Doctor Legum - LLD / The objective of this study was to expose how the ineffectiveness of the anti-corruption measures contributed in delaying the right to housing, as proffered by the Constitution of South Africa, to the impoverished population at large. The result of this study has shown that the available resources of the state were not sufficiently protected against malfeasance in the public service. The plethora of anti-corruption measures has not deterred wayward public officials from personally abusing the 'available resources' earmarked for housing. Stark evidence of corruption was revealed by the SIU Reports (2011, 2012, and 2013) that confirmed endemic proportions of corruption in the public housing programme that had seen housing projects delayed, half-completed and not built. The point is, that the right to housing is not necessarily delayed by a lack of economic resources as often claimed by the government, but rather that those resources are available, but not amply protected against corruption by the anti-corruption measures and agencies in place, to do this. Procurement processes are undermined by public officials, including management, who by-pass laws that govern public finance. This behaviour has been pervasive in the human settlement programme since 2007 when the SIU embarked on its proclamation to investigate corruption in the social housing programme. Exacerbating the abuse of available resource is the first citizen, the President who the Constitutional Court found has unlawfully benefited from security upgrades at his private home, Nkandla. Thus the public service suffers from an acute lack of ethical behaviour and thereby good governance and this has made the government vulnerable to breaching international treaty obligations insofar as realisation of the minimum core in housing and protecting the maximum available resources for housing against malfeasance in government. Instead that government realises the right to housing for the impoverished soonest, the government was rather pre-occupied with abusing state funds earmarked as such and thereby deprived the right to enjoy access to housing, in particular to the homeless and the most desperate. / National Research Foundation (NRF); Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff); Erasmus Mundus Aesop+

The post-apartheid government of 1994 is a product of the ‘Age of Rights’. Statemaking processes and the exercise of state powers is managed by the rule of law based on a constitution. Constitutionally recognised rights, and rights protection institutions, animate a transition from a legacy of Black political exclusion and underdevelopment. Intensifying class stratification and inequality constrain Black’s formal realisation of citizenship rights, placing great pressure on creative interpretation of constitutionally legitimated claims. My thesis examines the rights discourse informing the Constitution, particularly issues about the realisation of social and economic rights. I examine the unfolding of discourses on the right to housing between 1994 to 2008, to illustrate of the complexity of the discourse. Episodic housing protests suggest significant degrees of alienation, marginalisation, and disappointment with expectations of citizenship and the non-realisation of social and economic rights. Housing rights is an issue that will affect the democratic consolidation and political stability prospects of the new political order. I examine the interface between macro-economic policies, budgets, and the realisation of housing rights, and assess the impact of an identifiable configuration of forces expected to play important roles in realising a rights culture and broadening the discourse. My study draws on a spectrum of qualitative, interpretive, and analysis of discourse approaches, using data from: published articles, annual reports and archives, speeches, court proceedings and statements, interviews with persons whose scope of activities impact the unfolding of the concerned rights, namely, representatives of government departments, private sector developers, financing institutions, and civil society formations. My main findings are that few actors in the configuration support the view that the Constitution should be changed to make explicit the state’s obligations on the realisation of social and economic rights. Nevertheless, there are isolated cases of people expressing an absolute entitlement sense of rights --- the state should deliver when demands are made. My conclusions are that considerable political unrest about non-realisation of these rights will persist, but will not cause a collapse of the post-1994 political institutions and processes. More likely, political actors, legal scholars and jurists, will persistently engage the prevailing rights discourse and the variety of institutions acting towards their realisation, without effecting drastic changes to these, but always invoking positions about how they still are suited for a post-apartheid transformation project yet need critical interrogation and improvisation.

Since the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe has witnessed a raft of socio-economic and political problems characterised by hyper-inflation; shortage of basic commodities; dwindling fiscal reserves; ballooning domestic and foreign debt; falling standard of living and high levels of migration. The devastating effects of the Aids pandemic have not helped the situation. With estimates indicating that there are more than million orphaned children, social security programmes have been overstretched resulting in the State failing to adequately provide for the needs of these orphans in the country. It is against this background that the study sought to explore the community level initiatives that communities are taking to meet the needs of orphans through community based programmes. The goal of the study was to explore the contribution of social entrepreneurship in meeting the needs of orphans in the Mberengwa district, Zimbabwe. The study was conducted using a qualitative research approach. The study was exploratory and the type of research was applied. The collective case study design was utilised. A total of twenty participants took part in the study; including six children who were benefiting from the income generating projects, four key informants who work closely with the projects as well as ten villagers who were involved in the day to day running of the projects. The participants were selected from two villages that have the projects benefiting orphans. The participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected from the children and key informants by way of interviews and from the villagers through focus group discussions. The findings show that the government of Zimbabwe lacks capacity to meet the needs of orphans due to the socio-economic and political challenges and as a result, communities in Mberengwa district have taken the initiative to care for the orphans in their area through income generating projects. The income generating projects are social entrepreneurial ventures in that they aim at generating profits which are channelled towards meeting the needs of the orphans. Through the income generating projects, the orphans in Mberengwa district are able to access their needs which include food, education, clothing, shelter, birth registration and protection from abuse. Findings also indicated that in the Mberengwa district, orphan care is viewed as a community, rather than individual responsibility. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the communities in Mberengwa have inherent strengths which make it possible for them to work together in achieving common objectives. Consequently, their social ties and close social relations enable them to work together to deal with problems confronting them collectively. vi projects benefiting orphans. The participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected from the children and key informants by way of interviews and from the villagers through focus group discussions. The findings show that the government of Zimbabwe lacks capacity to meet the needs of orphans due to the socio-economic and political challenges and as a result, communities in Mberengwa district have taken the initiative to care for the orphans in their area through income generating projects. The income generating projects are social entrepreneurial ventures in that they aim at generating profits which are channelled towards meeting the needs of the orphans. Through the income generating projects, the orphans in Mberengwa district are able to access their needs which include food, education, clothing, shelter, birth registration and protection from abuse. Findings also indicated that in the Mberengwa district, orphan care is viewed as a community, rather than individual responsibility. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the communities in Mberengwa have inherent strengths which make it possible for them to work together in achieving common objectives. Consequently, their social ties and close social relations enable them to work together to deal with problems confronting them collectively. It was concluded that income generating projects based on social entrepreneurial principles are a critical poverty alleviation and social protection mechanism for orphans in the Mberengwa communities as they lead to meeting their needs and furthermore, alleviate social problems in the community. In order to respond to the gap created by the government’s lack of capacity to care for the orphans, social entrepreneurship through income generating projects can be utilised to achieve social protection and poverty alleviation goals more so in the country’s quest to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Recommendations include the need to review the legal and policy framework governing the care and protection of orphans in the country to include community-based programmes. Furthermore, it is recommended to strengthen traditional orphan care structures in facilitating income generating projects based on social entrepreneurial principles as they have the propensity to help meet the needs of orphans at the community level. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted