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Text in English / The local structures are crucial component of development and they are intrinsically perceived as the epicentre of development. This is a qualitative social science study which embraces phenomenological observation to assess the role of the local structures in development in the Sekhukhune District Municipality. This study also wanted to establish the role of the local structures and their contribution to development in the Sekhukhune District Municipality. A phenomenological interviews and observations were conducted using scheduled interviews and interviews guides supported by, transcript interviews and a tape recorder. In addition, 160 participants were identified among the local structures. The Atlas TI software program was used for data analysis in order to achieve the aim and objectives of this study. The study postulated some recommendations which include inter alia: resource mobilisation, institutional capacity, and skills capacity in order to consolidate developmental local government. This study further recommended some policy options that include policy reform, policy formulation, and policy shift to better support local development and accelerate infrastructure roll-out to enhance service delivery for the benefit of development. It is in this context that the local structures are better placed to respond to the societal challenges bedridden service delivery. This study uniquely contributed to the new knowledge that stresses the correlation between the local structures and local development. It is in the light of this contribution that this study intended to further close the gap created between the local structures and local development. For further and future research, this study highlighted the land claims in the Sekhukhune District Municipality as the constraints towards development. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil.(Development Studies)

History / M.A. (History)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Sustainable rural development is currently one of the priority items for the South African government. Agricultural advancement, high rates of unemployment, widespread poverty, a lack of access to employment opportunities, transport, education and other services, skewed land ownership patterns that are partly due to Apartheid policies, a lack of access to land and numerous social and health‐related issues are just some of the problems that rural communities are currently faced with. This study focuses mainly on the spatial planning aspects of rural development and it explores the possibilities of adaptating strategies from the New Urbanism and New Ruralism movements, together with a number of tools typically associated with sustainable rural development, for use in the South African context. Through the study of available literature on the subject, personal interviews and practical experience, a range of strategies have been investigated and a selected number have been identified that may be applicable to the local context. A number of case studies are assessed, which include a new model being implemented at Crossways Farm Village in the Eastern Cape which combines elements from the above‐mentioned approaches. From some of the results achieved to date it seems that the implementation of these particular spatial planning models, combined with models like the biosphere concept that focuses on biodiversity, together with a range of additional socio‐economic strategies, may contribute to the promotion of sustainable rural development in South Africa. It is hoped that this study shows the potential and challenges of these spatial planning models as a tool for sustainable rural development, and that it may lead to further study on the subject. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Volhoubare landelike ontwikkeling is tans een van die prioriteitsitems vir die Suid‐ Afrikaanse regering. Landboukundige vooruitgang, hoë vlakke van werkloosheid, wyd verspreide armoede, ‘n tekort aan toegang tot werksgeleenthede, vervoer, onderwys en ander dienste, verwronge patrone van grondbesit wat deels toegeskryf kan word aan Apartheidsbeleide, ‘n tekort aan toegang tot grond en talle sosiale‐ en gesondheidskwessies is net ‘n paar van die probleme waarmee landelike gemeenskappe tans gekonfronteer is. Hierdie studie fokus hoofsaaklik op die ruimtelike beplanningsaspekte van landelike ontwikkeling en dit ondersoek die moontlikhede om strategië van die New Urbanism en New Ruralism bewegings, tesame met ‘n aantal werktuie wat tipies met volhoubare landelike ontwikkeling geassosieër word, te gebruik in die Suid‐Afrikaanse konteks. Deur die studie van die beskikbare literatuur oor die onderwerp, persoonlike onderhoude en praktiese ondervinding, word ‘n reeks strategië ondersoek en ‘n uitgekose aantal word geidentifiseer wat moontlik van toepassing kan wees op die plaaslike konteks. Daar word verwys na ‘n aantal gevallestudies, wat ook ‘n nuwe model insluit wat tans op Crossways Farm Village in die Oos‐Kaap geimplementeer word, wat elemente van die bogenoemde benaderings kombineer. Van sommige van die resultate wat tot op hede verkry is, blyk dit dat die implementering van hierdie spesifieke ruimtelike beplanningsmodelle, gekombineer met modelle soos die biosfeer konsep wat fokus op biodiversiteit, tesame met ‘n reeks addisionele sosioekonomiese strategië, moontlik mag bydra tot die bevordering van volhoubare landelike ontwikkeling in Suid‐Afrika. Daar word gehoop dat hierdie studie die potensiaal en die uitdagings wys van hierdie ruimtelike beplanningsmodelle as ‘n werktuig vir volhoubare landelike ontwikkeling en dat dit mag lei tot verdere studie oor die onderwerp.

