4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions
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Item Woman to woman empowerment in the corporate environment of Eswatini(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Sikiti, Nomahlubi Nontsikelelo; Sieff, GrantThis study was pursued to find and establish characteristics of woman-to-woman empowerment in the corporate world of Eswatini and how these characteristics may contribute to economic redevelopment and business growth. Women empowerment has been the conversation for a while but there have been little said about women empowering each other and how that benefits an organisation. With women having been the marginalised group in society, this study sought to find what women are doing to empower each other, what hinderances they face in the journey, and what benefit they bring to business by empowering each other. The research was conducted based on transformational leadership theory and behavioural leadership theory, linking it to the shine theory. The research followed the qualitative research design with a focus on interpretivism and the narrative type of research study, data was collected through interviews from a sample of 15 women who occupy different levels of authority within their organisations. The data collected was then coded utilising thematic analysis and to develop the overarching themes of the study. The key findings were that there were still a few women represented in positions of power in the country which in effect led to the difficulty in evaluating woman-to-woman empowerment and the benefits it has yielded for organisations. The women that were found to be involved in empowering activities, were involved in such outside of their organisations mostly directed to young girls and then a few to women in professional groupings. The study concluded that because women are still underrepresented in leadership, it is important for company executives, men included, to advocate for and foster beneficial relationship amongst the women at all levels of their organisations by encouraging fellow female empowerment as the inclusion of women in leadership brings about diversity in decision making which benefits the organisationItem A renewable energy solution for small to large businesses in the Kingdom of Eswatin(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Manana, Cusilakhe; Mondi, LumkileThe Kingdom of Eswatini’s electricity supply is not self-sufficient and relies on the import of electricity to meet its local demand. This has resulted in the country importing 73% of its electricity from foreign suppliers including South Africa, Mozambique, and the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). This heavy reliance on imports means the country cannot guarantee future supply nor have full control of the tariffs charged to customers for electricity. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology installations have seen a steady increase worldwide due to improved efficiency in technology performance and a decrease in the cost of the technology. These advancements have resulted in solar technology becoming cheaper than traditional sources of energy available to consumers. The business venture investigates the viability of using solar technology as a solution to the high electricity costs being paid by small to large businesses within Eswatini. The venture aims to install, own, operate, and maintain solar PV plants at the customer’s property and sell the generated power to the customer. The venture does not seek to replace the utility supply but aims to provide an alternative cheaper solution as an input into operations. The business venture proposal targeted small to large businesses from varying industries across the country as respondents for the study. In the study, the market perception towards solar technology as well as consumer behavior analyzed to assist in formulating a business model for the venture which would ensure uptake of the value offering. Furthermore, the business venture investigated the viability of the project by evaluating performance parameters which included the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the solar plants, cash flows, Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and the Net Present Value (NPV)Item The ‘social life’ of digital money: User experiences of mobile money in Manzini, Eswatini and Masvingo, Zimbabwe(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Mavodza, Emma; Katsaura, Obvious; Kenny, BridgetDigital financial service innovations have long been hailed as a catalyst for financial inclusion and empowerment for the unbanked (Beck, et al, 2007; Anderlone and Vandone, 2010; Johnson and Arnold, 2012; Lahaye, et al. 2015; Jack and Suri, 2016; Dermiguc-Kunt et al, 2018; World Bank, 2018;). However, most of these studies assume that the current state of exclusion and lack of access to transformative financial services is a natural state in these communities. While socio-anthropological perspectives have helped to acknowledge the place of money in the socioeconomic lives of communities (Granovetter,1985; Callon, 1998; Zelizer, 1997; Comaroff and Comaroff, 2005; 2010; 2012; Maurer, 2008; Dodd, 2014), digital financial service innovations remain a bewilderment to many who attempts to understand them. Therefore, to examine the social life of mobile money, I gathered data for this qualitative study (in 2018 and 2019) in selected informal markets in Manzini where money supply and financial institutions are stable but inaccessible to many and Masvingo where liquidity constraints are the new order of the day. My qualitative analysis of the social life of mobile money from the global South is based on the in-depth interviews, photo voice and observational data sets. Drawing from a range of literature and my empirical data on the social cultural aspects of money, I argue that mobile money usage in the informal market spaces was articulated and imagined through existing social meanings, and it was used within specific socio-cultural constraints. The thesis presents this through an examination of four overarching themes; namely, mobile money sociality at the backdrop of informality and precarity, mechanisms of building trust and solidarity, the gendered layers of mobile money usage as well as the subtle, unscripted ways employed by participants to resist subjectification and full financialisation of their everyday lives. An important finding of this study is how mobile money continues to play a critical role in the ways through which these communities’ monetary repertoires are produced, historicised, and reproduced. Drawing on the evidence I gathered, I argue that, despite their assumed vulnerability, informal market participants were not docile adopters of mobile money but rather active constructors of their own digital money usage footprints in ways not envisaged by the service providers at inception. They showcased great ingenuity through their established cultural habits and sacred traditions on money use. Therefore, instead of taking assumed and imagined vulnerability as incapacitation and lack of agency, this study has implication for financial policy that focuses on the individual and mundane financial practices of the unbanked as critical for building transformative financial behaviours among this resourceful population segment. This research contributes to an understanding of how informal markets workers make sense of mobile money as they incorporate it in alignment with existing social meanings and existing financial practices at the backdrop of socio-economic precarity. Therefore, I bring new qualitative evidence and analysis from the global South to expand the definition of social life of digital money and financial inclusion (Ahmad et al., 2020). The study also highlights how the ubiquitous proliferation of mobile money and its intimate ties to the social lives of the participants has precipitated the rise of new forms of voluntary, freely given unwaged, immaterial labour which is unconsciously performed by the users as a collective.Item Foraging for Earth: resurrecting the heritage of ochre through land reparation of an iron ore mine(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) O'Maker, Simone; Felix, SandraThis thesis aims to extract concepts, ideologies and theories viable to the rights of land. To rewrite a set of spatial relations that deeply grapple with the remnants of the Ngwenya mountain, in an iron-ore mine within the Kingdom of Eswatini, as an archaeological, cultural, ecological and geographical site. Foraging for Earth aims to mend its wounds that gives back the earth its dignity. It questions what architecture arises from seeing the land as a living being and to what extent it can form a relationship with a post-mined landscape. The concept of the design is derived from the site’s scar, a palimpsest of narratives rooted to memory, decay, healing and regeneration, and thereby interprets reparative strategies into a living archive that aims to reclaim what the landscape used to be. The program includes an earth reparation facility, a knowledge-sharing centre, an ochre sanctuary, craft studio and a sculpture garden. Constant visual and physical engagement encourages one to be aware of the land’s rich narrative.