South Africa has always been cited as an example of protracted social conflict by the analytical conflict resolution school. Given that appellation, the conflict, in terms of the understanding of that school of thought, would not have been amenable to resolution, and yet many observers hail the South African democratic transition as a miracle of transformation. This thesis, using a detailed application of the various elements of protracted or deep-rooted social conflict, demonstrates that South Africa is indeed an example of protracted social conflict. Given the application of pre-negotiation initiatives, and the establishment of a unique National Peace Accord, negotiations were enabled, and successfully delivered a democratic election, and so far, also a sustainable democracy. The establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the result of a realization on the part of a wide spectrum of South African leadership and conflict resolution professionals, that negotiation alone would not provide conflict resolution for South Africans, and that there was therefore an additional need to deal with the deeper issues of conflict, if the settlement were to prove sustainable. The question remains whether ours represents a successful resolution of the conflict from the theoretical perspective of the analytical conflict resolution school. A close examination of South African socio-political issues across a number of domains regarded by the analytical conflict resolution school as important, indicates that while the requirements for conflict resolution were indeed met in the South African case, their more advanced stage of resolution; conflict provention has not been satisfied. That explains the fact that many tensions, much violence and intolerance remain. South Africa’s democracy has not been infused with analytical conflict management institutions, basic human needs have not been substantially met and valued relationships remain elusive. Because protracted social conflict is cyclical, we can expect high-levels of conflict behaviour to haunt, and even threaten our fledgling democracy. It is argued here that a coherent theoretical approach to the South African conflict management process would have produced a more sustainable outcome, and we recommend the continued use and institutionalization of analytical conflict provention processes to secure the future of our country.

Employees who plan for retirement can contribute meaningfully towards building a sustained quality of life during retirement. The lack of pre-retirement planning and education, however, “weakens” an individual’s life satisfaction. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the impact retirement planning and education has on retiree’s UFE satisfaction and to determine overall individual quality of life. This research firstly discusses retirement, or the prospect of giving up work. The research study points to the fact that an overwhelming amount of research shows that retirement, as a social phenomenon cannot be understood except in the context of work, because the meaning of retirement is largely an outgrowth of the meaning of work. The study further suggests that the transition from work to retirement can be eased through planning. Beginning to plan for retirement several years before retirement is anticipated is helpful. The study points to quality of life as a multi-dimensional concept that refers to an individual’s overall life satisfaction and total well-being. The findings discussed in Chapter Five indicate a reasonable level of retirement planning and education amongst retiree’s who participated in the survey. Recommendations from the study indicated a need for individual counseling during retirement planning and education workshops.

It is important to the survival of the Africa Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) population that breeding at the nest site is successful and that large numbers of chicks are fledged into the breeding population. Nest distribution on Bird Island is not random and locality preferences for breeding exist. Although it seems that sufficient area exists on Bird Island for penguin nests, it can hardly be considered as suitable to optimise breeding. During prolonged heat conditions, breeders relocated to nest sites that were sheltered. Nests that were below ground in burrows was the only habitat that did not suffer nest desertion whilst all the other habitat types (including those that were sheltered) experienced 2-3 fold declines in nest numbers. Nests density and the selection of suitable nest sites are significantly influenced by the stage of breeding that the majority of birds are in, yet nests that are shaded, well-ventilated and protected seem to be the most preferred sites for breeding. Adults that attempt to breed are considered then to be in a healthy condition and will usually lay a double clutch (Randell 1983). The frequency of double clutches being laid during the peak breeding attempt was significantly higher compared to the replacement one. Breeding failure was fairly similar to breeding success during the incubation stage for nests with double clutches however, was substantially higher in single clutches. The growth rate of chicks was best fit to the von Bertalanffy growth curve in 90 percent of the cases. The overall growth rate of chicks from double broods was faster than from single broods, however was not significant. A-chicks maitain a high growth rate until they fledged. Yet, the sibling B-chick recorded the lowest growth rate of the successfully fledged chicks and up to until day 30 recorded a similar weight to those chicks that failed to fledge. Contrary to findings of Randall (1983), chicks from single broods delayed fledging, recorded lowest overall growth rates and experienced the greatest weight loss of all groups, yet fledged successfully. In order for chicks to fledge successfully, they needed to obtain a weight of 1060 g before day 30.5 in their growth cycles to avoid death due to startvation later on. Single chicks that are raised from a double cluth, fledged more other than chicks raised from a single clutch. Unfit or ill-adapted breeders that are marginal in the capabilities of raising offspring, already manifest in a small clutch size and offspring unable to obtain adequate weights during the initial stages of growth.

