4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions

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An appraisal of a direct wealth tax as a mechanism to reduce financial inequality
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mashishi, Lerato; Nkhi, Naledi
With the COVID-19 pandemic leading to increasing questions around wealth inequality, the role that tax reform has in addressing inequality has been a key question. With the slogan “tax the rich” increasing in popularity internationally, wealth tax proposals have been made in developed and developing countries. This study examines the approaches to wealth taxes in different countries that form part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in order to understand an appropriate wealth tax design. This research aims to analyse the history of tax reform in South Africa by examining the recommendations of the Katz and Davis committees relating to wealth taxes. This report includes an examination of how wealth tax revenues can be used to reduce inequality by analysing the public spending landscape in order to determine whether wealth tax revenues would be appropriately used. The research finds that the adequate design of a wealth tax is theoretically possible, however South Africa has flaws in public spending that need to be corrected prior to increasing the tax burden of taxpayers
An intersectionality of race and ethnicity: the glass ceiling in the banking sector in Kenya and South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021-12) Genga,Cheryl Akinyi Margaret
Even though progress has been made in the Kenyan and South African banking sector, Black African women remain a minority in Top Executive leadership positions. Previous research on the “glass ceiling” focuses on Black African women as one homogenous group not acknowledging the diversity dimensions of Black African women from Africa. Invisible factors such as race and ethnicity have been stated to contribute to the glass ceiling in the banking sector, yet this has not been investigated making Black African women more invisible. This research primarily aims to provide an understanding of the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, and career advancement of Black African women in the Kenyan and South African banking sector. This research further aims: to describe the obstacles that Black African women still face, to analyse the diversity of Black African women in management, to identify the reasons as to why some Black African women have been able to crack the glass ceiling in the Kenyan and South African banking sector and to give recommendations to stakeholders as to how they can help crack the glass ceiling for Black African women in the Kenyan and South African banking sector. To address the research objectives, this research applied a qualitative Intercatergorical Intersectionality Approach to provide an understanding of the relationship between race, ethnicity, and gender in the Kenyan and South African banking sector. This was facilitated by the use of semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus groups that were carried out with the participants being Black African women managers in the Kenyan and South African banking sector in Nairobi and Johannesburg, respectively. Data collected from the interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis in which themes and patterns were identified to address the research objectives. Firstly, findings from the research illustrated a relationship between race, ethnicity, and gender. The extent of the relationship between race, ethnicity, and gender was discussed by the role of race, the role of ethnicity, the intersectionality of race and gender, and the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, and gender in the career advancement of Black African women in the Kenyan and South African banking sector. Secondly, the findings identified the obstacles that Black African women still face in the banking sector, which were discussed and described into three groups: Black African women are their own worst enemies in the banking sector. Thirdly, the findings illustrated the diversity dimensions of Black African women managers from the Kenyan and South African banking sector in relation to their race, ethnicity, and the positions that they held in the banks they were working for. Fourthly, the findings highlighted reasons as to why some Black African women managers had cracked the glass ceiling (discussed with the use of the glass ceiling scale). Fifthly, the findings recommend that stakeholders have to be fully committed if they want to help Black African women crack the glass ceiling in the Kenyan and South African banking sector. In conclusion, through the findings, this research provides a conceptual framework to understand the glass ceiling in relation to the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, and gender of Black African women in the Kenyan and South African banking sector.