The ubiquitous and pervasive nature of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) fosters societies driven by knowledge rather than traditional capital and labour through the simplified socio-economic participation. No longer are individuals impacted by spatial and environmental conditions when conducting personal, community and even national obligations and duties. However, the effective use of ICT is governed by personal, interpersonal and environmental factors. Nowhere else is this impact more evident than in rural areas. Rural areas are plagued by a number of challenges which affect ICT use. Some of these challenges relate to the scarcity of income, education and infrastructure. A holistic investigation on the challenges experienced by rural areas was necessary. Based on the outcome of the investigation, rural areas were classified as resource-constrained environments. The study then set out to explore concepts that highlight the opportunities offered by ICT in rural areas and those that mitigate challenges posed by these environments on ICT use. The theoretical grounding of the concepts identified in the study firstly set out to understand and explain general ICT use, then extended this ICT use to rural areas. A conceptual model explaining challenges posed by resource constraints inherent in rural areas on ICT use was incepted. This conceptual model was empirically investigated for evaluation and validation purposes resulting in the final model of the study. The final model of the study facilitated the process of understanding and explaining the effective use of ICT in rural areas based on the inherent resource constraints in these environments. By mitigating the factors affecting ICT use in rural areas, the impact of effective ICT use can potentially be extended to resource-constrained environments, including rural areas. / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Computing)

Early in 1981, Professor S. Bekker of Rhodes University was invited to attend a meeting of the Amatola Basin Steering Committee of the Agricultural and Rural Development Research Institute (ARDRI) at the University of Fort Hare. At this meeting, Professor Bekker was invited to undertake a socio-economic survey of the Amatola Basin. The Board of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Rhodes University gave Professor Bekker permission in February 1981 to undertake the research project on condition that it was conducted in the fashion this Institute usually requires. It was subsequently agreed that the survey, known as 'Amatola Basin VII: Socio-economic survey', was to establish the basic demographic, kinship, consumption and employment patterns of the residents of the Amatola Basin. Practices and traditions related to dry land agriculture would also be identified / Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)

History / M.A. (History)

This comparative study, undertaken in the anthropological tradition of long-term field research, highlights the impact of agricultural "betterment" schemes in two rural communities - Chatha in Keiskammahoek district, Ciskei and Shixini in Willowvale district, Transkei. The authors provide a wealth of historical, sociological and ecological detail to describe and assess the implications of the continuation of the present official "betterment" strategy. This is done by comparing conditions in Chatha, where the strategy was implemented in the 1960s, with those in Shixini, where it was being implemented during fieldwork. / Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)

Thesis (Ph.D. (Public Administration)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Refer to document

This thesis examines the agricultural labour process on commercial farms in post-apartheid South Africa with a particular focus on systems of labour control on these farms. Considerable literature exists about the labour process in capitalist society but the capitalist labour process does not exist in any pure form. Rather, different labour processes exist and the specific form they take depends on spatial and temporal conditions. Additionally, labour processes are often economic sector-specific. Because of variation in capitalist labour processes, differences in systems of labour control (or labour control regimes) also arise. Historically, up until the end of apartheid in 1994, the labour control regime on commercial farms in South Africa was marked by a paternalistic despotism of a racialised kind. This in part reflected the fact that commercial farms were simultaneously sites of both economic production and social reproduction and, further, they were very privatised agrarian spaces largely unregulated (specifically with regard to labour) by the state. Since the end of apartheid, commercial farms have been subjected to multiple pressures. Notably, the South African state has strongly intervened in labour relations on commercial farms, and commercial farms have been subjected to ongoing neo-liberal restructuring. This has led to the prospects of changes in the prevailing labour control system on commercial farms. In this context, the thesis pursues the following key objective: to understand changes and continuities in the labour process on commercial farms – and particularly labour control systems – subsequent to the end of apartheid in South Africa. It does so with reference to four farms in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces.