4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions
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Item Azibuye Emasisweni: Exploring Everyday Notions of Zulu Nationalism Through the Women in the Hostels of Alexandra Township(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Makhathini, Sinqobile; Mngomezulu, NosiphoThis thesis explores the lives of four women who ethnically identify as Zulu within the hostels of Alexandra. Hostels, which refer to the housing compounds that were established as ethnically segregated and gender-distinguished spheres for the colonial migrant labour system, have become an essential axis for Zulu nationalist revival away from Kwa-Zulu Natal. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, I examine how Mam’Dlamini (57 years), the Nduna of Madala hostel and three hostel residents: Nokukhanya (23years), Mam’Nzama (55 years), Nokwazi (21 years), engage and shape forms of Zulu nationalism within their everyday life. I further engaged in autoethnography, whereby I positioned myself as the fifth participant, undertaking self-reflexivity about my identification as a Zulu woman. My work is invested in ukuzwa ngenkaba, listening with the umbilical cord, which is to say, centring African epistemologies in the ways we research (Mkhize 2023). In this way, I think through Fox and Miller-Idriss’ (2008) four modalities of everyday nationhood (talking, choosing, consuming and performing the nation) within Zulu conceptual frames. In my research, I found that in “talking the nation'' women used ulimi and ukuncelisa both literally and figuratively to signal membership and centre the role of mothers in shaping Zulu subjectivity. The framing of choices as national is understood by participants as more than individual articulations of personal agency but importantly incorporates inherited traditions. Ordinary people are not simply uncritical consumers of the nation; they are simultaneously its creative producers through everyday acts of consumption (Fox et al 2008, 505). My research shows how rituals become fertile sites for enacting Zulu personhood through specific forms of consumption and production. Performing the nation was evidenced through the women’s embodied expressions of inhlonipho. These themes have allowed for the understanding of how women do not remain hidden within notions of co-constituting but rather preserve this order from and beyond their matriarchal hold of the hostel.Item The effectiveness of the Gauteng Informal Business Upliftment Strategy on spaza shops operating in the Alexandra Township, South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-03) Buthelezi, Jabulani; Motsepe, DikgangThe competitiveness and profitability of spaza shops owned by South Africans which operate in townships has been eroded by the settling of large retailers and immigrant owned spaza shops. With this challenge in mind, the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED) developed the Gauteng Informal Business Upliftment Strategy GIBUS). The overarching objective of this policy is to develop informal businesses such that they become more productive, competitive, profitable and are able to create employment (GIBUS, 2015). Spaza shops that operate in the Alexandra Township are faced with unbearable competition due to the large retailers that have settled into both the Pan African and the Alexandra Mall. This challenge as experienced by South African spaza shop owners has also been exacerbated by the infiltration of immigrant owned spaza shops. In this regard, the purpose of this research study is to examine the effectiveness of the GIBUS in improving the competitiveness and profitability of spaza shops owned by South Africans in the Alexandra Township. This research study follows a positivism paradigm. Quantitative research techniques were used for the purpose of data collection and analysis. The research design applied is cross- sectional. A questionnaire was used for the purposes of data collection and non-random purposive sampling was applied as a sampling strategy. The results from this research study indicate that for the majority of the respondents, their revenue did not increase and that they were also not able to create employment opportunities. This is against the backdrop of them having received both non-financial and financial support from the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller. Therefore, the support received did not assist them into being more competitive and profitable. This research study recommends that the both the non-financial and the financial programmes of the GIBUS be amended and be implemented more rigorously. In addition to this, accompanying initiatives to both the financial and non-financial programmes are recommendedItem Sound Incubator: South African Music Library; Improv and Live Performance at the gateway to Alexandra, Johannesburg(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-02) Gimpel, Ariella; Hart, BrendanSound is not just an abstract concept; it is an instrument of expression in South Africa. It serves as a means to praise or protest, to unite or disperse, to energize or to mourn. Sound is not confined to a vacuum; rather, it exists within the realm of physical space and unfolds over time. In this regard, sound and architecture share an intrinsic connection as they both occupy and shape the spaces they inhabit. This thesis embarks on a journey to unravel the intricate interplay between sound and architecture within the dynamic context of Johannesburg, South Africa. The focal point of this exploration is the ‘Sound Incubator,’ a speculative architectural intervention designed to facilitate live performances. Its purpose is to foster artistic talent by deliberately intersecting diverse artists, thereby igniting creativity and safeguarding cultural heritage. My investigation commences with South African music and live performance, recognizing their immense cultural, social, and economic potential while acknowledging the scarcity of suitable venues for these experiences. I then delve into the essential architectural considerations, encompassing acoustics, psycho-acoustics, psychogeography, the symbiotic relationship between music and architecture, and the role of improvisation as a means of creation and learning. Amidst the intricate tapestry of Alexandra township in Johannesburg, a community shaped by ongoing political struggles and rapid urbanisation, we find a resourceful, rhythmical, and diverse population deeply committed to the arts. The current and historic soundscape of Alexandra, which exists in an improvised state of survival – provides the ideal context for the Sound Incubator.