Thesis (M.Dev)--University of Limpopo, 2005. / The aim of this study was to investigate and quantify the status of household sanitation level in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality. The study was conducted at Mthuzuni Settlement in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality. A probability sampling technique was employed in the study. Simple random sampling was used to sample respondents from each of the 50 households. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the 50 sampled respondents. An interview schedule was also used to collect data from the ward councillor.The findings revealed that there are inadequate sanitation facilities in the Mthuzini settlement. The significance of this study is that it can be used to educate the community about good sanitation practices. It can also serve to inform the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality to speed-up provision of basic household sanitation facilities to needy communities.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Science, 2013. / Unable to load abstract.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Resource Conservation Biology (Coursework and Research Report) Johannesburg, February 2016 / Environmental perceptions have been researched in a wide range of communities globally. However, the environmental perceptions of rural people in the developing world, as well as their determinants, remain understudied. Investigating rural inhabitants’ environmental perceptions and what shapes them can produce useful information that could be incorporated into decision-making process that help resolve environmental issues. This study aimed to investigate dominant environmental perceptions and their determinants at individual, household and village levels, with a focus on environmental resource use, resource availability, and resource governance and management, among rural inhabitants of Bushbuckridge region in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. This study used unanalysed pre-existing data for 300 rural households across five villages, collected via a questionnaire in 2006. Of the twelve local resources considered, fuelwood, edible wild herbs, grass and twigs for brooms, reed mats and wooden carvings were the most widely used resources. Building poles, thatch for roofs, and bushmeat were the least widely used resources. On the frequency of use of consumable resources, most households consumed fuelwood every day while edible wild herbs, wild fruits and edible insects were mostly consumed 1-3 times/week. The majority of user households used traditional medicine and bushmeat less than once a month. The majority of respondents perceived local availability of edible wild herbs, traditional medicine, edible insects, and wild fruits to be adequate. By contrast, less than a third of respondents indicated sufficient local supply of building poles, bushmeat and fuelwood. However, it was dominantly perceived that it is not necessary to get harvesting permits for most resources, except in the case of traditional medicines. The chief was repeatedly perceived to be the ultimate authority in issuing harvesting permits and regulating access to natural resources. Individual and household level characteristics, as well as village resided in, were found to shape a range of individuals’ environmental perceptions with regards to resource availability and resource governance and management, but their influence was not consistent across resource or governance issues. For instance, at the individual level, age significantly shaped individuals perceptions of resource governance and management regarding who controls access to natural resources. The youth and middle aged compared to elderly were less likely to perceive that the chief controls access to resources and were also more likely to perceive that the government controls access to resources than elderly. Household-level characteristics were found to have no influence on perceptions of who controls access to resources. Village resided in shaped perceptions of resource availability, for every resource, and most aspects of resource governance issues. Village resided in had a stronger influence on range of individuals’ environmental perceptions than individual and household level factors. Households which depended highly on natural resources were more likely to perceive shortages of resources and an increase in household resource use, the likelihoods of individuals perceiving community development forum and the community itself regulating access to the natural resources increased. It is clear that environmental perceptions vary within and between communities, and are shaped by the characteristics and circumstances of the individual, their households and the community they live in. Furthermore, the strength of influence of these determinants varies according to the particular resource and environmental governance issue concerned. The understanding and identification of factors that shapes individuals’ environmental perceptions will be helpful for policy makers, as it could establish solutions that are grounded in rural communities’ realities and their environmental perceptions.

The dissertation focuses on water, which has become the focal point of global debate today among nations. This is due to ever-increasing population and the insatiable consumer demands that the market makes on humanity, putting heavy stress on natural resources, especially water. Since the 1980s, rich countries and the institutions they control, i.e. the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been forcing poor countries to implement policies and sign agreements that do them more harm than good (i.e. privatization of state assets such as water). The debt crisis drove many poor countries into structural adjustment programs as a condition for receiving IMF and World Bank aid. These programs, under various names, contain policies that compel vulnerable countries to expose their social services to competition with big profit making corporations. Through persuasion, threats, bullying and conditions attached to loans and aid, poor countries have been forced to: <ul> <li>Open their markets in order to subsidize exports from rich countries.</li> <li>Stop prioritising domestic producers.</li> <li>Divert development efforts away from local food markets, and</li> <li>Privatize essential services such as water system, electricity etc.</li></ul> These debt relief conditions and trade agreements are focused solely on making profit and not on improving the livelihood and welfare of the poor. The theory that the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO put forward is that increased trade will automatically be equal to improved welfare. This equality has not worked in practice as Raj Patel in a more or harsher description, that structural adjustment and other trade related policies could also be seen as a “weapon of mass destruction” (Znet, November 28, 2000). The author concurs with Patel’s view, as according to UNICEF, over 500,000 children under the age of five died each year in Africa and Latin America in the late 1980s as a direct result of the debt crisis and its management under the International Monetary Fund’s structural adjustments programs. These programs required the abolition of price supports on essential food-stuffs, steed reductions in spending on health, education, and other social services, and increases in taxes. The debt crisis has never been resolved for much of Sub-Saharan Africa. Extrapolating from the UNICEF data, as many as 5,000,000 children and vulnerable adults may have lost their lives in this blighted continent as a result of the debt crunch (World Policy Journal, Volume XIX, No.4, Winter 2002/03). Privatization and commodification of water system is the order of the day in many developing countries. It has raised survival issues for the poor and the marginalized, causing problems such as scarcity of safe drinking water, pollution of water and soil, and destruction of agricultural sectors in other parts of developing countries. This dissertation emphasizes that all people have internationally accepted rights to water “all peoples, whatever their stage of development and their social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs” (United Nations 1977). This right is being violated for millions of people around the globe, particularly in developing countries such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. This dissertation reminds the church leadership, members of faith communities and all relevant stakeholders of their responsibilities to God-given gift of water. Both the Old and New Testament understanding of justice as taking the side of the poor and oppressed, and also seeking to compel us to action, i.e. to address the exploitative and oppressive systems that seek to hold the poor and their oppressive structures. We are inspired to strive for justice, each in our own place and according to our separate gifts. We are called to the struggle to make trade a means of sharing the bounty of the earth and the fruits of human labor, and to ensure that people’s rights to water is fully respected. The dissertation emphasizes that “water” is the source of life, a gift of nature and that it belongs to all living beings and the rest of creation. God who is the creator gives this right to everyone. It is not a private property but a common resource for the sustenance of all members of plant and animal kingdoms. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2016. / Environmental income in rural socio-ecological systems consists of the monetary and non-monetary value derived by people from non-agricultural ecosystem goods and services that are sourced from wild or uncultivated natural systems. This environmental income forms an important part of rural households' diversified livelihood income portfolios and includes resources like fuelwood, herbs, fruits, game, medicinal plants and other materials that are used for clothing, shelter, arts and crafts. Rural households also depend on income from two other land-based income streams, crop farming and livestock husbandry, and off-farm activities income stream, which includes grants and wages, for both consumption and cash generation. While rural livelihoods are becoming increasingly reliant on off-farm income, land-based livelihood income streams (including environmental income) still play an important supplementary role, especially to satisfy subsistence needs. Past studies in the developing world have quantified livelihood incomes and have often associated these income values to the socio-economic characteristics of households. However, neither do these studies examine the different livelihood income streams collectively as a portfolio, nor do they sufficiently account for and create understanding around the correlations within the suites of influencing factors. Livelihoods are often analysed using frameworks that are used to understand households' livelihood income portfolios, especially their environmental income dependencies, in relation to influencing factors. These frameworks can be useful tools to gain a quantitative understanding of households’ livelihood income portfolios. This study aimed to quantify and understand the contribution of environmental income to rural households as part of their diversified livelihood portfolios and relate these livelihood portfolios to household socio-economic characteristics and adopted livelihood strategies using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) framework. Interviews were conducted during 2010 in 590 households spread across nine villages in the Bushbuckridge region, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The interviews focussed on the quantification of four livelihood income streams — environmental, livestock, crops and off-farm. These income streams were assessed at three points of assessment (POAs) in the livelihood income chain — the initial, primary income value into the household, the value used for household consumption, and the amount of cash generated. Livelihood incomes were analysed using summary statistics, frequency distributions and ordinations. These were used to gauge the value of these incomes to individual households as well as to the system as a whole, in both absolute terms and relative to each other. Ordinations were then used to explore the relationships between variables within the suite of household socio-economic characteristics and within the suite of adopted household livelihood strategies, and finally incorporating both. Lastly, the proportional environmental income dependencies of households were explored using global fractional logit generalised linear models (GLMs). The models first included the socio-economic characteristics as explanatory variables, and then the adopted livelihood strategies. Almost all households used the environmental, crop and off-farm income streams for primary income and consumption, with the primary income from off-farm activities being in the form of cash generation. In contrast, less than 12% of households were involved in the primary collection and consumption of livestock income. In general, fewer households were involved in the cash generation from the land-based livelihood income streams. However, these sellers represented a larger fraction of users for the livestock income stream then when compared to the other two land-based income streams. While livestock income was used less frequently than the other two land-based income streams, it was comparatively as valuable as the off-farm income stream to its users. Overall, absolute changes in the correlated land-based income streams were not related to the off-farm income streams. Relative variation in livestock primary income was related to the relative variation in primary income values from off-farm activities. Relative variation in the crops and environmental cash generation was related to corresponding cash generation values from off-farm activities. Whether the livelihood incomes were examined for primary income, consumption or cash generation, the worth of the different livelihoods were valued differently to the socio-ecological system as a whole compared to their value to households that were involved in those activities, and their value to individuals within households. The collective variations at all POAs of the land-based strategies were associated with different sets of household socio-economic characteristics and adopted livelihood strategies, compared to the sets that were associated with the off-farm livelihood income stream. Factors that were associated with an income stream at one POA did not necessarily have the same association at the other POAs. The choice of adopted livelihood strategies reduces the need to understand and account for all factors that influences the translation of different types of capital, which includes household socio-economic characteristics, into livelihood incomes. This simplified connection is crucial to standardising and creating models that can be put into practice at all POAs within the livelihood chain in these socio-ecological systems. Furthermore, proportional environmental income dependencies can be useful for evaluating how the worth of environmental income is related quantitatively to influencing factors. However, many of the dynamics between influencing factors and the income streams that contribute to environmental income stream are not captured. The methodological approach used in this study in analysing the livelihoods of households in the Bushbuckridge region provides a standardised framework of analysis. The quantification of the livelihood data in common monetary units at the three different POAs of primary income, household consumption and cash generation, allows the analysis to be expanded to different platforms of understanding. The collective understanding of the variation between the different income streams can be expanded to understand the worth of these income streams to households and individuals within these households, as well as to understand the worth of these income streams to the socio-ecological system as a whole. When combining the collective understanding of the income portfolios at the different POAs with a collective understanding of the suite of household socio-economic characteristics or with a collective understanding of the suite of adopted livelihood strategies, a platform for understanding the dynamics within