Analysing the experiences of Zimbabwean migrants in acquiring the Zimbabwean special permit
(2020) Skota, Siyamthanda
‘This qualitative study uses a phenomenological methodology to analyse ten Zimbabwean migrants’ experiences in acquiring the Zimbabwean Special Permit (ZSP) since its inception in 2010,with the human rights of applicants as a guiding concern. The study utilises ten semi-structured in-depth interviews with Zimbabwean migrants who are on the work permit category of the ZSP, a representative of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), and an official representing the Zimbabwean community at African Diaspora Forum. After coding and analysing the data according to research questions, literature and theoretical framework used in the study, three broad themes emerged from migrants’ experiences: 1) employment and financial freedom; 2) freedom of movement; 3) documentation. Even though administrative challenges with the DHA were intense in 2009, they have improved over the years mainly because of the move from manual applications to online applications. After acquiring the ZSP migrants’ expressed gratitude because they are now able to look for legal work and manage their finances. Secondly, the ZSP holders can now exercise their most basic human right which is the right to freedom of movement. And finally, the Zimbabwean migrants are concerned about what the future holds for their documentation status in South Africa, with pleas for permanent residence’
At the crossroads of international human rights law and international investment law: reflection on the right to development in the exercise of expropriation
(2021) Kim, Young Jae
Given the current legitimacy crisis of international law, particularly the international law of investment owing to fragmentation and the negative impact of unfettered economic development on the environment and human rights, competing claims between North and South, sovereign states and multinational corporations, and sovereign states and their nationals over development and its benefits must be effectively and legitimately reconciled before any strategy to promote development can be implemented. In this respect, the human right to sustainable development, which this thesis introduced, provides a framework in which the potential competing claims of economic value and human rights value can be reconciled. This thesis considers the interplay of international development law, international human rights law and international investment law, by reference to the evolution of a right to sustainable development. In particular, it focuses on how the international investment law regime has evolved to incorporate human rights and sustainable development, by examining expropriation as a case study. The thesis traces the concept of development as it underlines international development law, and shows how it has moved from ‘orthodox economic development’ to ‘modern human development’ by means of the evolution of the human right to sustainable development. It proceeds to contemplate the content of this human right to sustainable development, with a view to demonstrating its relevance to international investment law. Thereafter, it shows how international investment law has evolved over time, from being narrowly focused on upholding foreign investors’ interests and rights, to taking into account international human rights and the human right to sustainable development. As a concrete example of this shift in international investment law, the thesis then conducts a case study of expropriation, which illustrates the increased interaction between the three clusters of international law. In particular, the protection of foreign investors’ rights and host states’ rights to regulate foreign investment for the purpose of ensuring international human rights and sustainable development are explored through leading cases in international investment tribunals. In conclusion, it is argued that the legitimacy of the international investment law regime can be enhanced through continuing efforts of the international community to harmonise the three clusters of international law within the human right to sustainable development .
Capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes in Bojanala Platinum District Municipality
(2021) Mphahlele, Matuku
Bojanala Platinum District Municipality (BPDM), in the North West Province is a centre of the extractive economy in South Africa. The BPDM experiences challenges in relation to delivering quality public services. In this context, this thesis examines capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes of the local municipalities, in the BPDM, that is, Kgetlengrivier, Rustenburg, Madibeng, Moses Kotane and Moretele. In addition, the study explores the ways in which they can be overcome for enhanced service delivery. The BPDM is embedded in an extractive economy and experiences challenges of the largely heterogeneous and mobile population that results in high influx of labour migrants, socio-economic inequality, and unemployment that impact heavily on the municipal capacity to deliver services (Van Wyk, 2012; Alexander, Sinwell, Lekgowa, Mmope & Xezwi, 2012). Accordingly, the Mineral Petroleum Resource Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) unpacks legislative prescripts on what structures mining companies have to establish, how to monitor and report on collaborative Social and Labour Plans (SLPs) in conjunction with municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) for enhancement of service delivery. Thus, the study also examines the nature of structures and programmes, facilitators and inhibitors of skills development initiatives and how mining companies as local partners facilitate or impede improvement in delivering municipal services to the community. Within the context of local government capacity development, this study develops a theoretical framing incorporating scholarship on human capital, performance improvement and collaborative participatory governance perspectives. This framing is premised on the scholarly evidence that capacity development is an enabler of service delivery, influenced by skills development, municipal performance improvement and collaborative participation. ii )To generate perspectives in relation to capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes, a qualitative case study approach, using interviews is adopted. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with senior managers in the municipalities and the respective, locally based mining company. In addition to semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis and the descriptive statistics were employed. The study’s research questions examine the structures and programmes for enhancing capacity development in relation to service delivery. In addition, the study hones in on how local partners facilitate or hinder improvement in providing municipal services and how local municipalities better utilise their capacity development resources, including partnership with mining companies in relation to service delivery. This case study reveals that there are difficulties with respect to capacity development associated with skills retention, organisational relations and socio-political capacity building. The study concludes that political abandonment, poor communication and stakeholder engagements aggravate weakened inter-municipal co-operation and inadequate utilisation of resources. These challenges undermine cost-effective, efficient and effective implementation of capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes, underpinned by skills development and organisational learning. This study, suggests that socio-political resilience and administrative synergy are key enablers in the enhancement of service delivery. The thesis contributes to the body knowledge about the distinctive nature of the interface between learning and skills development, underscoring key enablers of improved capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes.
