No abstract available. / Dissertation (M Com (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Economics / unrestricted

No description available.

No description available.

M.Com. (Economics) / This study attempts to critically evaluate some of the aspects of policy recommendations presently being made for economic development as a contribution to the debate on an optimal approach for the reconstruction and development of the South African economy. The new and, for South Africa, unknown democratic era, in which widely differing ideological approaches towards economic development converge, offers an unique opportunity for reconciliation within the democratic structures. With this in mind, the ideological framework in terms of economic theory provides an explanation as to the divergent views on economic development and the relief of poverty. The White Paper, on Reconstruction and Development, to some extent seem to reconcile the ideological differences found within the Government of National Unity. There do, nevertheless, remain differences that need to be highlighted, especially when considering the evolution of the ideological base of the African National Congress Alliance as the main partner in the Government of National Unity. The impact of changing circumstances since the Freedom Charter, the ANC's first major economic policy statement, seem to explain the shift in the Alliance's socialistic and labour related affinity in subsequent publications as well as the White Paper on Reconstruction and Development. With the ANC evolving into a government in waiting and with external V11l influences, especially the lessons from the international development experience and the policy fundamentals inherent to the Normative Economic Model, becoming stark realities, the shift towards a more pragmatic and market acknowledging approach, as expressed in the White Paper on Reconstruction and development, became more pronounced. When considering the White Paper as a management program for the development of the South African economy, a wide array of sometimes contradictory goals are found which further highlights the ideological base in favour of labour. This may be the result of a program that tends to be populist and attempting to satisfy needs over the full spectrum of society. However, the lessons from the international development experience were fully taken into account and the White Paper on Reconstruction and Development cannot be faulted for not incorporating all the ingredients of present day state-of-the-art development policy. Resources for, and management ofthe program poses the more serious problems. According to the Reconstruction and Development Program ofthe African National Congress, the government submits to a people driven development approach. Following the evaluation of the goals set to meet basic needs, two major problems arise, namely that the stated goals will probably be insufficient to satisfy the social backlog and will probably be unrealistic to achieve over as short a period as five years. The populist democracy that flows from the people driven process propagated by the Reconstruction and Development Program places certain constraints on the effective management of the reform process and as such may result in South Africa not achieving its potential rate of development. The inclusion of local an provincial government structures, civic organisations and others in the decision making process will enhance the credibility of policies but is slow in the development of policies and their implementation. The uncertainty surrounding the jurisdiction and competency of these new and democratised structures leads to the questioning of this process as far as the effective management of the development program is concerned. International experience has shown that a decisive and coherent economic team, visionary economic leadership and a strong political and judicial base to drive policy implementation are necessary ingredients for a development and reform program to succeed.

Research presented for the degree of Masters of Management in Public Policy to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management of the University of the Witwatersrand, School of Public and Development Management. March 2016 / The purpose of this study is to analyse the changing nature of South Africa’s Macroeconomic policy in the post-apartheid era for the period 1994-2010. The key focus of the study is to uncover the factors that are a direct cause or have contributed to the paradigm shifts in policy during the specified period; supplementary to this, the study will look at how the changing paradigms have contributed in ridding the South African economy of its apartheid legacy, characterised by the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. This study has a strong qualitative approach, comprising a comprehensive document review process, as well as 8 in-depth interviews with relevant experts in the field. This is further complemented by a supplementary quantitative analysis of key socio-economic data and statistics. The findings are that the observed paradigm shifts in macroeconomic policy during the period under review are a result of a number of key factors, namely: the changing domestic political discourse; the global and domestic economic climate; and the influence of domestic institutional arrangements, all of which have a direct impact on the policy discourse. Despite these paradigm shifts, South Africa continues to be faced with the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality; macroeconomic policy in the democratic dispensation has failed to deliver the core aims of South Africa’s economic development strategy. With the failures of orthodox neo-liberal macroeconomic policy, and the apparent shortcomings of Keynesian influenced redistributive macroeconomic policy, the key question facing policy makers is what direction South Africa’s Macroeconomic paradigm should follow. The idea of the developmental state, and its success in building emerging economies in South East Asia, is considered a viable option for South Africa to achieve an inclusive growth path. / MT 2018

