This study was conducted in the Nkangala district, in the province of Mpumalanga in South Africa. This province remains the largest forestry production region in South Africa. The majority of people living in Mpumalanga are farmers and they have contributed immensely to promote food security. The objective of the study was to determine the level of climate change awareness among small scale maize producers in Mpumalanga province. Random sampling techniques was used to select two hundred and fifty one (251) farmers to be interviewed. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to maize farmers, focusing on matters relating to climate change awareness in maize production. Data was captured and analysed using software package for social science (SPSS version 20 of 2012). Descriptive statistics were applied to analyse and describe the data. Logistic regression analysis followed to demonstrate the significance of the independent variables on climate change awareness. The results of the analysis indicated that the information received and the size of the farm had an impact on climate change awareness in the area of study. It was therefore recommended that the majority of farmers in Mpumalanga needed to be made aware of climate change in order to assist them to build the adaptive capacity, increase resilience and reduce vulnerability. Information on climate change awareness should be disseminated well to ensure that it will attract the attention of the farmers / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M. Sc. (Agriculture)

From pre-colonial leadership through to the Apartheid regime, local traditional authorities played an essential role in natural resource management throughout rural South Africa. The advent of democracy in 1994, however, generated much confusion over the modern function of traditional leaders in many rural communities, specifically regarding natural resource regulation. By understanding local perceptions of governance regimes, resource use initiatives can use and enhance institutions already in place to combat further over-harvesting. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the perceived functions of traditional and democratically elected community leaders in the governance of firewood harvesting and compare perceptions between interviewed leaders and their community members. The study was conducted in six villages spanning two chieftaincies and four municipal wards in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province. In-depth interviews were conducted with the following local leaders: the chiefs from the two chieftaincies, the nduna (headman) from each village, the ward councillor from each ward and three members of the Community Development Forum from each village. Five community focus group sessions were also run in each village to determine local community perspectives on wood availability and governance regimes. It was found that the majority of respondents, from both individual interviews and focus groups, believed that firewood availability had decreased in recent years. In addition, 21 of the 30 focus groups (across both chieftaincies) suggested that there was insufficient firewood to meet the needs of their village now. While all interviewed parties across both chieftaincies regarded the chief as the ultimate authority in firewood management, his actual system of regulation as well as the perceived roles and responsibilities of subsidiary leaders appears highly differentiated between the chieftaincies. Results also indicate that although there is some ambiguity around community-level firewood regulation, these instances of uncertainty are village-specific and could indicate diminished village-level enforcement of regulation. Overall, however, other lines of evidence evince a general weakening of traditional local control across all the villages. Some authors maintain that this deterioration of village firewood management stems from community confusion and/or contestation over the roles of local leaders. However, I argue that reduced government budgets as well as leader’s empathy for poor firewood-dependent households have also contributed to the increasingly relaxed implementation of strict firewood systems. With this in mind, future policy decisions need to consider ways in which to reduce rural over-harvesting, either by increasing the affordability of alternate energies or by implementing strategies that allow for continued firewood harvesting but in more sustainable ways. Recommendations that detail such approaches are presented for the study region.

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent) / A number of dental age estimation methods have been developed over the years ranging from the frequently used age estimation of Demirjian et al (1973) and Moorrees et al (1965) to the less frequently used age estimation methods of Haavikko (1970) and Nolla (1960). Different dental age estimation methods have been used with variable success. These were developed using mainly children of Central and Northern European descent and white North Americans. The results of the above-mentioned dental age estimation methods, when used on South African children, show that the need for adaptation of these methods exists. Phillips has thus developed a dental age estimation table for Nguni children of South Africa, to assist in correcting this discrepancy. OBJECTIVE: To establish if the Phillips dental age estimation developed for Nguni children of South Africa is applicable to children in the region of Mpumalanga. METHOD: Cross sectional study using a stratified random sampling method involving 100 panoramic radiographs of black children up to the age of 14 years, in the region of Mpumalanga. CONCLUSION: This study will determine if Phillips dental age estimation tables developed for South African Nguni children is applicable and accurate in estimating the age of black Mpumalanga children.

