This study is a Minor Field Study (MFS), which is a Sida funded scholarship who made this field study possible. With an institutionalist approach, this field study aims to outline the foundational reasons behind peoples’ participation in the South African informal financial stokvel system. In order to do that, interviews have been made trying to identify what roles normative, cultural and economic factors play in peoples’ decisions, why individuals’ find that the stokvel system is a better choice than other systems, and also to explore what individuals experience distinguish the informal and formal economic systems. The study has been conducted in South Africa, in the province KwaZuluNatal, and twenty-five persons has been interviewed in order to get the people perspective. Results show that both normative, cultural and economic factors appear as important, but that the economic factors play the overall biggest role for joining a stokvel. Both the main differences between the formal and informal system, and the reasons why individuals find that the stokvel system is the best system of choice, can be traced back to trust and trust issues.

Law / LL.D. / The contract of insurance is one of the more frequently concluded commercial contracts. The premium which is undertaken in terms of an insurance contract is one of the essential features of the insurance contract. Notwithstanding the obvious importance of the role of the premium and the legal aspects surrounding it, it has in the past often received but scant treatment in insurance-law materials. In this thesis it is shown that there exist a number of aspects regarding the premium which are unclear and in need of careful scrutiny. In the case of certain other aspects (regarding the premium), although there is certainty as to their contents it is necessary to identify and (re-)define their place in the broader scheme of the insurance law. The study commences with an investigation into the historical development of the concepts of "insurance" and "premium". This is followed by a study of the relevant principles of Roman-Dutch law. A comparative study is made of the law in a number of countries, namely, the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Australia. The position in South African law is also considered. An introductory study is made regarding those concepts in South African indigenous law which are insurance-like. Finally, a number of conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made in respect of a selection of aspects regarding the premium which are unclear. These aspects concern the nature of the premium; the question whether "premiumless" or "free" insurance is legally possible; the question whether the parties may agree to insure at a "reasonable premium"; the protection of the insured in the case of the non­ payment of the premium; the receipt of the premium by the broker; the return of the premium where the insured has acted fraudulently; the legal tenability of the practice of insuring the premium; the possibility that the contribution in terms of some concepts of our indigenous law may resemble the premium; and finally, the analogous method as a source of law to extend and broaden the pool of legal principles applicable to the insurance contract.

This research established the determinants of the investment choices between the RSA Government Retail Bonds and the stokvel by salaried individuals. The research carried out a comparative analysis between the two investment instruments. The main data was drawn from FinMark for the period 2011 to 2015. The research used a combination of data tables and graphs to analyse frequency (distribution) of use in each of the investment choices. The research used Pearson’s Chi square and Fishers’ t-test to determine the distribution, independence and Cramer’s V coefficient was applied to establish the correlation between the investment choices and the demographic under review. The outcome of the research indicated that more than risk or return inherent in the investment instruments under review, social, psychological and cultural disposition towards these investment instruments played a significant part in influencing the investment choices under review. Furthermore, lower educated individuals at low salary levels had the highest usage in stokvel and the highly educated at the higher level of education opted to invest in the RSA Government Retail Bonds. There was a very low usage in both the investment instruments by the ‘no formal education’ and primary education levels. Pearson’s Chi square and Fishers’ exact tests indicated that, race, education, location and salary levels can be used to explain the differences in investment choices between the RSA Government Retail Bonds and stokvel. According to these tests, age was statistically insignificant to explain the effects of the demographics under review on making investment choices. The results indicate that racial, educational, salary and location differences need to be properly factored into the policy development in so far as investment and savings are concerned. / Finance, Risk Management and Banking / M. Com. (Business Management)