livelihoods is created. This has potential for creating workable predictive models of environmental income dependency in these systems, especially using the adopted livelihood strategies. The results of this dissertation also raise caution that analyses of these socio-ecological systems needs to be interpreted at all POAs simultaneously with the collective understanding of the links between incomes and socio-economic characteristics, and with the links between incomes and adopted livelihood strategies. There is more value during strategic planning in asking how to encourage a set of adopted livelihood strategies that are associated with the desired dependencies than asking which socio-economic household factors are likely to result in said dependencies. Policy intervention in the area that is aimed at increasing households' dependence on land-based activities needs to differentiate whether it will be encouraging the subsistence sourcing and consumption of resources, or will it encourage the cash generation from these income streams. Particular attention needs to be paid as to which households will be addressed. It will be wiser to implement some interventions across all households and rather focus other interventions on a few more involved households. / LG2017

This study investigated the state of leadership mentoring and succession planning in the Charismatic Churches in Bushbuckridge. In order to gain a full understanding of the Charismatic Movement which emerged in Bushbuckridge only four decades ago, it was necessary to trace its origin from the Azusa Street Revival which gave birth to Pentecostalism almost a century ago. The Charismatic Movement emerged as a distinct movement only five decades later following the birth of the Pentecostal Movement. The reviewed literature revealed that the Charismatic Movement is a child of the marriage between the Pentecostal Movement and traditional denominations. The main watermark distinction between the theologies of the two movements is based on the fact that the Pentecostal Movement emphasises speaking in tongues while the Charismatic Movement places emphasis on the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. By virtue of their one-man-founder, Charismatic Churches are likely to experience the same leadership mentoring and succession problems that are common to family businesses. An assessment of leadership mentoring and succession practices in the business world proved that the concept has been researched, practiced, and perfected more in the secular world than in the world of religious and biblical studies. Although this study uncovered some exceptionally successful mentoring relationships in both the New and the Old Testaments, they do not provide details of what those who were involved in the mentoring relationships did for them to be successful. It is in the secular world that mentoring relationships, stages and models have been researched and practiced. It is when mentors and protégés are pared correctly and their relationships managed properly throughout all the mentoring stages that organisations can be assured of smooth leadership transitions. A triangulation of the qualitative and the quantitative methods was used to collect data in this study. On the qualitative side of the research, data was collected by means of interviews and focus group studies. Interviews with the apostolic fathers of the Charismatic Movement in South Africa raised a concern over the lack of leadership mentoring and succession programmes, especially amongst the younger generation of churches. The concern was confirmed in all the focus group studies which were conducted in Bushbuckridge. The data which was collected from the qualitative side of the study provided a basis for the content of the questionnaire the researcher drew up for the quantitative side of the study. This side of the study contradicted the views of the participants in interviews and focus groups in that it reported that many Charismatic Churches in Bushbuckridge do in fact have leadership mentoring and succession programmes (85% and 72% respectively). The quantitative side of the study further revealed that education levels and gender have a statistically significant effect in leadership mentoring, while location does not. The researcher suggests that the contradiction in the outcomes of the two research methods deserve a follow-up study. This study presents to Charismatic Church leaders in Bushbuckridge lessons drawn from the leadership mentoring and succession practices of both the biblical and secular worlds. This study would be incomplete without the bringing to the fore of an illustrative text in the 2 Timothy 2:1-3. Generally speaking, adherents in the Charismatic Churches read and interpret the bible as authoritative for faith and life. The participants‘ call for the introduction or/and enhancement of leadership mentoring and succession is therefore harnessed by the biblical message in 2 Timothy 2:1-3. Such model of leadership could serve as an important and significant form of discourse in Africa in the context of leadership. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / New Testament Studies / unrestricted