This study investigates the potential drivers of growth and employment in Mpumalanga’s economy using input-output (I-O) analysis as a contribution to industrial policy research and development for the province. Since 1995 to 2011, the Mpumalanga economy has been dominated by the tertiary sector (Quantec, 2011). Mohamed (2010) argues that in South Africa, while there had been growth in services, this growth has generally not been in productive services but instead has been driven by acceleration in debt-driven consumption, outsourcing and growth in private security services. The unemployment rate in the province was at 30.9 percent and labour absorption 52.0 percent in 2011, which made Mpumulanga the 6th largest contributor to the unemployment rate in the country that year (Quantec, 2011). The fifth iteration of the Industrial Policy Action Plan, 2013/14 – 2015/16 aims to promote a labour absorbing industrialisation path, with the emphasis on the systematic building of economic linkages that create employment. While being aware of potential weaknesses associated with this method, I-O analysis is one of the tools used frequently in the literature for identifying sectors to be supported in the industrial policy. The results of this study shows that the manufacturing sector in the province has a stronger stimulatory power to directly stimulate output in most sectors and drive industrial development, provided that local imports and available skills can be used appropriately to fill the existing gaps. This study forms the basis for the Mpumalanga Province’s policymakers to further conduct sector analysis through other refined supplementary methods such as value chain analysis with the purpose to confirm linkages of the sectors and determine key sectors that have the potential to drive industrialisation in the province.

M. Tech. Architecture. / This thesis presents the design of a secondary school in the township of Emzinoni, Mpumalanga. The thesis challenges the current school building morphology in terms of spatial layout and tectonics, with the intent of providing multi-use facilities accessible to both the school pupils and the surrounding community. The selected site in Emzinoni, like many township areas in South Africa, is almost devoid of any civic or public buildings or services, just the endless sprawl of small residential units and shacks with the random school rising two storeys above the surrounding context. With the large capital expenditure of building a new school, this project endeavours to show a school that is more than a facility for learning or imparting knowledge; a school that can be the centre of the community and a neighbourhood activity hub, providing services and activities to the total community, to benefit all.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Education.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / Determines how discipline is managed in public schools in Siyabuswa district. Sound legislation has been put in place by the state to address the issue of the management of discipline in schools. Despite the existence of all these structures, learners continue to behave contrary to the code of conduct.

