M. Tech. Architecture (Professional) / This dissertation deals with the exploration of turning a distant memory into a functional reality. The project focuses on architecture's potential to connect. The aim of the design proposal is to re-establish the programmatic exchange and confluence of commuters between South Africa and Mozambique on the so-called Eastern Railway Line. The proposed site (Mbombela Train Station) forms a comprehensive construct of history and decay. Currently, the site hosts an almost forgotten domestic train station, numerous unused office buildings and sheds. Established in 1895 as a railhead, it occasioned the development of Nelspruit (now known as Mbombela). The project investigates the typology of the train station: the spatiality and materiality of the current Eastern railway line prompts the architectural response. As a result, heritage incorporates and complements the vernacular (universal) language of the coalesced commuter. The proposed programme explores the threshold between the commuter and the city. The perceived spatial permanence of the platform mediates arrival and departure. An international railway station to act as a gateway between Mbombela and Maputo is thus proposed.

Text in English / This study sought to evaluate the implementation of an HIV and AIDS workplace policy at Sappi-Ngodwana mill. Employing process evaluation, and adopting a qualitative approach, the study evaluated the intervention process, the perceptions of the policy implementers, the strengths and weaknesses of the policy implementation, and suggests possible strategies for addressing the challenges. A systems approach was the theoretical point of departure and guiding framework of the research study. Research data was gathered through in-depth interviews with key informants and theory-driven and data-driven inductive reasoning was adopted in analysing the data. The general findings were that although the Sappi-Ngodwana mill implements a comprehensive HIV and AIDS programme that are in line with national and international benchmarks, there were challenges identified. Recommendations are that the company redesign the HIV and AIDS policy implementation plan with a specific focus on improving the peer educators` system. / Sociology / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Text in English / This study sought to evaluate the implementation of an HIV and AIDS workplace policy at Sappi-Ngodwana mill. Employing process evaluation, and adopting a qualitative approach, the study evaluated the intervention process, the perceptions of the policy implementers, the strengths and weaknesses of the policy implementation, and suggests possible strategies for addressing the challenges. A systems approach was the theoretical point of departure and guiding framework of the research study. Research data was gathered through in-depth interviews with key informants and theory-driven and data-driven inductive reasoning was adopted in analysing the data. The general findings were that although the Sappi-Ngodwana mill implements a comprehensive HIV and AIDS programme that are in line with national and international benchmarks, there were challenges identified. Recommendations are that the company redesign the HIV and AIDS policy implementation plan with a specific focus on improving the peer educators` system. / Sociology / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Prof Rachmond Howard, newly appointed Director of the Nelspruit/Mmombela Campus, brings to the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) a wealth of knowledge and experience spanning more than 20 years.

The demand for well-located land in order to be developed for the upper-middle to high-income housing, industries, offices, retail, etc in Mbombela Local Municipality, is substantial. Within the past 10 years, Mbombela Local Municipality, has experienced an increase in residential development on welllocated land in and around its urban centres, i.e. Nelspruit, White River and Hazyview. Most of the land in and around these urban centres is privately owned, and as such, development is mainly driven by the market forces. However, there has been persistence in the peripheralisation of the poor through the government’s programme on low-cost housing delivery in Mbombela Local Municipality. The high demand of well-located land has triggered high land prices and this is one of the causes of lack of access to urban land by the poor. Despite good government policies on socio-economic integration, there seems to be no challenges on the current situation, either by government, Mbombela Local Municipality or private organisations. This research argues that the lack of access to urban land by the poor is the cause of the persistent peripheralisation through the programme of low-cost housing delivery in Mbombela Local Municipality. These urban centres (Nelspruit, White River and Hazyview) accommodate only those who have power to purchase, and thus, creates a socio-economic gap because the poor are excluded by the market forces in these areas. Since the government and Mbombela Local Municipality own less land in and around the urban centres, the market forces become the sole supply of well-located land. It is therefore imperative that government, Mbombela Local Municipality and private organisations forge a partnership with the private sector and deduce a sound strategy that will seek to address and challenge the current situation.