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The purpose of this study was to profile selected cardiovascular disease risk factors among HIV patients on ART in Bushbuckridge sub-district. Quantitative, crosssectional research was conducted to describe cardiovascular disease risk factors among HIV patients on ART in Bushbuckridge Sub-district. Data collection was done using researcher-administered questionnaires. Adult HIV patient on ART participated in the study (n=328). The study has highlighted cardiovascular disease risk factors and prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors among HIV patients on ART. The findings revealed the prevalence of hypertension is 34.6% among HIV patients on ART and men had a higher prevalence compared to women. There is an increase in body mass index and it is seen mostly among women. Alcohol consumption is highest in the young adults (18 to 24 years) both men and women. Health promotion and policymaking interventions need to improve strategies on management and prevention of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Key concepts HIV, ART, cardiovascular disease risk factors, prevalence, body mass index, Bushbuckridge

Thesis (M. Sc. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The President of South Africa signed the National Minimum Wage Act, the amendment of both the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Labour Relations Act on Friday, 23 November 2018. These Acts, which were with effect from 1 January 2019, oblige all employers to pay at least the national minimum wage of R20.00/hr. and the agricultural sector has been given an exemption to pay 90% respectively of the national minimum wage (Truter, 2018). Employers in the farming sector are expected to pay at least R18.00 per hour to farm workers. However, farmers are different in terms of their characteristics and farming capacities, and they hold different perceptions towards the revised 2018 agricultural minimum wage. According to Sechaba (2017), it is believed that there will always be different views on what constitutes a decent and acceptable minimum wage. This study investigated the perception of both smallholder and commercial farmers towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The study had three objectives; the first objective was to identify and describe the socio-economic characteristics of farmers, the second one was to assess the perception of farmers on the 2018 agricultural minimum wage and the third one was to analyse socio-economic factors influencing the perception of farmers towards agricultural minimum wage in Bushbuckridge Municipality. Purposive sampling was used to collect primary data from 160 smallholder and commercial farmers (Crop and Livestock) in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality (BLM). For empirical analysis the Multinomial Logistic Model was applied for data analysis based on information generated using the Likert scale and the two formulated assumptions; firstly, farmers do not have negative perceptions towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage and lastly socioeconomic factors do not influence farmers’ perception towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. For empirical analysis, Multinomial logistic regression model was run on spss and the descriptive statistics was used to analyse the perception of famers based on the rank data from the Likert scale. Results from Multinomial regression analysis indicated that demographic factors such as number of hectares, household size, age, farming experience, marital status, and labour productivity were found to be significant vi (at 1, 5 and 10%) in distinguishing between pairs of groups and contribution, which they make to change the odds of being in one dependent variable group rather than the other. About 48.8% sampled farmers in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality showed negative perceptions towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage and were not likely to comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage legislation in a sense that they had not been paying the prescribed agricultural minimum wage to farm workers. Those who had positive perceptions and were willing to comply were only 15.0% and those who were uncertain on whether to comply or not comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage were 36.2%. Therefore, it can be concluded from results that smallholder and commercial farmers perceive the agricultural minimum wage differently and with majority of them not willing to comply or pay the prescribed amount. Additionally, several factors influences the perception on whether farmers were likely to comply or not to comply by paying the prescribed minimum wage to farm workers, based on the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. Variables: number of hectares, household size, age, experience, marital status and minimum wage were found to be significant (at different significant levels 1, 5 and 10%) in determining whether farmers were more likely or less likely to comply and pay the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. These variables plays a key role in determining farmers’ decision to comply or not to comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. However, gender, minimum wage for farmers, distance to market, access to mechanisation, co-operative membership, access to news, pensioner and educational status were found to be insignificant (at different significant levels 1%, 5% and 10%) at determining whether farmers were likely to comply or not comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. Thus, it is recommended that farmers, regardless of their production scale should be consulted and given a fair platform to articulate their views during the process of policy formulation. Policy makers and government should refrain from using a blanket approach when formulating a policy and taking into consideration the issue of disparities in the agricultural sector, subsectors, regions and operational scale of farmers when discussing the agricultural minimum wage policy.