So much has been said and written about the Reconstruction and Development Programme by a bewildering array of development specialists, politicians, bureaucrats and commentators that it seems inconceivable that anyone familiar with policy debates would still lack an understanding of it. But amid the speeches, publications, policy documents and newspaper articles, the RDP has lost its meaning and coherence. It has come to mean anything anyone wants it to mean; with a little ingenuity, anything can be made to fit in with the goals of the RDP. It has thus become too broad and imprecise to refer only to what was originally intended. This paper offers an analysis of the RDP’s approach at national and provincial levels, and provides a conceptual framework within which the RDP’s Basic Needs approach to development is assessed. It forms part of a continuing project which seeks to examine the RDP and its implementation by the provinces, and was based on interviews with provincial and national RDP officials, development planners in the provinces, and a thorough content analysis of official policy documents, memoranda and minutes. The institutionalisation of the RDP will be examined by analysing problems faced in the course of implementing it in the provinces. Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West were chosen as case studies; w'hile they were selected randomly, the goal was to examine three provinces with different socio-economic profiles, allowing significant lessons to be extrapolated from their short experience of implementing the RDP. Their priorities and strategic approaches will be assessed, and problems examined, to suggest lessons for policy and planning that might throw light on similar issues in other provinces. Finally, the paper will analyse indications that the government is making subtle strategic changes towards rearticulating the RDP within a new time frame, and moving towards a tightly co-ordinated set of institutional structures and intergovernmental planning systems. / Social policy series

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Arts degree in the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. / This report is an exploratory discussion of the prospects for private sector investment in development initiatives. Based on a set of structured and unstructured interviews, a press review and a survey of the relevant literature, the report paints to a growth in the areas of commonality between the worlds of investment and development, in that there is increasing recogniticm of the need to direct resources to South Africa's poor at the same time as market forces are starting to play an enlarged role in development. The report argues however, that the social context in which investors are 'embedded' is very different from that of development practitioners, leading to a situation in which development projects are seen as risky investments. The difficulty experienced by private investors in understanding the world of development is identified by the report as the single largest obstacle to private sector investment in development. The report draws the conclusion that mediating institutions are required to structure relationships between development agents and investors. / Andrew Chakane 2018

No abstract available. / Thesis (LL. M.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This study considers the nature of savings behaviour amongst low income earners residing in the township areas of Kouga Municipal District. It reflects on the popularity and persistence of informal savings and credit associations, also known as stokvels, in these communities in the face of an increase in the availability of formal savings products. This study argues that despite financial deepening taking place within the South African economy, the popularity and widespread usage of stokvels can largely be attributed to the lack of appropraite formal products available for low income earners. This study does not conclude that the usage of informal savings products results in increased savings behaviours amongst this group, but it does conclude that they provide a suitable mechanism in which savings can take place.

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Arts in (Political Studies) University of the Witwatersrand February, 2015 / The ANC ascended to government against the backdrop of a rapidly changing global political economic order after the end of the Cold War. This effectively marked the collapse of communism as a global political force and the concomitant dominance of neoliberalism. In 1996, the African National Congress government adopted the Growth Employment and Redistribution strategy (GEAR) as its new economic blue print, through which it would pursue its transformation agenda. In so doing, the ANC circumvented economic policy consultation processes with its political alliance partners and declared GEAR ‘non-negotiable’. This research argues that the shift to GEAR was essentially an economic policy alignment with the dominant post -Cold War neoliberal discourse and practice. It was fashioned deliberately by key ANC policy makers who had bought into the neoliberal assumption that development would occur after economic growth had been attained. The GEAR strategy privileged market led reforms which subordinated the transformation agenda to orthodox macroeconomic considerations. The pro-market bias which began with the adoption of the GEAR strategy has continued to shape South Africa’s post-apartheid economic policy environment to a significant extent.