The water sector in South Africa is in the delivery phase of its transformation process, with transformation having commenced in 1994. This transformation is not unlike developments in this sector in other developing countries. South Africa is facing huge backlogs in the provision of basic rural water and sanitation services (DWAF, 2002a, p.3), typical of the scenario facing international developing countries. The SA Government has committed itself to eliminate the basic water supply backlogs by 2008, and the basic sanitation backlogs by 2010 (DWAF, 2002b, p.ii). These targets are more ambitious than the international Millennium Development Goals of halving the world's population without adequate or safe drinking water, or access to basic sanitation by 2015 (WSSCC, 2002a, p.l). The research investigates whether the targets set by Government are achievable in the Province of Kwazulu-Natal (KZN). The South African targets were set ahead of the completion of the Water Services Development Plans or the planning required of the Water Services Authorities (WSAs) in KZN. Although some Municipalities, in their capacity as Water Services Authority, have completed their Water Services Development Plans, others are still in the process of doing so. The deficiency in the provision of basic water and sanitation services in KZN, has been ascertained in this investigation. Also ascertained are the costs and financial resources needed to address the backlogs in service provision and the constraints to delivery of the needed services. The research findings have shown that the backlog in basic water supply in KZN is approximately 3,66 million people, representing 38,2% of the KZN population, whilst the backlog in basic sanitation services is 4,94 million persons, representing some 51,4% of the KZN population. In a rural context only, these figures are appreciably higher. This investigation has shown that the targets set by Government to address rural backlogs in basic services in KZN are ambitious. In terms of planned programmes at Water Services Authority level, it will take an estimated average of 12 years to eliminate the basic water supply and sanitation backlog. The earliest and longest water supply delivery programme ranges from 5 years to 20 years, whilst that for sanitation delivery, ranges from 6 years to 33 years. These programmes far exceed Government's target dates. In terms of the research findings, the backlogs in basic water services in KwaZulu-Natal will require financial resources of R4,87 billion to totally eradicate all basic water backlogs. Similarly, to address the basic sanitation backlog has been estimated at R1,44 billion. It has been recommended in this report that with relatively little additional annual funding that it will be easier to achieve the government target of 2010 (DWAF, 2002b, p.ii) for sanitation delivery than it would for water supply. The planned level of sanitation service has been ascertained to be the VIP latrine in all cases, which does not require a water supply, and thus water and sanitation delivery programmes can be implemented separately. The investigation has revealed that there is sufficient grant funding available in South Africa to meet the planned basic water services delivery programmes of the WSAs, but their programmes exceed the target dates set by Government by many years. If the delivery programmes are accelerated to meet the Government's target dates, the current budget allocations of both DWAF and the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme (CMIP) are insufficient. In the short-term, the WSAs are not expected to have sourced donor funding to assist with their planned delivery programmes. Thus funding sources within South Africa will initially have to be relied upon.Whilst planned programmes have been developed for the alleviation of water services backlogs in KZN, it has been recommended in the report that they need to be monitored to ensure delivery of services in terms of these programmes. This monitoring and certification of the implementation of planned programmes are essential management tools, as the current planned programmes of the WSAs do not meet the Government's targets of 2008 and 2010 respectively for the elimination of the basic water and sanitation backlogs (DWAF, 2002b, .ii). Financial budgets have been cited as being a problem area by most, but a higher priority problem appears to be the lack of institutional capacity at WSA level to ensure sustainability of projects/schemes in the post-construction phase. Should the projects/schemes not be adequately operated or maintained, it could lead to the implemented projects/schemes becoming defunct, which would negate the national initiatives aimed at backlog alleviation. It is fortunate that legislation such as the Municipal Systems Act (Act N° 32 of 2000) enables Local Government to implement a range of public and private water service provider options that can assist with the needed institutional capacity building, and to also render operations and maintenance services on a contract basis. It is evident from this investigation that a number of major obstacles may delay the achievement of either the planned delivery programmes of the WSAs, or the even greater challenges to meet the Government's targets. The successful, sustainable implementation of these programmes will be dependent on both sufficient funding being available and on solving the lack of institutional capacity. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003. / Umngeni Water.