Carbon Footprint Inequality in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Krinsky, Jezri; Isaacs, Gilad
As the effects of climate change and other ecological crises worsen, numerous attempts have been made to apportion individual responsibility, or ecological footprints, to find effective and just ways to reduce ecological damage. Massive inequalities exist in the responsibility for, and consequence of, ecological damage. So, a just transition must identify how ecologically damaging consumption patterns may be reduced, in ways which do not adversely affect lower-income and other marginalised groups. However, although a significant proportion of carbon emissions may be accounted for in terms of household consumption, these patterns of household consumption are deeply influenced by wider social, political, and economic forces, in larger systems of provisioning. This study estimates and examines the patterns of household carbon footprints within South Africa and explores the link between carbon footprint inequality and income inequality and energy poverty; and how these patterns and links are shaped by systems of provision for carbon intensive consumer good
Caught in a gap? An examination and human rights assessment of immigration detention laws and practices in South Africa
(2013-03-19) Tay, Roanna
Abstract: This study examines the laws and practices relating to immigration detention in South Africa. It provides an in-depth examination of the legislation, with reference to known state practices and cases where migrants have been subjected to prolonged and repeated periods of immigration detention. The study highlights gaps in South African law that contribute to certain categories of migrants being especially vulnerable to immigration detention. Four categories are identified: (1) asylum seekers; (2) persons with difficulty obtaining travel documents; (3) stateless person; and (4) persons subject to other prohibitions against refoulement. The study offers recommendations for legislative reforms to fill the gaps in the law that contribute to these migrants’ vulnerability to immigration detention
Combating economic inequality: the strategic role of the fund management industry in promoting inclusive development in Nigeria
(2020) Yetunde, Omotuyi Opeyemi; Omotuyi, Opeyemi Yetunde
There is growing inequality in many countries around the world, and particularly in Nigeria. Recognising this global challenge, the United Nations agreed to seventeen sustainable development goals in 2015. As part of a global agenda to tackle inequality and promote inclusive development, the United Nations agreed to a specific goal to reduce inequalities among and within countries. To enable effective implementation, the United Nations calls for a global partnership, involving the public and private sector, in the achievement of the goals. This thesis highlights the state of economic inequality in Nigeria. In so doing, the thesis finds that the high rate of inequality in Nigeria is mostly as a result of poor social spending on the part of government, as well as adverse corporate impacts, resulting in poor social opportunities and outcomes for citizens. Furthermore, the thesis analysed Nigeria’s legal and regulatory provisions on issues of inequality, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the laws. The thesis finds that these laws are grossly inadequate to address the inequality challenges in Nigeria, and a complementary approach to address these challenges is needed. Since the thesis finds a significant increase in the growth of investment funds in Nigeria over the last decade, the thesis proposes the Nigerian Fund Management Industry as an avenue for improving the state of economic inequality in Nigeria, through the implementation of the principles for responsible investment
Constructing identities through discourse: Examining the textual representation of prostituted women in post-apartheid South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Landman, Tiaan A.
