Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globalisation, rapid changes in technology, and demographic trends are all important factors that contribute to conditions that require adaptive capacity in military organisations. The context of a majority of military operations is often asymmetric with blurred boundaries, and military organisations are expected to master a wide range of operations from humanitarian disaster relief to more regular warlike situations in a joint- and multinational framework. The complexity of the challenges facing military leaders in contemporary and future operations makes it relevant to develop a meta-competency model for leadership in complex military systems, which is the main purpose of this dissertation. A Complexity Approach represents a shift from a set of conservative laws to a perception of the world as an open and highly dynamic system, and some characterise complexity as a bridge between modernism on the one hand and post-modernism on the other. Complexity and complex systems have a number of characteristics, some of them being a large number of short-ranged interactions that are dynamic, non-linear and fairly rich. Another significant feature of complexity is the emphasis on emergent patterns that are codetermined through a dynamic process between the history of the system and the interaction with its local environment. Leadership in complex systems might be described by the dynamics of emergence, not merely by incremental influence, and increasingly considered to be a collective social phenomenon. A complexity-oriented leader acts as an enabler of a rich identity interacting in richly constrained play of difference, facilitating “bounded” individual and systemic adaptive capacity. The reigning paradigm in military organisations, however, are closely linked to an autocratic and bureaucratic structure and a fundamental quest for control, equilibrium and stability, all of which are deeply embedded in Newtonian Principles of linearity, reductionism and determinism. The investigation of empirical research on Norwegian Military Officers and the Norwegian Armed Forces reveal a considerable amount of homogenous force substantiating stability and control, at the same time as complexity and uncertainty are acknowledged. This dissertation argues that the definition of competencies as “an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation”, is not suitable for a complexity understanding and proposes competencies to be defined as “interconnected underlying characteristics of an individual or system, which through a dynamic and non-linear process of interaction between local agents and the environment contribute to the emergence of identifiable or unidentifiable patterns of individual or systemic behaviour”. Based on a synthesis of a non-empirical literature study, empirical research and a modelbuilding study, this dissertation suggests that heterogeneity of degree, androgynousity, cognitive flexibility, ethical reasoning, cross-cultural competence, intuition, identity and courage, are necessary meta-competencies for leadership in complex military systems. It is further argued that these meta-competencies must be interpreted as interconnected and interdependent, and the metaphor of a cloud is therefore presented as a suitable image of the intricate dynamics of complexity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Globalisering, vinnige veranderinge in tegnologie en demografiese tendense is belangrike faktore wat bydra tot toestande wat aanpassingsvermoë in militêre organisasies vereis. Die konteks waarin ’n meerderheid militêre operasies hul bevind is dikwels asimmetries met onduidelike grense, en daar word van militêre organisasies verwag om ’n wye verskeidenheid krygsverrigtinge van humanitêre rampverligting tot meer gereelde oorlogsugtige omstandighede in ’n gesamentlike en multinasionale kader te bemeester. Die kompleksiteit van die uitdagings waarvoor militêre leiers te staan kom in huidige en toekomstige krygsverrigtinge is dit gepas om ’n meta-bevoegdheidsmodel vir leierskap in komplekse militêre stelsels te ontwikkel, wat die belangrikste doel van hierdie tesis is. ’n Kompleksiteitbenadering verteenwoordig ’n verskuiwing van ’n stel konserwatiewe wette na ’n waarneming van die wêreld as ’n oop en hoogsdinamiese stelsel, en kompleksiteit word soms gekenmerk as ’n brug tussen modernisme aan die een kant en die post-modernisme aan die ander. Kompleksiteit en komplekse stelsels het ’n aantal kenmerke, waarvan sommige van hulle ’n groot aantal kortafstandinteraksies wat dinamiese, nie-lineêre en redelik ryk is. Nog ’n belangrike kenmerk van kompleksiteit is die klem op die ontluikende patrone wat vasgestel word deur middel van beide ’n dinamiese proses tussen die geskiedenis van die stelsel en die interaksie met die plaaslike omgewing. Leierskap in komplekse stelsels kan beskryf word deur die dinamika van verskyning, nie net deur inkrementele invloed nie, en al hoe meer beskou as ’n kollektiewe sosiale verskynsel. ’n Kompleksiteitgeoriënteerde leier dien as ’n instaatsteller van ’n ryk identiteit wat wisselwerking uitoefen in streng beperkte verskilspel, wat “begrensde” individuele en sistemiese aanpassingsvermoë fasiliteer. Die huidige paradigma in die militêre organisasies word egter nou gekoppel aan ’n outokratiese en burokratiese struktuur, en ’n fundamentele soektog vir beheer, ewewig en stabiliteit, waarvan almal diep in Newtoniaanse Beginsels van lineariteit, reduksionisme en determinisme vasgelê is. Die ondersoek van empiriese navorsing oor die Noorse Militêre Offisiere en die Noorse Weermag openbaar ’n aansienlike aantal homogene mag wat stabiliteit en beheer staaf, terselfdertyd as wat kompleksiteit en onsekerheid erken word. Hierdie tesis is van mening dat die definisie van vaardighede as “’n onderliggende eienskap van ’n individu wat oorsaaklik verwant is aan doeltreffende en/of superieure prestasie in ’n beroep of situasie”, nie geskik is vir ’n kompleksiteitbegrip nie en stel voor dat vaardighede gedefinieer word as “onderling verbinde onderliggende eienskappe van ’n individu of stelsel, wat deur middel van ’n dinamiese en nie-lineêre proses van interaksie tussen plaaslike agente en die omgewing bydra tot die verskyning van identifiseerbare of nie-identifiseerbare patrone van individuele of sistemiese gedrag”. Gebaseer op ’n sintese van ’n nie-empiriese literatuurstudie, empiriese navorsing en ’n bou van modelle studie, stel hierdie tesis voor dat die heterogeniteit van graad, androgienisme, kognitiewe buigsaamheid, etiese beredenering, kruis-kulturele bevoegdheid, intuïsie, identiteit en moed, nodige meta-vaardighede vir leierskap in komplekse militêre stelsels is. Dit voer verder aan dat hierdie meta-vaardighede vertolk moet word as onderling verbinde en onderling afhanklik is, en die metafoor van ’n wolk word dus voorgestel as ’n geskikte beeld van die ingewikkelde dinamika van kompleksiteit.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is a popular instrument for public service delivery. It is important that public managers will be able to recognize when a PPP would be an appropriate service delivery option, and will be able to maximize a PPP‘s chances of success when it is the chosen service delivery instrument. The research question addressed in this dissertation is: ―What are the critical factors that can be replicated that separate successful PPPs from PPPs that do not deliver or that collapse? In this dissertation critical success factors for PPPs are identified through a step-by-step process in which different sources of success factors are analysed and where successively identified sets of success factors are compared and combined in a repetitive layered process of synthesis. A list of success factors is created and expanded through an iterative process of evaluation, removal of duplications, combination of related success factors and listing of unique success factors. Success factors are found in literature while describing the PPP concept and partnership mechanics and management. Success factors are identified in partnership literature, in public governance literature, in private sector collaboration literature, in entrepreneurial studies and in a collection of perspectives on success. These perspectives include those of stakeholders, of private operators, of the third sector as well as perspectives from disciplines and knowledge and practice frameworks such as project management, corporate governance, enterprise risk management and organisational design. Additional success factors are identified in a discussion on the evaluation of partnerships, where it is shown that success factors can be derived from evaluation based on characterization, from partnership definitions, from the perspective of programme evaluation, from measuring the performance of business improvement districts, from alternating focus partnership evaluation (sector by sector, theme-based, local-level) and from service delivery evaluation. The evaluation of partnership examples also provides insight into success factors. The final filtering and synthesis