Wetland degradation, which includes deterioration in functional performance and erosion, is a problem around the world. This has engendered a quest for causes and attempts to prevent the problem or to rehabilitate wetlands already degraded or undergoing degradation. The Craigieburn wetland system in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa has undergone erosion due to two downstream discontinuous gullies that have drained and considerably reduced the size of the wetland system. Measurements from 1954 to 1997 aerial photographs showed that over 40 years, the upper gully migrated headward over a distance of 30 m, while the lower gully eroded 522 m headward raising the question as to what caused their erosion? Prior to this study, the predominant view was that human activities, namely poor land use management within the wetland system, increased human occupation, and overgrazing on the adjacent catchment that caused a reduction in vegetation cover, were responsible for this wetland erosion. Detailed field observation, aerial photograph interpretation, soil analyses for mineralogy, chemistry and particle size distribution, landscape mapping, dumpy level survey of the wetland valley and statistical analysis were undertaken to establish the relationships between gullying and possible contributing factors. Human impacts on wetland gully development between 1954 and 1997 were estimated using the number of individual homes, and total lengths of footpaths, animal tracks and dirt roads. Agricultural activities and the stocking rate of livestock were excluded due to the poor quality of aerial photographs and lack of historical records. Results of multiple regression correlating lengths of the two gullies (upper and lower gullies) and the sum of these human factors gave a high correlation (adjusted R² = 0.92 and 0.90, respectively) but a low significance (p = 0.18 and 0.21, respectively). However, time has played a significant role in the erosion of both the upper gully (R² = 0.82, p = 0.02) and the lower gully (R² = 0.98, p = 0.02) at Craigieburn. X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry of weathered parent materials showed that the area has undergone deep weathering, supplying sediments to the wetland valley through surface run-off. The accumulation of these sediments resulted in localized over-steepening of certain sections of the valley floor with raised gradients of 0.0336 and 0.0337 at the two headcuts relative to the upper and lower non-eroding sections with lower gradients. These localized steep sections increased flow velocity and stream power and therefore stream erosivity thus triggering gully erosion. In addition to localized areas of raised valley floor, results from multiple regression showed a significant relationship (p = 0.002) between areas of earthflow scars and gully length, especially at the lower gully, thus further suggesting that physical factors are largely responsible for gully erosion at Craigieburn. Long-term climate change has resulted in the formation of two terraces, an older, D1 (USU-760, 1.67 ± 0.89 ka) and a younger, D2 (USU 761, 0.32 ± 0.08 ka). The former probably eroded during the medieval warming around 1230 AD while the younger terrace, which likely formed during the last half of the Little Ice Age, has been eroding since the renewed warming thereafter. This erosion has been exacerbated by short-term periodic or seasonal climatic changes, especially episodic summer rainfall events, which have likely played a key role in the headward migration of the two gullies. The result has been shrinkage of the wetland system by about 15 m on both sides of the valley, leaving behind a greyish soil colour indicating wet and reducing conditions in the past. These, together with dried relict mottles left behind in the soil matrix at the margin of the shrunken wetland system suggest past seasonal fluctuation of the water table engendering the belief that the wetland system once extended beyond its present limit. The overwhelming contribution of these physical factors, in addition to the fact that the two gullies predate human occupation of the study area catchment and environs, strongly argues for their responsibility in gully initiation and development at Craigieburn. Human presence and activities, which only became evident in the catchment from the 1950s onwards, may be secondary contributory factors. This conclusion encourages a rethink of previous views that human occupation and activities are solely responsible for this wetland gully erosion at Craigieburn and provides a rationale for including physical processes and climate change as factors when investigating causes of wetland erosion elsewhere. Such an understanding should be used to inform any rehabilitation or conservation efforts that are related to wetland ecosystems. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

Fire plays an important role in structuring and maintaining savanna grassland ecosystems. Although regular fires are a characteristic feature of savannas, the effects of fire frequency on these systems are less well known, particularly with respect to how frequency of fire influences large herbivore distribution and behaviour. The expectation is that large herbivores should be attracted to frequently burned sites as a consequence of changes in forage quality and quantity, and/or vegetation structure and composition. The former could be driven by alterations in soil nutrients, such as N and P. Alterations in vegetation also could be important in determining risk of predation. For example, an increase in woody vegetation could decrease predator visibility making large herbivores more vulnerable to predation. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of long-term alterations in fire frequency on herbivore distribution and behaviour, as well as the mechanisms (soil nutrients, vegetation structure and composition, and forage quality and quantity) potentially driving the distribution of large herbivores. To address these objectives, I conducted large herbivore surveys on a bi-weekly basis from 2009-2010 in a series of plots in the Experimental Burn Plots (EBPs) burnt at different frequencies (annual, triennial and unburnt) over the last five decades at three study sites in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Surveys also were conducted on new plots that were established adjacent to the long-term plots. These new plots have a fire return interval of 4 years which is similar to the triennially burned plots of the EBPs. They were established in the landscape adjacent to the EBPs to assess whether the responses of herbivores to fire observed in the EBPs reflected was at landscape level. The distribution of all large herbivore species combined and of grazers (e.g. zebra) or browsers (e.g. kudu) only were not affected by fire frequency. In contrast, the abundance of mixed-feeders, such as impala, was significantly higher in the unburnt (control) and annually burned plots than the triennially burned plots. Although season did not have a significant impact on the distribution of browsers and mixed-feeders, overall more grazers were recorded across all burn treatments in the dry season compared to the wet season. Similar patterns of herbivore distribution were observed between the new plots and the triennially burned EBP plots, suggesting that responses observed to the long-term fire frequency treatments reflects herbivore responses at the landscape level. The long-term fire frequency treatments significantly affected soil nutrients (N, organic C, P, and K were significantly lower with annual burning), vegetation structure (abundance of woody plants were greater in unburned plots), and forage quantity (unburned plots had higher biomass) but not quality. More frequent fires improved visibility by reducing tree height and density and herbaceous biomass, thereby potentially reducing predation risk, when compared to less frequent burning. As a result, herbivores selected sites with more frequent fires. The behaviour of the herbivore species investigated was predominantly influenced by seasonal-induced changes to their environment rather than fire frequency. In the wet season irrespective of the burning treatment visibility was low due to high rainfall that increases plant biomass, whereas in the dry season visibility was improved because there is little to no rainfall. This potential alteration in predation risk likely resulted in herbivores being more vigilant in the wet season than the dry season. Overall, results from this study suggest that the combination of fire frequency and season drive herbivore distribution and behaviour by altering mainly the vegetation structure which can influence predation risk. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

