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The impact of labour legislation on selected small firms in Mbombela (Nelspruit)

- Dlamini, Sikhulile Blessing

Authors: Dlamini, Sikhulile Blessing
Date: 2021
Subjects: Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Small business -- Law and legislation-- South Afric , Small business -- South Africa -- Mbombela -- Case studies
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/170781 , vital:41959
Description: This study uses the theoretical framework of industrial relations pluralism, to study and analyse the impacts of labour legislation on six small firms (employing less than 50 workers) based in Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit), Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The analysis is based on the viewpoints of six managers and how they see the impacts of labour legislation on their respective firms. The analysis is aided by utilising theory and literature to make sense of the manager perspectives on the topic. Also, utilising a qualitative research design to collect and analyse the data, the study presents diverse findings in terms of how the participants perceived and experienced certain types of legislation. Some managers believed that the benefits of labour legislation outweighed the costs. While others believed the exact opposite. At an overall level, the study revealed that most of the participants were not as severely affected by labour legislation as might be expected; given the scarcity of resources in most small firms. This was partly because of various coping strategies and practices (mostly involving the use of informal procedures) that were adopted by the firms. Also, some small firms who aimed at expanding their businesses strategised to adopt some formal procedures and practices in order to easily absorb labour legislation and subsequently mordenise their businesses in the process. While a few firms persisted with more informal customs as they appeared cost-effective and necessary in their particular market positioning.
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Date Issued: 2021

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A critical analysis of NGOs in addressing HIV and AIDS in the context of gendered inequality: The case of Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa

- Mhavika, Moreblessing

Authors: Mhavika, Moreblessing
Date: 2020
Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Sex factors , AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Makhanda , HIV infections -- Sex factors , HIV infections -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Makhanda , HIV-positive women -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Makhanda
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143225 , vital:38212
Description: South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS in the world. The HIV pandemic has, and continues to have, negative implications for communities and individuals, especially women, in South Africa and beyond. HIV and AIDS has left women disproportionately more infected and affected than men because of social, cultural and economic factors, leading to the feminisation of HIV. South African NGOs have tried to fill in the gap and to respond to the HIV pandemic, either independently or in partnership with government departments. In this context, the purpose of this thesis is to provide a critical analysis of NGO programmes in Makhanda (in the Eastern Cape Province) to ascertain whether NGOs address the feminisation of HIV and, if so, how. In doing so, the study utilises qualitative analysis with the use of interviews, a focus group discussion and primary documents as research methods. The study concludes that local government in Makhanda has failed to address women’s vulnerabilities to HIV and that it does not provide a sufficiently enabling environment for NGOs in this regard. In addition, inadequate funding from donors, alongside issues of accountability and the failure to engage in HIV programmes from a perspective founded in feminism, were factors found to contribute to NGOs not fully considering women’s vulnerabilities to HIV. Resultantly, NGOs in Makhanda rarely, at least intentionally, address the feminisation of HIV.
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Date Issued: 2020

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A sociological analysis of the involvement of men in campaigns against sexual violence towards women at Rhodes University: the aftermath of the #RUReference protest

- Roboji, Philasande Milisa

Authors: Roboji, Philasande Milisa
Date: 2020
Subjects: #RUReferenceList , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes , Rape in universities and colleges -- South Africa , Social movements -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Women college students -- Violence against -- South Africa , Male college students -- South Africa -- Attitudes
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148059 , vital:38706
Description: Gender-based violence more especially sexual violence towards women is one of the biggest social issus affecting South Africa including higher institutions of learning, universities in this context. In recent years, we have seen students in universities protesting sexual violence demanding universities to improve their ways of dealing with this violence. The motivation behind this thesis is the notion that sexual violence is a women’s issue and how most men in our communities and universities do not involve themselves in campaigns that are designed to end sexual violence towards women. There is an assumption that women should be the ones fighting against sexual violence because it affects them when in fact sexual violence affects everyone and more importantly, is mostly perpetuated by men. Therefore, the main purpose of this thesis was to sociologically analyze the involvement of men in campaigns against sexual violence towards women and the aftermath of the #RUReferenceList protest that took place at Rhodes University in 2016. This protest started immediately after a list of students who were said to be alleged sexual perpetrators was published online. Attached to this primary objective, the sub-goals that informed the entire study were to investigate how the involvement of men in the #RUReferenceList protest has contributed to challenging rape culture at Rhodes University. Also, to investigate if there are any ongoing campaigns and/or projects that includes men and that are still addressing the issue of sexual violence towards women. There is however, a dearth of research on the involvement of men in campaigns against sexual violence in South Africa. Therefore, it was difficult finding existing literature that touches on the involvement of men in campaigns against sexual violence towards women particularly in the context of universities. This thesis was conducted within the premises of Rhodes University through a qualitative research approach in a form of in-depth interviews. Five participants were selected through purposive sampling which included the Chair of the Gender Action Forum, one former student representative council member, a sub-warden from a male residence and two students. The findings of this research are not the full representation of the entire university but opinions and perspective of the participants that were interviewed. Their opinions and perspectives have a potential of contributing to the factors and reasons as to why majority of men have not engaged themselves in issues of gender-based violence or involved themselves in campaigns against sexual violence towards women.
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Date Issued: 2020

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A sociological analysis of the sex education of young adult white womxn and their understandings and practices of ‘Safe Sex’

