The purpose of this thesis is to explain the continued advocacy of 'urban agriculture' (UA) in the literature in the face of the seemingly modest role played by cultivation in practice. The analytical framework adopted isrthat of discourse, the theoretical underpinnings of which are derived from the early works of Foucault, and applications such as those of Escobar (1989; 1991) and Ferguson (1990). Using a discursive orientation involves two main tasks - an explanation of how 'UA' has gained some prominence and the man~er in which its currency is able to be maintained. The investigation included an in-depth analysis of the literature and empirical research in th!"e~Eastern Cape centres. The function of the empirical findings is to expose the discourse, as well as to extend the empirical base relating to 'urban agricultural' research in general. The thesis suggests that the growth in interest in 'UA' is a result of a Foucaultian "gap" opening in the discourse. Changes in the conceptualisation of development, the rise-in prominence of the urban poor and emerging ecodevelopment views, among others, have given proponents of "UA' greater room for manoeuvre. However, most case studies promote 'UA' despite providing little evidence of its role in household welfare. The way the discourse maintains its' currency is in the manner in which the objects of 'UA' are constituted. Firstly, the people are characterised as poor, largely divorced from their rural origins, and mainly female. Each of these assertions is questioned on the basis of the literature itself and the empirical findings. Secondly, in the practice of cultivation, emphasis is placed on the inputs used, and the crops that are produced. The treatment of both the inputs and the crops by the literature is cursory. Investigations show that land availability, garden size and irrigation water are e~pecially problematic and vegetable consumption remains low. Four types of alleged benefit associated with 'UA' are analysed - environmental and ecological, psychological and social, financial, and nutritional. In each case commonly held assumptions are undermined by closer investigation. Thus, the thesis contends that the role played by cultivation is a modest one. Most of the claims made on behalf of 'UA' are more congruent with development discourse than actual cultivation practice.

This research investigates the consumer perceptions of private label brands amongst the university aged consumers from selected Eastern Cape universities. The research also aimed to ascertain whether or not generation Y consumers are aware of the existence of private labels, whether price, quality, advertising, packaging, reference groups and demographic variables influenced generation Y purchasing behavior of private label brands. To achieve these objectives, the research made use of the simple random technique to gather the primary data via the use of an online structured questionnaire. The sample population selected where the students in the Eastern Cape Province Universities (Rhodes and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Universities) who reside off-campus. The assumption was that students who reside off-campus are more aware of private labels as they carry out shopping more than those that reside on campus and generally would have more disposable income and the reason that two different universities have been chosen is to provide a broad base of student opinions, covering varying cultural and income backgrounds, thus allowing for unbiased, valuable research. After pre-tests were conducted the questionnaire was made available online to easy the distribution of the questionnaire and allow for a greater response rate. Descriptive and inferential statistics where used to analyze the results of the questionnaire. The results showed that consumers are generally aware of private label brands and have at least seen them being advertised. Furthermore, the results showed that consumers purchase groceries based on price, quality and convenience of location of the grocery stores .The results indicate that Generation Y consumers are indeed a significant part of the consumer population and that they represent a confident, self reliant, optimistic and positive generation and are verbally and visually more sophisticated, creating a whole new language through digital media and that Generation Y consumers are generally aware of the existence of private labels. The results also indicate that Generation Y consumers strongly agreed that they purchase groceries based on price and quality, meaning price and quality are very influential when purchasing groceries and that the packaging of, generally, all private label brands was not attractive hence a conclusion was made that packaging of private labeled products does not influence Generation Y’s purchasing behaviour of private labels.

No description available.

Temporary rivers in dryland regions are subject to highly variable and unpredictable rainfall and flow, and are considered unstable systems relative to perennial rivers of temperate zones. Little is known of the ecology of South Africa's temporary rivers, despite their abundance. The research presented focusses on the aquatic invertebrates inhabiting intermittently-flowing rivers in the 'arid corridor' of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The major aims of the work were: to investigate which invertebrates inhabit these rivers, how the fauna is affected by environmental variability at various spatial and temporal scales, whether or not a characteristic fauna can be associated with these rivers or the hydrological phases which characterise them, and to establish to what extent faunal overlap occurs between different temporary rivers and between natural and modified temporary and perennial rivers. Research results indicate that the fauna of the Eastern Cape temporary rivers shows little structure at the scales of investigation, and that communities are generally non-equilibrial in character. The major forces shaping the biota are considered to be physical rather than biological, and the most important of these are: present and antecedent hydrological conditions and their duration; time of year; and biotope character, extent and heterogeneity. Three groups of fauna were identified as inhabitants of the temporary rivers: 'residents', 'facultative taxa' and 'opportunist colonists'. Taxa were tentatively allocated to these groups. Faunal resemblance was fairly high in Eastern Cape temporary rivers at the level of family, but not at more detailed taxonomic levels. A comparison between faunas of temporary and perennial rivers in different regions of South Africa illustrated the influence of geographical location on diversity. Within regions, however, there was no indication that perennial rivers were more diverse than intermittent rivers. The relatively high diversities in temporary rivers in this study are attributed at least in part to the heterogeneity in surface water conditions over time. A conceptual framework envisioning a continuum between perennial and temporary rivers is proposed as a basis for ongoing research into these rivers. A supporting terminology for the range of river flow types in South Africa is presented.

