Magister Legum - LLM / Trade has been widely accepted as an important tool in spearheading economic growth and development. In many different parts of the world, countries have alleviated poverty and economically prospered through effective trade. Despite the efforts to dismantle trade restrictions and create a common market, the problem remains that of African disintegrated markets which then lead to poor intra-African trade. There is therefore the need to use intra-African trade as an instrument that effectively serve in the attainment of rapid and sustainable social and economic development. The aim of this study is to therefore determine whether the solution to increasing intra-African trade can be found in the Tripartite FTA.

Magister Legum - LLM / This mini thesis examines the repercussions of the establishment of institutions under the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement on countries that have multiple regional economic community (REC) memberships. The study notes that even though the TFTA initiative is being touted as a major milestone towards the ultimate establishment of the African economic Community (AEC) and that it will help solve problems associated with multiple REC memberships, the initiative may come at a cost to countries, especially those that have maintained multiple REC memberships. The study observes that the institutions that have been established under the TFTA are a mirror reflection of the already existing institutions in the three existing regional blocks forming the TFTA, thus the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). The mini thesis argues that the creation of new TFTA institutions, in addition to the similar existing regional institutions, will translate into more financial costs; increased human resource cost for government officers; increase in non-financial treaty related obligations; and a high possibility of reaping fewer trade related gains, for countries that have multiple REC memberships. The mini thesis further demonstrates how the lack of clarity and hierarchy in the relationship between the TFTA institutions and the RECs’ institutions may negatively impact on countries that have multiple REC memberships. The mini thesis concludes by offering recommendations on how these challenges or costs on countries with multiple REC memberships can be addressed or ameliorated. / Government of Malawi

The focus of this study is the Southern African Development Community (SADC) preventive diplomacy interventions in Lesotho in 1994, 1998 and 2007. The core aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of the SADC security mechanism (the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security (OPDS) in conflict prevention, management and resolution on the basis of the Lesotho experience. Data for this qualitative case study was collected through interviews and document analysis. The twenty four participants for the study were drawn from the SADC OPDS unit, Lesotho political parties, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Academics from the University of Botswana (UB) and the National University of Lesotho (NUL), retired Botswana Defence officers who participated in the Lesotho missions and office of the post-2007election dispute dialogue facilitator in Lesotho. Documents on the SADC Treaties, Protocols, Communiqués and interventions in other set ups were used to highlight its operational policies, mandate, structures, successes and challenges. Lesotho was chosen as a case study because SADC employed both non-coercive (SADC Troika and Eminent Person mediation, 1994 and 2007 respectively) and coercive measures (the 1998 military intervention). The findings of the study revealed that SADC as a regional body had its own successes and challenges. Different perceptions on the SADC interventions in Lesotho emerged mainly between the participants from the ruling party and the opposition parties. While the former commended SADC for successfully mitigating the calamitous effects of 1994, 1998 and 2007 post-electoral violence, the opposition parties viewed the regional organisations as engaged in illegal interference in the domestic affairs of the country to defend the incumbent governing party. It also emerged from the study that the SADC security mechanism has numerous structural and operational flaws. There were several unanswered questions revolving around the legality and mandate of some of the missions. For instance, no concrete evidence emerged as to whether the 1998 military intervention was authorised by the SADC. The study also revealed that SADC has learnt valuable lessons from the Lesotho missions. Some of the reforms which the SADC has introduced in the OPDS such as the establishment of the SADC Stand by Force, Early Warning structures, the Mediation Unit, and a panel of expert mediators emanated mainly from the Lesotho experiences. The study recommends that SADC needs to harmonise the efforts of its OPDS structures such as the Mediation Unit; the Troika; the Inter-State Defence and Security Committee (ISDSC); the Inter-State Politics and Diplomacy Committee (ISPDC) and the Summit of Heads of States and Governments for rapid, coherent and well coordinated interventions in future regional preventive missions. It is also recommended that SADC should focus on identifying and mitigating underlying causal factors such as underdevelopment; poverty; deprivation of freedoms, marginalisation and other forms of social stratifications and oppression in its preventive diplomacy missions if durable peace is to be achieved in Lesotho and any other future cases.