The objective of this dissertation is to evaluate the current marketing practices as viewed by students at the University of Natal - Pietermaritzburg (UNP) for self-funded courses. Data was collected from a sample size of 221, of which 196 student opinions were established. A sample size of 196, represented 38,7 % of the total population, and can be considered as an adequate sample size. This also confirms that the sample size is a true representation of the population. The instrument used for the research was a structured questionnaire, formulated by reviewing the literature in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. The analysis of the data was done using a software package called SPSS vII,S. The interpretation of these results was illustrated with the use of bar graphs and pie charts, with a written narration for each question of the questionnaire. The analysis of the results reflects that students feel very positive about the University's current marketing practices. All departments were rated as at least "good" by the students in terms of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. Recommendations were formulated as the result of the findings, and challenges facing the University of Natal were presented. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Malaria is the one of most important diseases in the world, especially in sub-Sahara Africa. This dissertation outlines the enormous burden of the disease in terms of social and economic costs in southern Africa. This dissertation assessed the range and quality of the cost-effectiveness of malaria prevention in sub-Sahara Africa. Six studies published from 1999 to 2003 are reviewed, covering insecticide treated nets, residual spraying, chemoprophylaxis for infants and environmental management. For infants, ITNs cost from US$ 2019 - $2879 per death averted and cost $ III per DALY; chemoprophylaxis cost $ 4.1 per DALY and chemoprophylaxis plus iron cost $ 5.0 per DALY. For children, ITNs cost $ 1559 per death averted, $ 57 per DALY and $ 61 per sick child averted. For non-specific age group, ITNs cost $ 29 per infection averted, and RHS $ 9. Generally all interventions assessed are cost effective use of resources. The chemoprophylaxis is the least expensive malaria prevention among cost effective malaria prevention interventions, followed by residual spraying one round a year, residual spraying two rounds a year, insecticide treated nets with net treatment only and insecticide treated nets with net provision and treatment. There are operational, managerial and financial challenges faced these most cost-effective malaria interventions. Particularly, chemoprophylaxis is faced the tremendous drug resistance potential and is not being recommended to wide use; financial constraints and the potential delaying of children's immunity acquisition lowers the cost-effectiveness of insecticide treated nets; residual spraying is a relatively simpler, faster and cheaper method, but faces political and economic pressure of concerning environmental issues, especially the use of DDT. The integrated approach of environmental management plus residual spraying could be the most cost-effective method of malaria prevention with least adverse environment effects. However, policy makers should apply their knowledge to local conditions. Further, comprehensive education programmes are needed to gain support and understanding from local communities. This would raise the cost-effectiveness of all interventions. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

The objective of this research proposal is to explore the extent to which credit derivatives can be used effectively by domestic financial institutions, in particular, Commercial Banks to hedge the credit risk associated with lending to the Small, Medium and Micro enterprise (SMME) market segment, thereby making lending to this market segment an attractive and viable banking proposition. The financial services sector in South Africa has come under severe criticism from Government, trade unions and the unbanked, low income earners for not fulfilling their social responsibility, in terms of, not banking the Small, Medium and Micro enterprise (SMME) customer base. In particular, financial institutions have been accused of ignoring or not giving sufficient attention to the financial/credit needs of this market segment. These parties have argued that many of the domestic financial institutions are applying standard credit criteria to this market segment, which they feel is incorrect. This has often resulted in SMME's having their requests for credit facilities declined by domestic financial institutions and then having to resort to approaching unscrupulous "loan sharks" for credit facilities, which facilities are often made available to them at exorbitant interest rates. The alleged reluctance on the part of domestic financial services institutions to make available credit facilities, in the form of start-up business loans and asset-based finance to the SMME segment has possibly hindered economic growth, productivity, employment and resulted indirectly in a host of other social anomalies. Alister Ruiters of the Department of Trade and Industry has been publicly vociferous in his attack on domestic financial institutions (Business Day, August18, 1999). It would appear these financial institutions are only prepared to do business with this market segment in partnership with Government, where Government bears a large proportion of the risk by providing guarantees or indemnities on behalf of the client. Examples of such guarantees include Khula and Sizabantu guarantees issued by agencies controlled within the ambit of the Department of Trade and Industry. Financial service institutions have defended their actions by countering that the credit risk attached to making loans available to the SMME market segment is often unacceptable to them. Many of these potential clients are characterised by adverse credit records, show little stability, in terms of, employment and domicilium and often do not have any tangible collateral available to support their loan requests. That is, the risk from lending to this market segment far outweighs the potential returns. Further, these financial institutions have argued that with South Africa having been accepted into the international fold and following the accelerated pace of globalisation, new markets have opened up for their shareholders. Hence, shareholders are requiring improved returns (capital gains and/or dividends); else they are at liberty to move their funds to other investment destinations. The pressure on domestic financial institutions to deliver consistently better returns on equity has been and continues to be