The current study explores the intersectional social identities of four ‘prostituted women’ in post-apartheid South Africa as they are represented through discourse. The socio-cognitive model of critical discourse studies is employed to explore the way in which their social identities are represented through texts. These texts were retrieved from the online blog of a non-profit organisation, Embrace Dignity (2019), which advocates for the rights of women and girls. The texts were written to represent the personal experiences of four black women who identify as ‘prostituted’. This study found, through the engagement with biopolitical and intersectional feminist theory, that conditions which are paramount to a ‘social death’ are often proliferated for the subjects at the intersection of their gender, sex, sexual, and racial identities. Furthermore, these conditions are often concealed through the guise of class. The subjects make meaning of their social identities through a range of experiences, which are facilitated by sociohistorical systems of oppression aimed to disenfranchise feminised and blackened bodies in South Africa. These systems of oppressions are communicated through discourses of Bantu education, unskilled labour, violence, sexual perversion, limited access to services, marginal citizenship, geography, movement, and displacement, as well as a discourse of care, to name a few. The study found that these discourses are fostered and realised through the political project of domination, enforced by white heteropatriarchy that was institutionalised by the apartheid government. The study further indicates how the women who are represented by the texts, have been positioned within contexts that suppress their lives. This study emphasises the importance of exploring the intersectional social identities of black prostituted women in order to appropriately support the women within this community and their voices.
Correlation of maternal age to their children born with orofacial cleft treated at Wits Oral Health Centre
(2024) Ravat, Naseeba
Objectives: Orofacial Clefts (OFC) are the most common congenital malformations of the craniofacial complex. OFC affects 1/700 live births globally with extensive variability across geographic origin, racial and ethnic populations. In South Africa the prevalence of OFC is 0.3 per 1000 live births. Advanced maternal age has been associated with cell division errors, that can predispose to the occurrence of OFC. This study evaluated the correlation of advanced maternal age with the occurrence of OFC and the types of OFC. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to review records of 105 children with OFC from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2019. The clinical information reviewed included the child’s sex, race and type and laterality of OFC. The mother’s demographic information including the age at birth to the child with OFC, race, marital status, education level, number of children that the mother gave birth to as well as the familial history of OFC was documented. Stata version 17.0 was used to analyse the data and statistical tests were conducted at a 5% significance level. Results: The mean maternal age at the birth of a child with OFC was 26 years, with a range of 17-46 years. The majority of the mothers were Black (64.76%) followed by White (14.29%), Indian (11.43%) and Coloured (9.52%). There were more female children with OFC (51.43%) compared to male children (48.57%). Most of the children were Black (63.81%) followed by White (12.38%), Indian (11.43%) and Coloured (10.48%). The predominant type of OFC was the unilateral cleft lip and palate (CLP) occurring on the left side of the face (39.05%) compared to the right side (23.81%). Bilateral CLP was observed in 28.67% of children, and 0.57% of children had a cleft palate only. Mothers who gave birth to children with right CLP were older (over 30 years old) compared to those who gave birth to children with left CLP (under 25 years old). No statistical significance was found between maternal age and OFC. Conclusions- The clinical appearance of OFC highlighted the maternal age differences to type of OFC in our study sample. Children with right CLP were born to older mothers whilst the youngest mothers had children with CP. The majority of the mothers were unemployed, single parents with low level of education. This signified the burden of care these single parents have in caring for their children with OFC.
