A collection of narrative and confessional poems. The poems are mostly short, cinematic, physical, imagistic: moments in time. They explore the poet’s own life, body, memories, and family relationships, and the tensions between power, duty, love and faith. Several poems concern the navigation of meaning and belonging in a time when international urban culture often clashes with tradition.

A young woman from a rural village near Kimberley is killed by her husband in a fit of jealousy. Her illiterate mother is summoned to the hospital to authorize the removal of vital organs – eyes, liver, kidney and heart – for organ donation. But some members of the family feel that their child should not be buried with parts of her body missing. Thus begins a story that changes the lives of many people, both black and white, over the following twenty years.

M.A. / In this dissertation an examination is made of the different strands of contemporary South African protest and resistance poetry. This is done by way of analysing selected poems to highlight the relationship which exists between politics and aesthetics and to illustrate that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive. A brief history of written African protest and resistance poetry is provided in an attempt to put this poetry within its historical context and to trace its influences and development. The poems are then examined with the express aim of identifying and understanding their themes and the socio-political contexts from which they emanate. These contexts are then shown to have important implications in so far as the aesthetics of protest and resistance poetry is concerned. The dissertation highlights the fact that for this poetry to be fully appreciated, there is a need to recognize the particular circumstances which surround it. This recognition is essential because these circumstances are instrumental in the shaping of the poetry and the formation of an aesthetics of protest and resistance. An examination of whether this type of poetry has any socio-political relevance and literary significance to contemporary South Africa is made.

This study examines the effect of judicial protection of minority rights on the Constitutional Court’s legitimacy. The framing of the Marriage Act shows that Parliament intended marriage to be between a man and a woman. By nullifying section 30(1) of the Act and making the order above, the Court fulfilled its constitutional mandate of upholding fundamental human rights. At the same time, it negated the intention of Parliament which represents majoritarian interests. The Constitutional Court is, in contra-distinction with Parliament, unelected. By voiding section 30(1) of the Marriage Act and arousing public opposition to legal recognition of same-sex unions, it raised a ‘countermajoritarian difficulty.’ This ‘countermajoritarian difficulty’ has elicited intense scholarly debate.17 The study examines how the Court’s negation of majoritarian interests in order to protect minority rights affects its legitimacy. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Associate Prof. Tamale Sylvia of the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

This dissertation serves as a legal analysis of a crucial labour issue, namely old age and retirement, which inevitably affects, or at least concerns, all employees, this dissertation will concentrate on the legal analysis of the principles which currently regulate the fairness of any termination of employment due to an employee reaching a certain age. The subject is deemed to be both relevant and actual, due to the relatively new amendment to one the Social Assistance Amendment Act, Act number 6 of 2008, whereby the retirement age of men has periodically been lowered from 65 to 60. The introduction to the last mentioned Act states to purpose of the Amendment Act, namely: “To amend the Social Assistance Act, 2004, so as to regulate afresh the eligibility of men for an older person's grant”. This inevitably had an impact on employers’ policies, relevant contractual clauses and the operational aspects of many businesses. Our society needs to protect the norms of fairness in not only the dismissal of employees, but also with regard to pre-employment interviews, advertisements, requirements set by labour brokers, etcetera. Any such similar study will inevitably lead to the question of what the most severe sanction could be when it is ruled that a dismissal is automatically unfair. The issue of retirement is a constitutionally enshrined and protected right and The Labour Relations Act honours this right by also providing “double the protection” against discrimination merely due to old age. This dissertation will concentrate on the latter part of the scale of unfairness, namely automatically unfair dismissals, which inevitably leads to a study of that fine line or balance between unfairness of a dismissal, which is not based on any arbitrary discriminatory ground as opposed to those dismissals which are. Firstly, the starting point is the pre-requisites / requirements for dismissal. Secondly distinction in labour law between “unfair dismissal” and “automatically unfair dismissal” is focused on. This entails a look at the meanings as set out in Sections 186 (1) and Section 187, especially Section 187 (1) (f). Thirdly a study of the Employment Equity Act’s prohibition of unfair discrimination as set out in Chapter II, Sections 5 to 11 will provide more clarity on the reason why not only the Labour Relations Act deals with or should deal with discrimination. Fourthly, the Social Assistance Amendment Act’s amendment of retirement age for males and the impact on the labour market in the RSA will be examined Thereafter, a brief comparison of certain countries’ legislation, practice and procedure on unfair discrimination due to old age, will be set out. It is the author of this dissertation’s objectives to:. <ul> (i) attempt to bring the impact of the Social Assistance Amendment Act, Act number 6 of 2008, to the attention of South African employers, employees and the State; (ii) highlight the need for employer’s to tread carefully when dealing with aspects which may easily be deemed to be automatically unfair; (iii) clarify the murky waters between fair dismissals and automatically unfair dismissals; (iv) present the cases “walking the tightrope” to provide more clarity and insight into the reasoning of Commissioners and Judges; (v) elaborate on the compulsory referral of automatically unfair dismissals to the Labour Court; (vi) Analyse the relevant Constitutional clauses and consequences of contravention thereof; (vii) Point out all relevant aspects of the Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, Act number 4 of 2000; (viii) Shine a spotlight on the expanding realm of Social Security and the impacts thereof on this topic of discussion and ‘visa versa’; (ix) Attempt to provide answers to the self-posed question of whether or not the gap between unfair and automatically unfair dismissals should be broadened or narrowed, and; (x) take a brief, critical look into the cost effectiveness and accessibility of employees to our tribunals and Courts to satisfy employees that their rights are indeed easily enforceable. </ul> / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Muslims and non-Muslim consumers regardless of who they are or from where they come, whether natives or foreigners in a particular country are much concerned with consuming food products. However, not any researchers in South Africa (SA) have addressed the consumers who buy food products labelled halal. This doctoral dissertation primarily aims to explore and bring new knowledge towards halal food purchasing behaviour. It specifically focuses on understanding the current purchase intention and behaviour of halal consumers in Cape Town, South Africa. For this purpose, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was utilised as the theoretical framework to measure the purchase intention and subsequently the buying behaviour of halal consumers. An exploratory sequential mixed method was adopted. A qualitative approach formed the first phase of the study, while a quantitative approach formed the second phase of the study. For the qualitative phase, data was collected purposively through 9 intensive semi-structured interviews. Nonetheless, for the quantitative phase, data was collected by means of 516 self-administrated questionnaires using a stratified random sampling. In analysing the qualitative data, thematic analysis was applied. However, for the quantitative phase, data was analysed using multivariate statistical analysis known as the Structured Equation Modelling (SEM).

