Die studie is onderneem om te bepaal of die Suid-Afrikaanse verjaringswetgewing die verwesenliking van die regte van slagoffers van seksuele kindermishandeling beskerm Die slagoffers van die misdaad het twee maniere waarop hul geregtigheid kan nastreef, naamlik deur die instel van ʼn eis vir skadevergoeding of deur privaatvervolging. In die studie is die Suid- Afrikaanse reg met betrekking tot eise gebaseer op delik vir skadevergoeding en verjaring van kriminele aanklagte, asook die privaatvervolging in gevalle van volwasse slagoffers van seksuele kindermishandeling, ondersoek. Die Suid-Afrikaanse verjaringswetgewing is rigied geskryf en geen voorsorg was getref vir die slagoffers van díe spesifieke misdaad nie. Verjaring gee regsekerheid vir die ortreder en die slagoffer. Die Suid-Afrikaanse howe het hul plig nagekom om wetgewing so te interpreteer dat dit internasionale standaarde na streef soos deur die Grondwet voorgeskryf. Hier is vasgestel dat Suid-Afrika se verjaringswetgewing eise wat deur volwasse slagoffers van seksuele kindermishandeling wat met die sequelae wat met hierdie misdaad geassosieer word ingestel is akkomodeer. In Van Zijl v Hoogenhoudt1 som die regter soos volg op; (1) chronic child abuse is sui generis in the sequelae that flow from it; (2) distancing of the victim from reality and transference of responsibility by the victim on to himself or herself are known psychological consequences; (3) in the absence of some cathartic experience, such consequences can and often do persist into middle age despite the cessation of the abuse during childhood Uit Van Zijl v Hoogenhoudt en Bothma v Els 2 toon dat, alhoewel Suid-Afrika se verjaringswetgewing nie opgestel is met die misdaad van seksuele kindermishandeling in gedagte nie, het die howe ons wetgewing geinterpreteer om te voldoen aan die bepalings van die Handves van Menseregte en aan die internasionale konvensies waartoe Suid-Afrika ʼn party is. Die howe het bepaal dat verjaring eers begin loop sodra die slagoffer ʼn verbintenis gemaak het tussen die seksuele mishandeling en die negatiewe emosionele en sielkundige gevolge wat daaruit spruit. Die beskuldigde behou steeds sy reg tot n spoedige verhoor al is daar ‘n lang vertraging gewees vanaf die misdaad tot op die dag wat die eis/klag ingestel is. Werklike nadeel vir die beskuldigde moet getoon word en nie net moontlike nadeel nie. Die Handves van Menseregte3 stel dit dat in elke aangeleentheid wat die kind raak, die beste belange van die kind deurslaggewend is. Een van die oogmerke in die Kinderwet4 is om te verseker dat die beste belang van ʼn kind van deurslaggewende belang is in elke aangeleentheid betreffende die kind. Artikel 28 van die Grondwet bepaal dat die kind beskerm moet word teen mishandeling, misbruik, verwaarlosing, degradering, diskriminasie, eksploitasie en enige ander fisiese, emosionele of morele leed of gevaar. Die regte van die kind moet gerespekteer, beskerm en bevorder word. Daar moet sekerheid wees oor die vervulling van, en waking teen enige inbreukmaking op die kind se regte. Die beste belange van die kind is die oorheersende oorweging in alle aangeleenthede wat die kind raak. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Private Law / LLM / Unrestricted

The research for this study was guided by the question whether an internal audit educational expectation gap exists between the level of work-readiness skills expected by employers in internal audit practice, and the actual level of capability of these skills transferred through the formal internal audit educational programmes offered by universities in the Republic of South Africa. An extensive literature study substantiated the research question. The research methodology used for this study consists of a descriptive, quantitative method and various statistical analysis techniques. An electronic internet-based research questionnaire was distributed to the members on the database of the Institute of Internal Auditors (South Africa). The responses were automatically recorded, after which these were exported to an electronic spread sheet. At this point statistical analysis software was used for statistical analysis and interpretation of the data. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that a large internal audit educational expectation gap exists between the expected and actual levels of skills capabilities of entering trainee internal auditors. The largest gap is perceived in respect of the Institute of Internal Auditors’ Internal Audit Standards and Practice Advisories. On average, employers expect a significantly higher level of skills capability where behavioural skills are concerned than what they expect in respect of technical skills capability levels. In addition, the results revealed that entering trainee internal auditors are perceived to be sensitised insofar as cultural differences are concerned. / Thesis (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Auditing / DCom / Unrestricted