Introduction Increased use of caesarean section (CS) as a mode of delivery is of concern for maternal and child health in many countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set guideline of population caesarean section rate between 5% - 15% for CS deliveries. Accordingly the South African National Department of Health (NDOH) has set a national target for district hospitals, that no more than 10% of all deliveries should be by CS. Standerton District Hospital experienced a sudden increase in the caesarean section rate (CSR), from 17.5% in 2004 to 30.8% in 2007. The reasons for this increase are not known. Purpose of the study This study aims to investigate factors which contributed to the sudden increase of CSR from 17.5% in 2004 to 30.8% in 2007 at Standerton District Hospital, Gert Sibande District Mpumalanga. Method A retrospective record review of 790 women who delivered at Standerton District Hospital by caesarean section from January 2004 to December 2007 was done. Fifty percent of the total number of records for each year was retrieved and to achieve this every second record was selected from the maternity and theatre registers for patients who have undergone CS. Systematic sampling selection of records of all women who have undergone CS was conducted during the identified period. Data on patient demographics, the reasons for the CS, the maternal and neonatal outcomes achieved, antenatal care profile, the employment status and the responsible medical practitioner were extracted from existing records maintained by the hospital. Analysis ascertained factors associated with increased CSR. Results The Caesarean section rate at Standerton District Hospital has increased annually since 2004. The factors contributed to the increase include medical indications, clients who are primigravida and the less experienced community service doctors who performed the CS. There was no evidence that education, high income clients, or maternal request contributed to the increase of Caesarean Section rate (CSR). The outcome of mother and baby were positive except for 1% of babies who were not alive. Robson’s group classification (classification system which defines 10 groups of women according to obstetric record, category of pregnancy, the presence of previous uterine scar, the course of labour, delivery and gestational age), revealed that groups two and four played a major role. Conclusion CSR has increased over the years and strategies needs to be developed to reduce this by having experienced doctors supervising community service doctors, training of professionals working in maternity and monitoring of labour by midwives. Recommendation Standerton District Hospital management should intensify recruitment and retention of experienced medical officers, train additional midwives on advanced courses, intensify ante natal care, establish a high risk clinic at the hospital, review hospital policies on maternal care and monitoring of compliance to mother and baby’s national and provincial policies. / Theses (M.Med.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This study examines service delivery such as housing, water, electricity, roads and garbage removal in local government with specific reference to Schulzendal township. The main objective of the study is to investigate the services mentioned above in Schulzendal township, (1) to assess the satisfaction of Schulzendal community in services delivered by Nkomazi municipality / (2) to examine and identify factors impacting on the Nkomazi municipality's ability to deliver services effectively and efficiently / (3) and to assess the ability of the Schulzendal community to pay for services delivered.