Springhare are large, bipedal, nocturnal, herbivorous, burrowing rodents that are found in arid and semi-arid parts of southern and eastern Africa. In this thesis I examine the general ecology, biology and physiology of these animals in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. An investigation of their distribution and activity in the study site showed that springhare exhibit a preference for flat, open, recently disturbed habitat that is dominated by the grass Cynodon dactylon and the sedge Cyperus esculentus. These two species constitute a major proportion of their diet. The impact of spring hare on chicory and grazing is also discussed. Nightly activity generally peaks soon after dark and decreases in the 2-4 hour period before sunrise. This pattern is, however, modified by moonlight. Springhare typically respond to moonlight by reducing aboveground activity, shifting their activity to dark moonless periods of the night, and by reducing their use of open space. Contrary to earlier reports, springhare utilise several different burrow systems spread over large areas. They regularly change burrow systems and seldom spend more than a few consecutive days in each. Springhare do not appear to defend territories but recently used burrows appear to be avoided by conspecifics. Males and females on average use a similar number of burrows, scattered over similar sized areas. Burrows are shown to provide a stable microclimate of moderate temperature and high humidity throughout the year. Reproduction is continuous and there is no synchronised breeding season. The ability to reproduce throughout the year is attributed primarily to their ability to utilise subterranean food stores. The overall reproductive strategy of springhare (a single young with long gestation and weaning) is unusual for a mammal of this size but may be linked to low levels of adult and juvenile mortality. Physiologically, springhare are reasonably well adapted to life in hot, arid environments. They produce a concentrated urine, exhibit a high tolerance to dehydration, are good osmoregulators capable of maintaining plasma volume, osmolality and ion balance over long periods of water deprivation, and are able to produce dry faeces. They are also good thermoregulators at low ambient temperatures, which are usually encountered at night, but are poor thermoregulators at high ambient temperatures, which they avoid behaviourally.

The spatial and temporal pattern of ichthyofaunal community composition in relation to selected physico-chemical (temperature and salinity) and biological variables (chlorophyll-a and zooplankton) was investigated at ten stations in the temperate temporarily open/closed Kasouga estuary. In addition, the food web structure in the estuary was investigated using stable carbon isotope analysis. Results of the 5 metre seine net survey indicated that ichthyofaunal composition and biomass in the Kasouga estuary was largely determined by seasonality and mouth condition. Maximum abundance and biomass of ichthyofauna was recorded during summer or during those periods when overtopping occurred. Overtopping coincided with the recruitment of marine estuarine dependant species, which dominated the catches both numerically and in biomass. The recruitment of these species resulted in an increase in diversity of the ichthyofaunal community. There were no significant spatial patterns in the distribution of smaller ichthyofauna (<50mm SL) identified in Bray-Curtis similarity matrices using cluster analysis (Primer 5 v5.2.4). Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed that there were no significant correlations between abundance and biomass of ichthyofauna and selected physico-chemical and biological variables other than salinity (P>0.05 in all other cases). There were two distinct spatial patterns in the distribution of the larger ichthyofauna (>50mm SL). These corresponded to a grouping associated with the mouth region and a grouping associated with the remaining regions of the estuary. Stable isotope analysis indicated that the primary source of carbon utilised by the ichthyofauna of the Kasouga estuary was derived from the channel, most likely microphytobenthic algae. The contributions of the riparian and salt marsh vegetation to the total carbon flow appear to be minimal.

Due to their widespread and specious nature, small mammals are ideal for biogeographical studies. Small mammals also effectively connect various trophic levels by being both consumers and prey items for other animals. The Great Escarpment is the dominant mountain landscape in South Africa. Yet, very little small mammal research has been conducted on the Great Escarpment outside of the Main Drakensberg Mountains. This is surprising given the importance of mountains in shaping regional ecology. In this study, I assessed the diversity and community composition of small mammals at three high altitude (>1700m) sites within the Sneeuberg Mountain Complex (SMC) from June 2009 to May 2010. I also tested the effectiveness of five different bait types for measuring small mammal diversity (i.e. number of individuals caught, species richness, Shannon diversity index and Simpson index of diversity). Out of a total of 423 captures, 292 individuals of 12 small mammal species (one shrew, one elephant shrew and 10 rodents) were recorded over 5280 trap nights. The species richness and diversity of small mammals captured at the three sites were similar and this homogeneity was probably related to the regional processes (e.g. climate and latitude) that govern species richness and diversity. The most effective bait type in terms of capture success, species richness and diversity measurements was peanut butter and oats. In addition, the use of richness estimators revealed that peanut butter and oats was the most effective bait for sampling the species richness of small mammals. The effectiveness of peanut butter and oats was related to this bait having a more attractive scent, when compared to the other bait types. Future studies should focus on researching the range of local and regional processes that drive small mammal diversity at high altitudes in South Africa. I also recommend the use of more than one bait type when planning to survey small mammal communities.