a difficult one. This is exacerbated by the increasing competitive pressure from both retail competitors who are now offering financial services, such as Pick 'n Pay Financial Services, Woolworth's, and foreign financial institutions, who have entered the domestic scene. For many of the retail competitors the offering of financial services is seen merely as an extension of their product line. Existing infrastructure, in the form of, branches /outlets and technology are largely already in place. Further, they are not bound by the same liquidity reserve requirements imposed by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), as are the domestic financial institutions they now compete against. Hence, the retail competitors' profit margins are likely to be higher. Further, as many of the foreign financial institutions are not constrained by the same social responsibility obligations local financial institutions face and as they have not invested substantially in branch networks and other infrastructure in South Africa, their profit margins are higher and hence their returns on equity is likely to be significantly higher than the domestic financial institutions. Following the increasing popularity of Credit Derivatives in countries, such as, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and India, it is my intention to explore whether this instrument can be used effectively by domestic financial institutions as an hedging tool to insure against what they might otherwise consider unacceptable risk in the SMME market segment. That is, will the use of credit derivatives make the lending of funds to this client base an acceptable or attractive proposition to domestic financial institutions. However, we first need to define credit risk and credit derivatives before we proceed further. Creditex (Commentary, May 2001) defines credit risk as: "the risk of loss following default. " PriceWaterhouseCoopers defines a credit derivative as : "a credit risk management instrument that allows a financial institution to transfer credit risk to another party". Having, in simple terms, defined what we mean by credit risk and credit derivatives, we proceed by suggesting how credit derivatives can be used as an effective hedging tool and also some of the possible shortcomings that may be associated with the use of credit derivatives in South Africa. Cheow and Chiu (Managing Credit Risks, May 23,2001) suggest credit derivatives have the potential to transform the way in which Commercial Banks do business. The impact of credit derivatives is likely to result in changes in Bank's operating and credit models of assessment, pricing policies and offer insight into how products and services may be developed and implemented. Traditionally Banks appear to have been involved in all aspects of lending from origination to administration, monitoring and collection. These authors suggest the resulting credit model emanating from the use of credit derivatives is likely to only concentrate on origination of the loan with the view of later selling-off the book itself or insuring the credit risk. This latter alternative involves credit derivatives. We turn our attention to highlighting some possible constraints to the effective use of credit derivatives in South Africa. These are as follows :  Lack of effective infrastructure  Lack of liquidity  Lack Of Transparency  Restrictive Central Bank regulations and exchange controls  limited number of large financial institutions. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Leadership and management can and should be differentiated. The differentiation gives insight in the nature of organisational practices, dynamics and cultures. By differentiating between management and leadership the need for leadership development to compliment the well established training practices of management skills and techniques, becomes clear. The focus on leadership development can furthermore be seen in the context of new challenges that organisations have to face. Challenges that need to be understood in a global context as well as new thinking paradigms that emerged in recent years . A holistic and transdisciplinary approach is followed in researching the challenges. Systems and complexity theories are essential to new understanding of organisational dynamics and change. The psychological dimension of working practices as a legacy from the industrial age is also reviewed in the study. The need to overcome the fragmentedness that we suffer from in the modern world is recognised. The research was taken to the practice field where interview data was collected. Here, the focus was on the experience, or lack of it, of leadership with regard to various processes in organisations. The need for leadership development and a process to facilitate such development came out strongly in the quantitative research. Promotion and successful development of leadership will, in the end, have an impact on the organisational culture. The process that is proposed for such development and change make use of the theories that are highlighted in the study. Concepts that are central to the study are: Holism, process, relationships, leadership development and culture. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

This study was an evaluation of the approach to change that is used in the public sector. The approach that is chosen ultimately has a bearing on the management of change in an organisation. The study used a case study method to explore the key question of the approach using the six dimensions of change. The South African Revenue Services (SARS) served as a case study typical of a model public sector organisation. The focus was on the KZN region of SARS where there has been an implementation of a change initiative called SlYAKHA (meaning we are building) recently. The whole process from the birth of this initiative was looked at using the six dimensions to evaluate and answer the question of the approach that was used in managing this change. The six dimensions can be classified into the two main theories referred to as Theory E and Theory O. It became evident during the study that there was not enough literature on change management in the public sector particularly in the South African context. What further complicated the issue was that the models as applied in the private sector couldn't be imported and applied in a public sector organisation. The approach that was used in the management of Siyakha at SARS was of a Theory E nature, although not all the dimensions of that theory were applied. In the main the finding was that Theory E approach was used. It also came to light that in the public sector, this might be the logical step to take particularly as the first step to ensure that change does happen. This is because of the unique circumstances that face public sector organisations particularly in South Africa. At the end a suggestion is made that there should be a sequencing of the approaches where Theory E is applied first followed by Theory O. The researcher also suggests a different combination of dimensions in the sequencing exercise that will ensure that the public sector's unique circumstances are taken into account / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

