In this economically challenging era, companies have got to find the best system that can help to enhance productivity. A very important method is by encouraging takeholders through various forms of incentives. The gain-sharing incentive has been adopted by many organisations today to enhance staff loyalty and productivity. A gain-sharing programme ensures that both the organisation and team members benefit from the expected performances, rather than an individual or group incentive which is given based on a specific finite goal which could be achieved at the cost of other key critical business need. A couple of years ago Autocast Aluminium decided to enhance employee performance by initiating the gain-sharing incentive programme. After the programme was rolled out, the organisation is yet to examine the extent to which it enhances job satisfaction in the organisation. The primary objective or aim of the study is to examine the extent to which gain-sharing at Autocast meets the purpose for which it was created. The sample of the study was 176 of the employees at Autocast Aluminium; however 130 questionnaires were distributed. A total of 88 questionnaires were returned, of which 80 were usable, whilst eight were scrapped due to more half of the questionnaire having missing data. This resulted in a 68 % response rate. A framework has been developed to measure to what extent does the programme enable employees to feel satisfied with their jobs. The empirical results revealed that out of six independent variables tested: fair payment, involvement, personal growth, communication, job security and leadership style, only three that plays significant role on employee job satisfaction. These are fair payment, communication and leadership style.

Globally, the nursing profession is faced with a decline in school-leavers’ interest in nursing as a career. The decline in school leavers entering the nursing profession poses a threat to the future of nursing because, globally, the average age of nurses in many countries exceeds 40 years (International Council of Nurses, 2008). The role of marketing in attracting school leavers to careers of choice is well documented; however, there is a lack of documented marketing attempts by Nursing Education Institutions to market nursing as a career at secondary schools in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The purpose of the study was to determine the views that grade nine learners have regarding the marketing of nursing as a career to attract school-leavers to the profession. The researcher also explored and described how grade nine learners are being informed or wish to be informed of nursing as a career. Based on the findings of the study, broad guidelines were developed for nurse educators at Nursing Education Institutions so as to facilitate the marketing of nursing as a career for school leavers. To achieve the purpose of this study, a quantitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual study design was used. The study was conducted at selected senior secondary schools in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The research population in this study comprised of all grade nine learners at secondary schools in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. A simple random sampling method was used to select participants. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The data collected were analysed with the help of the statistician, using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study findings revealed that grade nine learners in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality had a positive response to choosing nursing as a career and that schools situated in the lower socio-economic areas had the highest percentage of grade nine learners indicating an interest in nursing as a career. The study concludes with recommendations for nursing practice, education and research. Ethical principles have been maintained throughout the study.

Ephemeral wetlands provide numerous ecosystem services, but are disappearing due to urbanisation and habitat fragmentation. Knowledge is required to conserve these systems, but ephemeral wetland research in South Africa is lacking. As primary producers, microalgae provide a key link between the biotic and abiotic components of aquatic ecosystems. Despite their importance, there is a paucity in information concerning microalgal dynamics in ephemeral wetlands. The aim of this study was to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of microalgae in ephemeral wetlands of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole. The research followed a funnel-based approach that assessed 35 wetlands at a regional level, followed by a temporal assessment of six wetlands, monitored biweekly, monthly or quarterly. Thereafter, a case study at local scale was carried out to address wetland connectivity and Hydrogeomorphic unit trends. The research culminated in a benthic flux chamber experiment, addressing the influence of microalgal-mediated processes on wetland development for a month post inundation. Phytoplankton biomass showed strong regional associations with rainfall zone, with Chl a concentrations of 17; 4.6; and 25 µg.L-1 in the high, intermediate and low rainfall zones, respectively. The MPB communities in Seeps, Depressions and Wetland flats, comprised between 45 and 60 % diatoms, whilst other microalgal groups were dominant in the water columns (> 90 %). Phytoplankton and MPB interactions facilitated significant night-time NH4+ and SRP effluxes, (1.5 and 0.4 mg.m-2.h-1, respectively) four days post inundation. High Silica uptake in the latter stages, was attributed to an increase in diatom abundance. Within the chambers, MPB growth was continuous whilst phytoplankton exhibited cyclical growth as the system approached dynamic equilibrium. This study demonstrated the importance of nutrient cycling in structuring aquatic food webs, and indicated the sensitivity of ephemeral wetlands to environmental perturbations.

