The South African taxi industry is a fast-growing industry and greatly contributes to the GDP growth of the country. While it also contributes to the decrease of unemployment problem in the country, it does very little to compensate its employees, the taxi drivers. A large body of research has been done on the taxi industry regarding its growth and future development such as recapitalization, and SANTACOs initiatives at introducing a much affordable Airline. However, little research has been done concerning the financial challenges facing taxi drivers in South Africa, especially in Umbumbulu, South of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. This is the gap this dissertation is attempting to fill in. The purpose of this dissertation is to enhance understanding of how taxi drivers fare in this fast growing informal economy, namely, the taxi industry, by investigating their financial management practices. Through the utilization of, questionnaires, indepth interviews and ethnographic approach, a model will be developed to describe, firstly, how financial management practices are carried out to facilitate the fulfillment of specific life goals of these taxi drivers and secondly, discuss how these practices translate to financial management. For the purpose of this study a questionnaire was used to investigate the financial management practices of taxi drivers in Umbumbulu. 27 owners and drivers were interviewed during their loading intervals when they were not busy. The study revealed that the Umbumbulu Taxi Rank drivers face huge financial difficulties which are due to different reasons. The challenges have been found to not only affect them but also their families. The conclusion drawn from the results was that even though taxi drivers face these problems they are able to deal with them through different strategies, such as, saving money through Stokvel and savings accounts. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Data collected between 1992/93 and 1996/97 from two long-term grazing trials were used to investigate the interaction between grazing animals and veld grass. In the first trial, the impacts of stocking rate and time of stocking in spring on both livestock performance and veld vigour (defined as the ability of a grass plant to regrow after defoliation) and condition were investigated. In the second trial comparisons were made, firstly between the impacts of sheep and cattle grazing, and secondly between various types and frequencies of rest, on veld vigour and condition. Treatments applied in the first trial comprised four stocking rates, namely 7, 10, 13 and 16 sheep ha¯¹ for the duration of the grazing season, and two times of stocking, namely as early as possible after spring burning and three weeks later. Sheep grazed each treatment continuously throughout the growing season. Treatments were applied to alternate blocks in a two-year cycle with each block resting for a year within a grazing cycle. Animal performance (mass gains over the season) was measured to quantify livestock performance. Herbage availability was measured on a species basis at intervals throughout each season using a dry-weight-rank procedure to determine grazing patterns. Residual effects of the grazing treatments on vigour were determined by measuring herbage regrowth on a species basis during the rest season which followed a season of grazing and comparing these measures to a previously ungrazed control treatment. Effects of the grazing treatment on proportional species composition were determined using a nearest plant point technique. Stocking rate had a non-linear effect on livestock performance, with livestock performance on the lightest stocking rate being less than on the two intermediate stocking rates. The mass gains on the heaviest stocking rate were generally the smallest. Delaying the time of stocking in spring resulted in smaller mass gains during the resultant shorter season. The sheep from both the early and late time of stocking groups had similar mean masses at the end of the season. The advantage of stocking early can thus be attributed more to saving the cost of alternative feed for the interim period than to additional mass gains due to stocking early. Quantification of livestock performance in terms of selected and available feed quality, quantity and species availability throughout each season was extremely complex due to multiple thresholds in the measured variables and no simple cause and effect relations could be established that would hold for spatial or temporal extrapolation. The negative impact of grazing on veld vigour was severe. Stocking rate and time of stocking had a secondary impact with the vigour loss positively related to increasing grazing pressure. The main factor influencing vigour loss was grazing, irrespective of time of stocking or stocking rate, as opposed to no grazing. The impact of grazing on vigour was severely negative in the palatable species, variable in the species of intermediate palatability and positive in the unpalatable species that were rarely, if ever, grazed. The stocking rate and time of stocking rate had an impact on the proportional species composition, with the more palatable species declining in proportion. There was an observable relation between impact of grazing on vigour and on species composition. Treatments applied in the second trial involved applying a full growing season rest in alternate years, half a growing season rest (late season) in alternate years and no rest to veld grazed by sheep or cattle at similar stocking rates. Residual effects of the treatments on veld vigour were determined by measuring species regrowth using a dry-weight-rank technique during the season following treatment application, and comparing it to controls ungrazed for one and two seasons respectively. Changes in proportional species composition were determined using a nearest plant point technique. The vigour of veld grazed by sheep declined rapidly relative to veld grazed by cattle. The vigour of palatable species was severely impacted, vigour of intermediate species was variably impacted and vigour of unpalatable species increased dramatically on veld grazed by sheep compared to the control treatments. Similar