Law / LL.D. / The contract of insurance is one of the more frequently concluded commercial contracts. The premium which is undertaken in terms of an insurance contract is one of the essential features of the insurance contract. Notwithstanding the obvious importance of the role of the premium and the legal aspects surrounding it, it has in the past often received but scant treatment in insurance-law materials. In this thesis it is shown that there exist a number of aspects regarding the premium which are unclear and in need of careful scrutiny. In the case of certain other aspects (regarding the premium), although there is certainty as to their contents it is necessary to identify and (re-)define their place in the broader scheme of the insurance law. The study commences with an investigation into the historical development of the concepts of "insurance" and "premium". This is followed by a study of the relevant principles of Roman-Dutch law. A comparative study is made of the law in a number of countries, namely, the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Australia. The position in South African law is also considered. An introductory study is made regarding those concepts in South African indigenous law which are insurance-like. Finally, a number of conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made in respect of a selection of aspects regarding the premium which are unclear. These aspects concern the nature of the premium; the question whether "premiumless" or "free" insurance is legally possible; the question whether the parties may agree to insure at a "reasonable premium"; the protection of the insured in the case of the non­ payment of the premium; the receipt of the premium by the broker; the return of the premium where the insured has acted fraudulently; the legal tenability of the practice of insuring the premium; the possibility that the contribution in terms of some concepts of our indigenous law may resemble the premium; and finally, the analogous method as a source of law to extend and broaden the pool of legal principles applicable to the insurance contract.

This dissertation describes the participatory development process which was facilitated among the parents of children attending Themeli Nursery and Pre-school in the community of Ramaphosa, an informal settlement near Reiger Park, Boksburg (Gauteng-South Africa). The focus of this study was empowerment of men and women alike. In the course of the process, the researcher discovered how the men and women in question were empowered by the participatory development process which enabled them to start a Stokvel, the aim of which was to help augment the members' financial resources so as to sustain payment of their children's day care fees and to also enhance corporately the spirit of ubuntu among themselves as local community members. / SOCIAL WORK / Thesis (M.A. (SS--Mental Health)

This dissertation describes the participatory development process which was facilitated among the parents of children attending Themeli Nursery and Pre-school in the community of Ramaphosa, an informal settlement near Reiger Park, Boksburg (Gauteng-South Africa). The focus of this study was empowerment of men and women alike. In the course of the process, the researcher discovered how the men and women in question were empowered by the participatory development process which enabled them to start a Stokvel, the aim of which was to help augment the members' financial resources so as to sustain payment of their children's day care fees and to also enhance corporately the spirit of ubuntu among themselves as local community members. / SOCIAL WORK / Thesis (M.A. (SS--Mental Health)

Text in English / The goals of this research were to explore, describe and explain the crime of associated robbery, which at the time of this study, was a scientifically unknown phenomenon. Associated robbery is defined as “a bank-related robbery (by association) of cash or attempt thereto, committed against a bank client or his/her delegate, at any stage while en-route to or from a bank branch, ATM or cash centre or inside the branch to effect a deposit, or, withdrawal” (SABRIC 2013:4) This robbery is divided into two main categories, namely robbery before cash deposit and robbery after cash withdrawal. As found in literature and also evident in the findings of this study, more incidents and related cash losses are reported from robbery after withdrawal, which is sub-divided into muti scam, money bomb and spiked drink. This study followed an exploratory, sequential, mixed-method research approach where the qualitative phase took place first – followed by the quantitative phase. The topic was firstly explored by collecting qualitative data via in-depth, one-on-one interviews (from a phenomenological point of view) where mutual meaning was sought, as understood by victims of associated robbery. To gather quantitative data, 500 bank clients (i.e. individuals, small business owners and stokvel/saving club members) completed a survey questionnaire. Their perspective on the phenomenon of associated robbery was thus explained and described through the use of descriptive statistics, particularly univariate and bivariate statistical analysis. The most significant contribution made by this study, is embedment of the preventative measures used by the banking industry and other stakeholders such as the SAPS into the Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles approaches. This model is heavily grounded on 12 SCP strategies, namely: access control; deflecting offenders; controlling facilitation; entry/exist screening; formal surveillance; surveillance by employees; natural surveillance; target removal; reducing temptation; rule setting; stimulating conscience; and facilitating compliance. Furthermore, the model emphasises that the combating of associated robberies is a collaborative effort and thus the individual (bank client), the banking industry, the criminal justice system (CJS) and the general public all have to work together in fighting this endemic. The lack of knowledge mainly from a victim’s perspective was identified as one of the challenges faced. However, this presented an opportunity for this study to make a significant contribution to the development of scientific literature. Moreover, the use of opportunity theories to explain the reasons why individuals are victimised placed the phenomenon in the criminological research milieu – thus pioneering a way for researchers who may wish to conduct future research on the same topic. / Criminology and Security Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Criminology)