SMMEs play a crucial role in the economy of South Africa. They create employment, contribute significantly to the GDP and close the income gap. The growth and sustainability of SMMEs is important and government had put in place a number of policies, programs and strategies to address the plight of SMMEs. Institutions exist by public and private mandate to support the development of the SMME sector. However, internal constraints such as weak quality control hinder such growth and generally lead to low levels of entrepreneurial activity and high rates of business discontinuity. Generally, SMMEs are known for losing customers and resultantly discontinuing after establishment. Research needed to be conducted to establish the quality management practices of medium-sized enterprises. Available knowledge lacked practical orientation on quality management practices and rather focused more on development trends, problems and needs of SMMEs. Published research did not provide much knowledge on how medium-sized enterprises respond to the customers’ expectation of quality thereby pointing to a need for this study. The purpose of the study was therefore devised to determine whether medium-sized enterprises in the city of Mbombela are aware of and committed to quality management in order to satisfy their customers and to identify the quality management practices applied by the enterprises. The research was quantitative and was conducted using a non-experimental survey design. Participants were a group of 95 medium-sized enterprise owners or managers of which 47 returned the research instrument allowing the survey to obtain a response rate of 49.5%. The medium-sized enterprises were selected using probability based stratified random sampling. A standardised survey questionnaire was used to collect field data and a MoonStats program was used to perform statistical analysis and interpretation. The findings revealed that medium-sized enterprises in the city of Mbombela have a high level of quality awareness at the level of the owner or manager, are oriented towards customer and apply quality management practices in their operation. However, the level of quality awareness declines at the level of administrative, artisan or trade and general staff and the enterprises do not participate and compete in business excellence models and quality awards to assess their management practices, measure their growth and seek recognition. The study recommends that medium-sized enterprise owners and managers should raise the level of quality awareness amongst their staff and evaluate their management practices on a regular basis. Government, SMME development and support agencies should coherently promote business excellence models and quality award programs to medium-sized enterprises and provide incentive for participation in such programs as this will ensure that due diligence is paid to the development of the enterprises. / Business Management / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

Thesis (MPAM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The study examined the role of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) towards effective financial management in a case study of City of Mbombela Municipality in the Mpumalanga Province. The MPAC is established in terms of sections 33 and 79 of the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000), to provide an oversight role and functions on behalf of council. Literature attest to the role of MPAC as to scrutinize the spending of the municipal budget at the end of the financial year, which mirrors the work done by the finance committee before the beginning of the financial year. The qualitative research method using semi-structured interviews was conducted with specific role-players as part of the identified population who were the most important participants and have contributed to the research outcome. The respondents were selected in a purposive manner by targeting MPAC members and Senior Managers of the municipality, on account of their positions and experience, have more information than ordinary potential respondents. The study found that members of the MPAC do possess the required skills, knowledge and experience to perform their roles. Therefore, the study also reveals that most members of the MPAC do have financial management and accounting capacity hence they are capable in doing the oversight role in the municipality. Therefore, it is recommended that the municipality should develop and adopt a comprehensive MPAC policy. The adopted comprehensive policy should be used as a strategic tool to inform council on the effective performance of the MPAC or lack thereof. The study concludes by recommended that further researches should be undertaken on the oversight role of the MPAC with comparative approach to other municipalities within the province could give more depth and the municipalities can learn from each other.

Mathematics Education / M. Ed. (Mathematics Education)