MSc (Microbiology) / Department of Microbiology

Introduction: The continual increase of type 2 diabetes (T2D) prevalence is a global public health concern. The aetiology of T2D has not been fully elucidated and this is hampering the development of effective preventative and curative interventions to curb the T2D burden. Although much has been done to elucidate the environmental risk factors associated with T2D, little is known about the precise genetic risk factors that predispose people to it. There is limited knowledge about the common variants associated with T2D risk in the black South African population. However, evidence of shared common variants associated with T2D among people of different ethnicities has been documented. Nonetheless, the majority of the common variants that have been reported to be associated with T2D in other ethnicities are still yet to be evaluated in the black South African population. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of previously reported common genetic variants with T2D susceptibility, as indicated by impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), in a black South African population of Tswana descent. Methods: This study was a case-control study of 180 cases and 180 controls nested in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study baseline data, which was collected in 2005. The DNA samples of the participants were genotyped for 77 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), using Illumina® VeraCode technology on the BeadXpress® platform. The gPlink software was used to evaluate the standard genetic models of disease penetrance for the association of the common variants with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) while adjusting for age, sex and body mass index. Results: Four out of the 66 SNPs that were evaluated through the genetic association tests in this study were noted to be significantly associated with IGT (p< 0.05). Of the four SNPs, only rs1436955 was associated with an increase in T2D risk, while the other three variants, rs831571, rs8050136 and rs7542900, were noted to be associated with a decreased risk of T2D. However, none of the four SNPs was significantly associated with IGT after correcting for multiple testing (p <0.05). Conclusions: Black South Africans of Tswana descent might not share common variants associated with T2D risk, as indicated by IGT in other ethnicities. Wellpowered studies are required to evaluate the association of common variants with T2D risk in this population group. The results from this study emphasise the need for population-specific variants to assess the genetic susceptibility of complex diseases such as T2D in the black South African population. / MSc (Nutrition), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The swelling and caking propensity of coals may cause operational problems such as channelling and excessive pressure build-up in combustion, gasification and specifically in fluidised-bed and fixed-bed operations. As a result, the swelling and caking characteristics of certain coals make them less suitable for use as feedstock in applications where swelling and/or caking is undesired. Therefore, various studies have focused on the manipulation of the swelling and/or caking propensity of coals, and have proven the viability of using additives to reduce the swelling and caking of powdered coal (<500 μm). However, there is still a lack of research specifically focused on large coal particle devolatilisation behaviour, particularly swelling and caking, and the reduction thereof using additives. A comprehensive study was therefore proposed to investigate the swelling and caking behaviour of large coal particles (5, 10, and 20 mm) of typical South African coals, and the influence of the selected additive (potassium carbonate) thereon. Three different South African coals were selected based on their Free Swelling Index (FSI): coal TSH is a high swelling coal (FSI 9) from the Limpopo province, GG is a medium swelling coal (FSI 5.5-6.5) from the Waterberg region, and TWD is a non-swelling coal (FSI 0) from the Highveld region. Image analysis was used to semi-quantitatively describe the transient swelling and shrinkage behaviour of large coal particles (-20+16 mm) during lowtemperature devolatilisation (700 °C, N2 atmosphere, 7 K/min). X-ray computed tomography and mercury submersion were used to quantify the degree of swelling of large particles, and were compared to conventional swelling characteristics of powdered coals. The average swelling ratios obtained for TWD, GG, and TSH were respectively 1.9, 2.1 and 2.5 from