Duties of private persons and the right to equality in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Finn, Meghan; Albertyn, Catherine
To what extent does the right to equality (and specifically, the right not to be discriminated against unfairly) give rise to duties that are borne by private persons in South African law? This question is morally, legally and politically freighted in South Africa, marked as the country is by gaping inequality and the legacies of centuries of colonial, apartheid and patriarchal oppression that was sustained by not only the government, but also in private spheres. The overall project of this thesis is to map out and normatively justify South Africa’s approach to private anti-discrimination duties in the Constitution, legislation and emerging doctrine. Most surveyed jurisdictions use a test of publicness as a threshold determination of whether an entity is an anti-discrimination duty-bearer. Conversely, in South Africa, the possible class of duty-bearers is much wider – in principle, all persons as well as the state are duty-bearers. I argue that South Africa’s approach is substantiated by a legal endorsement of substantive equality which requires a historically and contextually sensitive analysis of systemic inequalities that cut across public and private spheres. However, although the class of anti-discrimination duty-bearers is broad, this does not mean that private duties exactly mirror the duties of the state. Instead, the scope for private discrimination to be justified – i.e. found to be fair – is generally broader than when the state is the discriminator. Courts are charged with determining the balance to be struck when private actors’ rights compete. I argue that this balance must be struck within PEPUDA’s section 14 fairness enquiry, which to date has been chronically neglected by litigants and courts
Illegal migration into South Africa and its National Security impact
(2021) Tau, Matlhomola Lesley
The main concern about the growing number of illegal or undocumented migrants moving into South Africa has been the influence on risks of this illegal migration to national security. The purpose of this research was to highlight the extent of illegal migration into South Africa and its impact on national security. As a result the study proposed policy and institutional options to address this problem. Through literature reviews, documentary analysis, interviews, and observation, it materialised that the South African government is fragmented in its efforts, without the required legislation, systems, capacity, and level of security require-to enforce compliance and to secure its borders. This compromises the border controls and exposes South Africa to illegal migration, resulting in conflicts between local citizens and migrants-and transnational crimes. South Africa should apply stronger governance measures to enhance the knowledge construct of these issues in the context of global and African development. Such measures may include clearly defined comprehensive, integrated, coordinated migration policies and practice, based on security, economic, social and development concerns
Infrastructure financing and bond markets development in sub-Saharan Africa
(2022) Mukoki, Paul Shepherd
This thesis explores how domestic public debt (bond) markets can be developed into viable mechanisms for closing the infrastructure funding gap existing in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. The infrastructure deficit in the SSA region is colossal and an impediment to its economic growth. To narrow the large deficits, Africa needs to bridge its infrastructure financing gap, estimated at US$62 billion annually until 2025. On the other hand, domestic public debt markets are seen as a potential funding source for filling this huge financing gap, but they are not considered well-developed. We first examined the relationship between bond markets development and the infrastructure gap in Sub-Saharan Africa. We employed the panel threshold regression (PTR) model on 40 countries covering 2003-2018 and documented a non-linear (single-triple) relationship between public debt market development and the infrastructure gap. We established that many of the fledgling government and corporate bond markets play a complementary role in the financing of infrastructure; and interestingly, with corporate public debt markets eliciting a greater reduction in the infrastructure financing gap than government public debt markets. We then used a cross-country survey approach on 8 SSA countries and nonparametric inferential statistics to investigate, first, the state of the public bond markets in SSA and, second, the ways by which their liquidity can be improved so that infrastructure investment can be enabled. The major conclusions from these survey results are: First, government yield curves do not provide a reliable benchmark for corporate bonds. Second, the government bond markets, which are expected to offer foundational mechanisms for establishing robust and effective yield curves, have remained underdeveloped. Commercial banks remain the predominant investorsin government bond markets, followed by nonbank financial institutions, and a few foreign investors, in that order. Third, except for South Africa, only 38% of the corporate bond markets in SSA are moderately developed; the rest are either developing (25%) or nascent (25%). Fourth, pension funds in many SSA countries have somewhat reformed to engage in infrastructure financing, though within statutory limits. Fifth, liquidity in government bond and corporate bond markets is relatively low in many countries, which in turn, limits infrastructure financing. Finally, we found that sophisticated financial instruments could facilitate infrastructure financing by deepening and fostering liquidity in domestic public debt markets. These instruments include infrastructure project bonds, diaspora bonds, green bonds, and vi securitised debt assets. An important part of this initiative involves increasing the sale of stateowned enterprise bonds and municipal bonds backed by guarantees from the government. The overall results show that the public debt markets in many of the surveyed SSA countries are underdeveloped and cannot significantly plug the infrastructure financing gap in the region unless substantial capital (especially public debt) markets growth and/or development are embarked upon.
