Includes bibliographical references. / The small-scale mining (SSM) sector in South Africa has been overshadowed by the wealth generating capacity of the formal mining industry. To address the disparity between the SSM sector and the large formal mining industry, a number of government initiatives have been introduced, the latest being the preparation of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28, which was finalized in October 2002. The Act, which has not yet been implemented, is expected to redress some of the sector's current obstacles. Two case studies conducted in the Northern Cape and North West Provinces, provided the basis for this social impact assessment (SIA). The aim of these studies was to identfy the most serious issues faced by the SSM sector and to assess the likely socio-econiomic impacts of the Act.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-117). / This thesis examines the feasibility of applying people-centred approaches to flood early warning systems (EWS) in informal settlements in the City of Cape Town, particularly, through the experiences of poor and disadvantaged communities in Kosovo and Masiphumelele informal settlements. The impact of recurrent floods during the winter rainfall months and their costs are disproportionally borne both by those at risk and the local government that is required to repeatedly respond to them. A social science perspective is adopted, with the application of a risk communication framework. The urban flood-risk context of both study sites and the risk governance approach to managing and communicating flood risk were investigated and factors influencing flood warning processes and behavioural factors influencing response to flood-risk and flood warning, examined.

Against the background of the Group Areas Act (1950) and the consequent forced removals this thesis recovers the history of Fairview, Port Elizabeth. I examine how this neighbourhood is remembered through oral histories, family photographs and memory maps, alongside archival, media and literary representations of the area at the time. I demonstrate that despite the forced removals of its residents and the physical destruction of a neighbourhood, Fairview continues to be actively re-imagined, in the present, in varied unpredictable ways. I draw upon earlier research about Apartheid forced removals and how the places affected are remembered by people who lived the trauma of forced eviction on racial grounds. I also draw upon my own qualitative research conducted in 2012 and 2013 to explore, the representation of place in both personal memories and archival material. Through this mix I present Fairview’s history of dispossession as a result of the Group Areas Act, and highlight the violence exercised through Apartheid-era legislation. However, I also present rich family and community histories comprised of meaningful relationships that were nurtured around enduring institutions which provide insight into the ‘everyday’ makings of a neighbourhood and its residents. By allowing these interconnected narratives to shape the memory of Fairview I demonstrate that recovering this history is about more than remembering an Apartheid loss. This work contributes to a broader project of refiguring and expanding the archive in post-Apartheid South Africa, a body of materials, that recognise its character as being plagued by colonial and later Apartheid biases (Hamilton, Harris and Reid, 2002: 9). I focus on broadening memories of places in which Apartheidera Group Areas removals and its destruction were imposed. To explore the multiple dimensions of these types of spaces I understand them as embodied social contexts which provide structure to inhabitants through multiple layers of community (Till, 2012: 9, 10, 2008: 108). This approach assists me to explore responses to acts of trauma like forced removals and demolitions, highlighting the various place-making activities through which people attempt to reconnect with their former neighbourhoods and lives, expressed in recollections, images and rituals which are central to how places of memory are remembered and reimagined (Till, 2003: 297). In the context of Fairview the mix of public and state archives with family repositories was central to recuperating and recovering a fuller history of Group Areas Removals and highlighting its meaningfulness in the present.

Includes bibliographical references. / Sand is a resource in high demand for urban expansion and development. Sand mining operations are often located on the edges of cities. The Macassar Dunes are an important source of building sand for the City of Cape Town. The area is located within the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest and richest of the six floral kingdoms of the world. The Macassar Dunes area has been identified as a core flora conservation site due to its unique habitat diversity and quality. South Africa is a developing country and this case study is used to highlight the tensions that arise between the need to provide building sand for development and the need for integrated and accountable management that allows for the sustainable functioning of natural physical and ecological processes as well as enhanced social and economic benefits for people.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-166). / This thesis explores debates surrounding the social production and interaction of divergent housing rationalities through qualitative research in a low income housing development called Stock Road and in the offices of the para-statal company that developed and administered the area, the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC). Investigations draw on literatures of the state, development and critiques of South African housing policy to "sketch" the predominant characteristics of the CTCHC’s housing rationality. The contours of residents housing rationalities are explored through an engagement with literatures and case studies that stress the social and historical aspects of home-ownership.