image analysis and 1.8, 2.2 and 2.5 from mercury submersion. The results showed that coal swelling measurements such as FSI, and other conventional techniques used to describe the plastic behaviour of powdered coal, can in general not be used for the prediction of large coal particle swelling. The large coal particles were impregnated for 24 hours, using an excess 5.0 M K2CO3 impregnation solution. The influence of K2CO3-addition on the swelling behaviour of different coal particle sizes was compared, and results showed that the addition of K2CO3 resulted in a reduction in swelling for powdered coal (-212 μm), as well as large coal particles (5, 10, and 20 mm). For powdered coal, the addition of 10 wt.% K2CO3 decreased the free swelling index of GG and TSH coals from 6.5 to 0 and from 9.0 to 4.5, respectively. The volumetric swelling ratios (SRV) of the 20 mm particles were reduced from 3.0 to 1.8 for the GG coal, and from 5.7 to 1.4 for TSH. In contrast to the non-swelling (FSI 0) behaviour of the TWD powders, the large particles exhibited average SRV values of 1.7, and was found not be influenced by K2CO3-impregnation. It was found that the maximum swelling coefficient, kA, was reduced from 0.025 to 0.015 oC-1 for GG, and from 0.045 to 0.027 oC-1 for TSH, as a results of impregnation. From the results it was concluded that K2CO3-impregnation reduces the extent of swelling of coals such as GG (medium-swelling) and TSH (high-swelling), which exhibit significant plastic deformation. Results obtained from the caking experiments indicated that K2CO3-impregnation influenced the physical behaviour of the GG coal particles (5, 10, and 20 mm) the most. The extent of caking of GG was largely reduced due to impregnation, while the wall thickness and porosity also decreased. The coke from the impregnated GG samples had a less fluid-like appearance compared to coke from the raw coal. Bridging neck size measurements were performed, which quantitatively showed a 25-50% decrease in the caking propensity of GG particles. Coal TWD did not exhibit any caking behaviour. The K2CO3-impregnation did not influence the surface texture or porosity of the TWD char, but increased the overall brittleness of the devolatilised samples. Both the extent of caking and porosity of TSH coke were not influenced by impregnation. However, impregnation resulted in significantly less and smaller opened pores on the surface of the devolatilised samples, and also reduced the average wall thickness of the TSH coke. The overall conclusion made from this investigation is that K2CO3 (using solution impregnation) can be used to significantly reduce the caking and swelling tendency of large coal particles which exhibits a moderate degree of fluidity, such as GG (Waterberg region). The results obtained during this investigation show the viability of using additive addition to reduce the caking and swelling tendency of large coal particles. Together with further development, this may be a suitable method for modifying the swelling and caking behaviour of specific coals for use in fixed-bed and fluidised-bed gasification operations. / PhD (Chemical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The phenomenon of state dysfunction has, over the last two decades, become a prominent empirical and scholarly concern internationally and, more recently, domestically. This study endeavours to extend and improve the understanding of dysfunctional states in the scientific domain – in the developing world in general, as well as the South African context in particular. Given the dearth of conceptual literature in the field of dysfunctional states, the first part of this study concerns the pursuit of a novel conceptualisation of state dysfunction, premised upon the Weberian state as a comprehensive point of departure. Subsequently, meta-theoretical, theoretical, applicational and operational frameworks are developed through which this concept may be integrated by using a scientific method and ultimately studied empirically in pursuit of valid and reliable knowledge pertaining to the phenomenon. The outcome of the above-mentioned process is a multi-criteria operational framework that enables evaluation and analysis with the purpose of determining the approximation to – and extent of – state dysfunction in a given empirical context. Accordingly, the second part of this study concerns the evaluation and analysis of the South African state. The outcome of this process is an account of South African state dysfunction that is at once comprehensive and thorough. / PhD (Political Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015