Institutional racism and its oppression of the black employee’s economic freedom
(2021-11) Lubile, Nyota C.S
Institutional racism can be identified as a prominent factor, amongst numerous others, in the slow progression of the black population in the South African workplace. Consequently, due to the perpetual undermining of the black race and their professional capabilities, this leads to the rather slow (socio-) economic growth and progress of the black workforce and population in the long run. This report considers the extent to which institutional racism still has an impact on the (socio-) economic emancipation of the black worker which ultimately limits their standard of living. The origin of institutional racism from the colonial and apartheid era lay the foundation for the report, the effectiveness of corrective policies and legal frameworks are explored together with the elements of Critical Race Theory and how they are relevant to the issues pertaining to institutional racism in the workplace. Two areas that are specifically looked into are institutional racism against women and black women particularly as well as its presence in the legal profession. From a statistical perspective, theory is translated into numbers – the findings support and demonstrate how indeed there is a large gap between the saturation of the white race and the black race at different skills levels in the workplace as well as in business management and ownership in comparison to the economically active population of each race group. This corroborates the findings of the literary research in that systemic racism is still a major barrier to the elevation and progressions of the black population in the workplace and ultimately in their general standards of living
Language accessibility in academic publishing: the role of the editor in bridging the linguistic gap
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Tabata, Phindile
Accessibility to academic text has often been understood to refer to factors other than language, such as physically being able to access the text, which has led to discussions on open access systems. In this research, the question of accessibility refers to the editor’s understanding of the reader’s ability to comprehend academic text. The purpose of this research was to understand how editors of academic books consider the varying language backgrounds of South African academics. The research used the concept of the linguistic gap to identify the role of the editor in navigating the gap that exists between academic authors and their audience. The investigation made use of a qualitative research method, which included primary and secondary data collection. This was made up of literature that was consulted to build the literature review, along with the discussions with the participants. The data collection method of the research included the information gathered in the literature review, along with the interviews conducted with the research participants. This method was relevant to understanding the role of the editor in making academic text accessible, because it equipped the researcher to investigate the experiences of academic editors and publishers in ensuring that the text that is published is accessible to the reader. The study showed that there is definitely a gap that exists between the academic author and the reader. The cause of this gap was identified as being two-fold, the first cause being the miscommunication between first language and second language speakers of English. The second reason is the varying levels of education between the author and the reader. The research findings have shown that the role of the editor is to ensure that the message communicated by the author is seamlessly received by the reader. The editor exists within a balance of ensuring that they meet the editing brief that has been specified by the publisher, along with making sure that the author is satisfied with the edit conducted on the text and, lastly, ensuring that the reader is able to understand what is being communicated. Recommendations for further research include, picking up where this research left off, by including academic authors and readers of different levels in the study. This would provide a holistic view on the question of language accessibility in academic publishing.