The South African grassland biome is one of the most transformed and least protected biomes in the country. The conservation of this species-rich biome is further complicated by the occurrence of abandoned croplands in areas classified as ‘natural’. In fact, more than 10 % of the areas classified as natural in Mpumalanga are abandoned croplands. Although it is recognized that they differ from pristine grasslands in species richness and diversity, few studies have assessed the value of abandoned croplands for conservation. The aim of this study was to determine the value of abandoned croplands for conservation in Mpumalanga’s grasslands in terms of species composition and landscape connectivity. In the first part of the study the species composition of abandoned croplands was compared to that of pristine natural grassland in the Nooitgedacht Dam Nature Reserve in Mpumalanga. In the second part of the study the contribution of abandoned croplands to overall landscape connectivity in the grassland biome of Mpumalanga was evaluated. It was found that there is a significant difference in species composition, especially for resprouting forb species, between abandoned croplands and pristine natural grasslands. There were also a significant difference in total species richness and forb species richness, while alien plant species richness was significantly higher in abandoned cropland plots. There was no significant difference in medicinal plant species richness. It could be seen that, although different to pristine natural grasslands, the vegetation on these abandoned croplands was not degraded, and can be valuable providers of ecosystem services such as medicinal plants and thatching grass, and can also serve as habitat for different species. It was found that the pristine natural grassland patches in Mpumalanga are already relatively well connected and that abandoned croplands further improved the overall landscape connectivity of grassland habitat patches by 33 %. The results indicated that abandoned croplands have a definite value for conservation by contributing to species richness and connecting the landscape. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Plant Science / MSc / Unrestricted

Citrus fruit in South Africa is produced mainly for the export market where it competes with other countries such as Spain, Turkey, USA and Egypt. South Africa is the third largest exporter of citrus after Spain and Turkey. Therefore, quality and shelf life play an important role in maintaining the competiveness of South African produced citrus. Plant nutrients and especially the macro nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) play an important role in ensuring yield, quality, and shelf life. However, the efficiency of applied fertiliser is less than 50% for N, less than 10% for P and about 40% for K due to the leaching. Thus, by using humate and fulvate amendments the N leaching from soils can be reduced. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of humate on: (1) The culturable soil community and microbial activity in a sandy clay and a sandy clay loam soil; (2) the reduction in N, P and K losses; (3) the uptake of N, P and K in potted citrus and (4) the cation exchange capacity of soils. Four experiments were conducted: Experiments on the viable microbial population and dehydrogenase activity were done in a microbiology laboratory, leaching column studies were done in a soil physics laboratory and pot trials were conducted in a glass house at the experimental farm of University of Pretoria. Sandy clay and sandy clay loam soils were supplemented with 220-50-80 kg ha-1 which represent 100% of the recommended N, P and K application rate and 165-37.5-60 kg ha-1, which represents 75% of the recommended N, P and K application rate. The soils were further amended with humate low ash and humate high ash or with fulvate at a rate of 200 kg ha-1. Controls included soils without any amendments and with 100% and 75% of the N, P and K recommendation. Experiments on microbial population and dehydrogenase activity were done in triplicate and leaching column and pot trials had four replications. Quantification of heterotrophic bacteria and fungi in both soils indicated, after four weeks, an increase in bacterial and fungal counts for soils treated with humates and a fulvate compared to soils with no humic acids. Results from leaching column experiments indicated a decrease in N leaching when humates and fulvate were added to the soils, while inconsistent results were found for P and K leaching in both soils. Pot trials indicated that humates and fulvate reduced N and P leaching, while N, P and K uptake were higher for the soils with humate or fulvate. The study indicates that humates and a fulvate increased the cation exchange capacity of both soils. / Dissertation (MScAgric)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Plant Production and Soil Science / MScAgric / Unrestricted

This study analysed driving forces behind land use change in the Southern Nations and Nationalities peoples’ Region of Ethiopia (SNNPR) where significant changes in forests, agricultural lands, grasslands and shrub land uses are observed. The actors of land use change in the area are small scale farmers and government authorities (social planners) that allocate forest land to large scale commercial plantations. To address the problem of undesirable land use change in the area both types of land use changes were analysed. First the study looked at land allocation decisions by land owners where they maximize private benefits from land allocations in the absence of markets for certain forest services. A number of drivers of land use and cover changes have been identified globally, but they differ according to the context of the specific area of interest and scale of analysis chosen and hence couldn’t explain the land use change observed in SNNPR. Studies carried so far in Ethiopia especially in the south western part of the country have not reached conclusive results and have not looked at the problem as an economic decision making made by land owners. This study applied an econometric framework of land use shares at a scale of a district to test the effects of different socio-economic, bio-physical and climatic factors on the choice among agricultural land, forest land, and grassland and shrub land uses in the SNNPR. Results confirmed the important influences of access to credit, access to market, elevation of an area, road density and population density on conversion of forest lands, shrublands and grasslands to agricultural land uses in the study area. Hence it is recommended that policy makers be cautious when designing incentive structures that are believed to have positive impacts on the rural livelihoods of small scale farmers. These measures could have adverse effect on the environment by making agriculture more profitable than other land uses. The second part of the study looked at land allocation patterns by a social planner when multiple benefits of forests are considered and the future benefits from some of the forest services are uncertain. Studies made previously in the country employed the cost and benefit analysis framework but they haven’t considered the irreversible nature of forest clearing processes and the uncertainty associated with the benefits from preservation of forests. Thus they ignore the value of the option to wait before developing forests, and the results are mainly biased against optimal forest preservation. This study considered the value of the option to wait and used dynamic optimization framework in analyzing optimal land use decisions. Results show that at five percent discount rate there is excessive deforestation in the region. Ignoring the climate change effect on tea production and the forest carbon storage values gives even lower optimal stock levels. The analyses also showed that the optimal forest stock is inversely related with the discount rate. Discount rates higher than 5% suggest complete deforestation as the optimal land use choice. But with incentive mechanisms like reductions in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation further clearing of forests can be prevented. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / PhD / Unrestricted

The topic for this study was the impact of the practice and administration of customary law of inheritance on gender equality in contemporary Igbo society. The objectives of the study were, a) to examine the economic status of the women of Igbo society b) to examine the two types of laws which are used in Nigeria on matters of inheritance c) to look at the practices and administration of the above laws in the cases of inheritance d) to establish the impact of the negative inheritance practices on women in Igbo society e) to establish what could be done in order to support women during the cases of inheritance. The major findings of the study indicated that, inheritance of property, especially land was of great importance in the Igbo society. A woman’s ability to inherit may depend on her marital status and most importantly her ability to bear a male child. Young Igbo women have no rights to inherit their fathers’ property unless they remain unmarried and bear a male child in family. Igbo women, especially the traditional women were very hard working in their agricultural activities where they pulled resources and produce together with their husbands without seeking separation of possessions. However at the demise of their spouse, the pieces of land they had laboured on are taken away by kinsmen and the fate of the women are left hanging on the goodwill of the kinsmen. There was physical, psychological, social as well as economic humiliation during the time of mourning the husband and thereafter. The duplicity of laws, being, the English common law and the customary laws further complicated any chance a woman had to claiming inheritance. The constitution on the other hand, was overriding the international treaties that Nigeria has ratified, which could have supported the rights of women. From the point of view of the study, the Nigerian government needs to revisit the constitution to amend it and also to examine some of the customary laws that leaned strongly on traditional beliefs and practices. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