trends occurred in veld grazed by cattle, but to a lesser degree. Resting was beneficial for vigour recovery in both sheep and cattle treatments but it seems that the grazing treatment between rests has a greater influence on the veld vigour and condition than the rest itself. The veld grazed by sheep remained at a substantially lower productivity level than veld grazed by cattle. This was particularly evident in the change in productivity balance between palatable and unpalatable species in the sheep treatments, where palatable species vigour declined and unpalatable species vigour increased relative to veld grazing by cattle. Species composition of veld grazed by sheep deteriorated over the trial period in contrast to the veld grazed by cattle, which improved in species composition. Grazing management recommendations for sourveld should include a bias towards cattle, optimising stocking rate for improved performance and resting for enhancing vigour of the palatable grasses. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

Considerable understanding of the functioning of semi-arid systems is still needed to enable range managers to formulate management policies, with a degree of confidence. Long term data sets that encompass a wide range of interactions between the various major components of a semi-arid system (vegetation, herbivory, animal performance, landscape and rainfall), are unfortunately rare but essential to provide sufficient depth of data to adequately test various hypotheses about rangeland dynamics. This study comprises an analysis of a ten year data set derived from two cattle stocking rate trials in the semi-arid savanna of KwaZulu/Natal. Statistical analysis revealed that the most pronounced and rapid compositional change was due to rainfall, but that stocking rates between 0.156 and 0.313 AU ha ¯¹ had an important effect as well. Sites on steeper slopes with heavy stocking rates, exhibited the greatest amount of compositional change between 1986 and 1996 (40 Euclidean points in heavy stocking rate treatments on slopes vs 21-24 Euclidean points in heavy stocking rate treatments on flatter land, or 11-24 Euclidean points in low stocking rate treatments). Heavy stocking rates in conjunction with low rainfall tended to cause decreases in densely tufted perennial grasses and increases in annuals and weakly tufted perennials. Multiple regression analysis revealed that seasonal peak grass production (measured as disc height) declined between 1986 and 1996 only at those sites on steeper slopes with heavy stocking rates. The camps that declined in productivity also underwent the greatest degree of compositional change. The decline in grass productivity in certain high stocking rate camps did not translate into a decline in cattle performance. Depending on rainfall, cattle gained on a seasonal basis between 112 and 241 kg at low stocking rates, 82 and 225 kg at medium stocking rates and 84 and 217 kg at high stocking rates Rainfall, compared with stocking rate, accounted for the greatest amount of variance in seasonal peak grass production and cattle performance. Cattle performance had a strong curvilinear response to rainfall, which also proved to be a better predictor of cattle performance than grass biomass. There were no clear trends in soil physical and chemical characteristics between low and high stocking rates that could provide convincing evidence that loss of soil nutrients was an important mechanism of range degradation. The total standing crop of plant nitrogen but not of phosphorus tended to decline at high stocking rates. Plant nutrient and van Soest analyses suggested that forage quality was higher at heavy stocking rates. The results of this study generally supported traditional concepts of rangeland dynamics with regard to rainfall and grazing effects on compositional change and seasonal grass production. The results were important in being able to show quantitatively that heavy stocking rates result in a decline in grass production and that this effect is dependent on an interaction between stocking rate and landscape position or slope, and that there is a link between a decline in seasonal grass production and compositional change. The results also highlighted areas for future research that would be useful for furthering our understanding of various aspects of rangeland dynamics and mechanisms of degradation. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

The South African government has introduced mechanisms and plans to alleviate poverty and to monitor and evaluate the impact of the policies and programmes to the reduction of poverty. In its quest to eradicate and alleviate poverty, the government has prioritized poverty alleviation in its development agenda. In efforts to fight poverty, the government has since 1994, implemented various programmes that are aimed at alleviating poverty through stimulating employment, developing skills and improving service delivery. The poverty alleviation programme is one of the strategies that was implemented by the government, as a means to eradicate poverty. At the community level, depending on the nature of the programme, efforts have been made to incorporate mechanisms which enable poor people to play an active role in deciding how the benefits from programmes are distributed. The study was based on the projects identified by the community of Amajuba district in Dannhauser area in KwaZulu Natal. The Dannhauser Municipality in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and Environmental affairs have played a vital role in this regard by supporting the establishment of the Thuthukani project in 2004. In an attempt to assess the impact of the poverty alleviation projects, this study investigated the role played by the Thuthukani project in local economic development of the Dannhauser community in the Dannhauser Municipality. Participants included the Thuthukani project members, and the extension officer from the Department of Agriculture and Environmental affairs. The study found that, indeed poverty alleviation projects play a role in local economic development since they contribute towards job creation and improvement of the socio-economic status of the local community.