Media Voices and Power: A decolonial analysis of black voices in the post-apartheid South African media landscape using City Press newspaper as an analytical focus
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-03) Mgibisa, Mbuyisi; Menon, Dilip; Daniels, Glenda
This study conducts a decolonial analysis of black voices in the post-apartheid South African media landscape using City Press newspaper as an analytical focus. For the purposes of this study, I have analysed four case studies linked to the mediation and meditation of black voices in the media and public sphere. First, this study explores the subjection of black voices inside the newsroom using the black-oriented newspaper, City Press, as an example. It assesses the structure of whiteness in that newspaper and interrogate whether it provided its black journalists with a room to write from the standpoint of “black perspective”. The second theme is an exploration and personal account of my lived experience in the typical South African neoliberal newsroom and an attempt to bring theory in order to figure out my lived experience. Third, this thesis focuses on forms of gendered and racialised forms of subjection posed by the silencing of voices of black women journalists in the South African mainstream media, including social media. And the fourth theme looks at the importance and significance of voice or speech in doing politics in the post-apartheid South Africa and interrogates how the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) has deployed its “radical black voice” through the concept of Black rage. The study utilises decolonial theory and Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness philosophy as a lens as it seeks to investigate how essentialised, racialised, politicised, gendered and lived are black voices in post 1994 South Africa media landscape and public sphere. This study, then, involves the critical analysis of four themes, all of which are integrally related. The main argument advanced in this thesis is that black voices continue to be subjected through the concept and function of coloniality. For this reason, the study not only historizes black voices as producers, users and custodians of knowledge but also situates their lived experiences. This study finds that even in the face of debilitating coloniality in our everyday lives, black voices persist through those politicised, gendered, racialised and lived negative forms of invisibility and marginalisation and think and speak from the perspective of blackness. Therefore, this thesis posits that black voices are a communicative plane on which blackness performs and articulate itself, for itself. Moreover, this study is a form of epistemic protest against systematic and systemic silencing of black voices and an attempt to counter efforts of rendering black people, in particular black women, speechless. The transdisciplinary methodological approach deployed here is, first and foremost, embedded in the theoretical framework and various methods and concepts will be operationalised to bring to light the complex and complicated nature of how black voices are mediated in the post-apartheid South African media landscape and public sphere. The interview method, which comprises a reflective commentary, and autoethnography are important components of this study. Additionally, the empirical findings through interview material, newspaper articles and tweeter feeds have been examined through discourse analysis and through the prism of the conceptual analytical tools deployed here.
Perceptions among Gauteng youth on the Tshepo skills empowerment initiative
(2023) Mahase, Agnes Nthabiseng
The youth have always grappled with under-development and unemployment during the apartheid era and they still face the same challenges under the constitutional democracy. To address youth unemployment and development the Gauteng Provincial Government established a flagship programme the Tshepo 1 million (T1M) Skills empowerment programme. At its inception (in 2014) it was meant to transform the lives of 500 000 unemployed youth in Gauteng and in June 2017, the Premier of Gauteng David Makhura extended the scope of this programme to 1 million with the aim of empowering 1 million youth to benefit from inclusive employment and inclusive economic participation. The primary focus of this study was on the perceptions of the youth in Gauteng about whether they perceive that the T1M programme as a mechanism that can be employed to address youth unemployment, the skills gap and lack of marketable skills. The literature review reveals that joblessness dampens young persons’ selfesteem and affects their interpersonal relations, often leading to total dependence on their families and despondency. The study used phenomenology, and qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews. To protect participants from contracting the Coronavirus, interviews were conducted telephonically. The study revealed that the youth perceive that there is a link between the qualifications, practical experience gathered from youth empowerment programme and youth employability. The researcher found that the youth who participated in the T1M programme believed that they only acquired job-readiness skills and were not offered any entrepreneurial skills. The study uncovered a myriad of challenges that if left unattended may thwart T1M’s youth empowerment initiatives. These challenges include lack of visibility, poor branding and marketing, non-existence of a funding model for youth-owned businesses, lack of entrepreneurial skills training and connecting the youth to job opportunities that are far from their residential areas. This research make recommendations on how the T1M programme can improve on how it rolls out its youth empowerment programme and increase its visibility within the province.