of evidence uses the results of questionnaires, from which success factors are derived, to conduct a final distillation and produce the final list of success factors identified. A total of 466 individual success factors are identified in this dissertation, these factors are grouped into 43 distinct categories. The two most critical success factors for PPPs are identified as firstly delivering a publicly needed service and secondly achieving the objectives of the partnership. The answer to the research question described above is that critically, two conditions must be met to make a PPP successful, and that is that the goals of the PPP must be achieved and that a public need must be satisfied. There are many additional success factors which can further define success and degrees of success, all of which are descriptions of desired conditions from the perspective of stakeholders. The exploratory and hypothesis-generating study culminates in a hypothesis that states that if public managers are faced with a choice of service delivery options, and the use of a PPP is one option, and if the manager applies the categories of recommended critical success factors identified in this dissertation, the manager will be able to determine whether a PPP would be an appropriate service delivery vehicle, and furthermore, if PPP is chosen as service delivery vehicle, the public manager would, through the application of the success factors identified in this dissertation, have a greater chance of successful implementation of the PPP through purposeful collaboration. The study contributes to the public management body of knowledge by covering new ground in terms of the evaluation and management of public-private partnerships. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Publiek-Privaat Vennootskappe (PPVe) is 'n gewilde instrument vir die lewering van openbare dienste. Dit is belangrik dat openbare bestuurders sal weet wanneer 'n PPV 'n goeie opsie sal wees vir openbare dienslewering en hoe om 'n PPV se geleentheid vir sukses te verhoog as dit die gekose dienslewerings-instrument is. Die navorsings-vraag wat in hierdie proefskrif aangespreek word is: Wat is die kritieke sukses-faktore wat gerepliseer kan word wat suksesvolle PPVe onderskei van PPVe wat nie presteer nie of wat ineenstort? In hierdie proefskrif word kritieke suksesfaktore vir PPVe geïdentifiseer deur 'n stap-vir-stap proses waardeur verskillende bronne van suksesfaktore ge-analiseer word en agtereenvolgende stelle van suksesfaktore vergelyk en gekombineer word in 'n herhalende, gelaagde proses van sintese. 'n Lys van suksesfaktore word geskep en uitgebrei deur ‗n iteratiewe proses van evaluasie, die verwydering van herhalings, die kombinasie van verwante faktore en die lys van unieke faktore. Suksesfaktore word gevind in literatuur terwyl die PPV konsep en vennootskap meganismes en -bestuur beskryf word. Suksesfaktore word geïdentifiseer in vennootskap literatuur, in openbare bestuur literatuur, in privaatsektor samewerkingsliteratuur, in entrepeneur studies en in 'n versameling perspektiewe op sukses. Hierdie perspektiewe sluit in die van belanghoudendes, van private operateurs, van die derde sektor sowel as perspektiewe van dissiplines en kennis en praktyk raamwerke soos projekbestuur, korporatiewe bestuur, ondernemingsrisikobestuur en organisatoriese ontwerp. Bykomende suksesfaktore word geïdentifiseer in 'n bespreking oor die evaluasie van vennootskappe, waar dit aangedui word dat suksesfaktore afgelei kan word van karakter-gebaseerde evaluasie, van die prestasiemeting van besigheidsverbeteringsdistrikte ("Business Improvement Districts"), van alternatiewelik-fokusende vennootskap-evaluasie (sektor-vir-sektor, tema-gebasseerd, plaaslike vlak) en van dienslewerings-evaluasie. Die evaluering van vennootskap voorbeelde voorsien ook insig in suksesfaktore. Die finale filtrasie en sintese van bewyse gebruik vraelyste, waarvandaan suksesfaktore afgelei word, vir 'n finale distillasie en die saamstel van 'n finale lys van geïdentifiseerde suksesfaktore. In totaal word 466 indiwiduele suksesfaktore in hierdie proefskrif geïdentifiseer, wat in 43 aparte kategorieë gegroepeer word. Die twee mees kritieke suksesfaktore wat uitgewys word is om eerstens 'n benodigde publieke of openbare behoefte te bevredig of diens te lewer, en tweedens om die doelwitte van die vennootskap te bereik. Die antwoord op die navorsings-vraag wat hierbo beskryf word is dat daar krities aan twee voorwaardes voldoen moet word om 'n PPV susksevol te maak, en dit is dat die vennootskap se doelwitte moet bereik word en dat ‗n openbare behoefte bevredig moet word. Daar is verskeie bykomende suksesfaktore wat sukses en die mate van sukses verder kan definieer, waarvan almal beskrywings is van verlangde toestande uit die oogpunt van belanghebbendes. Die uitset van die verkennende en hipotese-vormende studie is 'n hipotese wat lei dat, indien openbare bestuurders met 'n keuse van dienslewerings opsies gekonfronteer word, en indien die gebruik van 'n PPV een van hierdie opsies is, en indien die bestuurder dan die kategorieë van voorgestelde suksesfaktore wat in hierdie proefskrif geïdentiseer is toepas, sal dit vir die bestuurder moontlik wees om te bepaal of 'n PPV 'n toepaslike diensleweringsvoertuig kan wees, en verder dat, indien 'n PPV die gekose diensleweringsvoertuig is, die openbare bestuurder deur die toepassing van die susksesfaktore wat in hierdie proefskrif geïdentifiseer is 'n groter kans sal hê vir suksesvolle implementering van die PPV deur doelgerigte samewerking.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: See ful text for abstract / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sien volteks vir opsomming

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The central premise of this thesis is that humans are disconnected and alienated from Nature and it proposes that we need to attempt to restore this connection in order to overcome the current socioecological crises which threaten our survival as a species on the planet. In response to the research question as to whether a spiritual relationship with Nature could assist in the transformation to a more sustainable world, this study examines the concepts of Nature and spirituality and the relationship between them and, in particular, explores the spiritual practices and human-Nature connections experienced by six South African change agents. The objectives of this exploration are to present individual stories which could be used as case studies in learning for sustainability and to promote and encourage deeper conversations about what a more sustainable world might look like. Given the argument that our disconnection and alienation from Nature is at the crux of the planetary polycrisis and that we face a crisis of spirituality with regards to our relationship with Nature, this thesis explores the concept of Nature in depth, taking into consideration different cultural interpretations, environmental ethical positions and perspectives of Nature held in ancient times. Some of the key arguments as to why humans are disconnected from Nature (science, loss of indigenous knowledge, colonialism, capitalism, globalisation, religion and technology) are presented and I consider the implications of the human-Nature disconnection. A comprehensive literature review presents the key sociological crises, including climate change, ecosystem degradation, inequality and poverty, peak oil, urbanisation and food insecurity, which underpin the planetary polycrisis, and also discusses sustainable development, which arose as an attempt to respond to the planetary polycrisis. I argue that mainstream sustainable development is anthropocentric and perpetuates consumption by means of the current economic system. In light of my research question I propose that spirituality could serve as a bridge between humans and Nature. The understanding of spirituality which informs my approach implies a heightened awareness or consciousness, the capacity for deep reflection and compassion, and a profound sense of what it means to part of the web of life – to be another living, breathing, sentient being in Nature without the hierarchies which are often dictated by religious forms of spirituality. It is a spirituality integral to daily life, which informs the decisions about the way we live, and which is expressed through action, i.e. spirit-in-action. While I acknowledge the role that religion could play in the transformation to a more sustainable world, I highlight a number of practices, including mindfulness, meditation, rituals, poetry, re-learning from indigenous knowledge and wisdom, and restoration, which could perhaps assist in moving towards a deeper connection with Nature. In reflecting on what kind of transformation is needed I refer to complexity theory and systems thinking, and earth jurisprudence as examples of transformative paradigms. Given that this is a qualitative study, I have used heuristic inquiry, reflexivity, narrative and poetics in my research approach and conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six South