3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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    Counsellor's views of diversity and difference in an NGO counselling environment
    (2016) Reeves, Anne Elizabeth
    The topic of this research is lay counsellors’ attitudes towards difference in an NGO organization that offers a counselling service based on Carl Rogers’ Person-Centred approach. South Africa post-apartheid is a fragmented and traumatized society and attempts at redressing past inequities have largely overlooked the mental health care sector. As a result, NGO’s are increasingly having to fill the gap, with little co-ordination with or co-operation from professional mental health care practitioners. With critical race theory as a theoretical point of departure, Lacau and Mouffe’s discourse theory was used to analyze results from in-depth semi structured interviews with counsellors at an NGO in Johannesburg. The findings confirmed that counsellors’ attitudes towards difference are shaped by their and the client’s racialized identities, with the adherence to Rogerian principles and the need to be a ‘good’ counsellor, foreclosing any opportunity to critically examine subject positions and the role of history in how such positions are constructed. The introduction of a training component that includes historical analysis and courageous conversations about difference would better equip counsellors to carry the burden of complex presenting issues from a diverse clientele.
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    The impact of board structures on intellectual capital performance in South Africa: An empirical investigation
    (2014-03-06) Vermeulen, Katinka
    The well documented agency problem remains an ongoing debate, with the board as a central point of corporate governance providing a control mechanism. The effective composition and functioning of the board is therefore highlighted as being key to overcoming agency‐problems (Hermalin and Weisback, 2003; Adams and Ferreira, 2009). This research report explores the relationship between the structural aspects of the board, including the average age of board members, the size of the board of directors and the specific positions women and ethnic persons hold on the board of South African listed companies, and intellectual capital performance measured using VAIC™ (Pulic, 2000), as well as market adjusted share returns. The population consists of all South African companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange during 2011 with the final sample consisting of 193 companies after transformation of the data. The results of the regression analyses indicated no significant relationship between intellectual capital performance and board size, or specific positions being held by women or ethnic persons. A significant positive relationship however exists between the average age of the board of directors and intellectual capital performance. As a result, companies may be able to enhance their intellectual capital performance by increasing the average age of their board members. Key words: Board structure, Diversity, Ethnic, Gender, Age, Board size, Intellectual capital, Performance, South Africa.
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    The impact of language diversity on the right to fair trial in international criminal proceedings
    (2013-07-12) Namakula, Catherine Stella; ;
    The Impact of Language Diversity on the Right to Fair Trial in International Criminal Proceedings is a study that explores the influence of the dynamic factor of language on fair trial at the international level and during domestic prosecution of international crimes. Chapter 5 constitutes a case study of the International Crimes Division of the High Court of Uganda, a contemporary specialised ‗court‘ emerging within the framework of the statute of the International Criminal Court, by virtue of the principle of complementarity. By way of empirical research, interviewing and jurisprudential analysis, It is sought to assess the implications of conducting a trial in more than one language, on due process. This thesis reveals that the language debate is as old as international criminal justice, but due to misrepresentation of the status of language fair trial rights in international law, the debate has not yielded concrete reforms. Language is the core foundation for justice. It is the means through which the rights of the accused are realised. Linguistic complexities such as misunderstandings, failures in translation and cultural distance among participants in international criminal trials affect courtroom communication, the presentation and the perception of the evidence hence challenging the foundations of trial fairness. In conclusion, language fair trial rights are priority rights situated in the minimum guarantees of fair criminal trial; the obligation of the court to ensure fair trial or accord the accused person a fair hearing comprises the duty to guarantee linguistic rights. This thesis also entails recommendations on how to address the phenomenon.
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    An investigation of the support offered by the institution level support team to the foundation phase teachers in a single school in Johannesburg.
    (2010-09-02) Tebid, Celyne Ambeck
    Some of the major difficulties encountered in embracing an inclusive education system are, lack of commitment, lack of resources as well as a poor understanding of how to support successful inclusion. The Education White Paper 6 (here after referred to as EWP6) states that, all children can learn, should be supported to learn and assured of equal and equitable education. The implementation of inclusion has been initiated by the EWP 6 (Department of Education, 2001) and is still in the process of developing the necessary education support services. At the school level, an institution level support team (ILST) should serve as a means of supporting learners experiencing learning difficulties. This study examined the perceptions of foundation phase teachers regarding the support they are getting from the ILST as well as finding out whether collaboration between the above mentioned bodies can help in addressing the issue of learner diversity in an inclusive classroom. The investigation was conducted at a school in the Northern suburb of Johannesburg. The foundation phase teachers and some members of the ILST were purposively included as participants. A case study design was chosen since this would allow for in-depth examination of the perceptions of foundation phase teachers regarding the support they are getting from their (ILST). The data collection process included questionnaires, oral follow up interviews, document analysis and observation. The data collected from the above sources has been analyzed according to themes and subthemes that emerged. The findings of the study show that, there is little or no collaboration between the foundation phase teachers and the ILST. It was also evident that the foundation phase teachers collaborate immensely amongst themselves in sharing ideas on how to support learners in their classrooms. Lastly, it was apparent that the support given to the foundation phase teachers was done solely by the learning support educator and not as a team with the other members of the ILST. The ILST on their part did not take time to actually define their roles in terms of how they would be functioning in rendering support to the foundation phase teachers. Based on the findings in this study, recommendations are made as to how to effectively support teachers as well as improve collaboration among all stake holders involved in inclusive practices.
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    Contested spaces: an analysis of the ANC government's approach to the promotion of media development and diversity in South Africa, with a particular focus on the policy process that led to the formation of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MIDDA).
    (2006-10-26T08:25:00Z) Skinner, Katherine Mary Alicia
    The dissertation tracks the media development and diversity policy positions of the South African government with a particular focus on the establishment of the Media Development and Diversity Agency. It tracks the reasons for the reduction in the Agency’s funding and the curtailing of its mandate. The dissertation argues that a powerful coalition of forces including the commercial media sector and the Department of Finance (now National Treasury) impacted on the policy process to drive government thinking in a more market-driven direction. It explores the implications of this market thinking for the deepening of media development and diversity in the country. Further, the research looks at an alternative critical political economy of the media vision – firstly, in terms of how this vision was scuppered in the policy process, but also how it might be resurrected. The critical political economy of the media school argues that development and diversity issues are not unproblematically served by the market and commercially driven media systems. Critical political economists of the media call for a number of state intervention including anti-monopoly legislation, subsidies for struggling more marginalised media sectors and so forth. Also, they call for the development of a core non-commodified, citizenship-orientated and inclusive public service media sector.
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