Plasma progesterone concentrations were used as a measure to determine the "ram effect" on nine cycling springbok ewes. Blood was collected biweekly, prior to and after ram introduction. Ewes were subjected to the ram for a period of forty two days. Blood was analysed for plasma progesterone by means of radioimmunoassays. No significant changes in the plasma progesterone concentrations were detected. Superficially, a reduction in the variation of the follicular phase of the ewes oestrous cycle was noted for before- to after ram introduction. However, possibly because of a too small sample size, no statistical significance was found. It is suggested that the "ram effect" on aseasonal cycling species may only have a synchronisation effect (reduction in the variation of time between the follicular phase of females) but more individuals should be used in future experiments to make any clear and definite conclusions. Furthermore other hormones such as e.g. luteinizing hormone, which may be less affected by translocation and handling stress, should also be used to determine the "ram effect" on aseasonally breeding wild ungulates. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 1999. / Veterinary Wildlife Unit / MSc / Unrestricted

Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is an important crop whose cultivation is severely threatened by Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands. The South African avocado industry makes an important contribution to the world’s avocado supply, and is one of the world’s largest exporters. If the current Phytophthora root rot problem is not addressed soon, the losses encountered by the avocado industry may become so extensive that it results in job losses. The scant information that is available for P. cinnamomi interaction studies indicate that there is no gene-for-gene interaction yet described between the pathogen and host. Avocado genomics are not well understood either and there is not much sequence data available for this basal angiosperm. The data available comprises of sequence that was generated in marker studies on fruit and flowering organs. It is now possible to generate large amounts of sequence data using highthroughput sequencing platforms and identify defence-related genes. The identification of defence-related genes in a tolerant rootstock will allow us to characterize the avocado-P. cinnamomi interaction on a molecular level. The aim of this MSc was to identify defence-related genes in a tolerant rootstock and characterize their expression in order to understand the avocado-P. cinnamomi interaction. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive overview of the advances in molecular work conducted on avocado thus far. A background of avocado rootstock development is provided with details of molecular markers developed for use in avocado. Additionally, an introduction is also given to high-throughput sequencing and its application to non-model crops such as avocado. Chapter 2 describes the mRNA isolation and EST pyrosequencing of avocado roots. Gene annotation of metabolic, cell wall associated and stress response genes are provided along with the characterisation of defence-related genes. Chapter 3 reports of the expression profiling of defence-related genes obtained from avocado root ESTs. The expression of nine defence-related genes are studied over six time points in P. cinnamomi infected R0.09 tolerant avocado roots. Chapter 4 provides a general discussion of the result obtained in this study along with future applications of the sequencing data produced. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Genetics / MSc / Unrestricted

The principal objective of this research has been to reduce the potential impact of Fusarium circinatum on young and mature Pinus patula trees in South Africa. The results provide new knowledge concerning the genetic variation within P. patula, and suggest alternative species and hybrids, with resistance to infection by the pitch-canker pathogen F. circinatum. The infection of nursery plants is the principal cause of dying seedlings after planting and controlling the disease in the nursery is paramount to achieving good post-planting survival of P. patula. A large number of alternative pines, which are more tolerant to the pathogen, exist. Pinus elliottii is the most versatile alternative due to the ready availability of seed and the fact that it can be planted on a wide range of sites. Although the species is more tolerant than P. patula, individual families vary in their tolerance to F. circinatum and care should be taken to eliminate the more susceptible families. Pinus maximinoi and the low elevation (LE) source of P. tecunumanii are highly tolerant and provide an excellent alternative to P. patula on sites free of frost. The high elevation (HE) source of P. tecunumanii, which is more tolerant of cold than the low elevation source, is significantly more tolerant to F. circinatum than P. patula. However, large variation in the tolerance of individual P. tecunumanii (HE) families to F. circinatum exists and tolerant families of this source need to be identified before commercial deployment. Although P. maximinoi and P. tecunumanii are sub-tropical pines and sensitive to frost, meaningful variation in the tolerance of individual families to frost has been observed which indicates that these species can be bred for improved frost tolerance. On the colder sites, P. pseudostrobus may become an important alternative to P. patula due to its excellent tolerance to F. circinatum. In all cases hybrids between P. patula and pines more tolerant to F. circinatum, are significantly more tolerant than P. patula. Of these the P. patula x P. tecunumanii hybrid is the most promising. Due to the excellent tolerance of P. tecunumanii (LE) all families of the P. patula x P. tecunumanii (LE) hybrid are tolerant of F. circinatum. On the other hand, families of the P. patula x P. tecunumanii (HE) vary greatly in their tolerance to F. circinatum and the specific combination of the parents appears to play an important role in determining tolerance. Although only 5% of the current P. patula growing stock is of similar tolerance to F. circinatum as P. elliottii heritability for tolerance to F. circinatum is high in P. patula indicating that improvements can be achieved through breeding. Good control can also be achieved by identifying specific full-sib P. patula families that are tolerant to F. circinatum, rather than the use of open pollinated seed. It is anticipated that large areas, currently well suited to P. patula, will in the future be replanted with pine hybrids and species more tolerant of F. circinatum. Pinus patula, which has been bred for improved tolerance to F. circinatum, will be limited to the most temperate regions of South Africa. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Microbiology and Plant Pathology / PhD / Unrestricted