African change agents (three women and three men). I have documented their stories as narrative summaries, focusing particularly on their spirituality with respect to their relationship with Nature. I have then considered the emerging themes which point to what might be required in order to create sustainable futures. While there are issues of contention surrounding each of the concepts of Nature, spirituality and sustainable development, the change agents agree that there is a definite relationship between them and that they could help to direct our lives towards sustainability. Irrespective of how each of these concepts is defined, it seems that we need to be thinking about what kind of lives we want to live and what kind of lives future generations will be able to lead on a planet with a limited carrying capacity. As to whether a spiritual relationship with Nature could assist in the transformation to a more sustainable world, it seems that it is not so much a relationship, but a deep understanding and conscious awareness or knowing of the interconnectedness and interdependence between Nature, spirit and the essence of being human. Based on the input from the six change agents, I recommend a number of shifts within individual human consciousness, in our communities and within broader society to promote sustainable living. Other recommendations include the possibility of ecopsychology playing a greater role within the sustainable development discourse and ongoing research to continue to provoke conversations about the human- Nature connection and the implications this has for sustainability. While this work is clearly an academic investigation, it has also been a personal undertaking in that I have explored my own spiritual journey, considered my relationship with Nature, and learned more about my role as a change agent in the transformation to a more sustainable world. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sentrale veronderstelling van hierdie proefskrif is dat die mens afgesonder en vervreemd geraak het van die Natuur en beveel aan dat ons poog om die konneksie te herstel ten einde die huidige sosio-ekologiese krisis te kan oorkom wat ons oorlewing as 'n spesie op die planeet bedreig. In antwoord op die navorsingsvraag of 'n spirituele verhouding met die Natuur kan bydra tot die transformasie na 'n meer volhoubare wêreld, ondersoek hierdie studie die konsep van die Natuur en spiritualiteit, en die verhouding tussen die twee konsepte, en dan veral die spirituele praktyke en mens- Natuur-konneksies wat ses Suid-Afrikaanse agente vir verandering meegemaak het. Die oogmerke met hierdie verkenning is om individuele verhale aan te bied wat as gevallestudies gebruik kan word om insig te kry in volhoubaarheid, en om dieper gesprekke oor hoe 'n meer volhoubare wêreld daar kan uitsien te bevorder en aan te moedig. Gegewe die redenasie dat ons afsondering en vervreemding van die Natuur die kruks van die globale polikrisis is en dat ons 'n spiritualiteitskrisis beleef wat ons verhouding met die Natuur betref, ondersoek hierdie proefskrif die konsep van die Natuur in diepte, met inagneming van verskillende kulturele interpretasies, omgewingsentriese vertrekpunte en perspektiewe oor die Natuur in die antieke tyd. Sekere sleutelargumente wat aandui waarom die mens afgesonder geraak het van die Natuur (wetenskap, verlies aan inheemse kennis, kolonialisme, kapitalisme, globalisering, godsdiens en tegnologie) word aangebied, terwyl ek die implikasies van die mens-Natuur-afsondering oordink. 'n Omvattende literatuurstudie behandel die sleutel sosiologiese krisisse, met inbegrip van klimaatsverandering, ekosisteemagteruitgang, ongelykheid en armoede, piekolie, verstedeliking en voedselonsekerheid, wat die globale polikrisis onderlê, en ondersoek volhoubare ontwikkeling wat ontstaan het in 'n poging om op die globale polikrisis te reageer. Ek voer aan dat hoofstoom volhoubare ontwikkeling antroposentries is en verbruik volgens die bestaande ekonomiese stelsel voortsit. In die lig van my navorsingsvraag doen ek aan die hand dat spiritualiteit 'n brug tussen die mens en die Natuur kan vorm. Die interpretasie van spiritualiteit, wat die beweegrede vir my benadering is, veronderstel 'n verhoogde bewustheid of bewussyn, die vermoë tot diepe refleksie en medelye, en 'n wesentlike begrip van wat dit beteken om deel van die lewensweb te wees - om 'n lewende, redelike wese te wees wat asemhaal in die Natuur, sonder die hiërargieë wat dikwels deur religieuse spiritualiteitsvorme voorgeskryf word. Dit is spiritualiteit wat 'n integrerende deel van die daaglikse lewe is, wat die beweegrede is vir die besluite waarvolgens ons leef, en wat uitgedruk word deur aksie, i.e. gees-in-aksie. Alhoewel ek die rol erken wat godsdiens kan speel in die transformasie na ʼn meer volhoubare wêreld, lig ek ʼn aantal praktyke uit, nl in-die-oomblik-wees (oplettendheid), meditasie, rituele, poësie, her-leer uit die inheemse kennis- en wysheid-skat, sowel as herstel, wat moontlik kan help om ʼn dieper band met die Natuur te vorm. Wanneer ek reflekteer oor watter tipe transformasie nodig is, verwys ek na kompleksiteitsteorie en sisteemdenke, en aardjurisprudensie as twee voorbeelde van transformerende paradigmas. Aangesien dit ʼn kwalitatiewe studie is, het ek heuristiese ondersoek, refleksiwiteit, narratiewe en poësie in my navorsingbenadering gebruik en semi-gestruktureerde diepte-onderhoude met ses Suid-Afrikaanse agente vir verandering (drie vroue en drie mans) gevoer. Ek het hulle verhale as opsommings van narratiewe opgeteken, en gefokus op hulle spiritualiteit in verhouding tot die Natuur. Daarna het ek opkomende temas oorweeg met aanwysers van wat moontlik nodig is om ʼn volhoubare toekoms te skep. Alhoewel daar verskillende standpunte is oor die konsep Natuur, spiritualiteit en volhoubare ontwikkeling, stem die agente vir verandering saam dat daar ʼn definitiewe verwantskap tussen die konsepte bestaan en dat dit kan bydra om ons lewe tot volhoubaarheid te rig. Ongeag van hoe elkeen van hierdie konsepte omskryf word, blyk dit dat ons moet kyk na watter soort lewe ons wil leef en watter soort lewe toekomstige generasies op ʼn planeet met ʼn beperkte dravermoë sal kan leef. Op die vraag of ʼn spirituele verhouding met die Natuur kan bydra tot die transformasie na ʼn meer volhoubare wêreld, blyk dit dat dit nie soseer ʼn verhouding is nie, maar ʼn diepe begrip vir en werklike bewustheid, of kennis, van die onderlinge verbondenheid en interafhanklikheid tussen die Natuur, die gees en die essensie van menswees. Gebaseer op die inset van die ses agente vir verandering beveel ek ʼn aantal skuiwe binne onsself, in ons gemeenskappe en in die wyer samelewing aan om ʼn volhoubare bestaan te bevorder. Ander aanbevelings sluit in die moontlikheid dat ekopsigologie ʼn groter rol speel in die volhoubareontwikkelingsdiskoers en voortgesette navorsing om deurentyd gesprekke oor die mens-Natuur-konneksie aan te moedig, asook die implikasies wat dit vir volhoubaarheid het. Alhoewel hierdie werk duidelik ʼn akademiese oefening is, was dit ook ʼn persoonlike onderneming deurdat ek my eie spirituele reis onderneem het, my verhouding met die Natuur in oënskou geneem het, en tot insig gekom het van my rol as agent vir verandering in die transformasie na ʼn meer volhoubare wêreld.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The world has been engaged in a global ‘development project’ since the late 1940s. This process gained new momentum with the end of colonialism and the emergence of newly independent countries, all of them plagued with high levels of poverty. Traditional models of economic growth based on industrialization and import-substitution did not deliver the expected results to reduce poverty, especially in Africa. New ways of engaging with development emerged; in particular the basic needs approach in the 1970s and later the human development approach. Independently a new environmental movement surfaced in the 1960s, responding to the rallying call of global environmental destruction as a result of economic activities. For the first time a global language on the limitations nature presents to development emerged. The ‘movement’ received particular traction with the emergence of global climate disruption as the single largest global environmental issue. ‘Human needs’, represented by the anthropocentrists, and ‘environmental limitations’, represented by environmentalists were merged in an uncomfortable union to give birth to the notion of sustainable development. Yet, as a result of a large variety of perspectives, no agreement has been reached on what sustainable development means or should achieve. There is agreement though that developmental needs and environmental challenges are both urgent. An important unanswered question is how the world will pay for sustainable development interventions. Some interesting ideas on alternative sources of development finance has been around for a while, yet has not found practical application. Carbon finance, an innovative new source of funding, is an exception. This exploratory research was conducted by reviewing existing relevant literature using the inductive logic technique. It was initiated as a result of specific experiences leading the researcher to some general ‘truths’. The findings revealed that carbon markets, which are primarily focussed on reducing carbon emissions and which in itself makes a positive contribution to sustainability, has over the last few years successfully leveraged billions of dollars for investment in sustainable development projects globally. Some of these have the added advantage of co-benefits for the poor. Its role is set to expand as a source of development finance. South Africa has the potential to earn large amounts from carbon trading, assisting the country to move to a more sustainable development trajectory. The findings concluded that realising this potential will require a more focussed approach, especially from the South African Government. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die wêreld is sedert die 1940s besig met ‘n grootskaalse ‘ontwikkelingsprojek’. Die proses het nuwe momentum gekry teen die einde van die koloniale tydperk. Die nuut onafhanklike state het almal gebuk gegaan onder hoë vlakke van armoede. Tradisionele modelle van ekonomiese groei gebasseer op industrialisasie en invoer vervanging, het nie die verwagte resultate in terme van armoede verligting - veral in Afrika - gehad nie. Nuwe benaderings tot ontwikkeling - spesifiek die ‘basiese behoeftesbenadering’ in die 1970s en later die menslike ontwikkelingsbenadering – is ontwikkel met die hoop dat dit beter resultate sal lewer om armoede hok te slaan. Terselfdertyd het ‘n nuwe omgewingsbeweging in die 1960s ontstaan, in reaksie op die vernietig van die natuur deur die mens se ekonomiese aktiwiteite. Die gevolg was dat daar ‘n internasionale taal onstaan het wat die beperkinge wat die natuur op ontwikkeling plaas kon verwoord. Dit het veral momentum gekry met die bewuswording dat aardverwarming die wêreld se grootste omgewingsuitdaging bied. Mense se behoeftes soos verwoord deur antroposentriste, en omgewingsbeperkings soos verwoord deur omgewingskundiges, het bymekaargekom om die nuwe konsep van volhoubare ontwikkeling te vorm. As gevolg van ‘n groot verskeidenheid van interpretasies is daar geen ooreenstemming oor wat volhoubare ontwikkeling beteken of behoort te bereik nie. Waaroor daar wel ooreenstemming is, is die feit dat die wêreld se behoefte aan ontwikkeling sowel as die omgewingsuitdagings beide dringend is. ‘n Belangrike vraag wat niemand nog kon beantwoord nie, is hoe die wêreld gaan betaal vir volhoubare ontwikkelingsprojekte. Alhoewel daar ‘n paar kreatiewe idees vir alternatiewe bronne van ontwikkelingsfinansiering die rondte doen, het nog nie een daarvan praktiese beslag gekry nie. Die enigste vindingryke nuwe bron van ontwikkelingsfinansiering wat wel geïmplimenteer is, is koolstof finansiering. Dié ondersoekende navorsing is gedoen deur middel van ‘n literatuur studie van bestaande relevante materiaal, deur gebruik te maak van die induktiewe logika tegniek. Die studie is geïnisieer as gevolg van spesifieke ondervindings wat die navorser gelei het na algemene ‘waarhede’. Bevindinge uit die studie het aangedui dat koolstof markte, wat primêr ten doel het om die vrystel van aardverwarmingsgasse te beperk en dus opsigself ‘n positiewe bydrae tot volhoubaarheid lewer, oor die laaste paar jaar daarin geslaag het om miljarde dollars beskikbaar te maak vir volhoubare ontwikkelingsprojekte wêreldwyd. Sommige hiervan het die voordeel dat dit arm gemeenskappe bevoordeel. Die rol van die koolstofmarkte gaan in die toekoms toeneem. Suid Afrika het die potensiaal om groot bedrae te verdien uit koolstof finansiering, wat die land behoort te help om op ‘n meer volhoubare ontwikkelingspad voort te gaan. Die bevindinge sluit af deur aan te dui dat die realisering van dié potensiaal ‘n baie meer gefokusde benadering deur veral die Suid Afrikaanse Regering gaan vereis.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigated the possibilities of early childhood development (ECD) as pathway to sustainable community development by means of a literature survey and practical research. The main objectives were to determine the usefulness of integrated, ecological ECD as entry point to sustainable community development, to determine how this might be achieved and to reflect on the benefits and limitations of sustainable community development through ECD. A review of the literature emphasized the importance of ECD, as early childhood is foundational for the establishment of lifelong skills, knowledge, values and attitudes. The need to enhance capabilities for sustainable development from a young age is becoming increasingly urgent as the world braces itself for a future likely to be characterised by a ‘global polycrisis’ which includes climate change, resource depletion, poverty and food security. Integrated, ecological ECD exposes children to a worldview that acknowledges complexity and interdependence. This contributes to their ability to be agents of change that imagine and create alternative futures on community, national and global levels. Conceptualising ECD spaces as integrated ecological ‘hubs’ for sustainable community development is a way of enhancing community capabilities for sustainable development by facilitating synergies between various projects, promoting intergenerational learning and ensuring that children are central to all community development initiatives. The practical research focused on the Lynedoch Crèche as a working example of an integrated, ecological ECD ‘hub’ for sustainable community development. The purpose of this case study was to contribute to the attainment of the research objectives by balancing theory with the intricacies of praxis. The main findings of the case study pertain to the need to inform ECD by a deeply ecological and integrated worldview that places children at the centre of sustainable community development. The importance of deriving context-specific methodologies and solutions that stem from an intricate knowledge of the socio-ecological environment was emphasized. The research indicated that the core challenges to this approach relate to capacity, leadership, financial viability and institutional arrangements. The conclusions drawn from the literature survey and the practical research suggest a useful role for ECD as entry point for sustainable community development. I further conclude that there is no single conception of what an integrated, ecological hub for sustainable development might entail. Rather, these ‘hubs’ must be born from worldviews rooted in complexity and interdependence and an ecological educational paradigm that is inspired and informed by the local socio-ecological environment. The principle benefit to this approach relates to the fact that community capabilities for children-centred sustainable development are enhanced in concurrence with the high quality ecological education of its children. The greatest limitation of this approach is that its success hinges upon the capacity of teachers to fulfil multiple roles and provide leadership in largely unchartered territory. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie het die moontlikheid ondersoek dat vroeë kinder ontwikkeling (VKO) as ingangspunt vir volhoubare gemeenskapsontwikkeling gebruik kan word. ‘n Literatuur-studie oor die onderwerp en praktiese navorsing by die Lynedoch kleuterskool is die kern van die studie. Die hoofdoel was om te bepaal of geïntegreerde en ekologies-georienteerde kleuterskoolonderrig sinvol kan bydra tot volhoubare gemeenskapsontwikkeling, om te bepaal hoe dit bereik kan word, en wat die voordele en nadele van so ‘n benadering is. Die literatuurstudie het die belangrikheid van VKO as die fondament vir die vaslê van lewenslange vaardighede, kennis, waardes en houdings bevestig. Dit word al hoe dringender om kinders van ‘n vroeë ouderdom af vir volhoubare ontwikkeling toe te rus sodat hulle leiding kan neem in ‘n toekoms wat waarskynlik gekenmerk gaan word deur meervuldige krisisse soos klimaatsverandering, oorbevolking, uitputting van natuurlike hulpbronne, armoede en voedselskaarste. ‘n Geïntegreerde en ekologiese benadering tot VKO stel kinders bloot aan ‘n wêreldsiening wat kompleksiteit en interafhanklikheid beklemtoon. Hierdie bewustheid help kinders om kreatief alternatiewe toekomsmoontlikhede raak te sien en te verwesenlik, tot voordeel van hul gemeenskap, land en wêreld. Kleuterskole kan geposisioneer word as een van die geïntegreerde spilpunte waarom gemeenskapsontwikkeling draai. Vaardighede vir volhoubare ontwikkeling word sodoende bevorder in beide kinders en gemeenskappe. Samewerking tussen verskeie projekte word aangemoedig, oud en jonk leer saam en kinders word ‘n sentrale fokus van alle gemeenskapsontwikkelingsinisiatiewe. Die praktiese navorsing is ‘n gevallestudie van die Lynedoch Kleuterskool. Hierdie kleuterskool is gekies as ‘n voorbeeld VKO wat poog om ‘n geïntegreerde, ekologiese benadering te volg en om ‘n rol te speel in volhoubare gemeenskapsontwikkeling. Die gevallestudie het die literatuurstudie