Public health impacts of storm water canals in Nelson Mandela Bay communities

Wetlands in South Africa are increasingly coming under threat from agriculture and urban development and rapidly disappearing, especially small, ephemeral wetlands. In response to the many threats to wetlands, South Africa has seen an increased interest in wetland research, which has introduced many methods to help standardize the approach to research, management and conservation of wetlands. Remote sensing can be a powerful tool to monitor changes in wetland vegetation and degradation leading to losses in wetlands. However, research into wetland ecosystems has focused on large systems (> 8 ha). Small wetlands (< 2 ha), by contrast, are often overlooked and unprotected due to the lack of detailed inventories at a scale that is appropriate for their inclusion. The main aim of this study was to determine if remote sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques could detect changes in small, ephemeral wetlands within areas under different management regimes in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole (NMBM) at different time intervals. Further, to explore the potential of hyperspectral remote sensing for the discrimination between plant species and to see if differences could be detected in the same species within two areas different management regimes. Four SPOT satellite images taken within a 6-year period (2006-2012) were analysed to detect land cover land changes. Supervised classification to classify land cover classes and post-classification change detection was used. Proportions of dense vegetation were higher in the conservation area and bare surface was higher outside that conservation area in the metropolitan open space area. Statistical tests were performed to compare the spectral responses of the four individual wetland sites using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and red edge position (REP) .REP results for conserved sites showed significant differences (P < 0.05), as opposed to non-conserved ones. By implication, wetland vegetation that is in less degraded condition can be spectrally discriminated, than the one that is most degraded. Field spectroscopy and multi-temporal imagery can be useful in studying small wetlands.

The South African local government is expected to conform to all national policy directives including the principle of gender equality. Local government provides an immense opportunity for redressing imbalances and empowerment of women as they are the most negatively affected by poverty as a result of inequality. The South African Government has developed a wide range of legislation that ensures that women are empowered and participate in their own development. With all the legislation in place, women‟s empowerment as envisaged in the South African Constitution has, however, not yet been yielded the desired results as evidenced by the fact that women continue to remain disadvantaged in relation to men. This study therefore seeks to investigate whether and how the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM) has mainstreamed gender in support to the principles of gender equality and women‟s empowerment in the implementation of Integrated Development Planning (IDP) with particular reference to wards 15 and 17. The researcher used a mixed methods research approach, this means that the study followed both the qualitative and quantitative approaches for in-depth understanding followed in the design and implementation of the IDP process. Data was collected from women participants by conducting surveys, making use of questionnaires. Structured interviews were conducted with municipality officials in order to give more insight more insight into how the IDP process is initiated in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Municipality. The findings of the study revealed that there is a lack of a strategic understanding of gender mainstreaming particularly by the leadership of the municipality. This as a result, has made operationalisation and engendering the IDP difficult. Due to this strategic vacuum, gender is generally not taken seriously when compared to other developmental challenges such as infrastructure provision. Moreover, the municipality does not have a coordination mechanism nor does it have a proper consultation mechanism to ensure that the nature of development projects is appropriate, effective and actually targets women‟s developmental needs. The leadership of the municipality must commit to the process of gender mainstreaming if the IDP is to be an effective tool in addressing the gender imbalances.

Hard substrates in the marine environment are an important ecosystem of great scientific and economic value. Hard substrates provide suitable habitat for a diverse assemblage of benthic organisms. This thesis investigated the ecology of benthic hard substrate communities along a section of wave-exposed coastline, including the Sardinia Bay Marine Protected Area (MPA), in the warm-temperate Agulhas bioregion of South Africa. The effect of physical variables on benthic communities, including both the intertidal and shallow subtidal, was quantitatively assessed across (Chapter 3) and along (Chapter 4) the shore to provide a model of zonation for this bioregion and a baseline of community patters and biodiversity, as this information was lacking especially for the Sardinia Bay MPA. The zones described in Chapter 3 were in agreement with previous trends described for this bioregion with the addition of different biotopes in the upper Balanoid and deeper subtidal zones as well as the addition of an intermediate/transition zone in the subtidal between the algal dominated shallow subtidal and deeper subtidal, which has an increased abundance of sessile invertebrates. Disturbance is an important process in structuring benthic communities, and its role in structuring shallow benthic communities was investigated using a disturbance simulation experiment across a wave-exposure gradient (Chapter 5). Communities were found to change along the exposure gradient and monitoring the undisturbed communities showed that large waves caused disturbances across all the exposures. The recovery process was similar across all exposures mainly through lateral vegetative growth and regrowth from basal parts with communities in disturbed quadrats recovering to resemble the surrounding undisturbed community. Recruitment did not have a significant effect in the recovery process and community composition was therefore a result of the effects of the physical environment along the exposure gradient. Lastly this thesis investigated the indirect effects of protection in the small Sardinia Bay MPA (Chapter 6). Despite the small size of the MPA this study found differences in diversity and abundance between communities inside and outside the MPA. These differences in benthic biota infer indirect effects of protection that are probably due to the increase in abundance of exploited fish inside the MPA. Lower abundances of red algae, macroinvertebrates and diversity inside the MPA in the shallow depth category was attributed to the higher abundance of the generalist fish species that concentrate in the shallows. Significantly lower abundances of Chordata in the shallow and medium depth categories inside the MPA was attributed to predation by the benthic carnivorous species as ascidians are included in the diet of these species. This chapter also compared the effectiveness of destructive (scraped quadrats) and non-destructive (visually assessed quadrats) sampling methods. Scraped quadrats were found to be more effective in detecting changes across the MPA compared to visually assessed quadrats. Destructive methods sample the entire assemblage, to a higher taxonomic level, and measure abundance using biomass. It was concluded that biomass is a better metric when comparing communities across protection or other treatments as it provides better biological information of the community.

