Sanitation, Faecal sludge, Faeces, Health hazards and Sub-Saharan Africa

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Business Administration in Project Management in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / This research seeks to investigate the relationship between the use of Operational Research (OR) tools or techniques or the lack thereof, and the possible impact on decision-making amongst management of the City of Cape Town’s (CoCT) Water and Sanitation Department (WSD) and its impact on service delivery. The CoCT is the municipality, which governs the city of Cape Town, its suburbs and exurbs, and falls under the South African local government sphere. The Department is responsible for ensuring water quality. WSD extracts and analyses water samples to identify bacteria or chemicals that may be present, whilst taking action to resolve problems when necessary. For actions to be taken to resolve problems, decisions are taken, and these decisions determine how problems are resolved to deliver quality services to the public on time and in a cost effective manner. OR is a scientific approach to managerial decision making which eliminates guesswork and emotions from decision making. OR is also described as a discipline that focuses on application of information technology for informed decision-making. The research question this study set out to answer is to what extent do managers at the CoCT’ s WSD use OR. It also seeks to discover the relationship between OR and decision-making, whether any relationship between decision-making at the WSD and service delivery exists, and whether there is any link between politics and decision making in the organisation. This research investigated the efficiency of current decision-making tools that are utilized at the WSD. A questionnaire was developed and used as a tool to acquire inputs to satisfy the research question. The analysed data lead to recommendations for the WSD to support and improve on its existing decision-making tools. This study is based on material that was collected from a wide range of journals, extending from regular OR literature to many application journals, articles and published books.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town, 2004 / In South Africa, an estimated 15 million people - 38% of our population - do not have adequate sanitation. Every citizen has a constitutional right of access to basic services, which local government has the responsibility to provide. In reality such provision to people living in poverty is a daunting development challenge, exacerbated by growing unemployment and the spread of unplanned informal settlements. On the other hand, increased government investment in accelerating provision is a significant opportunity to link sanitation delivery to local economic development, as suggested in the recently revised Water Services Strategy document (DWAF, 2003). There is evidence that these two aspects of national policy can be brought together fruitfully. Community involvement, described as "a commitment to building on people's energy and creativity" (WSSCC, 2001) is consistently advocated by international, national and local government (DPLG, 2001) as essential to sanitation provision. There is broad agreement that a community-based approach is the cornerstone of sustainable service provision. This research focused on the context of urban poverty in informal settlements, taking community responses to sanitation delivery by local authorities into account. Prevailing approaches have had limited success in preventing health hazards, which relies on community-level actions to deal with poor use, inadequate maintenance and dysfunction of such sanitation services as are provided. Implicit in the principles underlying the involvement of communities are substantial community-based roles and functions that the research seeks to make explicit. Diverse local level capacities emerge as quite distinct opportunities for residents to become more actively involved in improving and sustaining their sanitation services.

This research paper is a qualitative evaluation of rural resident’s views in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality regarding the municipalities (BCM) performance in sanitation in rural areas. The study was conducted using interviews and some participant observation as a strategy for data collection. The data collected was analyzed using the basic needs theoretical framework. The study found that sanitation is the least talked about subject because of the stigma attached to it. The study found that Buffalo City Municipality initiatives in sanitation have little impact or has not yet transformed the lives of rural people. It has been found that the municipality is responding slowly in sanitation, and this situation impacts negatively on the lives of rural people as they are exposed to health hazards and diseases. The study questions the sustainability of toilets built in rural areas as many toilets have no roofs and door. It has been found that sanitation is still a challenge in the Buffalo City Municipality as some people still relieve themselves in the bushes. Some people even defecate into plastic bags and then throw the bags as far as they can. The study found that the environment is deeply affected by the lack of sanitation as both air and water are contaminated by waste disposal caused by poor sanitation. The general feeling of the residents of Buffalo City Municipality with regard to sanitation service delivery is that they were not happy at all. The residents are not happy with the state of sanitation services rendered by the municipality. The study calls upon the municipality to speedily address rural sanitation to avoid service delivery protest. The research calls upon organizations and companies to get sanitation issues as part of their function. The research made a number of recommendations in an effort to help municipalities accelerate the delivery of sanitation in rural areas. It is hoped that the recommendations would help the Buffalo City Municipality in ensuring that communities are equipped and empowered to meaningfully participate in making policies, regarding their development. The recommendations will contribute towards encouraging community participation in the decision making within their municipalities. It is the aim of the study for other municipalities to use Buffalo City Municipality example as a benchmark for best practices. In conclusion, the rural areas of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality need more serious commitment from the municipality regarding sanitation and other basic services.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The purpose of the study was to explore public perception on how sanitation has effects on the environment in the Polokwane Local Municipality. Quantitative, analytical research was conducted to determine community perceptions regarding the state of sanitation in Polokwane, that is to establish the perception of the effectiveness of the waste and refuse removal programme and to determine the extent of land pollution in the Polokwane Local Municipality. Data collection was done using structured questionnaires in which community members participated in the study. The total number of respondents, who were community members sampled randomly, was N = 136. The study has highlighted the areas of potential on perceptions of the community regarding the state of sanitation in Polokwane and the relationship of the perception, sanitation practices, the effectiveness of the waste and refuse removal programme and the extent of land pollution in Polokwane and settlement type. The findings of the research study include the following:  The study reveals that the Polokwane Local Municipality does not provide adequate sanitation throughout the municipality especially in the rural settlements;  The results reveal that the Polokwane Local Municipality still has a long way in the prevention and control of land pollution and river streams;  The study further finds that there is no frequent waste removal in the municipality especially in the suburban and rural settlement;  Furthermore, results reveal that there is no adequate hygiene education provision in the Polokwane Local Municipality. In conclusion, it is evident that the Polokwane Local Municipality experiences challenges of the provision of sanitation to the communities especially those who live in rural settlements. In the 21st century and two decades after democracy in South Africa, the residents of Polokwane still experiences sanitation challenges that were promised to be addressed in the dawn of democracy in 1994. Those challenges are land pollution, infrequent waste removal, illegal waste dumping, air and land pollution, river and stream pollution, inadequate hygiene education, inadequate sanitation provision in the rural settlement, lack of waste sorting options. The study recommends that the Polokwane local Municipality should provide adequate sanitation services in rural settlement. It should further develop measures to prevent environmental pollution and to foster communities to have a litter-free environment. The study further recommends that the municipality should have a frequent waste removal programme throughout the municipality even in the rural settlement and suburban areas. The municipality should prioritise community awareness campaigns to educate community members about the negative impact of littering. It is further recommended that, in addition to public awareness against littering, rubbish bins should be made available at all public places and street corners.

