The Social, Environmental and Economic Factors Leading to the Degradation of the Sacred Sites in the Eastern Free State, South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenosi Maholela ◽  
Chitja Twala
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Free State ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Sacred Sites ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Eastern Free State

The empirical reality of project management failures in the construction of social housing projects in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-435
Author(s):  
Christopher Amoah ◽  
Kahilu Kajimo-Shakantu ◽  
Tanya van Schalkwyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Free State ◽  
Project Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Project Deliverables ◽  
The Government ◽  
Project Objectives

Purpose The concept of government reconstruction development programme (RDP) social housing in South Africa was rolled out in 1994 after the African National Congress Government came to power when the apartheid rule was abolished. The main aim of the government was to enhance the lifestyles of the poor in society through the provision of houses that they could not afford in the open market. However, many concerns have been reported about the social housing project in terms of poor project implementation and the delivery of deliverables that do not befit the need of the end-users. This study aims to assess the flaws in the application of project management (PM) principles in the construction of these social houses. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach was adopted for the study by making use of closed- and open-ended questionnaires to collect data from 1,893 social housing inhabitants in Bloemfontein, Free State. Descriptive statistics and R programming language software were used to analyse the data collected. Findings The findings reveal that there was a profound failure in the application of PM principles in the construction of the social houses leading to the provision of deliverables that do not meet the needs of the beneficiaries. There are also poor project deliverables and lack of consultations that could have probably been prevented had proper PM systems been put in place by the government throughout the project lifecycle. This lack of proper PM philosophies has generated dissatisfaction among the beneficiaries leading to numerous complaints about the social housing programme. Research limitations/implications The survey was done in only RDP housing communities in Bloemfontein in the Free State Province of South Africa; however, the result may be applicable in other RDP housing programmes. Practical implications The empirical results indicate that the government has been providing houses with disregard to project objectives by not instituting an appropriate PM systems; hence, the main objective of providing befitting houses to the less privileged to enhance their living conditions has woefully failed, as the inhabitants do not see any improvement of their social standings after receiving the houses. This means the government might have wasted resources as a result of ineffective PM throughout the project implementation. Originality/value This study has identified PM flaws in the construction of the RDP houses, which have led to poor project deliverables. This study thus gives recommendations with regard to proper PM strategies for the implementation of the same or similar project in the future to achieve project objectives.

A comparison of mud- and sand-dominated meanders in a downstream coarsening reach of the mixed bedrock-alluvial Klip River, eastern Free State, South Africa

2006 ◽  
Vol 190 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 213-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M. Marren ◽  
Terence S. McCarthy ◽  
Stephen Tooth ◽  
Dion Brandt ◽  
Glenn G. Stacey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Free State ◽  
Eastern Free State

scholarly journals Sedimentology and ichnology of the Mafube dinosaur track site (Lower Jurassic, eastern Free State, South Africa): a report on footprint preservation and palaeoenvironment

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Sciscio ◽  
Emese M. Bordy ◽  
Mhairi Reid ◽  
Miengah Abrahams
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Free State ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Morphological Variations ◽  
Low Viscosity ◽  
Vertebrate Tracks ◽  
Bedding Surface ◽  
Eastern Free State

