DESIGN OF A CAPABILITY MATURITY FRAMEWORK (CMF) FOR RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT (RIM) IN RURAL MUNICIPALITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Author(s):  
Luyanda Lulu Ngomane ◽  
Nthatisi Supervisor Khatleli

Cities worldwide are often faced with manpower capacity deficits to develop and manage infrastructure. There remain discrepancies between global SDG aspirations and national realities in most Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries in achieving universal access to services by 2030. Service provision in South African municipalities has been beset by deficient engineering skills (ES) and infrastructure management (IM) capabilities as a result. IM capabilities are crucial enablers for continuous service provision. Yet, on the contrary, in South Africa, nearly 58% of all engineering professionals are found in metropolitan municipalities, with some 9% placed in urban municipalities. Furthermore, 67% of all the professionals, technicians, and engineers in the municipal system countrywide are employed in only 27 of the 257 municipalities. There is a notable lack of resilient IM in South African rural (category B4) municipalities. Likewise, current Capability Maturity Models (CMM) are rendered inappropriate for rural municipalities. Thus, this on-going research contends for prominent structural shifts in improving IM capabilities in rural municipalities, arguing that previous engineering capacity building programmes omitted the resilience component in their design parameters. The on-going study aims to design a capability maturity framework for resilient IM in rural municipalities following sequential multi-data collection procedures, pilot interviews with experts, then a survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze the survey data and thematic analysis for analyzing the qualitative data. In terms of contribution to academia, it is hoped that the on-going study would assist category B4 municipalities to close the resilience gap in infrastructure management.

1980 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 129-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. DeMarle

Construction of an iceberg processing plant at Saldanha Bay, Republic, of South Africa, is proposed. A reservoir would be constructed at Rieibaai for ice storage. Tidal forces would be harnessed to pump the warm water of Saldanha Lagoon over heat exchangers (using ammonia or propane gas as a heat exchange medium), thus providing power for electrical generators and for melting ice. A functional analysis of operations is presented, together with proposed costs. It is suggested that the fresh water and electricity produced by this system will cost 6¢/m3 and 3¢/kwH, respectively.


Author(s):  
Eleanor M. Fox ◽  
Mor Bakhoum

This chapter explores South African competition law. South Africa has the most sophisticated system of competition law and policy in sub-Saharan Africa. It has a mission to expand economic opportunity and facilitate inclusive development. In the wake of the UN Millennium Development Goals and the follow-on Sustainable Development Goals, there is a new world consciousness of the need to combat deep systemic poverty and to reverse the tide of increasing inequality of wealth, income, and opportunity. If there is any nation in the world whose competition law mandates integration of equity and efficiency, it is South Africa, and its policymakers are intent to address this need. The chapter looks at the South African Competition Act and highlights selected cases to illustrate the law and its implementation, including the effort by the Competition Tribunal to give serious regard to the equality and inclusiveness values that animated the statute.


Author(s):  
Gabriel Mhonyera ◽  
Ermie Steenkamp ◽  
Marianne Matthee

Background: Regional trade could be a powerful engine of economic growth and sustainable job creation. However, South Africa’s exports to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are typically smaller and more short-lived than its exports to its traditional markets. This is despite South African policymakers considering trade with SSA to be a priority. Aim: The aim of the article is to evaluate South Africa’s utilisation of sustained export potential in SSA with a view to providing practical insights that will inform future policymaking and planning. Setting: Despite the priority attention given to SSA in the country’s trade policy, South Africa is yet to make meaningful inroads into SSA’s largest and fastest-growing economies. Method: The research method applied comprised three steps. The first step involved the identification, over a five-year period from 2010 to 2014, of consistently large and/or growing import demand in SSA for all products at the Harmonised System (HS) six-digit level, as well as the identification of products South Africa consistently exported competitively (sustainable exports). The second step entailed matching SSA markets with consistently large and/or growing import demand to South Africa’s sustainable exports. The third step involved evaluating South Africa’s utilisation of sustained export potential in SSA. Results: The results reveal that South Africa is utilising just over half (54%) of its sustained export potential in SSA. Conclusion: South Africa is, therefore, underutilising or not utilising close to 50% of its sustained export potential in SSA. Most of the export potential that South Africa is utilising is in Eastern Africa while most of the export potential that the country is underutilising and not utilising at all is in Central and Western Africa.