The use of competency assessments for the recruitment of staff has been around for some time. The benefits of conducting competency assessments has been discussed and debated by many Human Resources professional but not so much by managers who require the placement of competent people in vacant positions. With tights costs and operation budgets, companies are starting to question the activities and work practices that do not obviously seem to be adding any value to the bottom line. One of the practices is the competency assessment for staff recruitment and placement. The purpose of this research is to determine whether competency assessments are beneficial to the placement of staff in critical managerial positions. It is aimed at demonstrating if there is value add in the time and money spent in conducting these assessments. The main aim of the study is to determine the usefulness of competency assessments in the recruitment of Senior Managers within the South African Public Service. To facilitate the research, a case study design approach was selected. This approach was selected because a single situation was selected to allow an extensive investigation into the problem statement. The case study method also allowed the use of a mixed method approach to help obtain information using multiple data collection methods. The sample of this study consisted of a total of 160 Senior Managers in the National Treasury. This sample was the total number of Senior Managers who have been appointed and placed with the aid of competency assessment processes. The information for the research was contained through a number of techniques namely, the questionnaire to the Senior Managers and their subordinates, the interview process with the Senior Managers, and secondary information from the competency assessment service providers and National Treasury employee personnel records. Data obtained through the above method and techniques was statistically analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The salient findings of the study indicate strong correlation between competency assessment scores with the current performance of the Senior Managers within the National Treasury. There are also strong signals of job satisfaction amongst the Senior Managers, suggesting that the placement of these managers informed and assisted by the competency assessment process has been a success. Recruitment experts and Line Managers within the Public Service will derive major benefits in using the competency assessments techniques in recruiting and placing people in critical positions. It is recommended that further research be conducted to assess and determine the usefulness and value add of competency assessments in the recruitment and placement of managers across the broader Public Service namely at a National, Provincial and Local government level. Once this study has been conducted and the results proves and support what has been found by this study, the Government must then prescribe the use of competency assessments for recruiting and placing people in all Senior Management positions. This will aid in making sure that the Public Service recruits people who can champion excellent service delivery on behalf of government. The Public Service will benefit by employing the right person for the right job. All the elements of effective job placement will be realised. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

In view of the competition many organizations seek to survive by producing more, with fewer resources, in a shorter period of time (Pintelon and Parodi- Herz, 2008:21). Outsourcing maintenance of production assets over the years has become a popular solution of making the business efficient (Pintelon and Parodi-Herz, 2008:25). Though simple in concept, maintenance outsourcing is difficult in execution, especially in a cost-sensitive environment. There are many cases of failed maintenance outsourcing due to different reasons (Partners in Performance, 2007:1). In such cases, most companies revert to maintenance insourcing to regain control of maintenance activities. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

SMEs' are important in any economy, because they are the key drivers of innovation, employment and economic growth. Harnessing the Internet for business purposes improves SMEs‟ operational efficiency and competitiveness in an increasingly global economy. While there are many studies which provide insights about factors influencing Internet adoption among SMEs, there is little data about Internet adoption in African countries. Therefore this study highlights a relatively unexplored research context, namely SMEs in the business-services sector in an emerging economy. The aim of the study was to explore the factors that either inhibited or facilitated Internet adoption, and to describe the uses of the Internet by SMEs in the business-services sector. The study provided evidence that SMEs are aware of the advantages provided by the Internet. However, the short-term benefits were not apparent enough to SME owners for them to plan to make any significant investment in adopting Internet technologies. The results also showed that, while the majority of SMEs in the business-services sector are engaging in Internet activities, these activities are mainly e-mail and web browsing. E-commerce (use of the Internet for trading purposes) is limited. Furthermore, this study showed that external pressure, from customers, suppliers and competitors is the most significant driver of Internet adoption among SMEs in the business-services. While most SMEs acknowledged that the Internet is becoming increasingly relevant to their businesses, they identify the main barriers to Internet adoption as concerns about the costs and complexity, and issues around security and lack of support when it comes to using the Internet. The recommendations of the study are that the government should give businesses more incentives to adopt and utilise the Internet and, SME owners/managers need to realise that as businesses increasingly engage in e-commerce, their SMEs will have more opportunities to compete in the global marketplace. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.