M.Com. (Economics) / Access to health care is a basic human right in South Africa. Primary health care is viewed by the South African government as the means to improving access to health care in the country. The concept of primary health care is based on the importance of first contact with a primary health worker. The Department of Health introduced free primary health care because it believes that the most significant barrier to access to health care is poverty. When a service is provided for free there is no income generated from user fees and the issue of funding becomes very important. This study performs an analysis of the free primary health care programme in South Africa and how it is financed. An important feature that characterizes South Africa is high inequality which is reflected in the high level ofpreventable diseases as well as high incidents of chronic diseases. The implementation of free primary health care has led to improved access to health care and somewhat improved the health status of the South African population. In order to address the inequalities in the health sector there must be funding targeted towards the needs of the poor. Government's fiscal policy places limits on the expansion of public expenditure, which poses a strain on resources flowing to the health sector. In addition to that there has not been a significant shift of funds from higher levels of care to primary health care. The funding issue will need to be urgently resolved for primary health care to be sustainable...

M.Com. (Economics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (Finance and Investment Management), 2016 / The relationship between real economic activity and stock market performance is one that has been extensively researched throughout many decades, across many economies. Many issues and debates have stemmed involving this relationship, with the major ones including those of the significance of the relationship, nature of the relationship as well as causality and direction of causality within the relationship. This research paper examines this relationship within the South African context, comparing the pre and post 2008 global financial crisis periods. Results both in support of and contrary to theory were found as real economic activity had an immediate postitive response to shocks imposed on the stock index, whilst the stock index had an immediate negative response to shocks imposed on real economic activity. Through the use of granger causality testing, no causality was found in either direction. Furthermore, no major differences were noted between the pre and post crisis periods. / GR2018

Research report submitted to the Department of Building, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfiment of the degree MSc (Building) by Course Work / The objective of this report is to investigate certain structural imbalances in the South African financial system to assess if the technique of' mortgage securitization may serve to alleviate deficiencies in the provision of housing finance as well as prerequisite in creating a secondary mortgage market in South Africa. (Abbreviation abstract ) / Andrew Chakane 2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (Finance and Investment), March 2016 / DFIs play a very important role in economic development of most countries. In South Africa (SA), they have an additional role of addressing socio-economic development and transformation problems that were created by the previous Apartheid system. In particular, DFIs in SA address unemployment, redistribution of income, private sector development and manufacturing sector growth. However, it is not clear whether these DFI’s are having a positive impact on the socio-economic transformation as they are expected to, given the amount of money that the government budget for them each year. The aim of this research is to investigate whether SA DFI’s have significant impact on the country’s socio-economic development and transformation. DFI credit extension is found to have positive and significant impact on economic growth in in both South African and in emerging markets. Also, in both South Africa and in emerging markets, government consumption has negative impact on economic growth. An additional analysis further shows that DFI credit extension promotes increase in manufacturing-toGDP in SA and in other emerging markets. DFI has significantly positive impact on HDI in South Africa but not in emerging markets. There is a positive (albeit not significant) impact of DFI credit extension on poverty in South Africa, worse still, the relationship is significantly negative in other emerging countries. The results show that the government should bolster the DFI funding as these DFIs play a significant role in the economic development of the country. / GR2018

A research report submitted to the University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Finance and Investment JOHANNESBURG MARCH 2015 / This study examines the impact of corporate governance reforms on performance of publicly listed firms on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa from 2009 to 2013. The study examines the King III reform in detail, and previous reforms before King III. The variables employed in this study to measure firm performance are return on asset (ROA), return on common equity (ROE) as proxies for accounting based performance measures and Tobin’s Q as a proxy for market based measure of performance. The results do indicate that corporate governance does have an effect on a firm’s performance. Evidence is presented that suggests that the level of compliance has increased over the period in question from 2009, when King III was assumed. Overall the conclusions are that board size has no impact on firm performance. The hypothesis that board independence impacts on firm performance was rejected among other findings. That being said, there is also significant deviations from the framework that leave room to further develop and/or improve policy. The sample size of 99 is large enough to make inferences about the population

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2006 / The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges facing Mpumalanga Economic Empowerment Corporation (MEEC) in its quest to funding the emerging small enterprises in Mpumalanga. The study was conducted in 2004-2005, in the Nkangala District Municipality in Mpumalanga. Interviews were conducted amongst the existing clients of MEEC and its predecessors. Senior Managers and Operational staff were also interviewed in order to solicit the effectiveness of the tools used to granting loans and guarantees. The findings have since shown that there are operational challenges facing MEEC, which are in nature similar to those faced by a number of Development Finance Corporations in this country and around the globe as the benchmarks showed in the study. It was therefore important to undertake this study considering the need to improve the role played by MEEC and the approaches to be adopted in improving the course in which parastatals do business.

M.Tech. Business Administration. Business School.

No description available.

The huge housing backlog that plagues South Africa requires concerted effort to develop capacity for low-income delivery systems that will improve the socioeconomic conditions of low-income people. Social housing, and housing associations in particular are recent housing delivery systems that promise to meet the needs of low-income people in South Africa. It is the intention of this research to investigate to what extent housing associations can improve housing delivery and improve the socio-economic conditions of low-income people. The literature review provides information on national experience in housing delivery. It investigates the difficulties of housing provision and how delivery fails to meet the needs of low-income people in South Africa. An international model of housing associations is used to provide an alternative form of delivery that may assist in reducing the backlog. The research uses integrated development as a framework for housing delivery. This paradigm advocates mixed landuse, and mixed income housing. Thus, it a move against 'housing in the veld" and 'one house one plot' delivery, and encourages housing delivery that is integrated with other functions within the inner city. Two examples of Johannesburg's inner city housing associations, namely Navarone and Jeppe Oval are used as case studies. These two case studies suit an integrated development approach. The survey includes a sample of 30 people from the two housing associations. Data analysis of the socio-economic issues and responses of tenants suggests that housing associations provide better living conditions and therefore a viable option for housing delivery in inner city areas of South Africa. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.