The three Pycnonotus bulbuls endemic to Africa, P. barbatus, P. nigricans and P. capensis, occupy mutually exclusive distributions in southern Africa. These species are closely related and appear to occupy very similar ecological niches, only in different regions. Using a multifaceted approach, this study attempts to explain the ecology of this species complex. All three species show similar physiological responses to temperature extremes, and are therefore unlikely to be directly limited by environmental temperature. However, their distributions are highly correlated to a complex of environmental variables, particularly winter minimum temperatures, the coefficient of variation in mean annual rainfall, and the seasonality of rainfall. This combination of environmental parameters can be used to predict the distributions of at least one of the species, P. nigricans, accurately. An analysis of the vocalizations and behaviour of the three species revealed that, whilst P. capensis has a number of recognizably different vocalizations, those of P. barbatus and P. nigricans are very similar. The three have nearly identical behaviours, particularly courtship and pre-copulatory behaviours. The mate recognition systems of the three are therefore extremely similar. P. barbatus is territorial during the breeding season, and exhibits highly structured-variation in male territorial song at the level of the local neighbourhood. The literature pertaining to song dialects is reviewed, and a new hypothesis is postulated to explain song-matching in terms of neighbour/stranger discrimination and the possible existence of cooperative territory defence. A survey of the eastern Cape region, where all three species come into contact, showed that extensive hybridization is taking place between each species pair. Phenotypically, this hybridization is restricted to narrow hybrid zones, that are considered to be stable in both time and place. The evolutionary and ecological significance of these zones to the distributions of the species is discussed, and it is proposed that the zones are maintained by selection acting on differentially-adapted genomes along an environmental gradient.

This study set out to examine whether the Eastern Cape Tourism Board (ECTB) had the capability to cope with change. The tourism industry is very dynamic and for the organization to survive, it must be able to adapt itself in a constantly changing environment. The research question was derived from a study done by Human and Horwitz (1992), in which they examined how South African companies cope with change. They developed a model and a questionnaire to measure the capabilities of coping with change. Their model and questionnaire were based on the following four dimensions: strategic orientation, control orientation, social focus and institutional focus. This model classified organizations into four types, namely: the Boardroom organization, the Technocracy organization, the Hardhat organization as well as the Missionary organization. These typologies are discussed in Chapter 2. A modified version of the Human and Horwitz questionnaire was used to conduct this research. The original questionnaire has 32 items, and the questionnaire used in this study has the same number of items. The modification was done to nine questions, to ensure that they were of specific relevance to the organization being researched. The questions were slightly modified taking care to ensure that they still fit within the original dimensions measured by Human and Horwitz (1992). The questionnaires were distributed within the organization, particularly to those employees in the Tourism section, as the organization also had a Conservation section. The Conservation section was excluded due to the fact that a policy decision had already been taken to separate the two sections, thereby creating two organizations. When the questionnaires were returned, they were analyzed using 'Statistica' , a computerized statistics program. The results showed that the ECTB does not have the capability to cope with change as it lacked the critical strategic orientation that Human and Horwitz (1992) suggest is a key requirement for coping. The profile of the organization showed that the ECTB could be classified as primarily being a Technocracy organization, and secondarily a 'Hardhat' organization. (See details in Chapter 4). Human and Horwitz (1992) suggest that an organization to be able to cope with change, must be a 'hybrid' of these four types. The implications of these results suggest that the organization is lacking in the dynamism brought about by having a strategic orientation. Human and Horwitz argue that the profile of an organization coping well with change should show a 'balance' in terms of orientation (strategic orientation and control orientation). The ECTB's profile does not show this balance, and can therefore be said not to have the capability to cope with change. The results of the profile are discussed in Chapter 4.

From Preface: The following research is centred around the Grahamstown non-white urban transportation problem. The bus service under consideration is owned and operated by the Grahamstown Municipality and is attached to the City Fire Department. It caters only for non-white commuters by operating fourteen buses, which carry approximately 1 200 000 people per year. As such, the difficulties encountered by this transport service should be generally, though not entirely, applicable only to relatively small non-white transport undertakings. The aims of this research are threefold: 1. to establish the environment within which transport undertakings operate, the structure of the undertaking in response to this environment and the problems which such undertakings encounter in their daily operations ; 2. by analysing in detail a specific transport service, an attempt has been made to delineate problem areas in both the cost and revenue structures, and to ascertain the degree of management awareness of the existence of these problems ; and 3. to determine the social impact of this transport operation and to evaluate all aspects of the service in relation to commuters, business and social needs and wants. Unfortunately, an attempt to extend this type of research to further Eastern Cape urban areas was unsuccessful due to the refusal by certain transport undertakings and government bodies to provide essential information.