In order to assess the question as to whether the Southern African Development Community in principle attracts foreign direct investment, literature and data have been cited that compared the economic profiles and relative privatisation programs of member states of the Southern African Development Community with relative high inflows of foreign direct investment with the economic profiles and relative privatisation programs of member states with relative low inflows of foreign direct investment. Qualitative research has been conducted, and the author is of opinion that generally the member states with relative high foreign direct investment inflows had economic profiles and relative privatisation programs that encouraged foreign direct investment, and member states with relative low foreign direct investment inflows had economic profiles and relative privatisation programs that deterred foreign direct investment inflows. From the above the author has inferred that the Southern African Development Community in principle attracted foreign direct investment, but not to its full potential. The reason may be that although the member states’ economic profiles are favourable for foreign direct investment, their economic growths tend to fluctuate, and the future economic profiles are therefore unpredictable. With the above in mind this mini-treatise aims to address the question as to what steps the governments of the Southern African Development Community’s member states could follow in order to attract foreign direct investment. iii The author is of opinion that the member states should endeavour to maintain an annual average economic growth rate, and that the governments continue to engage into privatisation programs in order to encourage foreign direct investment.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (in the field of ICT Policy and Regulation), October 2017 / Spectrum management reforms involve a departure from state-commanded administrative methods to market-driven property rights and or technology-enabled spectrum commons. This study explores spectrum management reforms that have been undertaken in the last decade, between 2006 and 2016, in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with specific focus on the mobile broadband (MBB) industry. As a result, only spectrum bands allocated to terrestrial mobile and identified for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in ITU Region 1 (Europe, Middle East and Africa) were considered. The purpose was to firstly analyse the progress thus far in reforming spectrum management practice in the region and secondly to critically analyse the effects of these reforms on the MBB industry in SADC within the framework of high demand for more spectrum as the cornerstone for rapid diffusion of MBB. Using a constructivist case study methodology, qualitative research was conducted in three SADC countries, namely, Botswana, Zambia and South Africa, representing small, medium and large markets respectively. The study draws on published documents such as policies, legislation, regulations and directly from individuals tasked with spectrum management in public and private sector organisations in these countries. The findings reveal that several market-driven reforms such as technology and service neutrality, spectrum re-farming and administrative incentive pricing (AIP), together with technology-enabled reforms such as commons or license-exempt spectrum for MBB technologies are all becoming widespread in the region. However, secondary trading and auctions have been stillborn concepts, partly due to market concentration concerns and appropriateness issues. The artificial scarcity of MBB spectrum supply in SADC is laid bare against a backdrop of general scarcity for demand and a discord over how this spectrum should be assigned and to whom. Vast amounts of allocated mobile spectrum in SADC lie fallow or are encumbered by other services such as broadcasting or at times are historically assigned to Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) applications. Analysis of the data from these three country case study provides insights that may be relevant to many other countries in the region. In conclusion, the study advances that the implementation of spectrum management reforms should be nuanced as these can impact, positively or negatively, on the distributive agenda of government. This research further advances knowledge by positing a novel conceptual framework for spectrum management reform based on the finding that the latter is not a binary exercise of a departure from administrative approach to either a market-driven or a technology-enabled one. However, spectrum management reform can be a continuum on which different elements of administrative, market-driven and technology-enabled approaches can be applied to varying degrees, depending on the respective country’s context. / XL2019

The main objective of this thesis is to investigate corporate governance practices in South Africa listed companies. Specifically, the thesis strives to achieve the following objectives. First, it investigates the extent of compliance with the best corporate governance practices as recommended by the King Committee on Corporate Governance prior to and post 2002 in order to understand whether there is improvement in corporate practices. Second the thesis investigates whether compliance with the best corporate governance practices are related to ethnicity of board structures (in particular Board Chairman, Board Dominance and Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director) and other factors such as company characteristics, market and performance related variables. Third it investigates the views/opinions of key stakeholders [e.g. regulators, King Code Commissioners, companies and institutional investors] regarding the state of corporate governance in SA and its influence in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The findings from regression results indicate that compliance with the King Code increased substantially between 2002 and 2008. The results also indicate that compliance is high for accounting and auditing and boards and directors issues and lowest for integrated sustainability reporting issues. The findings also indicate that ethnicity influences corporate compliance with best practice governance principles such as the King Code, as per prediction. Compliance was also found to be high for large firms, firms with multiple listings in other stock exchanges and firms audited by Big 4 audit firms. Finally, the findings from the views of key stakeholders indicate that the Code has indeed improved corporate governance standards in South Africa, is suitable for the country because of its consideration of local circumstances and influences corporate practice in the SADC region.