10.28945/4080 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 165-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiden J Walton ◽  
Kevin A. Johnston

Aim/Purpose: This paper explored the factors (enablers and barriers) that affect Bitcoin adoption in South Africa, a Sub-Saharan country with the high potential for Bitcoin adoption. Background: In recent years, Bitcoin has seen a rapid growth as a virtual cryptocurrency throughout the world. Bitcoin is a protocol which allows value to be exchanged over the internet without a central bank or intermediary. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are technological tools that arguably can contribute to reducing transactions costs. This paper explored the factors that affect Bitcoin adoption in South Africa, a Sub-Saharan country with the high potential for Bitcoin adoption, as little is known about the factors that affect Bitcoin adoption and the barriers to adoption. Methodology: A quantitative questionnaire was distributed to South African virtual communities where Bitcoin is a topic of interest, and 237 quantitative responses were received, along with 212 open-ended comments. Contribution: This research contributes to the body of knowledge in information systems by providing insights into factors that affect Bitcoin adoption in South Africa. It raises awareness of incentives and barriers to Bitcoin adoption at a time when financial literacy is a crucial issue both in South Africa and worldwide. Findings: The results indicate that perceived benefit, attitude towards Bitcoin, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control directly affected the participants’ intentions to use Bitcoin. Perceived benefit, usefulness, ease of use, and trust-related risk were found to indirectly affect intention to use Bitcoin. Further, it emerges that the barriers to Bitcoin adoption in South Africa consist of the complex nature of Bitcoin and its high degree of volatility. Recommendations for Practitioners: Bitcoin can contribute to reducing transactions costs, but factors that affect adoption and the barriers to adoption should be taken into consideration. These findings can inform systems and software developers to develop applications that make managing Bitcoin keys and transacting using Bitcoin less complex and more intuitive for end users. Recommendation for Researchers: Bitcoin adoption in South Africa is a topic that has not been previously researched. Researchers could research similarities or differences in the various constructs that were used in this research model. Impact on Society: South African Bitcoin users consider it as a universal currency that makes cross-border payments cheaper. A large number of refugees and workers in South Africa make regular payments across borders. Bitcoin could reduce the costs of these transfers. Future Research: Future research could explore Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) adoption in other developing countries. Researchers could look at factors that influence cryptocurrency adoption in general. The factors affecting adoption of other cryptocurrencies can be compared to the results of this study, and similarities and differences can thus be identified.


Author(s):  
RL van Zyl

Sub-Saharan Africa has to contend with many challenges, including inadequate healthcare systems, lack of optimal sanitation, and clean water and food. All of these contribute to malnutrition and an increased risk of infections, including parasitism by cestodes and trematodes. Schistosomiasis is a category-2 notifiable trematode (fluke) infection, whereas cestode (tapeworm) infections need not be reported to the South African Department of Health. Epidemiological data for helminthiasis in South Africa is scant, with a paucity of publications on the South African scenario. As such, a complete picture of the impact of helminth infections on all age groups in South Africa does not exist. These parasitic diseases not only have an impact on socio economic development of a country, community and families, but also contribute to the chronic and detrimental effects on the health and nutritional status of the host, including the impaired development of children. In order to break the cycle of poverty and disease, a strong education drive is required in schools and communities to provide effective strategies and guidelines on preventative measures that result in avoidance of exposure to infective stages of Schistosoma and Taenia tapeworms. Also, it is imperative that healthcare professionals are able to recognise the signs and symptoms, so that interventions can be promptly initiated. The current anthelmintic treatments available in South Africa are effective against cestodes and trematodes, with no drug resistance having being reported. The need for compliancy when taking anthelmintic drugs must be emphasised.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile B. Vigouroux

