<p>This work centered on the tadpoles in a temporaray pond in the middle of Kenilworth racecourse, Cape Town, South Africa. Trapping was carried out over two wet seasons and five species were found. The racecourse was selected to investigate the tadpole community occupying temporary winter pools. The main focus of this study was the community of tadpoles that occur in the ephemeral ponds in the centre of Kenilworth Racecourse. This study was a very broad insight into tadpole ecology in the Western Cape.</p>

A longstanding trend in development studies literature has emerged that emphasizes the importance of addressing issues of power in all facets of development, including in the planning and design of development interventions. While top-down planning reinforces the view of the poor as impotent, powerless actors whose well-being is dependent upon the actions of others through concentration of decision-making power in the hands of those who take on the role of trustees, popular participation in planning empowers the poor by viewing the poor as competent, rational actors who are better suited to improve their own lives than any external expert. This research report analyzes the power dynamics involved in an attempt by an Australian mining company (Mineral Commodities Ltd) and the South African government to implement a mining project in the Xolobeni area of the Wild Coast of South Africa. The issue of popular participation has always been a large part of the debate of whether to approve the mining license. Opponents of the project claim that the process discouraged and even prevented local participation, while supporters claim variously that either sufficient local participation did take place or that local participation was unimportant because the project would improve the lives of local residents regardless of how much participation took place. This report aims to analyze the power dynamics that came into play throughout the long fight over the proposed mine and draw out whatever lessons can be learned regarding South Africa’s development process. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

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<p>The South African government plays a direct and active role in facilitation the development of a skilled workforce. The effective mobilisation, development and utilisation of South Africa's human resource capacity are critical for the success of the economy, institution building and the transformation process. In this context, the development of a system of Recognition of Prior Learning is one of the government's significant initiatives. This research examined whether the policy documents of the universities in the Western Cape comply with the requirements of the National Government Recognition of Prior Learning policy.</p>

<p>This study explored Cameroonian migrants language use and the various language forms they use to manifest their identity. It also dealt with multicultural/multilingual people in an equally multicultural/multilingual society - Cape Town. The study was carried out in the wider and interdisciplinary field of applied linguistics with focus on the specific domain of sociolinguistics.</p>

South African cities were subjected to artificial, unnatural growth patterns brought about by apartheid planning that legitimated exclusionary practices in the city and which created and maintained racial, social and class differences between people. Post-apartheid South Africa has witnessed processes of urban fortification, barricading and the gating of urban space that are manifested in contemporary urban South Africa. This research showed that the privatisation of urban public space is not solely a post-apartheid phenomenon. Closure legislation has been, and still is, used by citizens to remove urban space from the public realm through its privatisation. Closures are largely citizen-driven, either individually or as a collective, and it is small public spaces that are privatised, hence the micro-privatisation of public space that could influence the immediate surroundings and erf-sized living space of individuals.

This thesis explored the relationship between community adult education and social action. The study investigated how LEAD (Leadership Education for Action and Development), a non-governmental organisation based in the Western Cape, has empowered women to assume leadership and take social action in their communities.

The aim of this study was to establish a new understanding of the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS at the municipal level, but at the same time upholding the anonymity of the HIV infected and AIDS sufferers. Innovative research techniques such as the use of GIS (geographic information systems) as a research tool contributed to disclosing the patterns of the HIV pandemic in the Nelson Mandela Metropole that were not obvious or visible before. GIS involved geographic maps that detect the spatial relationship between HIV prevalence rates and vectors that drive the pandemic.

Large numbers of students tend to experience failure and dropout in their first year at university. The fundamental aim of this research was to explore protective factors that could foster resilience amongst first year students. It is hoped that resilience research can give young adults the skills and support to survive academic challenges with the help of the university. This study undertook to determine resilience traits that could contribute to academic success. Students who enrolled at the University of the Western Cape for the first time during the year 2003 participated in this study.

The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which the UN/OSCAL (United Nations Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Development Countries) model of microfinance is being applied in the South African context, its scope for application and recommendations for implementation. The hypothesis is that, the better South African microfinance initiatives conform to the model, the more successful it will be in fulfilling the ultimate mission of microfinance which is to supply financial services to the poor by cutting the cost of outreach with beneficial effects on poverty..