This dissertation is an extended essay dealing with historical productions on the late independent era (the late “pre-colonial” epoch) of the wider KwaZulu-Natal region. The project pays particular attention to the development of the historiography and examines how it has shaped and in turn been shaped by the source material over time. Attention is also drawn to issues with terminology and disciplinary convention, including the distinction which is traditionally made between ‘primary' and ‘secondary' sources. The dissertation's scope extends beyond the discipline of history to interrogate how influences from the fields of anthropology, art history, archaeology, and literary criticism have shaped the production of history. It also examines the productions of African intellectuals whose works were excluded from the discipline of history during the late colonial and apartheid eras. Among other things, this essay draws attention to historiographical breaks in the literature and considerers where paradigm shifts and epistemic ruptures can be discerned.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Counselling Psychology) in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. / The overarching aim of this study was to explore the use of mental health services in UMhlathuze district. A further aim was to explore the experiences and opinions of mental health users. Sixty mental health users participated in the study. The mental health needs of the predominantly poor, black population and people in rural areas are consequently left unmet. For mental health services to be improved and stay effective, constant evaluation is necessary. This will allow the use of mental health services as well as delivery to build upon its strengths as well as respond to short comings and new emerging needs indicated by research participants. This study investigated the use of mental health service in certain parts of UMhlathuze district. It records valuable aspects of the mental health services usage and identifies experiences and opinions for improvement. Findings in this study were guided by mental health service users from different service providers. The procedure for data collection involved direct conversations in which participants reflected on their experiences when mental health services are offered to them. A convenient sample was used in that the criterion of inclusion of participants in the sample was based on people consulting at health care facilities for mental health services, for example mental health users from psychology clinic, district hospital and NGOs. The opinions given were speaking back to the experiences thus participants came up with suggestions on how mental health services can be improved. Participants' experiences of the mental health service delivery were generally positive and negative on the other hand. The experiences of mental health users mainly appreciated for the essential services provided to the community and the fact that it also easy to access services because of providing psychological services at affordable rates. / National Research Foundation

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of Recreation and Tourism in the Department of Recreation and Tourism at the the University of Zululand, 2000. / Community participation in tourism developments in KwaNgcolosi (KwaZulu-Natal) forms an integral part of the government objectives in the tourism industry which are inter alia to, build a world class tourism industry and to integrate historically disadvantaged people into the mainstream of the industry. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which KwaNgcolosi communities are involved in tourism development in their area. It also aims to undertake a feasibility study of the establishment of the Zulu Cultural Village at KwaNgcolosi by the community members where they could be really involved and benefit. The following objectives were set for this study: ^> To reveal the level of involvement by the local community in the development of tourism infrastructure. => To establish the social, economic and environmental benefits and problems the community experiences from the existence of the KwaNgcolosi reserve. => To identify problems that hinder the community's participation in tourism development in their area. => To undertake a feasibility study on the development of a Zulu Cultural Village where the KwaNgcolosi community will be involved. The results from the survey indicate that there are a number of local people who really want to get involved in the tourism business as traditional dancers; sell traditional craft work; become cleaners and so forth. At the present moment KwaNgcolosi community's involvement in tourism development in their area is mostly at the level of temporary jobs which are occasionally offered to unskilled labour. Jobs offered to semi-skilled and skilled labour are limited. Problems seem to be more prominent than benefits. Some of the problems identified are: the lack of jobs from KwaNgcolosi reserve; no improvement in the general infrastructure; local artistic talent not used and pollution from cars. The lack of tourism awareness has been identified as one major contributing factor that hinders community participation in tourism development, as well as the breakdown of communication between Msinsi Holdings which is a company that is responsible for the administration of KwaNgcolosi reserve and the KwaNgcolosi chief. The feasibility study of the proposed Zulu Cultural Village was successful. It is anticipated that the findings of this study will encourage the establishment of the proposed Zulu Cultural Village. Some of the recommendations that emerged from the study include the following: => Mechanisms should be made by Msinsi Holdings and the KwaNgcolosi