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

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    The claim for urban space and the problem of exclusion: the perception of outsiders' rights by communities affected by xenophobic violence in contemporary South Africa
    (2012-08-21) Ogunyemi, Samson
    This research is located in the broader body of literature and activity that have sought to comprehend the xenophobic violence of 2008 in South Africa and the persistence of this phenomenon, especially in poor locales of the main urban areas. The primary objective is to explore the perceptions that South Africans have of the rights of those people designated as outsiders and/or foreigners who live in areas that have experienced xenophobic violence targeting foreigners as well as people of South African minority ethnic groups. This study attempts to unpack the discourse of insider versus outsider rights within South African communities in relation to South Africa’s recent history - the xenophobic violence of 2008. Notably, it examines the challenge brought about by the crushing of space and time as an effect of globalization and how this has contributed to the process of multi-culturalism and multi-ethnicity that local communities are largely unprepared to cope with. This study contributes to the understanding of “otherness” as a key issue to design and implement better policies and practices that are necessary to promote the social and spatial inclusion of international migrants in Africa and the world. The empirics of this study give credence to the view that migrants’ rights operate at the rhetorical level, largely due to the lack of political will to translate them into actual benefits. The study specifically looks at two communities affected by xenophobic violence - Tembisa and Alexandra. Focusing on South Africans, the study draws on information gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews and group discussions carried out from July through October 2011. The findings are examined through thematic content analysis.
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    Perceptions of social development by senior officials in the National Department of Social Development, South Africa.
    (2011-06-22) Mohamed, Zaheera
    The primary purpose of this study was to ascertain how senior government officials employed within the Department of Social Development in South Africa perceived the social development approach to social welfare. The study was confined to the national Department of Social Development and nine senior government officials were interviewed, all of them employed in different work streams but related to social development policy development. A semi-structured interview schedule comprising of open-ended questions was utilised to collect information. A deductive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The main findings that emerged from the study were that senior managers employed within the national Department of Social Development had a good understanding of the social development approach to social welfare. They were familiar with the key characteristics, goals, strategies and linkages between social and economic development. Senior government officials also noted progress with the implementation of the social development approach and identified that social policies were largely aligned to this approach. In terms of challenges, senior government officials identified a range of challenges impacting on the implementation of the social development approach and this ranged from the lack of a common understanding of social development within broader government, inappropriate social service workforce, poor coordination and integration, inadequate leadership and an inadequate monitoring and evaluation system to measure social development progress. Senior government officials identified a range of suggestions to improve on the implementation of the social development approach. One of the suggestions was the development of an overarching social development strategic framework to guide the social development approach and acknowledge it as government’s chosen approach to social welfare. Many suggestions related to enhancing the capabilities of social service professionals and this included the development of a social service policy framework, enhanced engagement between higher education institutions and the Department of Social Development to ensure relevant curriculum. The findings of the study recommends a series of interventions to be implemented by the national Department of Social Development such as the development of an overarching social development strategic framework as suggested by senior government officials, an audit of policies to assess alignment with the social development approach and a review of its’ consultation processes. The findings of the study identify a need to replicate this research at provincial level to ascertain how the social development approach is understood and implemented at the point of service delivery.
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    An exploratory study in service quality at selected South African vehicle dealerships
    (2006-11-16T11:39:02Z) Kwei, Francis; Hoh, Yin
    This research uses the SERVQUAL instrument developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry to evaluate the level of service quality perceived by customers at selected vehicle service dealerships in the country. In general, none of the dealerships’ performance meets or exceeds the customers’ expectation. The hypothesis of “customers view selected South African vehicle service dealerships as having equal levels of service quality” is not disproved. Findings of this research coincide with that of Cronin and Taylor; indicating that measuring perception scores has a higher internal consistency than measuring the difference between expectation and perception scores. In addition, respondents consider “reliability” as the most important aspect in service quality while dealerships perform the worst in this area. Finally, the discrepancy between customers’ expectations and managements’ perception on such expectations contribute partially to the overall service quality gap and further research should investigate the other gaps that broaden the overall service quality gap.
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