scholarly journals Heritage Lost:The cultural impact of wildlife crime in South Africa

Author(s):  
Megan Laura Griffiths

Crimes against wildlife have come to the fore in South Africa in the past decade – largely due to the dramatic escalation of rhino poaching.  As a major custodian of iconic species such as the Big Five, South Africa is at the core of the illicit wildlife economy.  Since the country is reliant on wildlife tourism for economic development, poaching brings serious financial consequences.  These negative impacts, however, extend far beyond the economy and also protrude into the cultural sphere.  While some South Africans may be unmoved by the plight of the country’s wildlife as a result of a lack of exposure thereto, many feel socially linked to wildlife.  Concerned citizens often consider that future generations will not be able to experience wildlife due to extinction, and will thus be deprived of their rightful cultural inheritance.  The impact of wildlife crime may therefore be seen as a form of cultural victimisation.

1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl D. Foxcroft

It is argued in this paper that the practice of psychological testing in South Africa needs to be understood in terms of the impact that past apartheid political policies have had on test development and use. I first reflect on the past and then present and discuss current issues that threaten the fair and ethical use of tests. Finally, I propose two ways of enhancing the ethical use of tests in South Africa, that is, the development of a Code of Fair Testing Practice as well as a national test development agenda.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Brzezinski

This paper estimates how previous major pandemic events affected economic and gender inequalities in the short- to medium run. We consider the impact of six major pandemic episodes – H3N2 Flu (1968), SARS (2003), H1N1 Swine Flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2016) – on cross-country inequalities in a sample of up to 180 countries observed over 1950-2019. Results show that the past pandemics have moderately increased income inequality in the affected countries in the period of four to five years after the pandemic’s start. On the other hand, we do not find any robust negative impacts on wealth inequality. The results concerning gender inequality are less consistent, but we find some evidence of declining gender equality among the hardest hit countries, as well as of growing gender gaps in unemployment within the four years after the onset of the pandemic.


Author(s):  
Alexander Hudson

Over the past three decades, participatory methods of constitution making have gained increasing acceptance and are now an indispensable part of any constitution-making process. Despite this, we know little about how much public participation actually affects the constitution. This article investigates the impact of participation in two groundbreaking cases: Brazil (1988) and South Africa (1996). This analysis demonstrates that public participation has relatively small effects on the text, but that it varies in systematic ways. The theory advanced here posits that party strength (especially in terms of discipline and programmatic commitments) is the key determinant of the effectiveness of public participation. Strong parties may be more effective in many ways, but they are less likely to act on input from the public in constitution-making processes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Cooper

Rapid urbanisation brings unwelcome negative impacts, and places excessive pressure on infra-structure development and maintenance. In partic-ular, transport networks become congested with negative impacts on energy logistics. The liquid fuel situation of South Africa and Gauteng is briefly examined. The paper considers the impact of con-strained oil supply, and supply infrastructure, on transport. The author further suggests that the authorities in Gauteng should critically examine an ultra light rail option in order to reduce reliance on imported oil, while helping reduce road congestion. A more energy efficient transport network for the province, able to meet the transport needs of pas-sengers and business, will help decrease environ-mentally damaging emissions.


Koedoe ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Opperman ◽  
Michael I. Cherry ◽  
Nokwanda P. Makunga

Forests in South Africa are harvested by local communities for multiple purposes and this affects the animals that inhabit them. The tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) has a restricted distribution and utilises various tree species as dens and a source of food. In this article, we determined, through a series of interviews in the communities surrounding the Pirie forest, which plant species are harvested by local people and whether these overlap with those used by the tree hyrax. In addition, we determined the extent to which tree hyraxes are hunted by these communities. Of the trees used by the hyrax as dens in the Pirie forest, Afrocarpus falcatus, Schotia latifolia, Andrachne ovalis, Teclea natalensis and Apodytes dimidiata are important resources for local communities. But as these are harvested at relatively low levels, it is unlikely that current harvesting has a large impact on the tree hyrax. Opportunistic hunting occurs, but the hyrax is not targeted by hunters. Very limited commercial harvesting of A. falcatus has been taking place in the Pirie forest since 1975, but its impact on the hyrax population, although undetermined, is also unlikely to be high. We recommend that the Pirie forest tree hyrax population should be monitored by forest management in order to ascertain the impact of both commercial and community harvesting over the past quarter-century.Conservation implications: Tree hyrax populations in the Pirie forest should be actively monitored by management on an annual basis.