Abstract Based on a long-term ethnography of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Cape Town, South Africa, this article examines how language as ideology and practice shapes the rules of guesting and hosting and helps (re)configure the on-going positionalities of both the nation-state-defined-host and the foreigner-guest, making murky the distinction between the two. The key notion of hospitality developed here is examined as practices rather than as identities. I argue that this theoretical shift makes it possible to unsettle the host and guest positions by not positing them a priori or conceptualizing them as immutable. It likewise makes it possible to deconstruct the categories imposed by the State and by which scholars and policy makers alike abide, such as the dichotomy between migrants and locals. At a broader level, the paper draws attention to the Occidentalism that has plagued academia, particularly in the work done on migration. I show how the South African case challenges many scholarly assumptions on language and migration overwhelmingly based on the examination of South-to-North migrations, which do not adequately represent worldwide migrations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-86
Author(s):  
Steve Milanese ◽  
Susan Gordon ◽  
Narasimman Swaminathan

Aim and Background: Clinical Education opportunities for undergraduate Physiotherapy students are now increasingly occurring internationally. The clinical educator (CE) plays a significant role in the clinical education process particularly when a student undertakes a clinical placement in a different country as the CE often takes on a surrogate caretaker role. This study explores the self-reported perceptions of Physiotherapy students from three countries representing different global society clusters – South Africa (Sub-Saharan Africa), India (Southern Asia) and Australia (Anglo), regarding the roles and attributes of a CE that they value in the clinical education process. Method: Data was collected from undergraduate Physiotherapy students in a university in India (n=23) and Australia (n=154) and compared with data from a similar student cohort in South Africa (n=70). Students were asked roles and attributes of a clinical educator were of most value in the clinical education setting. Results: The relative values placed on CE roles/attributes across the three cohorts was similar, however specific differences between cohorts suggest that clinical educators should be aware of differences when supervising international students.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (26) ◽  
pp. 183-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayde R. Pandy ◽  
Christian M. Rogerson

Abstract Research on the accommodation sector attracts only a small fraction of contemporary tourism scholarship relating to sub-Saharan Africa. This paper contributes to this expanding literature on segmentation and the accommodation sector in South Africa. Specifically, it examines the establishment and making of the timeshare industry as a distinctive form of accommodation within the national tourism economy. The timeshare industry in South Africa is the largest and most mature in sub-Saharan Africa and among the most important in the developing world. The analysis uses a longitudinal perspective in order to interpret the emerging spatial organisation and evolving structural issues that impacted upon the development of the timeshare industry in its formative years from 1978 to 2002. The study addresses a knowledge gap around the minimal pursuit of historical research within the existing international literature about timeshare.


Author(s):  
Mukovhe Maureen Nthai

The development of Africa is not only a problem to the Africans alone but also to the world at large. This is because some regions of the world also depend on Africa for their livelihoods. In Sub Saharan Africa one of the rural development strategies identified is land reform. Post-colonial African governments have argued that land reform would alleviate the majority of the people in the region from poverty, create employment, and address inequality. This is the position adopted by the post-apartheid government in South Africa beyond 27 April 1994. However, the South African post-apartheid land reform has had some significant complexities in its implementation – especially with regard to funding. Funding was impeded by widespread corruption in government. In addition, there has been immense lack of interest in making funds available for land reform in South Africa from non-governmental entities and donors.


Author(s):  
James Leigland

This chapter presents case studies of three recent renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) tender programs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in Uganda, Zambia, and South Africa. Using competitive tenders to select IPP projects is rare in Africa, but is viewed as an effective way of lowering project costs. And with the rapid reductions in the costs associated with wind and solar projects, renewable energy IPP projects may represent the power sector public–private partnerships (PPPs) of the future. These case studies detail the role of development partners in designing and implementing the first two of these programs and compare their performance with that of the South African program, a program designed and managed almost exclusively by South African officials and their advisers. What are the lessons that can be learned from these two distinct approaches? What impact do these kinds of programs have on the “IPP policy dilemma” described in Chapter 8?


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document