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a high biomass and sugar-yielding crop. There is recently an interest in sweet sorghum as feedstock for ethanol production, since it is rich in sugars, and reportedly has low nutrition and water requirements. A field experiment was conducted at Hatfield Experiment farm of the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2010/11. The aim of the study was to evaluate sweet sorghum performance under different water regimes and determine their effect on biomass and sugar yields. Four water treatments (Control, Supplemental irrigation at early vegetative stage (EVS), Supplemental irrigation at late vegetative stage (LVS) and Dry land. One sweet sorghum variety (Sugar graze) was used in the experiment. Plant height, leaf area index (LAI) and dry matter accumulation were measured periodically through growth analysis. This data was used to calibrate the Soil Water Balance (SWB) crop model for sweet sorghum. Brix and quality analysis were carried out by the ACCI laboratory at the University of KwaZulu Natal at final harvest. Total fresh biomass production (t ha-1) of sweet sorghum was significantly improved by full irrigation (Control) and supplemental irrigation at either the early vegetative stage (EVS) or late vegetative stage (LVS), compared to the Dry land treatment. This shows that with supplemental irrigation higher fresh biomass production can be attained. The Control and Supplemental irrigation at early vegetative stage (EVS) treatments gave the highest fresh stalk yield (16.6 ton ha-1 and 17.1ton ha-1 respectively) at harvest, followed by the Dry land and Supplemental irrigation at late vegetative stage (LVS) treatments. However, the three irrigated treatments did not differ significantly from each other with regard to total biomass production. It should be noted that the experiment was conducted during a wet season (total rainfall of 757mm during the growing period), which may have contributed to the limited response of the crop to applied water treatments. Water treatments had no significant effect on total dry matter yield. Although the differences among the water treatments were not significant, a slightly higher dry matter yield was obtained for EVS. Similarly, total sugar yield (t ha-1) and theoretical ethanol yield (L ha-1) were not significantly influenced by water treatments. Sugar yields ranged between 1.64 and 2.77 t ha-1 and ethanol yields between 1763 and 2984 L ha-1. The results also showed that treatments that were irrigated until late in the season (Control and LVS) had lower stalk dry matter contents (% DM) than both EVS and Dry land treatments. This probably resulted in lower sugar (t ha-1) and ethanol yields (L ha-1) for these treatments, although high fresh stalk yields were obtained. Brix (t/ha) was greatly influenced by irrigation as there were significant differences between all the water treatments. Based on these results, the main objective was achieved since it was clear that irrigating during the early stages of plant growth ensured optimum results in terms of biomass yield, sugar and ethanol yield. Model simulation results for top and harvestable dry matter and leaf area index of all the irrigation treatments were within reasonable accuracy and statistical parameters were generally acceptable. Soil water deficits were not so well simulated, especially during dry periods when simulated deficits were much higher than measured values. Nonetheless, it can be concluded that the SWB model should be a useful tool for scenario modelling in order to estimate sweet sorghum production and water use under a wide range of conditions. / Dissertation (MScAgric)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Plant Production and Soil Science / MScAgric / Unrestricted