chief to provide kiosks or shelter for community members who want to sell their traditional handcraft in or near the KwaNgcolosi reserve. => The KwaNgcolosi chief must work hand in hand with Msinsi Holdings to improve the general infrastructure in KwaNgcolosi area. => Tourism awareness campaigns are needed in KwaNgcolosi community. => Community members interested in establishing a Zulu Cultural Village project, must be encouraged and supported by all stakeholders. The researcher concludes by indicating that there is a potential for community participation in tourism development at KwaNgcolosi, because the type of tourism product to be developed is related to their culture and they have most of the cultural skills, they only need to be empowered with business running skills and financial support to start the proposed Zulu Cultural Village business. It is only when the community benefits financially, socially and otherwise, that their participation in tourism development will become meaningful to them. / University of Zululand

Poverty alleviation through employment creation is the focus of the South African government and other developing economies. The SMME sector has been identified as the leading vehicle for the creation of employment opportunities. South Africa in particular went through a phase when economic growth did not translate into employment creation. Consequently the benefits of economic growth did not filter through to the unemployed. In South Africa there is a strong link between unemployment and poverty. Essentially the country experienced jobless growth and it is the poor who missed out on the possible benefits of economic growth. The challenge then for South Africa is to come up with a revolutionary approach to ensure that the country's poor are not excluded from the of benefits economic growth. Almost half of the South African population lives in poverty. Poverty and the consequences thereof are most pronounced among the African population. This is due to the South African history of apartheid which systematically excluded them from accessing economic opportunities. Bringing development to communities is the thinking behind local economic development (LED). The urgency for the country to address poverty lies in the fact that poverty is not a static phenomenon and if left unaddressed it may to lead more people being poor when the numbers are already overwhelming. Government has come up with various strategies for poverty alleviation, employment creation being the chief strategy. The SMME sector is the most prominent employer in South Africa, said to be responsible for over 61 % of all employment. Even given these figures of there are still high levels of unemployment in the country. Growing industries like the tourism sector present a lot of hope for the ambitions of employment creation and poverty alleviation in developing countries including South Africa. The focus of this study will be the South African tourism sector. / Thesis (M.Dev. Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Background to the study: The Internet is rapidly becoming an important learning tool in academic institutions and workplaces. In academic institutions it plays a pivotal role in meeting information and communication needs of students, academics and researchers. Despite internet becoming an important information gathering and dissemination tool, literature reflects under-utilization both in academic and in practice settings for a number of reasons. This study therefore described the utilization of internet as an academic tool among undergraduate nursing students in a selected University in KwaZulu Natal in order to establish ways of enhancing its utilization. Methodology: A quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive design was used in this study. The population of the study was 222, and the the sample size was 141 of undergraduate nursing students which was calculated using Raosoft sample size calculator. The sample was stratified according to the percentages of the population in the Nursing program and the year of the study of the respondents. However, only 115 agreed to participate in this study and the response rate was rate therefore 81.1%. Data was collected using a survey after obtaining ethical clearance from the university and were analyzed descriptively. Findings: The findings revealed that participants perceived themselves to be at different levels of utilizing the Internet; intermediate level (32.2%) advanced level (19.1%) competent level (29.6%), beginner level (17.4%) and expert level (1.7%). The results reflected traditional university students as better equipped to use the Internet than non-traditional university students. The Internet was used for different purposes including; academic (96.5%); communication (82.6%), pleasure (71.3%), work related activity (53.9%) and shopping (13.9%). Facebook (77.4%) was the most commonly used social network followed by the twitter (24.3%). Challenges cited covered restricted access to certain sites (62.6%), very slow internet connection (55.7%), limited training in the use of the Internet (38.3%), limited number of computers (37.4%). The majority of the participants (89%) singled out training on internet use as priority with specific focus on basic IT skills (72.2%), accessing academic related material (70.4%), using Moodle (51.3%), Turnitin (35.7%) and endnote (33.9%). Conclusion: Contrary to other studies, this study reflected that students do use the Internet for a number of reasons. They however recommend structured support on how to use internet for academic purposes. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Password protected which will not allow abstract to be copied. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.