Purpose of Impact Assessments The purpose of Impact Assessments (lAs) is to reconcile society's needs for development with its need to conserve the environment. lA aims to assist planners to devise solutions that are sustainable and equitable, but still efficient. lA falls short In practice, the influence of lA on the planning process has been called into question: its recommendations are not always implemented, and some of its mitigatory measures have been narrow and naive. The gap between lA principles and lA praxis needs to be bridged by more effective procedures. Faulty problem formulation In this dissertation it is mooted that conventional lA , procedures, including the 1992 Integrated Environmental Management procedure, pay inadequate attention to the formulation of problems. There is a danger that lAs may focus on the wrong problem, or may misconstrue the right problem. Weak problem conception may then give birth to less than optimal solutions. Flawed solutions Following the lA for Contract 1000 (access roads to the Mohale Dam), only two alternative solutions were presented to the decision-maker for consideration. Of these, the LCAR is likely to be rejected because it is associated with high risks to the integrity of the biophysical environment, and because it costs M47 million (Malotis) more to construct than does the WAR. By default, the WAR is likely to become the preferred alternative; however it is unable to address some of the fundamental problems in the project area. Selection of the WAR as the access route for transporting materials to the Mohale Dam site "creates" groups of winners and losers in the affected society. In addition, failure to build the LCAR is equivalent to a lost opportunity (ie it represents an opportunity cost) for certain other groups of "losers" [see Table Sl]. The WAR, the best solution that conventional lA could generate, is manifestly a less-than-optimal solution. A problem-solving approach Analyses of the actual procedure followed during the lA for Contract 1000, and of the conventional approach to lA (according to the literature) point to the failure of lA procedures to recognise certain crucial features of environmental problems. lA procedures are not adapted to the dynamism or the complexity of environmental problems, and are not adequately designed to take into account interrrelationships (linkages) among either affected environments or among particular problems. lA is also in danger of becoming divorced from its political ("real world") context. In an attempt to address these failings of lA, a problem-solving approach to lA is developed. The new approach to lA is based on the 1992 IEM procedure, but is supplemented by elements of the natural human problem-solving process [after Miller 1985], and is also informed by Hill and Fuggle's [1990] classification of types and levels of alternatives.

This thesis examines the extent, nature and impact of flooding in informal and subsidised housing areas on the Cape Flats. Drawing on constructivist arguments regarding the subjectivity of risk as a concept, I examine how flooding and risk are conceptualised locally and internationally, and how well these framings compare with people's experiences in subsidised housing areas in Cape Town. I show that flooding remains a significant challenge in subsidised housing areas. Flood-risk has a strong built environment component; the very dwellings that should help to improve people's lives serve instead to transform and perpetuate risk, undermining the developmental objectives of the housing programme. In so doing, I interrogate assumptions about risk, hazard and vulnerability, and the lessons for theory and practice.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-220).

Development in urban catchments often result in rivers being converted into large stormwater canals where stormwater is removed as quickly as possible to prevent flooding. A combination of elevated peak flows, increased nutrients and contaminants and reduced biotic richness are typical features of these urban waterways. This study explored the dynamics of an urban river in Cape Town by using high-resolution monitoring sensors and loggers to analyse and model real-time discharge and water quality data during and after 14 rainfall events. Discharge and water quality data were collected from the Liesbeek River at three sites during the rainfall events. As expected, the upper most sampling site had the lowest discharge and pollution load, compared to sites in the middle and lowest reaches of the river. An analysis showed significant correlations between the discharge and electrical conductivity at all three sampling sites. Rainfall was the primary factor in altering discharge and electrical conductivity. Predictive modelling using selected rainfall designs indicated that average discharge and total volume increases with increasing rainfall. Linear regression analysis for electrical conductivity indicated a strong relationship whereby an increase in discharge resulted in a decrease in electrical conductivity. This study revealed the discharge and water quality of stormwater in the Liesbeek River during rainfall events showed the improved water quality conditions in the river during the rainfall events particularly after the peak discharge. Furthermore, the implications of this study revealed that the Liesbeek River can become a water source for recharging groundwater and aquifers.

Bibliography: pages 85-87. / Geographical Information Systems (GIS) often do not meet the expectations of users and management, raising questions and doubts as to their overall success and effectiveness. To date the majority of GIS research has focused on technical issues, and management research has approached GIS effectiveness from a purely cost benefit perspective. This study adopts a holistic, multi-perspective approach to the issue of GIS effectiveness, identifying measures of effectiveness related to the fields of Information Systems (IS), Management Information Systems (MIS) and GIS. It applies these measures using the case study methodology in a small South African local authority, the Ceres Municipality.