aangevul deur moontlikhede en tekortkominge van ‘n praktiese toegepassing te demonstreer. Die bevindings bevestig die belangrikheid van ‘n ekologiese- en geïntegreerde benadering tot VKO, en hoe noodsaaklik dit is om te verseker dat kinders as die sleutel tot gemeenskapsontwikkelingsinisiatiewe gesien word. Kennis van die unieke sosio-ekologiese konteks behoort te lei tot die ontwerp van geskikte onderrig metodes. Die gevallestudie dui daarop dat ‘n tekort aan kapasiteit, onvoldoende leierskap, finansiële onselfstandigheid en swak organisasie dikwels van die grootste uitdagings is wat sukses belemmer. Die gevolgtrekkings van beide die literatuurstudie en navorsing is dat geïntegreerde en ekologiese VKO wel ‘n nuttige invalshoek kan wees vir volhoubare gemeenskapsontwikkeling. Dit blyk verder dat daar geen enkele universele model van geïntegreerde en ekologiese VKO is nie, en dat elke projek se leerinhoud en metodologie volgens eiesoortige konteks bepaal word. Wat wel belangrik is, is dat dié projekte gebou word op ekologiese wereldsieninge wat kompleksiteit en interafhanklikheid benadruk. Die hoof voordeel van hierdie benadering is dat gemeenskapskapasiteit vir volhoubare gemeenskapsontwikkeling bevorder word terwyl kinders hoë kwaliteit ekologiese opvoeding ontvang. Die belangrikste beperking hierin is dat sukses grootliks afhanklik is van goed toegeruste onderwysers wat verskeie rolle tegelyktydig kan vertolk, wat leierskap kan neem en wat alternatiewe maniere van doen kan demonstreer.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The historical significance of the socio-political changes in South Africa since 1994 cannot be disputed. The challenge is to place the redress agenda within a macro-framework geared to promote competitiveness that positions South Africa as a credible and valued player within the continent and globally. Of concern here is the plight of the rural poor and the neglect of rural space, viewed as central in redressing imbalances and competitiveness. This study posits that the marginalisation of the rural poor results from the deliberate, structural and systemic exclusion evident in previous regimes and perpetuated by the reigning neoliberal policies and the rural development paradigm. It provides an indepth analysis of the rural poor’s spiral of deprivation. The spiral is viewed to perpetuate “dependent survivalism” with reliance on unsustainable hand-outs and oppressive paternalistic relationships between those with, and those without resources. The argument is that the emergence of the poverty eradication agenda has not focused attention and effort on the treatment of the causes of poverty. The study objective is to offer alternative approaches for addressing these structural constraints, enabling rural household participation in viable and sustainable rural economic development programmes. To this end transdisciplinary methods premised on the view of the household as the nucleus of sustainable development are used. The study challenges the general economic theory that limits a household to only a source of labour and capital, with emphasis on household consumption. It shifts focus from the consumptive “dependent survivalism” mode to households as owners of productive assets, producers and suppliers, termed the “productive perspective”. To achieve this, an inclusive and sustainable development conceptual framework is proposed with an alternative rural development policy perspective. The framework emphasises the deployment of capital assets and rural economic development strategies based on the theory of value chains. The comparative analysis of marula commercialisation case studies is used to conceptualise the framework and formulate alternative approaches. Primary research focused on the Distell/Mirma Amarula Cream processing plant in Phalaborwa and the Marula Natural Products initiative at Thulamahashe, Bushbuckridge, South Africa. The findings demonstrated that marula supplying households are value chain actors with an objective function to maximise benefits and participate in the mainstream economy, but are structurally constrained. The profiles of the marula suppliers indicate that the majority are women who as heads of households bear the brunt of unpaid labour and the burden of care. The case study exposed the failure of the local and global economic systems to afford them their deserved opportunities and benefits as value chain actors. The study thus proposes a sustainable benefit-maximising system that is rooted in the value chain-based re-organisation of production, emphasising mainstreaming through institutional and systems change. The role of the state is emphasised as central in creating an enabling environment with regulatory frameworks that ensure sustainable resource use and sharing in value created. The study calls for the courage to turn the 2008/9 global financial crisis into an inclusive and sustainable development agenda. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die historiese betekenis van die sosiopolitieke veranderinge in Suid-Afrika sedert 1994 is onbetwisbaar. Vandag se uitdaging is om die regstellingsagenda in ’n makroraamwerk te plaas wat daarop gerig is om mededingendheid te bevorder en Suid-Afrika sodoende op die kontinent en wêreldwyd te vestig as geloofwaardige en waardevolle speler. Die lot van plattelandse armes en die verwaarlosing van die landelike ruimte is sentrale kwessies in die herstel van wanbalanse en mededingendheid. Hierdie studie voer aan dat die marginalisering van plattelandse armes spruit uit die doelbewuste, strukturele en sistemiese uitsluiting wat in vorige regimes voorgekom het en voortgesit word deur neoliberale beleid en die paradigma van landelike ontwikkeling. Dit bied ’n indringende ontleding van die plattelandse armes se benadeling, wat beskou word as die voortsetting van “afhanklike oorlewing”, met afhanklikheid van onvolhoubare aalmoese en verdrukkende paternalistiese verhoudinge tussen diegene met hulpbronne en diegene daarsonder. Daar word betoog dat die agenda vir die uitroeiing van armoede op die tafel geplaas is sonder dat dit die aandag en energie op die behandeling van die oorsake van armoede toegespits het. Die doelwit van die studie is om alternatiewe benaderings te bied om strukturele beperkings die hoof te bied en plattelandse huishoudings in staat te stel om aan lewensvatbare en volhoubare ontwikkelingsprogramme vir die landbou-ekonomie deel te neem. Hiervoor word transdissiplinêre metodes aangewend wat voortbou op die siening van die huishouding as die kern van volhoubare ontwikkeling. Die studie betwis die algemene ekonomiese teorie wat ’n huishouding tot ’n blote arbeidsbron reduseer en kapitaal aan verbruik vasknoop. Die fokus word dus verskuif van “afhanklike oorlewing” na die huishouding as eienaar van produktiewe bates, en as produsent en verskaffer, te wete die “produktiewe perspektief”. Die primêre navorsing is toegespits op Distell/Mirma Amarula Cream se verwerkingsaanleg in Phalaborwa en die Marula Natural Products-projek in Thulamahashe, Bosbokrand, Suid-Afrika. Die maroela-gevalstudie het die nood van huishoudelike produsente en verskaffers blootgelê tesame met die onvermoë van plaaslike en wêreld-ekonomiese stelsels om hulle die geleenthede en voordele as waardekettingspelers te bied wat hulle toekom. Die profiele van die maroelaverskaffers toon dat die meerderheid vroue is wat as huishoofde die las van kwesbaarheid, onbetaalde arbeid en versorging moet dra. Die navorsing se ontleding het ook die sleutelelemente uitgewys vir die verbetering van prestasie en voordele aan die arm verskaffers sonder dat die lewensvatbaarheid en volhoubaarheid van ondernemings ingeboet word. Die gevolgtrekking van die studie is dat behoorlik uitgewerkte en ondersteunde programme vir plattelandse ekonomiese ontwikkeling die handelsgeleenthede van natuurlike hulpbronne kan maksimaliseer vir bedryfsgroei en voordele vir plattelandse gemeenskappe. ’n Alternatiewe, volhoubare stelsel vir die uitbou van voordele word dus voorgehou wat gesetel is in die reorganisasie van produksie volgens waardekettings, met die klem op hoofstroming deur institusionele en stelselverandering. Die rol van die staat is sentraal in die skepping van ’n bemagtigende omgewing, met reguleringsraamwerke wat volhoubare hulpbrongebruik en waardedeling verseker. Die studie bepleit moedige optrede om die wêreldwye finansiële krisis van 2008/9 om te skep in ’n inklusiewe en volhoubare ontwikkelingsagenda.

Thesis (PhD (School of Public Leadership))--University of Stellenbosch, 2012. / Please download the required VENSIM software from: http://www.vensim.com/freedownload.html / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Technology assessment has changed in nature over the last four decades. It changed from an analytical tool for technology evaluation, which depends heavily on quantitative and qualitative modelling methodologies, into a strategic planning tool for policy-making concerning acceptable new technologies, which depends on participative policy problem analysis. The goal of technology assessment today is to generate policy options for solutions of organisational and societal problems, which at the operational level, utilise new technologies that are publicly acceptable; that is, viable policy options. Energy technology assessment for sustainability is inherently a complex and dynamic process that requires a holistic and transdisciplinary approach. In the South Africa context, specifically, there is no formal and coherent approach to energy technology assessment from a sustainability perspective. Without a formal comprehensive or well integrated technology assessment approach to evaluate the sustainability of any technology, the policy-makers, technology designers, and decision-makers are faced with difficulty in terms of making reasoned decisions about the appropriate technology options. This study developed a framework that incorporates a technology assessment approach, namely, system dynamics, within the broader scope of technology development for sustainability. The framework, termed the Systems Approach to Technology Sustainability Assessment (SATSA), integrates three key elements: technology development, sustainable development, and a dynamic systems approach. The study then provides a guiding process of applying the framework to energy technology assessment theory and practice within the context of sustainable development. Biodiesel, a cleaner burning replacement fuel, argued to potentially contribute to sustainable development, is used for the demonstration. Biodiesel development entails complex interactions of actors such as the technology developers, government at different levels, communities, as well as the natural environment. Different actions or responses in the greater system might hinder or undermine the positive effects of such a development. Based on the SATSA framework, a Bioenergy Technology Sustainability Assessment (BIOTSA) model was developed. The BIOTSA model was used to test the outcomes of a proposed biodiesel production development in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa on selected sustainability indicators. In addition, some policy scenarios were tested to compare how they assist in improving the selected indicators. The BIOTSA model results are useful in comparing dynamic consequences resulting from a proposed biodiesel production development and the respective policies and decisions that may arise from such a development. The testing and validation of the BIOTSA model was carried out based on structural validity, behavioural validity, and expert opinion. Potential policy scenario outcomes and their implication, on the selected sustainability indicators, were also tested. The opinions of the selected stakeholders indicated that the BIOTSA model was useful in providing an understanding of the potential impacts of the biodiesel development on selected sustainability indicators in the Eastern Cape Province. Thus, the SATSA framework can be applied for assessing sustainability of other renewable energy technologies. In addition, system dynamics provide a useful and a feasible dynamic systems approach for energy technology sustainability assessment. Finally, the model building process and transdisciplinary nature of this study enabled the identification of the potential problems that could arise during the biodiesel production development. In addition, gaps in data and knowledge were identified and the recommendation for future work in this field is highlighted. Nevertheless, the findings of the BIOTSA model could inform policy- and decision-making in biodiesel production development in South Africa. The development of similar models for other renewable energy development efforts is thus recommended. The current efforts to facilitate the large-scale roll out of concentrated solar thermal technologies in Southern Africa, for example, would require the development of a Solar Thermal Technology Sustainability Assessment (SOTTSA) model. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die aard van tegnologie assessering het in die afgelope vier dekades verander. Dit het verander ten opsigte van ’n analitiese hulpmiddel vir tegnologie evaluering, wat hoofsaaklik staatmaak op kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe modelleringsmetodiek, na ’n strategiese beplanningshulpmiddel vir beleidvorming met betrekking tot nuwe aanvaarbare tegnologieë, wat afhanklik is van ’n deelnemende beleidsprobleem analise. Vandag se doel vir tegnologie assessering is om beleidsopsies vir oplossings van organisatoriese en sosiale probleme te genereer, wat op operasionele vlak gebruik maak van nuwe tegnologieë wat deur die publiek aanvaar is; met ander woorde, lewensvatbare beleidsopsies. Energie tegnologie assessering vir volhoubaarheid is sonder twyfel ’n komplekse en dinamiese proses wat ’n holistiese en transdisiplinêre benadering benodig. In die Suid- Afrikaanse konteks is daar geen formele en samehangende benadering tot tegnologie assessering vanaf ’n volhoubaarheidsperspektief nie. Beleidsmakers, tegnologie ontwerpers en besluitnemers mag sukkel om beredenerende besluite te neem oor die toepaslike tegnologie opsies sonder ’n formele omvattende of goed geïntegreerde tegnologie assesseringsbenadering om die volhoubaarheid van enige tegnologie te evalueer. Hierdie studie het ’n raamwerk ontwerp wat die tegnologie assesseringsbenadering inkorporeer binne die breë bestek van tegnologiese ontwikkeling vir volhoubaarheid naamlik, stelsel dinamika. Die raamwerk, genoem die Sisteem Benadering tot Tegnologie Volhoubaarheidsassessering (SBTVA) integreer drie sleutelelemente: tegnologiese ontwikkeling, volhoubaarheidsontwikkeling, en ʼn dinamiese stelsels benadering. Verder verskaf die studie ’n leidende proses te opsigte van die toepassing van die raamwerk tot energie tegnologie assesseringsteorie en praktyk binne die konteks van volhoubaarheidsontwikkeling. Biodiesel word gebruik vir die demonstrasie omdat dit gereken word as ’n skoner plaasvervanger vir brandstof en daar aangevoer word dat dit ’n potensiële bydraer tot volhoubaarheidsontwikkeling is. Die ontwikkeling van biodiesel behels komplekse interaksie tussen verskeie akteurs soos tegnologiese ontwikkelaars, die regering op verskillende vlakke, gemeenskappe asook die natuurlike omgewing. Verskeie aksies of reaksies in die groter sisteem mag dalk die positiewe effek van so ontwikkeling ondermyn of verhinder. ’n Biodiesel Tegnologiese Volhoubaarheidsassessering (BIOTVA) model is ontwerp gebaseer op die SBTVA raamwerk. Die BIOTVA model is gebruik om die uitkomste op geselekteerde volhoubaarheidsaanduiders van ’n voorgestelde biodiesel produksie ontwikkeling in die Oos- Kaap Provinsie van Suid-Afrika te toets. Buiten vir die voorafgaande is sekere beleidtoekomsblikke ook getoets om te vergelyk hoe hulle sal help om die geselekteerde aanwysers te verbeter. Die BIOTVA model resultate is behulpsaam in die vergelyking van dinamiese gevolge wat voortspruit uit die voorgestelde biodiesel produksie ontwikkeling asook die onderskeie beleide en besluite wat mag ontstaan van so ’n ontwikkeling. Die toetsing en bekragtiging van die BIOTVA model was uitgevoer gebaseer op strukturele geldigheid, gedragsgeldigheid, en kundige opinie. Potensiële beleidtoekomsblikke uitkomste en die nagevolge, ten opsigte van die geselekteerde volhoubaarheidsaanduiders, is ook getoets. Die opinies van die geselekteerde aandeelhouers het aangedui dat die BIOTVA model bruikbaar is om ’n beter begrip te verskaf ten opsigte van die potensiële impak wat die biodiesel ontwikkeling op geselekteerde volhoubaarheidsaanduiders in die Oos-Kaap Provinsie sal hê. As gevolg hiervan kan die SBTVA raamwerk toegepas word om die volhoubaarheid van ander herwinbare energie tegnologieë te assesseer. Buiten die voorafgaande kan stelsel dinamika ’n bruikbare en uitvoerbare dinamiese stelselbenadering vir energie tegnologie volhoubaarheidsassessering verskaf. Ten slotte, die model bouproses en transdisiplinêre aarde van die studie het gehelp om potensiële probleme wat kan voorkom tydens die biodiesel produksie ontwikkeling te identifiseer. Daarby is gapings in data en kennis ook geïdentifiseer en die aanbevelings vir verdere studie in die veld is uitgelig. Nieteenstaande kan die bevindings van die BIOTVA model beleidmakers en besluitnemers in die biodiesel produksie ontwikkeling van Suid- Afrika inlig. Die ontwikkeling van soortgelyke modelle vir ander herwinbare energie ontwikkelingspogings word aanbeveel. As voorbeeld sal die huidige pogings om die grootskaalse uitrol van gekonsentreerde son termiese tegnologieë in Suider-Afrika te fasiliteer die ontwikkeling van ’n Son Termiese Tegnologie Volhoubaarheidsassesering (SOTTVA) model benodig.