Rediscovering forgotten IsiXhosa women writers: the visibility of Letitia Kakaza and Victoria Swaartbooi in the history of IsiXhosa written literature
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Salayi, Tembakazi
The benefit of the study is that it will give insight into a period in our country that failed to recognize women in isiXhosa written literature. This is also the period Letitia Kakaza and Victoria Swaartbooi made history by being part of the first black women to publish a novel in isiXhosa. We are also able to explore a country where missionaries took control by manipulating black men and women to convert to Christianity. It is during these times that the Lovedale Press was produced and isiXhosa literature was developed. The history of isiXhosa written literature has largely concentrated on men's contributions to its development, with little mention of women's contributions. As a result, women were silenced and erased from public records. This thesis aims to make visible the identities of Kakaza and Swaartbooi by providing their biographical information and background information of the different institutions that they were part of. The study explores how both writers interrogate language, identity, womanism, and education in their writing. As part of the study, a film has been created that explores the themes that are discussed in the paper. This thesis and the accompanying film project, Ndokulandela, reimagine the histories and experiences of black women writers. By speaking back to narratives that erased women’s voices, this re-imagining sought to correct the lens that only maintained one view of the history of isiXhosa literature. The thesis also raises questions on how biographical films depict women's experiences. The film incorporates both the past and present by including letters and manuscripts by both Kakaza and Swaartbooi as well as the current isiXhosa women writer's experiences. The study will also trace the literature written by the women and an analysis will be conducted of their work. Based on the analysis of the three novels, Intyantyambo Yomzi (1913), UTandiwe wakwa Gcaleka (1914) and UMandisa (1975), the thesis examines the themes that Kakaza and Swaartbooi discussed as well as the political context of the early twentieth century. These books irradiate how both women viewed a woman’s life during the time as well as the idea of womanism.
Socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of double- burden malnutrition in South African households
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mahao, Lekoetse; Rossouw, Laura
This paper reviews the double-burden of malnutrition at the household-level, specifically mother-child double burden of malnutrition (MCDB) in South Africa. Nationally representative data from the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) was used. All five waves of NIDS (2008-2017) were used for descriptive statistics and to quantify the extent of inequality in MCDB using Erreygers’ Corrected Concentration Index. The most recent wave (wave 5, 2017) was used to determine the factors associated with inequality in MCDB using Wagstaff’s decomposition analysis. The results confirm the existence of MCDB in South Africa and indicate that the prevalence of MCDB was the highest in the third wave of NIDS (2012). However, there has been no consistent increase or decrease in the prevalence of MCDB across waves. Inequality in MCDB was the highest in wave 2 (2010 – 2011), with MCDB being disproportionately concentrated amongst the poor. Wagstaff’s decomposition analysis revealed that differences in the distribution of wealth was the biggest contributor to wealth-related inequality in MCDB. The findings of this study confirm the stated hypotheses, and suggest that inequality in MCDB is unfair and unjust. Addressing wealth inequality in the country may be a means to improving nutritional outcomes amongst vulnerable mothers and children. Policies aimed at addressing malnutrition should also target mothers, since mothers’ health and socioeconomic status affect children’s nutritional outcomes. Moreover, policies should not aggravate one form of malnutrition while attempting to address the other. Improving nutritional outcomes in the country may also be a means to impeding deleterious economic outcomes
The constitutionality of trophy hunting of threatened or protected listed species in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Lopes, Rui Jorge Coelho; Cameron, Justice Emeritus Edwin
Whilst South Africa continues to grapple with its radical levels of social and economic inequality within the country, the lucrativeness of natural resources forming part of the environment as a tool to bringing about redress to such inequalities becomes an ever-increasing consideration. Although there is merit in the statement that the use of natural resources may seek to alleviate social and economic inequality, our courts have already held that the provisions of section 24(b)(iii) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (the “Constitution”) are required to link and intertwine the concepts of conservation with sustainable use and development, for unfettered use of natural resources may not be regarded as sustainable, and will ultimately lead to the decline of ecological conservation and biodiversity. This has, however, contributed to the increase in human-wildlife conflict and the increase in consumptive and extractive use practices in relation to the natural resources of the environment, and the consideration of trophy hunting, and in particular the trophy hunting of Threatened and Protected Species (“TOPS Species”) is not separate n or excluded from this consideration and the ultimate impact such has on biodiversity loss and ecological degradation. The continued race to the bottom of species both locally and globally, coupled with the vested financial gains sought to be obtained from the increased rarity of species subjected to trophy 3 hunts, seeks to bring into question whether the engaging or permitting of the trophy hunting of TOPS Species may fall foul of the provisions of section 24 of the Constitution. Accordingly, this research report seeks to consider the constitutionality of the trophy hunting of TOPS Species and how this practice is required to be viewed through the constitutional lens under which it takes place

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