The ecologist Garrett Hardin (1968) introduced a useful concept called the tragedy of the commons, which describes how ecological resources become threatened or lost. The term “commons” is based on the commons of old English villages and is symbolic of a resource that is shared by a group of people. If every person were to use each resource in a sustainable fashion it would be available in perpetuity. However, if people use more than their share they would only increase their personal wealth to the detriment of others. In addition, an increase in the population would mean that the size of each share would have to decrease to accommodate the larger number of people. As a result, resources are threatened by personal greed and uncontrolled population growth. Freshwater is an example of a common resource that is under threat in South Africa where the average annual rainfall is less than 60 percent of the global average (Mukheibir & Sparks 2006). The increasing demands for freshwater as well as its eutrophication are major concerns with regards to estuarine health, environmental resource management and human health. The correct management of water is necessary to ensure that it is utilised in a sustainable manner. The National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998) has provided the rights to water for basic human needs and for sustainable ecological function; the Basic Human Needs Reserve and Ecological Reserve are both provided as a right in law. The amount of water necessary for an estuary to retain an acceptable ecological status, known as the Estuarine Ecological Reserve, is determined through the implementation of procedures (rapid, intermediate or comprehensive) compiled by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (1999) in its Resource Directed Measures (RDM) for the Protection of Water Resources. The impact of restricted flow on estuaries can be reduced by manipulating the water released from impoundments, the regulation of water abstractions within the river catchment or both (Hirji et al. 2002). The reserve assessment method is designed to evaluate ecosystem requirements by employing groups of specialists from different disciplines. In South Africa, this includes hydrologists, sedimentologists, water chemists and biologists (including microalgae specialists). The use of microalgae in ecological assessments has largely been based on research that was initiated at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (formerly University of Port Elizabeth) and subsequently at Rhodes University (Grahamstown) and the University of KwaZulu Natal (Durban). The microalgal research can be divided into two main focus areas; phytoplankton and benthic microalgae

Among the world‘s ecosystems, estuaries have the highest total economic value per hectare. They are dynamic coastal biomes that provide a host of different goods and services to the surrounding terrestrial and aquatic environments and the people who utilise them. These goods and services include, inter alia, nursery areas for marine organisms, harvested natural resources (such as fish, shell-fish, bait organisms, reeds and mangroves), flood attenuation, water purification, nutrient and sediment sinks, waste disposal, transport, aesthetic beauty and areas for swimming, boating and fishing. Assessing the condition of estuaries is difficult as their state can change depending on what is being measured. Assessments have been carried out on the health of estuaries in South Africa with the results of these studies being used as inputs to the process of assessing the minimum water supply requirements for each estuary (ecological reserve) in order to maintain or improve its functionality. These ecological reserve requirements are assigned using Resource Directed Measures (RDM). These measures, however, have been criticised for being highly complex and too costly to implement for all South African estuaries within a reasonable time period. Another concern is that the levels of demand for recreational goods and services provided by the estuary are not taken into account when assessing estuarine value. It is important to understand that the use of estuaries for recreational purposes is inextricably linked to their health and sound ecological functioning. Although South African estuaries have been quite well buffered from impacts until only very recently, their use and pressures have escalated faster than what conservation authorities and policy makers have been prepared for over the last couple of decades. There is thus mounting pressure on estuaries as recreational outlets, which, in turn, has led to their functional deterioration as well as deterioration in the quality of the recreational experience as a whole. One implication for management is that more and more trade-offs have to be made in an attempt to balance the conservation and recreational use of estuaries.