Thesis (PhD (Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Unless Africans and their leaders make a concerted effort to rid themselves of the harmful legacy of colonial spirituality by adopting new motives for living, entering into new relationships with themselves on the plane of beneficial values, Africa will not be able to escape the social, environmental, political and economic afflictions that currently beset her. The colonial forces that burst into Africa with violence from minds bent on foreign conquest were primarily driven by an ethos of covetousness that has come to characterize the existing international order. Stealing, not only of natural resources has continued side by side with the denuding of the very souls of people – as has happened so successfully in Africa – of their humanity. There is evidence that human existence has been beleaguered and governed by an unviable microphysical framework (mindset and spirituality). In the midst of what appears to be a bewilderingly dynamic, turbulent and complex world, this spirituality looms large, gaining a stronghold resulting in disconnectedness among self-worshipping humans and their environment. We now live in a world governed by a distructive innate iniquity that produces overwhelming inequity among humans and unprecedented damage in the natural environment that sustains us. This study draws from and connects the evidence provided by ancient history with current macro-physical endeavours to demonstrate that this micro-physicality still holds sway, albeit under various manifestations. Having been in a state of war with itself and its living environment, humanity has reached what observers have acknowledged as a crossroads. In the violence that has engulfed all humans since time immemorial, as evidenced in the co-existence of poverty and affluence, pandemics driven by a wide variety of illnesses, huge disparities in wealth within and between national economies, energy and environmental depletion and degradation that have earned us the unprecedented crisis of global warming, this crossroads has made itself very present. A particular kind of mentality and spirituality has taken us to this point. It is a spirituality that is obviously devoid and incapable of producing beauty of harmony and communion among us irrespective of our diversity, whether in race, culture, knowledge discipline or geographic space. The macro-physical condition we are experiencing cannot be viewed in isolation from the spirituality that produced it. We are now in an unsustainable world that must have been the fruit of an unsustainable spirituality. The answers to our global dilemma must fundamentally be sought not in any new technologies that emanate from the same mindset, but in a renewed mind and in a different pattern of spirituality. This study probes the dominant world mindest that directed the globally pervasive Western civilization and reviews some major historical and cultural trends that, it argues, have brought humanity to the zenith of its “world-hunt”-culture. This is a “world- hunt” of self-mutilation that manifested itself in Europe, the near-east, Asia and Africa over more than four millennia ago. The deforestation, land degradation, oppression of the poor, hunger, hatred that drives terrorist attacks, climate changes that drive natural disasters and the loss of species, are all the unmistakable bitter fruit of such a culture. It is a culture characterized and propelled by the absence of what this study coins as “aesthetic relational values”. This dominant mindset has strewn all over our globe various rule-based governance institutions characterized by an ethos of central control, manipulating people’s lives for self-centred gain. Though many of these institutions come in various garbs of apparent benevolence, faith-based, trade-based, knowledge/science-based and political governance bodies, all are adherents of the same worldview that is firmly grounded in a merciless and destructive pantheistic, and nature-worship belief system traceable to ancient Egypt. Many of these institutions, today, publicly claim to be proponents of sustainable development, the eradication of poverty and peace among the nations of the world, yet they are still clinging, esoterically, to a cosmological perspective of nature-worship that glorifies self-worship and disregards the well-being of others. The study contrasts this dominant spirituality with the Afrocentric one based on a knowledge system that propounds a belief in a compassionate and merciful Creator-God who is the source of all nature, including the human family, as illustrated in the daily lives of amaMbo peoples whose geographic origins are traced to ancient Ethiopia. As the former continues to make a nonentity of the Creator-God, Africans, realizing the spiritual bankruptcy of a self-glorification ethic that has polarised the people and ravaged their continent through rule-based institutions, are returning, in large numbers, to this knowledge system of their ancient fathers on which their social institutions of shared and consensus-based decision-making and governance, from the basic social unit as the family, to national political relations, were founded. In several encounters these patterns of spiritualities have produced unsavoury outcomes. In the Cape’s more-than-a-century long, bitter and protracted encounter between a branch of amaMbo called amaXhosa, that began with the seventeenth century arrival of the Western “world-hunt” culture through the Calvinist Dutch East India Company traders, Africa and the entire world have been provided, simultaneously, with indisputable evidence of the destructiveness of self-indulgent living on the one hand and the efficacy, on the other, of a relational aesthetic as a viable alternative out of the humanitarian and environmental crises that confront our globe. Views and principles regarding the harmonious living of life on earth have been advocated by many a great leader since antiquity. They have been vindicated in the lives of ancient Israelite patriarchs such as Abraham and Moses, who led his kinsmen out of the Egyptian bondage that lasted over four centuries; in the life of Tolstoy, who chose to be excommunicated from a society that regarded these principles with disdain; to that of Gandhi, on whom Tolstoy was a tremendous influence, and effectively applied them to unshackle a whole nation from British subjugation; and Dostoevsky, Tolstoy’s compatriot, who first referred to these as “aesthetic views”. These relational principles were embedded in the lifestyle of ancient Israel, lived and advocated later by the Jewish Rabbi called Jesus, whose very own people chose to shamefully murder Him rather that accept His teachings. These principles were taught, practised and handed down to His followers to influence humanity as never before. In their ancient setting these principles clashed with those of the pagan lifestyle of Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, which culturally shaped the Western civilization that pervades our globe. The results were centuries of enslavements, dispossessions and persecutions. In the course of history pagan beliefs crept in and mingled with orthodox Jewish rites and worship, producing an adulterated Christianity and a plethora of what are known today as nature-based religions, which still uphold and advocate the individual gods to whom honour and worship is due rather than the Creator in the Hebrew and Afrocentric cosmologies. This study traces the effect of the absence of these relational values on the quality of the life of nations and their leaders. A remarkable trend and pattern characterized by self-mutilative living emerged among all such nations and people. Their efficacy and mutual beneficence, on the other hand, was unmistakable in societies such as that of amaXhosa, in their pre-colonial state in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. As all of nature “groans” under the human self-mutilation caused by the impoverished spirituality in aesthetic relational values, this study argues that salvation lies in ibuyambo, the recalling of these under-appreciated relational values, and in ensuring the re-education of ourselves and our future leaders in them. The focus of the study is what these values are, the effect of their absence, how different they are to what are known as “social capital”, how they have been manifested and preserved in ancient African institutions such as the weekly memorial day of rest – the Sabbath in the creation narrative – in the lives of some individuals and people on our planet, particularly Africans and amaMbo, and the benefits they derived from respecting them. A vital observation in this study is that social systems that are driven by the motive of individual, corporate or national self-exaltation are invariably rooted in strife and discention. The conclusion is drawn that these under-appreciated relational values, aesthetic relational values, are not only a vital ingredient to the quest for and in all known facets of sustainability in development efforts, they hold the key to unlock the door to the mystery of “harmony” that has proven so elusive to individuals, families, communities, societies, nations and their governance systems. The study concludes, with Dostoevsky, that aesthetic relational values contain “a guarantee of tranquility” for all humanity and the natural environment that sustains them. The restoration, not only by all of Africa, of the lost spirituality of aesthetic relational values cherished by their ancient forebears, is key to the renewal of our world. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: under-appreciated relational values, and in ensuring the re-education of ourselves and our future leaders in them. The focus of the study is what these values are, the effect of their absence, how different they are to what are known as “social capital”, how they have been manifested and preserved in ancient African institutions such as the weekly memorial day of rest – the Sabbath in the creation narrative – in the lives of some individuals and people on our planet, particularly Africans and amaMbo, and the benefits they derived from respecting them. A vital observation in this study is that social systems that are driven by the motive of individual, corporate or national self-exaltation are invariably rooted in strife and discention. The conclusion is drawn that these under-appreciated relational values, aesthetic relational values, are not only a vital ingredient to the quest for and in all known facets of sustainability in development efforts, they hold the key to unlock the door to the mystery of “harmony” that has proven so elusive to individuals, families, communities, societies, nations and their governance systems. The study concludes, with Dostoevsky, that aesthetic relational values contain “a guarantee of tranquility” for all humanity and the natural environment that sustains them. The restoration, not only by all of Africa, of the lost spirituality of aesthetic relational values cherished by their ancient forebears, is key to the renewal of our world. op ons globale dilemma moet fundamenteel nie in enige nuwe tegnologieë gesoek word wat uit hierdie selfde geestesingesteldheid voortvloei nie, maar in ’n hernude sienswyse en in ’n ander spiritualiteitspatroon. Hierdie studie ondersoek die dominante wêreldingesteldheid wat die globaal omvattende Westerse beskawing gerig het en hersien ’n aantal belangrike historiese en kulturele neigings wat, volgens die argument, die mensdom tot by die toppunt van sy “wêreld-jag”-kultuur gebring het. Dit is ’n “wêreld-jag” van selfverminking wat sigself meer as vier millennia gelede in Europa, die Nabye Ooste, Asië en Afrika gemanifesteer het. Die ontbossing, grondagteruitgang, onderdrukking van die armes, hongersnood, haat wat terroriste-aanvalle aangedryf het en klimaatsveranderings, wat natuurrampe en die verlies van spesies laat toeneem het, is almal die onmiskenbare bitter vrugte van so ’n kultuur. Dit is ’n kultuur wat gekenmerk en voortgestu is deur die afwesigheid van wat hierdie studie “estetiese relasionele waardes” noem. Hierdie dominante ingesteldheid het verskeie reëlgebaseerde regeringsinstellings wat gekenmerk word deur ’n etos van sentrale beheer en die manipulering van mense se lewens vir selfgesentreerde gewin oor ons hele wêreld versprei. Hoewel baie van hierdie instellings in verskeie gewade van skynbare welwillendheid - geloofgebaseerde, handelsgebaseerde, kennis/wetenskapgebaseerde en politieke bestuursliggame - voordoen, is almal aanhangers van dieselfde wêreldbeskouing wat stewig in ’n genadelose en destruktiewe panteïstiese en natuuraanbidding-geloofstelsel gevestig is wat na antieke Egipte terugvoerbaar is. Baie van hierdie instellings maak vandag in die openbaar daarop aanspraak om voorstanders van volhoubare ontwikkeling, die uitwissing van armoede en vrede onder die nasies van die wêreld te wees, terwyl hulle nog, esoteries, vasklou aan ’n kosmologiese perspektief van natuuraanbidding wat selfverheerliking aanprys en die welsyn van ander verontagsaam. Die studie kontrasteer hierdie dominante spiritualiteit met die Afrosentriese siening wat op ’n kennissisteem gebaseer is, wat ’n geloof in ’n barmhartige en genadige Skeppergod voorstel wat die bron van alle natuur, met inbegrip van die menseras, is, soos blyk uit die daaglikse lewens van amaMbo-mense wie se geografiese oorsprong na antieke Ethiopië teruggevoer kan word. Terwyl die eersvdermelde steeds die niebestaan van die Skeppergod voorstaan, keer Afrikane – met die besef van die spirituele bankrotskap van ’n selfverheerlikende etiek wat mense gepolariseer het en hulle kontinent deur reëlgebaseerde instellings verniel het - in groot getalle terug na hierdie kennissisteem van hul voorvaders waarop hul sosiale instellings van gedeelde en konsensusgebaseerde besluitneming en regering, vanaf die basiese sosiale eenheid as die familie tot by nasionale politieke verhoudings¸ gevestig is. Hierdie patrone van spiritualiteite het in verskeie gevalle tot onaangename uitkomste gelei. In die Kaap se meer as ’n eeu lange, bittere en langdurige botsing tussen ’n tak van amaMbo bekend as amaXhosa, wat met die 17de-eeuse aankoms van die Westerse “wêreld-jag”-kultuur deur die Calvinistiese Nederlandse Oos-Indiese Kompanjie-handelaars begin het, is Afrika en die hele wêreld terselfdertyd voorsien van onbetwisbare bewys van die vernielsug van gemaksugtige lewe aan die een kant en, aan die ander kant, die doeltreffendheid van relasionele estetika as ’n lewensvatbare alternatief uit die humanitêre en omgewingskrisisse wat ons wêreld in die gesig staar. Sienswyses en beginsels omtrent ’n harmonieuse lewenswyse op aarde is al sedert die vroegste tyd deur vele groot leiers bepleit. Dit is gehandhaaf in die lewens van antieke Israelitiese patriage soos Abraham en Moses, wat sy stamverwante uit die Egiptiese slawerny van meer as vier eeue gelei het; in die lewe van Tolstoi, wat verkies het om verban te word uit ’n gemeenskap wat hierdie beginsels met minagting bejeën het; in dié van Gandhi, op wie Tolstoi ’n geweldige invloed gehad het, wat hierdie beginsels effektief toegepas het om ’n hele nasie van Britse onderwerping te bevry; en Dostojewski, Tolstoi se landgenoot, wat die eerste keer daarna as “estetiese sienswyses” verwys het. Hierdie relasionele beginsels is vasgelê in die lewenstyl van antieke Israel, en later uitgeleef en verkondig deur die Joodse Rabbi genaamd Jesus, wie se eie mense verkies het om Hom skandelik te vermoor eerder as om sy leringe te aanvaar. Hierdie beginsels is onderrig, beoefen en aan Sy volgelinge oorgedra om die mensdom te beïnvloed soos nog nooit tevore nie. Hierdie beginsels het in hulle antieke opset gebots met dié van die heidense lewenstyl van Egipte, Babilon, Medo-Persië, Griekeland en Rome, wat die Westerse beskawing wat oor die wêreld versprei is kultureel gevorm het. Die resultate was eeue van slawerny, onteienings en vervolgings. Met verloop van die geskiedenis het heidense gelowe ingesypel en met die Joodse rites en aanbidding vermeng, wat gelei het tot ’n verknoeide Christendom en ’n oorvloed van wat vandag as natuurgebaseerde gelowe bekend staan, wat steeds die individuele gode aanhang en verkondig aan wie eer en aanbidding toekom, eerder as die Skepper in die Hebreeuse en Afrosentriese kosmologieë. Hierdie studie belig die afwesigheid van hierdie relasionele waardes in die gehalte van die lewe van nasies en hulle leiers. ’n Merkwaardige verloop en patroon wat gekenmerk word deur ’n selfverminkende lewenswyse het by al hierdie nasies en mense te voorskyn getree. Hulle doeltreffendheid en wedersydse liefdadigheid is, aan die ander kant, onmiskenbaar in gemeenskappe soos dié van die amaXhosa, in hul voorkoloniale staat in die Oos-Kaapse streek van Suid-Afrika. Terwyl die hele natuur “kreun” onder die menslike selfverminking wat deur die verarmde spiritualiteit in estetiese relasionele waardes veroorsaak word, argumenteer hierdie studie dat die redding lê in ibuyambo, die herroeping van hierdie onderwaardeerde relasionele waardes, en deur seker te maak dat ons onsself en ons toekomstige leiers daarin heropvoed. Die studie konsentreer op wat hierdie waardes is, die uitwerking van die afwesigheid daarvan, hoe dit verskil van wat as “sosiale kapitaal” bekend staan, hoe dit in antieke Afrika-instellings soos die weeklikse gedenkdag van rus – die Sabbat in die skeppingsverhaal - gemanifesteer en bewaar is in die lewens van party individue en mense op ons planeet, veral Afrikane en amaMbo, en die voordele wat hulle trek uit die nakoming daarvan. ’n Belangrike waarneming in hierdie studie is dat sosiale stelsels wat deur die motief van individuele, korporatiewe of nasionale selfverheffing aangedryf word, sonder uitsondering aan onenigheid en verdeeldheid gekoppel is. Die gevolgtrekking word gemaak dat hierdie onderwaardeerde relasionele waardes, estetiese relasionele waardes, nie slegs ’n noodsaaklike onderdeel in die soeke na en in alle bekende fasette van volhoubaarheid in ontwikkelingspogings is nie, maar dat hulle die sleutel is tot die ontsluiting van die misterie van “harmonie” wat so ontwykend vir individue, families, gemeenskappe, samelewings, nasies en hul regeringstelsels geblyk het. Die studie kom, saam met Dostojewski, tot die gevolgtrekking dat estetiese relasionele waardes ’n “waarborg van kalmte” bevat vir die hele mensdom en die natuurlike omgewing wat ons onderhou. Die herstel deur meer as net die hele Afrika van die verlore spiritualiteit van estetiese relasionele waardes wat deur hulle antieke voorgeslagte gekoester is, is die sleutel tot die vernuwing van ons wêreld.