M.Com. ( Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

DISCOURSE submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE in Development Planning at the UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND / This discourse investigates nature and the needs of global city development. It does this, through both theoretical and empirical research into this phenomenon, peculiar to the late twentieth century. The first part of the work explores the theoretical underpinnings of 'global city thesis'. and its host dominant critique, the 'dual city thesis'. Following this, an empirical assessment of the concept's relevance to Southern Africa's development is performed. For this purpose, the most dominant locality in the region, Central Gauteng, is analysed in terms of its potential for, and the problems involved with global city development in a middle-income country. It is found that global city development here would be desirable for both Central Gauteng and the greater SADC. By establishing Central Gauteng as a global city, the region would be empowered to take greater control over its economic destiny. The path this development would, by necessity take, is the promotion of the locality as the 'Gateway to Africa'. Based on this orientation several development planning proposals are presented. / Andrew Chakane 2019

Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 201 / Drawing on data from the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) from 2008-2012, this paper investigates informal-formal earnings gaps in South Africa in order to assess the validity of labour market segmentation theories and to shed light on the motivations behind informal labour. In addition to controlling for observed individual characteristics using pooled OLS regression, fixed effects and quantile regressions are also estimated to control for time-invariant individual heterogeneity and to assess variations in earnings gap along the income distribution. Results are indicative of segmentation both within informal employment and in the labour market as a whole. Overall, informal employment in South Africa can be characterised as highly diverse and heterogeneous, with earnings differentials varying by employment type (whether salaried or self-employed), gender, and level of income. This earnings analysis is complemented by a brief exploration into the non-pecuniary characteristics of informal employment, with a consideration of the relationship between subjective wellbeing and informality.

There is a general conformity in employment discourses that informal employment is not welcomed in the employment circles regardless of how well marketed it could be. The government of South Africa on its state owned projects in the construction industry introduced policies that promoted local labour procurement of employees a process that has resulted with heavy contestations due to its application. This study examines the impact of local labour procurement policy on locally recruited employees and those who got retrenched purely for the purpose of accommodating the policy requirement. This is done through the use of Kusile power station as a case study. It adopts qualitative research approach using interviews and document analysis. The study also examines this policy in conjunction with the current labour legislation and the effects it has on the existing labour and the proposed amendment labour bills. It also examines the motive behind the introduction of the policy and who has benefited from it. However the findings reveal that there is inconsistence in the application of the policy. The purpose why the policy was introduced is to reduce unemployment poverty in the areas where these projects are being constructed. Further also the study reveals that in as much as the policy promotes informal employment, this type of informal employment is different from the commonly well-known informal employment purely on the aspect of remuneration and benefits compared to the common one.

This research study examines the experiences of service workers in the informal economy by exploring informal hairdressing operations within the Johannesburg CBD. Drawing on ethnography at a hairsalon in Braamfontein and semi-­‐structured interviews with hairdressers, customers, hairsalon owners and City of Johannesburg officials, it argues that the emotional and affective labour in this kind of work offers hairdressers an important basis for them to weave meaning into their work. The affective relationships that they create through hairdressing present them with the potential for the self-­‐constitution of their work and lives.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (ENVC) Johannesburg, 2017 / The ability of immigrants to craft successful livelihoods in the harsh economic climate that seems to overwhelm the local population has led to them being blamed for the unfortunate plight of South Africa’s poor, with the result that there has been targeted violence on immigrants in recent years. Informal sector entrepreneurship is at the heart of this with immigrants said to be outperforming local entrepreneurs, and taking away the last option of earning an income. Entrepreneurship is quoted as the only lasting solution to the poverty and unemployment that plagues developing countries. The ability of immigrants to succeed in a sector that is considered unproductive is worth investigating. In this study, cross sectional data is used to compare the antecedents of Entrepreneurial Performance between foreign Immigrants and South Africans. The findings are that, while both group’s performance is affected by Entrepreneurial Action; South African performance is driven mainly by deprivation, a factor that has no effect on immigrants. This puts the recent explosive response of local entrepreneurs to immigrant competition into perspective, and necessitates interventions that will, not only curb further xenophobic violence, but up-skill local entrepreneurs and enable them to make a living out of informal sector entrepreneurship. Contrary to popular belief, none of the population’s performance was linked to Social Capital. There is no use allowing people into the country only to stifle their ability to sustain themselves. Immigrant Entrepreneurship is a reality that South Africa needs to embrace. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management specialising in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation Johannesburg, 2016 / The establishment and growth of informal traders in South Africa have been attributed with a considerable need and desire for these informal economies to achieve economic growth, create sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities, assist with employment opportunities, etc. A number of factors have an impact on how these informal traders can become competitive and formalised, and one of these enablers is the influence of ICT interventions by informal economies to improve business performance. The purpose of this research was to establish the perceived relationship between the influence of ICT usage by informal traders and the perceived impact on business performance. The intended objective was to assess whether the perception of ICT adoption by informal traders had a positive or negative business performance outcome. The research methodology adopted was a quantitative approach, which was guided by a positivist paradigm. The population targeted were informal traders in the Sandton region of Johannesburg, South Africa. A questionnaire was distributed to gather data. The influence of ICT and the perceived impact within informal traders in the Sandton region revealed some findings consistent with existing literature. It was the overall accepted perception that ICT adoption has a perceived positive impact on business performance, including but not limited to market share, products, and customer service, as measured in the research. A deeper analysis is required to understand why the respondents in the research overwhelmingly state that the influence of ICT adoption has a perceived positive impact on performance, market share, and product and customer service. / MT2016

Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities, at the University of the Witwatersrand, July 2017 / Just over ten years ago on night of the 28th of August 2006, angry mobs took to the streets of Masiphumelele township outside Fish Hoek, near Cape Town, and attacked and looted foreign national spaza shops in the neighbourhood. The attacks shocked the city, and prompted the provincial government to initiate an intervention to address the underlying causes of the violence. The outcome comprised an agreement between foreign national and South African spaza shopkeepers that permitted foreign nationals to return on condition that they did not open any new shops in the township. These mediation efforts comprised the beginning of many governance interventions in Cape Town and across the country that were aimed at curtailing foreign national spaza shops in South Africa. This thesis examines formal and informal attempts to govern foreign national spaza shops in South Africa, and seeks to understand what they reveal about the nature of politics in South Africa, as a postcolonial and developing country. In doing so it locates itself in the theoretical framework of law and society, as it examines legal phenomena from a social science perspective. Its findings are based on case study methodology involving qualitative interviews with key participants and stakeholders, as well as document collection, participant observation, and media reports. The research finds that many governance actors’ anxieties towards foreign national spaza shops relate less to shopkeepers’ particular activities and more to South African traders’ abilities to incite local socio-economic discontent against these shops, and thereby threaten political establishments. However, governance interventions rarely unfolded as intended due to resistance by competing interest groups who sought to advance their private economic concerns rather than public and political rights. This invokes features of Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben’s theories of the ‘social’ or ‘biopolitics’, which argue that the entry of economic concerns into the political sphere is characteristic of the modern age. The thesis therefore reflects on Arendt, Foucault and Agamben’s theories in assessing what governance efforts reveal about the nature of South Africa’s political sphere. It finds that the social realm in South Africa differs from their accounts in two significant respects. First, the social sphere is conflicted between various economic goals – with parties seeking to foster basic life and sustenance, as well as to advance the emancipation of citizens from the colonial legacies of apartheid through economic mobility and opportunity. This makes finding a path to advance overall economic advancement in the country more difficult and contentious. / XL2018

Discourse for the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Development Planning) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, / A definition of development includes improving living conditions and the quality of life. There is an interrelationship between health and social and economic development. "Health Leads to and at the same time is dependant on a progressive improvement in conditions and quality of life". (World Health Organisation). Therefore a dIscussion on health has to take into account the socio-economic and political context. In assessing the health profile of the homeland populations one finds them to be the least healthy. The problem is that the level of health of the rural population is low and the health care situation follows that of a developing society, where poverty-related diseases and infant mortality rates are high and life expectancies are unacceptably low. The rationale of this discourse is to express the need of action by governments, and health Bnd development workers, to protect and promote health. The aim is to examine the primary health care approach in Q sample area and see how it can be used to achieve an acceptable level of health. Background on the state of health will be addressed. The health services under apartheid is discussed in the first section, with attention given to statistical information and health indicators. / AC2017

A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Building to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / Payments are an essential component of construction contracts (Murdoch and Hughs, 2015). The nature of the payment regime has an effect on the contractor’s cash flow, project performance and therefore achievement of project objectives. Finance has been claimed as the most important resource in the construction process (Mawdesley et al., 1997). As such, proper financial planning to ensure healthy cash flow during the lifespan of a project is central to its performance and ultimate success. The obligation of an employer is to pay the contractor timeously, as per agreed payment plan and likewise the obligation of a contractor is to produce the build works according to an agreed schedule of works and to set standards of quality. Project finance in its totality is therefore of major importance to the progression of the construction process. Purpose - The main purpose of this study is to identify current problems in relation to late payment issues encountered by contractors that have been commissioned to construct public infrastructure for the government of South Africa. The paper seeks to highlight the extent of occurrence, to measure, and to assess the extent of late payment, in public infrastructure projects in the Gauteng Province. This study is done with a view to study the correlative relationship between the deviance in contractually scheduled payment time and time of actual payment and to identify factors that influence these. Design methodology and approach – With regard to research methods, the study adopts a mixed approach. Both Qualitative and Quantitative approaches to the study were adopted. This was done by collecting data through structured questionnaires and the research instruments administered to key personnel in the various Sector Departments as well as the Finance Department and the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development. Sample invoices were gleaned and scrutinized from 189 projects with regard to invoice payment data. Respondents were asked to provide information on Invoice Date, Date Invoice Received By Department and Date Invoice Paid On. This information was gathered for approximately half the total number of invoices received per project. Adopting a project by project approach, respondents were asked to provide data and causal factors linked to late payment. The results were then analyzed to determine significant relationships between late payment patterns and the factors that influence these. / XL2018