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Background: Achieving high vaccination coverage is crucial in the control, prevention and elimination of childhood vaccine preventable diseases. The Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) aims for 95% coverage for each antigen and complete vaccination schedules for 90% of children under 12 months of age. All the vaccines included in the national vaccination schedule (Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG), Oral Polio Vaccine, Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) vaccine, Measles and Hepatitis B vaccine are provided free of charge in the primary health services in South African public health care facilities. Although the coverage of all vaccines in South Africa has increased especially in recent years, the EPI targets has not been achieved yet in some parts of the coutnry and there are still differences within provinces. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and determinants of childhood immunization coverage at Primary Healthcare facilities, Bushbuckridge, sub district of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The mean age of the children was 1.4±2.5 years (ranged: 1 months to 12 years. Slightly more than half (56%) of the children were less than 6-months. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the children were females and only 37% were males. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among selected Primary Healthcare facilities in Ehlanzeni District, Bushbuckridge Sub- district, Mpumalanga Province. Simple random sampling was used to get a minimum sample size of 426 mothers and/or caregivers paired with their children required for the study. The researcher administered a validated or tested self-designed questionnaires to the participants. Data analysis was done using the STATA statistical software version 12 for Windows (STATA Corporation, College Station, Texas). Results: The mean age of the participants was 34.1±9.2 years ranged from 15 to 57 years. Almost one-third (28.6%) of the mothers and/or caregivers were 40 years and older and the majority (70%) were unmarried. Majority of the participants had secondary ix education with 65.5% and 23.4% had primary education. Nearly eighty per cent (79.2%) of the maternal and/or caregivers were unemployed. The prevalence rate of fully immunized children was 88% and a significant higher proportion of children in the age group 12 years at 57% were likely not to be fully immunized (p<0.05), followed by age group 6 -11 years, 18 months – 5 years, 6-8 months and 9-11 months at 48%, 26%, 17% 13% respectively. No statistical significant relationship was found between maternal and/or caregiver age, marital status, level of education, employment status and immunization coverage of the child. However, participants aged 40 years and older, less educated and unemployed were likely to have missed immunization of their children. Mother and/or caregivers with a tertiary education were 3.46 times more likely to get their children immunized than those with none/primary education [OR = 3.46, (95% CI:0.75;15.9), p<0.2)]. The employed mother and/or caregivers were 2.01 times more likely to get their children immunized than the unemployed mother and/or caregivers [OR = 2.01, (95% CI: 0.82; 4.89), p<0.20]. In the multivariate model, level of education and employment status were found not to be significantly associated with immunization of the child. Conclusion: The overall immunization coverage in the present study was relatively high and significantly decreased with age. At 6 weeks, all age groups between 0-6 weeks were immunized, while at 10 weeks, with exception of children in the age group 10 -13 weeks and 18 months – 5 years. At 6 months, the young children (age 9-11 months) were likely to default or missed measles vaccination. At 6 and 12 years, the Td vaccination coverage was relatively low. Mothers and/ or caregivers who missed child immunization were likely to experience shortage of vaccines at health facility and said it takes the whole day to immunize a child but the result were not significant. Mother and/or caregivers with a tertiary education and employed were more likely to immunize their children than mothers and/or caregivers with primary, secondary education and the unemployed.

This research investigates and discusses missionary education in South Africa in general, and in the Bushbuckridge (BBR) area in particular, during the period 1910-1973. It also investigates and highlights how missionaries from various church denominations from Europe and the United States of America, spread the Word of God in South Africa. This research reveals that they founded and provided educational assistance to illiterate Black people. in order to enable thein to read the Bible, as effective means of realising their goals of Christianisation, evangelisation and civilisation. This study also finds that mi.ssionaries in the BBR offered Black people education in matters of industry. manual skills and farming, at their mission stations and mission schools, as a strong means of not only providing them with job skills and knowledge, but also preparing them for possible future self-employment and promoting their economic development and that of the community at large. This investigation indicates that missionary education removed out Black culture and traditional religious beliefs, and inculcated Western culture and Christian religious belief. Missionary education atso inculcated civilised habits of cleanliness, obedience, loyalty, patience, punctuality, tidiness, subordination, submissiveness, trustfulness and a sound attitude to work, industriousness, perseverance, respect and a sense of humour amongst Black people, as characteristic of Christianisation, and Christian evangelisation and civilisation. After a thorough investigation and discussion of missionary education, in South Africa· in general, and in the BBR area in particular, several recommendations and proposals are formulated, in order to advance the purpose of this research. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)