Although disaster risk reduction is still not considered a priority by many countries and organisations, there is significant progress made towards the reduction of disaster risk. The experience of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR, 1990–1999) prompted a major conceptual shift from disaster response to disaster reduction underscoring the crucial role of human action (UNISDR, 2001:03). This circumstance led to the adoption of an International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (ISDR) in 1999 by the participants of the IDNDR Programme Forum. The adoption gave emphasis to the importance of a global strategy that encourages and facilitates concerted action to reduce risk and vulnerability to natural and related technological and environmental hazards. This research then focuses on the disaster risk reduction phenomenon and major or international initiatives and forums aimed at improving or raising the disaster risk reduction profile. It also focuses on disaster risk management in the South African context. In recent years, disaster risk reduction has grown in importance on the international agenda. This followed the prevalence of natural hazards such as floods, drought, earthquakes, tsunamis, as well as epidemics, which have had an increasing impact on humans, due to population growth, urbanization, rising poverty and the onset of global environmental changes. Aspects of environmental change include climate change, land degradation and deforestation. Practitioners and researchers widely acknowledge that poor planning, poverty and a range of other underlying factors create conditions of vulnerability that result in insufficient capacity or measures to reduce hazards‘ potentially negative consequences (IISD/UN/ISDR, 2007:01). It is in this light that in 2005 many governments around the world committed themselves to take action to reduce disaster risk, and thereby adopted a guiding document to reduce vulnerabilities to natural hazards, called the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The HFA was adopted in January 2005 at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, in Kobe Hyogo, Japan by 168 States. The aim of the HFA is to assist the efforts of nations and communities to become more resilient to, and cope better, with the hazards that threaten their development gains with the overriding goal of achieving a substantial reduction in global disaster risk. It also emphasizes that disaster risk reduction is a central issue for development policies, in addition to being of interest to various science, humanitarian and environmental fields. To help attain the expected outcome, the HFA identified five specific priorities for action (PFAs) which are: (i) making disaster risk reduction a priority; (ii) improving risk information and early warning; (iii) building a culture of safety and resilience; (iv) reducing the risks in key sectors; and (v) strengthening preparedness for response. The Global Network of Civil Society Organisation for Disaster Risk Reduction (GNDR) which was launched in 2007 in Geneva, is a major international network of civil society organisations working to influence and implement disaster risk reduction policies and practice around the world. The major programme of the global network is to collect perspective for the local level as to how the HFA is progressing. The Views from the Frontline (VFL) is the first independent assessment project undertaken towards the implementation of the HFA at the local level and is led by the Global Network. The aim of this project is to measure the gap between policy formulation at international level with the realities of policy execution at local level and to deepen the communication and coordination between different stakeholders on disaster risk reduction by involving government organisation and communities at the local level. The VFL perspective is that nationally formulated policies are not generating widespread systematic changes in local practices. There is a concern that the current approach is top–down and engages minimally with affected communities and fails to address their needs and capacities (GNDR, 2008:01). The main objective of this research was to provide an overview of progress made in the implementation of the HFA at local level particularly in the Kabokweni Location. The approach adopted in this study is called 'the Views from the Frontline', and explores the extent of the actual progress made toward the implementation and impact of the HFA priorities at local level, namely the Kabokweni community in the Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) situated in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. / Thesis (M. Development and management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Although disaster risk reduction is still not considered a priority by many countries and organisations, there is significant progress made towards the reduction of disaster risk. The experience of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR, 1990–1999) prompted a major conceptual shift from disaster response to disaster reduction underscoring the crucial role of human action (UNISDR, 2001:03). This circumstance led to the adoption of an International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (ISDR) in 1999 by the participants of the IDNDR Programme Forum. The adoption gave emphasis to the importance of a global strategy that encourages and facilitates concerted action to reduce risk and vulnerability to natural and related technological and environmental hazards. This research then focuses on the disaster risk reduction phenomenon and major or international initiatives and forums aimed at improving or raising the disaster risk reduction profile. It also focuses on disaster risk management in the South African context. In recent years, disaster risk reduction has grown in importance on the international agenda. This followed the prevalence of natural hazards such as floods, drought, earthquakes, tsunamis, as well as epidemics, which have had an increasing impact on humans, due to population growth, urbanization, rising poverty and the onset of global environmental changes. Aspects of environmental change include climate change, land degradation and deforestation. Practitioners and researchers widely acknowledge that poor planning, poverty and a range of other underlying factors create conditions of vulnerability that result in insufficient capacity or measures to reduce hazards‘ potentially negative consequences (IISD/UN/ISDR, 2007:01). It is in this light that in 2005 many governments around the world committed themselves to take action to reduce disaster risk, and thereby adopted a guiding document to reduce vulnerabilities to natural hazards, called the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The HFA was adopted in January 2005 at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, in Kobe Hyogo, Japan by 168 States. The aim of the HFA is to assist the efforts of nations and communities to become more resilient to, and cope better, with the hazards that threaten their development gains with the overriding goal of achieving a substantial reduction in global disaster risk. It also emphasizes that disaster risk reduction is a central issue for development policies, in addition to being of interest to various science, humanitarian and environmental fields. To help attain the expected outcome, the HFA identified five specific priorities for action (PFAs) which are: (i) making disaster risk reduction a priority; (ii) improving risk information and early warning; (iii) building a culture of safety and resilience; (iv) reducing the risks in key sectors; and (v) strengthening preparedness for response. The Global Network of Civil Society Organisation for Disaster Risk Reduction (GNDR) which was launched in 2007 in Geneva, is a major international network of civil society organisations working to influence and implement disaster risk reduction policies and practice around the world. The major programme of the global network is to collect perspective for the local level as to how the HFA is progressing. The Views from the Frontline (VFL) is the first independent assessment project undertaken towards the implementation of the HFA at the local level and is led by the Global Network. The aim of this project is to measure the gap between policy formulation at international level with the realities of policy execution at local level and to deepen the communication and coordination between different stakeholders on disaster risk reduction by involving government organisation and communities at the local level. The VFL perspective is that nationally formulated policies are not generating widespread systematic changes in local practices. There is a concern that the current approach is top–down and engages minimally with affected communities and fails to address their needs and capacities (GNDR, 2008:01). The main objective of this research was to provide an overview of progress made in the implementation of the HFA at local level particularly in the Kabokweni Location. The approach adopted in this study is called 'the Views from the Frontline', and explores the extent of the actual progress made toward the implementation and impact of the HFA priorities at local level, namely the Kabokweni community in the Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) situated in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. / Thesis (M. Development and management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.