M. Tech. Ecotourism Management. / Farms in South Africa have to compete in a very hostile agricultural economic environment and it has become imperative for farmers to find new ways of generating additional income. Research undertaken in the Mopani District Municipality in the Limpopo Province of South Africa identified agritourism as a potential means to this end. The main aim of this primarily qualitative study was to gain a better understanding of the perceptions and opportunities for agritourism in the study area. Five current agritourism establishments were identified in the area namely the Coach House, Kuhestan Farm, Thomac Oil Distillery, Wegraakbosch Organic Dairy Farm and ZZ2 Boerdery. By developing farm trails, scheduling daily farm activities, using information brochures, forming networks with existing tourist establishments, encouraging the use of local and fresh produce and providing good roadside signage, farmers can gain increased exposure and recognition for what they do and opportunities for growth and development may be realised.

M. Tech. Education / Learners in the Limpopo province are reported to be performing very poorly in their examination results. This is clearly seen in Grade 12 results which are published for the entire country, South Africa. This problem is caused by, among other things, the lack of effective communication between educators and learners. This study investigated the problem of communication between learners and educators by using a quantitative approach, through implementing sampling, data collection and data analysis. A total of 47 educators from four secondary schools falling under Soutpansberg East Circuit of the Vhembe District answered a questionnaire. The collected information was grouped into categories and revealed that aspects of effective communication, for example, feedback, asking questions and proximity should be considered in the teaching-learning activity to improve learner performance. The results of the study were translated in a number of recommendations for improved communication practice and further research.

M. Tech. Local Government / The challenge of continued non-payment for municipal services has its origin in the liberation struggle against apartheid, where municipal rates were deliberately not paid. This was a form of protestation against the illegitimate apartheid structures of local government imposed on the local communities, especially in the black areas. Unfortunately, this "weapon" that was used to fight apartheid has now become a challenge in post-1994 local government system, with some suggesting that it has evolved into a culture of non-payment for municipal services. But, why would this culture evolve in the post-apartheid era? This question is asked because in 1994 South Africa became a democratic state, where the citizens elected government of their own and mechanisms to institutionalize community participation in the processes of governance were introduced. The issue therefore is no longer of the illegitimate local government structures imposed on the people. So, the question is, why do people still continue to not pay their municipal services? Most municipalities in South Africa are unable to sustain their constitutional mandate of providing services to their communities as their revenue capacity is declining because of non-payment for municipal services. Against this background, the question that this study asks is what are the reasons for the continued non-payment for municipal services in the City of Tshwane? Coupled to this question is yet another important question, which this study also considers: how does the City of Tshwane deal with the challenge of non-payment for municipal services? The attempt to answer this question starts with an examination of the phenomenon of non-payment for municipal services in the City of Tshwane to highlight it as a challenge for the local sphere of government in South Africa. The purpose of the study is to understand the reasons for the continued non-payment for municipal services and how the City of Tshwane deals with this challenge.

The success of an organisation is inherent upon the ability to correctly identify the problems and to avoid being distracted by the symptoms. The pursuit of success demands the necessity of planning, which if only internal, is in itself insufficient. The organisation needs to adapt and pursue a dynamic strategic policy, taking into account the environment in which it operates. Every organisation has a unique organisational culture. Each has its own business philosophy and principles. Its own ways of approaching problems and making decisions, its own embedded patterns of how to turn things around, its own folklore, its own taboos and political do's and don'ts - in other words, its own ingrained beliefs, behaviour and thought patterns, business practices, and personality. This dissertation will entail an evaluation of the organisations revenue division and proposes recommendations for the future. The analysis commences with an evaluation of the current structure, systems and processes, which then sets the foreground for a sharply focused analysis of future strategy to improve revenue. The benefit of this approach is that available resources are matched to a strategy, whilst identifying future resources needed for transformation. The analysis includes recommendations as to how The Msunduzi Municipality can continue to grow and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage through carefully crafted strategies that will lead it into a financial status of long-term sustainability. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

This was a study of the devolution of water and sanitation management functions from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and Rand Water Board to Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. This affects the functions and the infrastructure that goes with it. This exercise is the fulfilment of the provisions of Water Services Act that empowers municipalities to become Water Services Authorities and where capacity exists to also become Water Services Providers. It was found that though constitutionally, water and sanitation functions resort under municipalities, in the area of study, the Tshwane municipality did not directly deliver these functions. This happened due to the fact that Tshwane did not have human capacity to deal with the functions, they provided the funding as a subsidy to Rand Water Board who in turn provided financial support to Odi Retail Water that is currently responsible for water and sanitation management as a subsidiary to Rand Water Board. The following are recommendations derived from the findings: That the political activities be raised in the areas to encourage people to pay for their services and take responsibility for meter reading on their own like it is happening in Denmark. In Denmark each household reads meters for both water and electricity personally and submits the readings to the municipality for billing. As a result the municipality did not employ special meter readers and by so doing they safe on salaries. That greater resource allocation is made to cover the shortfalls that were experienced due to lack of management capacity and other resources that would enable Tshwane municipality to run the functions on their own. That capacity building and support for professionals be streamlined on the current Odi Retail Water staff for future absorption by municipality. 4. That promotion of community-based development be continued to encourage community ownership on water management functions. This could be done through the formation of community water associations. While community-based approaches are now accepted as the norm, the necessary: capacity to support them in most cases does not generally exist at the higher levels (national, district and local) and Tshwane needs to look at this. Communities currently remain uninterested in taking part in wider water management for a number of reasons, including lack of ownership or control over decisions; lack of real power to make allocation and use decisions; high transaction costs of involvement; and poorly developed frameworks by which the views of large communities can be represented at stakeholder fora. Therefore, Tshwane must make sure that community's interest is supported in all respect. If the municipality cannot handle these functions on its own, then privatisation should be considered for efficient and effective water and sanitation management and provision. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2002

These thesis focus on one of the most problematic fields of the governance of local authorities – the control system of local governments‘ and the most important figure in this system – the municipality controller‘s institution. This work aims to analyse the municipality controller‘s instituttion and to present an in depth and systematic analysis of it‘s legal regulation and institutional development, problems and topicalities, concerning the controller‘s practise and functions. Another aspect of this research - is to describe the international and the EU standards, related to the external and internal audit, and to give examples of the experience of other European countries in the field of the municipality control.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Geography)) - Rhodes University, 2009.

The diploma thesis is focused on budgetary economy of selected minucipality, in this case the town Horní Planá. There are described functions of the municipality, its institutions and a property, separation of the property and management with it. The thesis is focused on a budgetary economy of a municipality, a budget, a budget composition, where are defined budgetary incomes and expeditures and subsequently a budgetary outlook is analyzed there. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the economy of the town Horní Planá, which is performed on the data in the next five years, based on the analysis recommend possible measures to achieve the optimum relationship between the economy, efficiency and effectiveness, or finding potential funding sources. Partial aims are evaluation of the progression budgets in the period and to determine the effects of ganges of incomes and expenditures in different years, to analyze cash flow over the period and evaluate influences on cash flow and the analysis of the property of selected municipality and its funding.

Lack of access to agricultural extension and advisory services is one of the major challenges facing emerging farmers in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to determine the level of access to extension and advisory services by emerging livestock farmers in uThungulu district municipality of KwaZulu Natal province. A survey design of face-to-face interviews was used to collect data using a structured questionnaire. A sample of 1 437 was randomly selected from 4 792 emerging livestock farmers in the district. A sampling fraction of 30% was used. Stratified sampling was used to determine the number of participants from each local municipality. The survey was conducted with different groups of emerging livestock farmers representing different age groups ranging from 18 years of age and older. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 software. The results showed that more than 90% of emerging livestock farmers in the district had better access to public extension compared with 14% who had access to private extension. On average, 30% of the respondents indicated that they also had access to extension and advisory services from agricultural cooperatives. With regard to extension delivery approaches, advisory was the main (43.5%) extension approach practised in uThungulu district municipality followed by project approach (37.8%), participatory approach (36.4%) and technology transfer at 11.1%. In conclusion, the involvement of private sector and cooperatives in rendering agricultural extension and advisory services in the emerging livestock sector was an indication that various stakeholders collaborate in the improvement of agriculture in the province. The emergence of project approach showed that extension agents or officers have become more target oriented rather than technology transfer driven. The use of participatory extension approach indicated that in the 21st century, farmer’s opinions were also taken into consideration in the delivery of agricultural extension and advisory services in the emerging livestock sector. It was recommended that there should be a wider partnership of extension and advisory services involving various stakeholders such as farmers, municipalities, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, to address and boost the efficiency of services to farmers in South Africa. Therefore, more work is required to increase access to extension and advisory services through cooperative associations by organizing emerging farmers in cooperative associations for the participatory approach to succeed / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M. Sc. (Agriculture)

(a) Background of the study The study was conducted at Umzinyathi District schools. Umzinyathi District comprises of four circuits, i.e. Umvoti, Nqutu, Msinga and Endumeni. The study intended to find out if EE education is available and effective enough through Eco-Schools Programme at Umzinyathi District Schools. Each circuit was represented by three schools. One school was the school that was registered with Eco-Schools Programme and have a green flag status, the second school was the school that was registered with Eco-Schools Programme and working towards getting the green flag status and the third school was the school that was not registered with the Eco-Schools Programme. (b) Methodology Qualitative, explorative research was conducted in order to determine the availability and effectiveness of Eco-Schools Programme at Umzinyathi District Schools. Data collection was done using different types of interviews for different types of participants, i.e. educators, learners, members of the School Governing Bodies, officials of the DoE, DAEA as well as of the local municipalities. Site visits to the Eco-Schools was also used to collect data. When collecting data, a tape recorder was used. The interviews were conducted in both isiZulu and English and translated to English by the researcher. (c) Results and findings The study proved that Eco-Schools Programme is the necessary tool in bringing about the change in teaching about protecting and caring about the environment. The study also discovered that at the Umzinyathi District is not available and effective enough. Another thing the study discovered is that, there is another programme that is run by the DAEA, which is called NEEP (National Environmental Education Programme). The study also finds out that some of the Eco-Schools are also registered with this programme. (d) Recommendations It was recommended that the Eco-Schools Programme be compulsory to all the schools of Umzinyathi District where the study was based. Another recommendation was that the Department of Education appoint some people within the department to work full time with the DAEA in implementing, monitoring, supporting and assessing the progress of the programme in the district. / Environmental Sciences / M. Ed. (Environmental Education)