Footprint morphology (e.g., outline shape, depth of impression) is one of the key diagnostic features used in the interpretation of ancient vertebrate tracks. Over 80 tridactyl tracks, confined to the same bedding surface in the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation at Mafube (eastern Free State, South Africa), show large shape variability over the length of the study site. These morphological differences are considered here to be mainly due to variations in the substrate rheology as opposed to differences in the trackmaker’s foot anatomy, foot kinematics or recent weathering of the bedding surface. The sedimentary structures (e.g., desiccation cracks, ripple marks) preserved in association with and within some of the Mafube tracks suggest that the imprints were produced essentially contemporaneous and are true dinosaur tracks rather than undertracks or erosional remnants. They are therefore valuable not only for the interpretation of the ancient environment (i.e., seasonally dry river channels) but also for taxonomic assessments as some of them closely resemble the original anatomy of the trackmaker’s foot. The tracks are grouped, based on size, into two morphotypes that can be identified asEubrontes-like andGrallator-like ichnogenera. The Mafube morphotypes are tentatively attributable to large and small tridactyl theropod trackmakers, possibly toDracovenatorandCoelophysisbased on the following criteria: (a) lack of manus impressions indicative of obligate bipeds; (b) long, slender-digits that are asymmetrical and taper; (c) often end in a claw impression or point; and (d) the tracks that are longer than broad. To enable high-resolution preservation, curation and subsequent remote studying of the morphological variations of and the secondary features in the tracks, low viscosity silicone rubber was used to generate casts of the Mafube tracks.

Developing epistemic impartiality to deliver on justice in higher education South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 174619792110486
Author(s):  
Siseko H Kumalo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Institutional Autonomy ◽  
Public Accountability ◽  
Institutional Governance ◽  
Epistemic Justice ◽  
The Social

In South Africa, the scholarship of epistemic justice has taken on an historical gaze with higher education framed as a social institution that might ameliorate the historical traumas of colonialism. Undoing the legacies of colonialism has been framed as the democratisation of the knowledge project. Using the White Paper 3 of 1997 that posits academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability as fundamental to institutional governance, in part I of this analysis I broadened public accountability to include the social, political and economic factors that inhibit or act as catalyst to the attainment of educational desire. In this second part publication, I am interested in developing and proposing epistemic impartiality. This concept is developed from Mitova’s proposition of ‘decolonising knowledge without too much relativism’, which ultimately fosters epistemic justice through rigorously scrutinising each epistemic tradition. My suggestion is that epistemic impartiality enables dialogue between divergent traditions.

Hepatozoon langii n. sp. and Hepatozoon vacuolatus n. sp. (Apicomplexa: Adele­orina: Hepatozoidae) from the crag lizard (Sauria: Cordylidae) Pseudocordylus langi from the North Eastern Drakensberg escarpment, Eastern Free State, South Africa

Zootaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3608 (5) ◽  
pp. 345-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHANN VAN AS ◽  
ANGELA J. DAVIES ◽  
NICO J. SMIT
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
The Other ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Giemsa Staining ◽  
Free State ◽  
Mixed Infections ◽  
The North ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Eastern Free State

Two new haemogregarine species, Hepatozoon langii n. sp. and Hepatozoon vacuolatus n. sp., are described from the pe-ripheral blood of the high altitude crag lizard, Pseudocordylus langi, collected between October 2006 and April 2009 from the North Eastern Drakensberg, Eastern Free State. Hepatozoon langii n. sp. has maturing and mature gamonts that appear encapsulated and have narrow, curved tails. Their cytoplasm stains pinkish-purple with Giemsa, while their nuclei are pur-ple stained with stranded chromatin. Mature gamonts measure 19.1 ± 1.0 (15.4–28.1) μm long by 6.2 ± 1.1 (3.5–7.9) μm wide. Hepatozoon vacuolatus n. sp. gamonts are mostly broader at one pole than the other, have bluish-pink cytoplasm characterised by distinctive rounded and oval vacuoles, and demonstrate pink granules with Giemsa staining. Nuclei stain purple and are mainly coarsely granular. Mature gamonts measure 16.5 ± 1.0 (14.7 - 17.6) μm long by 5.9 ± 1.2 (4.0 - 7.7) μm wide. Both species parasitize erythroblasts, as well as erythrocytes and can dehaemoglobinize the cytoplasm of their host cells. Hepatozoon langii n. sp occurred in the absence of H. vacuolatus n. sp., but the latter haemogregarine always formed mixed infections with the former; no stages intermediate between the two haemogregarine types were observed.

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