Author(s):  
Barend Röges Odendaal

The Employment Equity Act, 1998, Act 55 of 1998 was created in order to bring about a paradigm shift in South Africa’s labour relations, transforming it into a system based on equality. This change in the political life of all South Africans has brought about huge challenges to employers and employees alike. Seen as a threat to some, others view it as a positive beacon. If the Act was correctly implemented, South Africa will be heading towards a better competitive market and the workforce should be equally representative of the population. This paper aims to illustrate whether the Act has achieved its goals over the past 13 years by means of analysis and assessment of reports and statistical reviews. An overview is offered in the form of a literature review of the Act and defining the current legislation thereof in conjunction with management theory. The paper challenges the perceptions of all South Africans and finding possible solutions to areas in which the Act has failed. The paper further proposes action steps for the effective implementation of the legislation and for the process to follow to ensure that is fair in the sense that all employees can compete on equal terms.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Brzezinski

This paper estimates how previous major pandemic events affected economic and gender inequalities in the short- to medium run. We consider the impact of six major pandemic episodes - H3N2 Flu (1968), SARS (2003), H1N1 Swine Flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2016) - on cross-country inequalities in a sample of up to 180 countries observed over 1950-2019. Results show that the past pandemics have moderately increased income inequality in the affected countries in the period of four to five years after the pandemic's start. On the other hand, we do not find any robust negative impacts on wealth inequality. The results concerning gender inequality are less consistent, but we find some evidence of declining gender equality among the hardest hit countries, as well as of growing gender gaps in unemployment within the four years after the onset of the pandemic.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Mashele Rapatsa

AbstractThe object of this article is to present a critical analysis of the impact of the notion of ‘VIPsm’, a phenomenon through which human beings are socially ‘categorized’ or ‘classed’ according to status or wealth or position being held in society. The article is predicated on South Africa’s discernible constitutional pursuit of attaining social stability and equitable social justice. This work is also considerate of the country’s known unpleasant history of apartheid’s acute race-based social exclusions, and in contrast, the post 1994 persistent social and economic inequalities which thus far proliferates material disadvantage, poverty, social discontent and protests amongst citizens. The article employed ‘Transformational Leadership theory ‘and ‘Power and Influence theories’ as tools of analysis, given that the Constitution, 1996 is transformative in nature and thus require ‘transformational leaders’ in order to achieve its major goal of burying wounds of the past, to build one unified nation that is socially stable. It is asserted that social challenges and superfluous differential treatment of humans besieging contemporary South Africa are suggestive of the presence of leadership that is self-centered, opulence driven, and has little or no regard for the poor and thus, disfavor the solidarity principle.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-468
Author(s):  
Lorena Núñez Carrasco ◽  
Abha Jaiswal ◽  
Jairo Arrow ◽  
Michel Kasongo Muteba ◽  
Bidhan Aryal

Purpose Migrants historically and currently form an integral part of South Africa. Their importance and contribution to the country’s economy and development are undeniable. Yet, life for African migrants in South Africa is becoming increasingly difficult. An analysis of migrants mortality until now has not been conducted. The purpose of this paper is to compare the trends of the cause of death among South African Citizens (RSA) and African migrants from countries that form part of the South African Development Community (SADC), that make up nearly 70% of the migrants in the country. Design/methodology/approach Using Stats SA data of all registered deaths in South Africa (2002-2015), this paper compares all causes of death (COD) between RSA and SADC migrants. This paper studies the patterns in COD among these population groups for the years 2002 to 2015 in deaths due to infectious diseases and unnatural causes. Logistic regression was used to quantify the odds of dying due to infectious disease and unnatural causes for each population group. This paper included a calculation of the odds of dying due to assault, as a sub-group within unnatural deaths. Findings A total of 7,611,129 deaths were recorded for the local South African population and 88,114 for SADC migrants for the period under study (2002–2015). The burden of mortality for both infectious diseases and unnatural causes was higher for SADC migrants as compared to RSA. SADC migrants were 1.22 times more likely to die from infectious diseases than RSA (P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.12, 1.23). Similarly, SADC migrants were 2.7 times more likely to die from unnatural causes than South Africans (P < 0.001, 95% CI (2.17, 2.23). The odds of dying from assault was the same as that of unnatural causes. Also, it was found that women were more likely to die from infectious diseases (OR = 1.11, P < 0.001, 95% CI (1.11, 1.11) compared to men, regardless of nationality. Research limitations/implications The bias resulting from migrants who return home to die due to illness, described in the literature as the salmon bias, is present in this paper. This paper, therefore, concludes death due to infectious diseases could be higher among migrants. Practical implications The heightened mortality among SADC migrants can be related to the impact of social determinants of health such as living and working conditions and barriers to access to health care. Moreover, the higher probability of death due to unnatural causes such as assaults constitute a proxy to estimate the impact of xenophobic violence observed in the country over the past decade. Policy interventions should focus on migrant health-care systems. Also, programmes to mitigate and curb xenophobic sentiments should be carried out to address the growing disparity of preventable unnatural causes of death. Originality/value This study offers the first quantification of mortality due to infectious diseases and unnatural causes among RSA and SADC migrants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabila Nabila

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of negative content that has an element of violence on the YouTube site on child development, determine the form of legal protection of children against negative content that has an element of violence on the YouTube site. This type of research used in this study is normative juridical. The approach used in this study is the statutory approach and the analytic approach, the method of gathering legal material through library research. While the method of analyzing the legal material is done qualitatively. The many negative impacts of the shows or content being watched are supported by data from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) which has recorded that in the past 4 years the number of violence against children has continued to increase. Forms of legal protection for children against negative content that has an element of violence on the YouTube site consists of legal protection that is preventive and repressive legal protection. Keywords: Legal Protection, Negative Content, Youtube


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