South African public organisations are faced with many unique challenges in striving to manage an increasingly diverse workforce. This study aimed to investigate the managing of diversity at the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. To achieve this aim, the views of the Total Quality Management approach were examined in order to create an effective and efficient diversity environment within the municipality. In order to understand what effective diversity management means in South African public organisations, a qualitative approach to the research was utilised through document analysis and interviews. Purposive sampling was used to identify participants. Interviews were conducted until a point of data saturation was reached. Data was analysed using the systematic coding tool of the ATLAS.ti software programme. The research reveals that many shortcomings exist concerning diversity management in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. Therefore, a need exists for proper management of diversity that would support tolerance and respect for diversity.

Football as the most popular sport, serves as a medium through which development issues can be addressed in a variety of ways. The potential and limitations of sport as a vehicle for change are widely recognized for informing YDF and partner organisations for change and capacity building at all levels of engagement. The YDF on HIV prevention project brought about a close working relationship between GIZ/YDF, Volkswagen groups South Africa, NGO’s, federations and government institutions. Volkswagen formed a PPP (Public Private Partnership) to promote HIV prevention among the youth in the Eastern Cape Province. The aim of the cooperation was to raise awareness and improve the knowledge of the youth on HIV prevention. The project combined peer education through football with life-skills education on HIV Prevention in schools. The present study aimed at evaluating the impact and effectiveness of the YDF project in addressing HIV prevention awareness in the selected schools of Nelson Mandela Bay. The sample consisted of fifty grades six and seven learners of the ages of twelve and over. In this mixed methods research, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used and data was collected by means of questionnaires and interviews where pre and post-test studies were conducted. The results suggest that there has been an improvement in the learners’ awareness and therefore the YDF on HIV prevention programme has been effective in improving the participants’ level of HIV prevention awareness in Nelson Mandela Bay. These findings should make a meaningful contribution to the debate on sports based participation programmes on HIV/AIDS education, with regard to the stakeholders and implementing parties, as well as to the public.

Place branding has grown in popularity since the late 1990s. In this regard, place branding is an endeavour to not only construct an image or message of a place but also to communicate and manage it. Place branding can be viewed from a functionalist point of view as a strategic instrument to be managed in a similar manner as a product or corporate brand in order to enhance competitiveness. The focus of place branding has overwhelmingly been on the customers who are mainly tourists. However, there have been recent calls to take into account the perspectives of others stakeholders, in particular internal residents, in the place branding process. It has been noted that place branding is effective through its ability to authentically represent the setting of its constituents and through it to reveal a compelling narrative of the place. This authentic setting is represented by the place identity, which can be discovered from the perspectives of the place‟s internal residents. The current study was anchored in stakeholder theory and set out to propose a simple exploratory model for understanding place identity through the perspectives of internal residents. The study explored various frameworks and models proposed in the literature up to date to understand place identity. The overarching variables were filtered out from the different frameworks and an exploratory place identity framework was proposed. A non-experimental study was carried out in the city of Nelson Mandela Bay. The study was exploratory and its variables had not been previously tested in the city. A questionnaire, which was partly self-administered and partly administered through face-to-face interviews, was distributed electronically and manually. The framework proposed variables were city role, cognitive evaluations, envisioned future as well as affective evaluations and they were operationalised from the literature. The relationship between the variables was confirmed through correlation analysis. The hypotheses in the study were tested through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, ANOVA, t-tests and Chi-squared tests. A destination identity framework for Nelson Mandela Bay.