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which existing law could provide a legal basis for the protection of cross-border, climate change displaced persons, with a particular focus on Southern Africa. Before such an analysis can be made, however, it is important first to determine what climate change displacement exactly implies. By means of integrating and refining existing legal terminology and ideas the study attempts to disentangle the international contention on the subject and proposes that individuals who are forced from their countries of habitual residence as a reaction primarily to climatic push factors which pose an existential threat to their right to life are most in need of protection and may be referred to as cross-border climate change displaced persons. As climate change displacement is expected to occur primarily on the sub-regional geopolitical level of governance, the inclusion of regional, AU, and sub-regional, SADC, elements is important for the practical feasibility of this study. Southern Africa's particular vulnerability to the effects of climate change, making the advent of large numbers of climate change displaced persons in the area a reasonable prediction for the future, further justifies this study's chosen scope. After analysing the different legal branches of refugee law, human rights law and environmental law for each geopolitical level of governance referred to, this study concludes that: While there are several potential provisions in law that could provide protection to persons displaced by climate change, a sufficient protection framework can be derived only from the composite characteristics of different branches of law. Therefore, it is recommended that a matrix approach is followed when providing legal protection to climate change displaced persons. Because different fields of law provide more prominent protection in different spheres of governance, it is also recommended that the configuration of a legal protection matrix be adjustable to particular circumstances. It is therefore suggested that a legal protection mechanism is developed for each geopolitical sphere, and that different mechanisms are coordinated internationally. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Politics in an organisation is an inevitable element in organisation management. The Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s national electricity providers have been subject to an increasingly intense organisational politics cancer for almost two decades, and it is commonly believed to be behind the current electricity generation crisis that has become synonymous within the SADC region. The electricity challenges have spread to most countries in Africa, making the challenge applicable to Africa as a continent. Even on a global scale, electricity crises are increasingly becoming a matter of concern. Economies the world over are known to be heavily reliant on electricity as an energy source. Most if not all economies would be dysfunctional and non-existent without adequate electricity. This study focuses on organisational politics and its impact on managerial practices at a national electricity provider in a SADC region, in particular, Zimbabwe’s national electricity provider and specifically aims to provide a conceptual framework for better cognition and minimisation of negative political behaviour, ultimately enhancing electricity generation capacity for the country. The study is presented in article format covering four areas of study as follows: * Article one identifies the main role-players and their functions in the generation of electrical power at the national electricity providers. The identification of the role-players is literature based and discusses the influences of the role-players in the equation of electricity generation for the economy. A biographical profile of the national electricity provider is compiled by means of an empirical study. * The second article explores and interrogates employees’ perceptions of organisational politics by employing both theoretical and empirical study focusing on the causes/sources of political behaviour at the national electricity provider. * The third article investigates the effects of organisational politics at the national electricity provider focusing on the positive and negative effects. The article also employs both a literature and an empirical study. * The final article provides solutions to the negative effects of organisational politics. It investigates the managerial practices for minimising negative political behaviour through a review of literature as well as undertaking an empirical study. A sample of 1400 participants was randomly selected from the population of 2210 employees, representing 63.35% of the population. A total of 358 completed questionnaires were returned by the cut-off date. Of the 358, 11 were discarded as they were incorrectly completed, giving an effective response rate of 24.78%. The study employed the statistical software programme SPSS 21.0 for Windows to analyse the data. Various quantitative statistical techniques that suit the doctoral level of research were used to analyse the data. The techniques include: * Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy; * Exploratory factor analysis * Bartlett’s test of sphericity; and * Cronbach Alpha’s reliability