An estuary can be defined as a partially enclosed, coastal body of water which is either permanently or periodically open to the sea and within which there is a measurable variation of salinity due to the mixture of sea water with fresh water derived from land drainage. Estuaries are extremely important environmental assets and the management of them is dependent on the active involvement of the people whose livelihoods depend on them. There have been steady decreases in freshwater inflows into them during the past century due to abstraction of river water for human consumption and alien tree and plant infestations. Due to these decreases in freshwater inflows, many estuaries have become smaller and are providing reduced recreational services to users, such as boaters, fishermen and birders. This reduction in recreational service provision has adverse economic consequences. The scale of these consequences have become of great interest to river catchment planners. Of particular interest is the value of the freshwater inflows into estuaries relative to other abstractions of this water. The value referred to here is in terms of the environmental services yielded to recreational users. From a management perspective, it is desirable that these marginal values be compared with marginal cost values of this water in its best alternative use in order to guide the allocation of inflows into the respective estuaries. The aim of this study is to place a monetary value on this freshwater inflow at the Kowie, Kromme and Nahoon estuaries. Due to the fact that the freshwater flowing into estuaries is not a traded good, an alternative method to market price must be used to value it. The method of valuation used in this study is the contingent valuation method. The contingent valuation method (CVM) is a survey technique which asks individuals to place values upon changes to environmental assets. The questionnaires used in the surveys differed slightly. The one administered at the Nahoon Estuary was revised in the light of experience gained at the administration of the ones at the Kowie and the Kromme estuaries. Some questions in the latter two surveys were found to be confusing to the respondents and were made clearer and some of the questions were found to yield little extra information and were scrapped from the Nahoon Estuary survey.

M.Sc. (Geology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

LL.M.

M.Comm. / The normal pattern of life is birth, childhood, adulthood, old age and death. South Africa can still be seen in its childhood shoes in relation to countries like the USA, Japan and others. However, the playing field in the international arena that South Africa has to operate in when it comes to survival, is not divided between children and adults but instead, we are all competing on equal terms, and South African companies will have to realise that only the strong will survive. It is with this view in mind that this study has been undertaken in the hope that at completion South Africa will have its own management wave. South Africa is a country on its own with a history like no other country and a diversity like no other country. Therefore South Africa needs her own management wave, a wave out of South Africa for South Africa. The international competitive playing field is something new to South Africa and companies will have to adapt, or in years to come only a few of the current companies will have survived. To enable South African management to determine their own management a comparison of South Africa with her main competitors will be done, This will help to determine what is still needed in South Africa on the economical, political and educational fields and to help determine what South Africa need to survive for now and for the future. With this in mind it will be possible to start creating South Africa's own management wave which will enable companies, big and small, to still be part of South Africa in time to come, and to withstand the onslaught of overseas companies . South Africa is young, and has a very turbulent history, but with past happenings like: The Big Trek; The Boer Wars; The years of apartheid; The coming of democracy; it is clear that the South African people has got the will, stamina and strength to survive. South Africans now need to realise "EX UNITATE VIRES". It is with this in mind that the conclusion of this study will show South African companies, big and small, a new and unique management wave to follow. This new management wave will lead South Africa to a brighter future and a better tomorrow.

M.Com. (Business Management) / This study will focus on the hunting industry in South Africa. Being a dedicated hunter the researcher has great enthusiasm for and interest in the local hunting and wildlife industry. The study focuses on the marketing of the South African hunting industry. Therefore, this will be a study regarding the marketing of the South African hunting industry in general. The researcher will investigate the hunting industry and the background of the hunting industry, problems facing the hunting industry, future prospects and also the marketing related aspects of all the stakeholders within the industry. The investigation will focus on the hunting industry with consideration to the practical implication of marketing strategies, attitudes, and marketing objectives, current and future challenges for effective management of the industry. The empirical investigation will focus on the future of the hunting industry as a whole and what local farmers and game ranchers anticipate.