M.Comm. / The Financial Sector Charter is a transformation charter in terms of the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act (Act 53 of 2003). The Charter is a voluntary initiative by the financial sector to address racially based income and social inequalities in South Africa. It aims to encourage black economic participation through its six pillars. The Charter came into effect in January 2004 as a result of the Financial Sector Summit hosted by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), the multilateral social dialogue forum on social, economic and labour policy. The Nedlac partners – government, business, labour and community constituencies – negotiated the Financial Sector Summit Agreements on transforming the financial sector and signed the Summit declaration on 20 August 2002. The Charter commits its participants to 'actively promoting a transformed, vibrant, and globally competitive financial sector that reflects the demographics of South Africa, and contributes to the establishment of an equitable society by effectively providing accessible financial services to black people and by directing investment into targeted sectors of the economy. Financial institutions affected by the Charter include banks, long-term insurers, shortterm insurers, re-insurers, collective investment schemes, investment managers, retirement funds, and licensed exchanges. Any other institution in the financial sector may opt to participate in the Charter. The objectives of the Charter are to: • constitute a framework and establish the principles upon which BEE will be implemented in the financial sector; • provide the basis for the sector’s engagement with other stakeholders; • establish targets and unquantified responsibilities in respect of each principle; • outline processes for implementing the charter and mechanisms to monitor and report on progress. Progress on the Financial Sector Charter Scorecard in the South African Banking Sector In pursuit of these objectives, the Charter commits financial institutions in the sector to transforming in the areas of: • Human resource development; • Procurement of goods and services; • Access to financial services; • Empowerment financing; • Ownership and control; • Corporate social investment. The study provides an overview on the above objectives of the Charter and seeks to measure and assesses in detail the progress of the banking sector regarding the six key areas of the FSC as outlined in the FSC Scorecard against the set targets of 2008. The scorecards analysed would be those that have been submitted to the Council as at the 31 December 2006. • Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (Absa Group); • FirstRand Group (including First National Bank); • Nedbank Group; • Standard Bank Group. The study will assess the performance of each bank, highlighting the positives and providing recommendations where there are shortfalls. The results will be consolidated to give an overall performance overview of the banking sector in South Africa in meeting transformational challenges faced by the country. According to the South African Reserve Bank (2008:106) the financial services sector including insurance, real estate and business services added 22% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007 making it the biggest contributor. It is therefore imperative for this study to be undertaken to assess and ensure that the sector commits to the process of transformation in addressing the past imbalances with regard to inclusive participation by all in the South African economy.

South Africa's democratic transition towards social and economic equality is under constant scrutiny, challenged by rising levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Since 1994 the African National Congress government has enacted various legislative interventions to change long-established racial distortions of economic opportunity and wealth accumulation, a number of which target business. The response and role of business in such an environment remains contested, both in literature and practice. There were (and are) calls for the role of businesses to evolve beyond narrow profit maximisation to play a more active part in economic and social transformation. Against this backdrop the Financial Sector Charter was collaboratively developed between the industry and its social partners in 2003 as a route map for such change. Employing a critical realism approach with a longitudinal perspective, this qualitative study explores the perspectives of key protagonists of the Financial Sector Charter on their experiences of developing and implementing the initiative: how it came into being, how it was applied and what could be done differently. Based upon semi-structured interviews with senior leaders from industry, government, black business, trade associations, labour and NGOs, the study reveals a number of issues: a deliberate attempt to leverage the capabilities and competitive forces in the industry to drive change; contestation within government over this approach; and a desire to use the capabilities of the industry to “reset” the country's current path of economic transformation. The significance of the study lies in the hitherto undocumented exposure it gives to the perspectives of the people involved in this unusual form of cross-sector social partnership and their efforts to catalyse positive social change not only in the Financial Services industry but in South Africa more broadly.

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This study set out to establish an informed framework for the use of social network services in South African museums. Social network services are utilised by a wide demographic spectrum so they offer a cost-effective way to engage with communities and with existing and new stakeholders. The Standard of Generally Recognised Accounting Practice on Heritage Assets, or GRAP 103, and the draft National Policy on Digitisation of Heritage Resources imply that museum collections get documented and managed in digital form. It will coincidentally also enable museums to embrace the use of social network services and share the collections in their custody with many South Africans who are yet to experience the value of museums in the country. Museums are institutions in the service of society which acquires, conserves and communicates the tangible and intangible heritage of people and their environment. During the twentieth century museums have had to reinvent themselves from being unapproachable custodians of heritage to being part of society, willing to engage in discourses and be transformed to remain relevant to the communities they serve. The 2011 Census has found that about 18.2 million of 51.7 million South Africans have had access to the Internet before. Active Internet users however, are about half that figure because it is expensive, the broadband and telecommunications network is not efficient or because people have not yet experienced the value it offers. Government regulations compel Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enterprises to spend 1.5% net profit after tax on socio economic development initiatives. This presents an opportunity for museums as educational institutions to engage with such enterprises to expand Internet access and engage with local communities. The social network service field offers various ways to communicate collections and engage with communities through text, photographs, video and location-based technologies. Various notable local and international initiatives were discussed in this study. For example the Kulturpool which allows visitors to create cyber collections from digitised museum objects and contribute to the knowledge of such objects by allowing them to submit and share information for others to read. SAHRIS, the digital database offered by the South African Heritage Resources Agency, holds the key to similar ventures that museums could pursue. The regulative framework involves privacy, copyright and ethical issues which museums should abide by. Because of the pervasiveness of ICTs museums should take note of these regulations even if they decide not to pursue social network initiatives. ICT skills in museums are insufficient and should be improved upon. Social network services offer training and guidelines on how to use them, which could be a great help provided the reader has a good command of the English language. Cognisance must be taken of an overview social network services and their uses, and of the ethical and regulative framework for museums to benefit from using social network services to engage with communities. This way, communities may benefit from having access to the museum online. / Dissertation (MHCS)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

M.Comm. / The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the progress that has been made in the provision of housing finance to low-income earners. In 1994, housing affordability was constrained, as around 86% of households earned below R3 500. The focus, therefore, is on the role played by both government and the four major banks in broadening access to housing finance for these households and also those who earn less than R7 500. Frameworks that brought about certain initiatives aimed at addressing this problem are explored. On the side of government, the housing subsidy scheme and the role played by the government housing finance institutions (i.e. the National Housing Finance Corporation and the Rural Housing Loan Fund) are explored. On the banking sector side, the provisioning of housing finance prior to and after the implementation of the Financial Sector Charter (FSC) in 2004 is investigated. The dissertation concludes by looking the challenges that exist in the low-cost housing finance environment. The paper notes that, although some considerable progress has been made in the broadening of access to housing finance, there is a huge gap between the number of subsidies approved and the number of households that have benefited from the government subsidy scheme, possibly resulting from, among other things, capacity constraints at local government level. In respect of the banking sector, data analysed shows that bank involvement in the low-income market was very minimal before the implementation of the FSC. However, as much as some progress has been made, there are some serious challenges in this market that could have possibly prevented the role players from extending this access to the rest of the target group.