Providing adequate sanitation facilities for the poor remains one of the major challenges in all developing countries. In South Africa, an estimated 11,7% of the schools are without sanitation. The South African government has a constitutional responsibility to ensure that all South Africans have access to adequate sanitation. When sanitation systems fail, or are inadequate, the impact of the health of the community, on the health of others and the negative impact on the environment can be extremely serious. In rural South African schools, many Enviro-Ioo toilets are available today. They are designed to suit a variety of water scarce areas and where there is a high risk of contamination of ground water resources. It is important to realize that any Enviro-Ioo system programme requires an education programme to ensure that the principles of use and maintenance are clearly understood by the user group. Their maintenance requires more responsibility and commitment by users. This study is an interpretive case study that indicates how sanitation in a rural Ramashobohle High School in Polokwane municipality was managed through an EcoSchools Sanitation Community of Practice, and how this developed action competence for sanitation management in the school. The study established that the earlier practice and knowledge of the Ramashobohle Eco-Schools community of practice exercised in maintaining Enviro-Ioo systems was inadequate; unhealthy and unsafe according to the data generated through focus group interviews, observations, interviews, action plan, workshops and reflection interviews. The data generated also indicates that the Eco-Schools community of practice was not committed to maintaining sanitation in their school because they were not sharing sanitation knowledge; they were not communicating and not updating one another concerning Enviro-Ioo systems maintenance as they had no adequate knowledge as to how to maintain the facilities; and the school management was also not supportive and was not taking responsibility. The study shows how this situation was turned around as an Eco-Schools Sanitation Community of Practice focussed on developing action competence in the school community. It provides a case based example of how knowledge and action competence, supported by an Eco-Schools Community of Practice, can find and implement solutions to inadequate sanitation management practices in rural schools, and shows how members of the school community can be engaged in learning how to manage and maintain school sanitation systems through a participatory process that develops action competence. The study points to important dimensions of developing action competence, such as providing knowledge and demonstrations, inviting experts to the school, involving learners in observations and monitoring and in ensuring that adequate facilities are available. In particular, a workshop conducted by Enviro-Ioo consultants, organised and supported by the Eco-Schools Sanitation COP, together with a follow up action plan, provided the main impetus for changes in practice in the school and served to support action competence development. Finally the study provides research findings and recommendations for further research.

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

MSc (Microbiology) / See the attached abstract below

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / This study is about an investigation into the provisioning of water and sanitation services in Ga-Kgapane Township in the Limpopo Province. Since the year 2002, the residents of Ga-Kgapane Township live without sufficient water supply services. Residents receive tap water once a week and they depend on supply from water tankers for the rest of the week. This township has a water borne sewage system and most of the households have indoor toilets. The study used a mixed method because it had incorporated both elements of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in its approaches. The research instruments such as semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, documentary data extraction and observations were used to collect information. The study’s sample size comprised of 77 key participants and informants from Mopani District Municipality (Water Services Authority); Lepelle-Northern Water Board (implementing agency and bulk water supplier); Greater Letaba Municipality (Water Service Provider); Ward Councillors and community members (endusers). The research findings revealed that Ga-Kgapane Township’s water and sanitation provision challenges are due to insufficient or lack of water, poor water management and poor governance. It was also discovered that the MDM and GLM have failed to translate the rights to water and sanitation into law, policy, budget and service provision for the Ga-Kgapane Township residents. The insufficient water supply challenge resulted in some community members migrating to other areas where there is better basic service provision. The residents failed to exploit the economic development opportunities which resulted in health risks as they were exposed to danger due to burst sewer pipes which spewed raw sewerage water on the streets. The sewage contaminated the township’s natural streams. This study’s findings could form a basis for future research on the effectiveness of the MDM’s Water Services Provision Agreement which was signed with the district’s local municipalities. The Mopani District Municipality has for many years v received undesired audit opinions ranging from ‘Adverse to Disclaimer’ notices. This affects the local municipalities too as they are all qualified-on water transactions. As part of the recommendations, the study proposed that the Greater Letaba Municipality should utilise the Intergovernmental Relations Forum to address the plight of the provision of water and sanitation services in Ga-Kgapane Township.