coefficient. The major findings of the study were: * The first article identified the main role-players within the national electricity provider’s political environment as: employees, managers; government; and board of directors. Central to the political environment, are diverse goals from each role-player which in most cases is incongruent, giving birth to the political tempo (organisational politics) within the organisation. * The second article identified four significant factors perceived as contributing to political behaviour at the national electricity provider. The factors are managerial behaviour, poor communication of objectives, unexpected employee behaviour and unhealthy managerial practices. These factors account for a favourable variance of 74.26. * The third article identified three factors of significance that explain the effects of political behaviour at the national electricity provider. These factors account for a favourable variance of 74.67%, and the factors include positive departmental actions, negative employee actions and personal consequences. * The final article sought to provide measures for minimising negative effects of political behaviour, thus the article identified two factors of importance in minimising negative political behaviour at the national electricity provider. These factors are managerial fairness and managerial participation accounting for 70.11% of the total variance. Organisational politics, by and large, impedes organisational performance and in the case of the national electricity provider, it retards the power utility’s capacity to generate the much needed electrical power. Thus an integrated organisational strategy is required to successfully harness negative political behaviour into some significant positive factors that can create a conducive work environment that enhances performance ultimately increasing productivity levels. While the findings of the study holds true of the fact that some political behaviour factors have a hand in the national electricity provider’s inability to generate adequate electrical power, further research is needed to substantiate these factors in other regions of the national electricity provider within Zimbabwe as well as in SADC countries. A SADC approach encompassing all the member countries can help reduce negative political behaviour in key organisations such as the national electricity providers and other parastatals. The study concludes by proposing a comprehensive conceptual organisational politics management model (OPMM) which can be used by managers at the national electricity providers to reduce negative political behaviour. / PhD (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which existing law could provide a legal basis for the protection of cross-border, climate change displaced persons, with a particular focus on Southern Africa. Before such an analysis can be made, however, it is important first to determine what climate change displacement exactly implies. By means of integrating and refining existing legal terminology and ideas the study attempts to disentangle the international contention on the subject and proposes that individuals who are forced from their countries of habitual residence as a reaction primarily to climatic push factors which pose an existential threat to their right to life are most in need of protection and may be referred to as cross-border climate change displaced persons. As climate change displacement is expected to occur primarily on the sub-regional geopolitical level of governance, the inclusion of regional, AU, and sub-regional, SADC, elements is important for the practical feasibility of this study. Southern Africa's particular vulnerability to the effects of climate change, making the advent of large numbers of climate change displaced persons in the area a reasonable prediction for the future, further justifies this study's chosen scope. After analysing the different legal branches of refugee law, human rights law and environmental law for each geopolitical level of governance referred to, this study concludes that: While there are several potential provisions in law that could provide protection to persons displaced by climate change, a sufficient protection framework can be derived only from the composite characteristics of different branches of law. Therefore, it is recommended that a matrix approach is followed when providing legal protection to climate change displaced persons. Because different fields of law provide more prominent protection in different spheres of governance, it is also recommended that the configuration of a legal protection matrix be adjustable to particular circumstances. It is therefore suggested that a legal protection mechanism is developed for each geopolitical sphere, and that different mechanisms are coordinated internationally. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Politics in an organisation is an inevitable element in organisation management. The Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s national electricity providers have been subject to an increasingly intense organisational politics cancer for almost two decades, and it is commonly believed to be behind the current electricity generation crisis that has become synonymous within the SADC region. The electricity challenges have spread to most countries in Africa, making the challenge applicable to Africa as a continent. Even on a global scale, electricity crises are increasingly becoming a matter of concern. Economies the world over are known to be heavily reliant on electricity as an energy source. Most if not all economies would be dysfunctional and non-existent without adequate electricity. This study focuses on organisational politics and its impact on managerial practices at a national electricity provider in a SADC region, in particular, Zimbabwe’s national electricity provider and specifically aims to provide a conceptual framework for better cognition and minimisation of negative political behaviour, ultimately enhancing electricity generation capacity for the country. The study is presented in article format covering four areas of study as follows: * Article one identifies the main role-players and their functions in the generation of electrical power at the national electricity providers. The identification of the role-players is literature based and discusses the influences of the role-players in the equation of electricity generation for the economy. A biographical profile of the national electricity provider is compiled by means of an empirical study. * The second article explores and interrogates employees’ perceptions of organisational politics by employing both theoretical and empirical study focusing on the causes/sources of political behaviour at the national electricity provider. * The third article investigates the effects of organisational politics at the national electricity provider focusing on the positive and negative effects. The article also employs both a literature and an empirical study. * The final article provides solutions to the negative effects of organisational politics. It investigates the managerial practices for minimising negative political behaviour through a review of literature as well as undertaking an empirical study. A sample of 1400 participants was randomly selected from the population of 2210 employees, representing 63.35% of the population. A total of 358 completed questionnaires were returned by the cut-off date. Of the 358, 11 were discarded as they were incorrectly completed, giving an effective response rate of 24.78%. The study employed the statistical software programme SPSS 21.0 for Windows to analyse the data. Various quantitative statistical techniques that suit the doctoral level of research were used to analyse the data. The techniques include: * Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy; * Exploratory factor analysis * Bartlett’s test of sphericity; and * Cronbach Alpha’s reliability coefficient. The major findings of the study were: * The first article identified the main role-players within the national electricity provider’s political environment as: employees, managers; government; and board of directors. Central to the political environment, are diverse goals from each role-player which in most cases is incongruent, giving birth to the political tempo (organisational politics) within the organisation. * The second article identified four significant factors perceived as contributing to political behaviour at the national electricity provider. The factors are managerial behaviour, poor communication of objectives, unexpected employee behaviour and unhealthy managerial practices. These factors account for a favourable variance of 74.26. * The third article identified three factors of significance that explain the effects of political behaviour at the national electricity provider. These factors account for a favourable variance of 74.67%, and the factors include positive departmental actions, negative employee actions and personal consequences. * The final article sought to provide measures for minimising negative effects of political behaviour, thus the article identified two factors of importance in minimising negative political behaviour at the national electricity provider. These factors are managerial fairness and managerial participation accounting for 70.11% of the total variance. Organisational politics, by and large, impedes organisational performance and in the case of the national electricity provider, it retards the power utility’s capacity to generate the much needed electrical power. Thus an integrated organisational strategy is required to successfully harness negative political behaviour into some significant positive factors that can create a conducive work environment that enhances performance ultimately increasing productivity levels. While the findings of the study holds true of the fact that some political behaviour factors have a hand in the national electricity provider’s inability to generate adequate electrical power, further research is needed to substantiate these factors in other regions of the national electricity provider within Zimbabwe as well as in SADC countries. A SADC approach encompassing all the member countries can help reduce negative political behaviour in key organisations such as the national electricity providers and other parastatals. The study concludes by proposing a comprehensive conceptual organisational politics management model (OPMM) which can be used by managers at the national electricity providers to reduce negative political behaviour. / PhD (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014