- Guerra, Cassandra Gadelha

Authors: Guerra, Cassandra Gadelha
Date: 2020
Subjects: Sex instruction , Sex instruction for girls , Women, White -- Psychology , Women, White -- Sexual behavior
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147267 , vital:38610
Description: This research sets out to examine the experiences and perspectives of young adult white womxn regarding their respective sex education. This is in terms of how sex education may shape and influence sexual practices. The relevance of exploring the sex education of this group is to gain an understanding of how constructions of sex education may facilitate the negotiation of sexual practices, particularly as these practices relate to the negotiation of ‘safe sex’. This involves an exploration of definitions of ‘safe sex’ as well as an examination of the various sources of sex education. This research argues that sex education has been socially constructed within a ‘heterosexual matrix’ where both gender identities and sexuality are constructed in heterosexual terms in accordance with compulsory heterosexuality. Furthermore, that sex education as well as understandings and practices of ‘safe sex’ intersect with other social categories such as race, gender and sexuality. Much of the sex-related research conducted in South Africa focuses on people of colour, as a result very little is known about the sexual behaviours and practices of the white demographic. This research accounts for the absence of analysis of sexual practices and behaviour among white people by examining the sex education and sexual practices of young adult white womxn between the ages of 19 and 24. The research observed key sources of sex education which included parents, schools, religious institutions and the internet. Findings indicate that the sex education of participants reflected ideals of heteronormativity and misogyny which were found to directly influence their understandings and practices of both sex and ‘safe sex’. Furthermore, that the sex education participants received has ultimately failed to promote ‘safe’ sexual practices.
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Date Issued: 2020

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An analysis of South Africa’s food security policy frameworks from a food sovereignty perspective: challenges and implications for genuine long-term food security

- Hoepfl, Jason

Authors: Hoepfl, Jason
Date: 2020
Subjects: Food sovereignty -- South Africa , Food security -- South Africa , Food security -- Government policy -- South Africa , Food security -- Climatic factors -- South Africa , Food policy -- Government policy -- South Africa , Agriculture and state -- South Africa , Food industry and trade -- Government policy -- South Africa
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162851 , vital:40990
Description: Food price volatility, ecological shocks and unprecedented levels of hunger and obesity are increasing concerns within food security governance, as is the emergence of food sovereignty in broadening critical discussions around food, water, energy and environmental crises. This thesis analyses this changing terrain in the context of South African policy. It analyses shifts in policymaking and the capability of South Africa’s food security policy frameworks to include food sovereignty principles and in so doing support genuine long-term food security. A shift in policy priorities from household production, trade and income opportunities towards social safety nets and nutritional interventions is identified. This focus is constrained by an inability to affect structural changes within a deeply inequitable food landscape. An emphasis on commercial farming and unwillingness to challenge large agribusiness, value chains and corporate retail has enabled social differentiation in access to food and the country’s colonial land dispensation to continue. Consequently, markets have continued to be antipathetic to the needs of poor producers and consumers in South Africa. To overcome these structural constraints, food security policy needs to be framed within a more radical normative agenda. This is important for challenging inequitable power relations and asserting the social and ecological imperatives of healthy food systems. Food sovereignty has significant potential to support a normative agenda by supporting the multiple farming practices, enterprises and livelihood strategies pursued by poor farmers, the unemployed and working poor whilst preserving sensitive environments for future generations. Determining the future of food security is not the privilege of the few with economic clout or power to govern but the right of all. The incorporation of food sovereignty principles in policymaking is therefore paramount for achieving genuine long-term food security.
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Date Issued: 2020

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Poor whites and the post-apartheid labour market: a study of perceptions and experiences of work among residents in a homeless shelter in Johannesburg

- Wollnik, Nadjeschda

Authors: Wollnik, Nadjeschda
Date: 2020
Subjects: Poor whites -- South Africa , Poor whites -- South Africa -- Atitudes , Shelters for the homeless -- South Africa , Unemployed -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Unemployed -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994- , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148540 , vital:38748
Description: Despite historical precedents, poverty among white people in South Africa remains an anomaly and a paradox. Likewise, the perceptions of work and employment among poor (under- and unemployed) whites in contemporary South Africa have received scant attention in the scholarly literature. Using the conceptual frameworks of critical whiteness studies and segmented labour market theory – as a way of combining subjective and objective considerations – this research seeks to describe and explain the perceptions and experiences of the labour market among poor whites living in a homeless shelter in Johannesburg. Eight respondents were chosen for extended, in-depth interviews in an effort to develop a fine-grained understanding of the pre-existing circumstances that affected their access to information and thus shaped their choices in the labour market, as well as to ascertain what they believed to be the barriers that they face in the labour market. The findings varied, with most of the interviewees seeing ‘being white’ as the reason for their poverty and unemployment, while others exhibited some awareness of the role of their lack of skills and qualifications in their capacity to compete in higher segments of the labour market. The findings were also varied in the sense that not all interviewees experienced poverty in the same manner, with some having been part of the middle class prior to becoming poor, while others having been poor their entire lives. It was also found that class or socio-economic status seemed to have a greater impact than race on the labour market prospects of the interviewees. It is argued that the perceptions of these poor whites, which are informed by their lack of information about the workings of the labour market, rather than their lack of qualifications or their race, most affected their prospects in the labour market. The mechanisms they rely on when seeking employment reveal a poor knowledge of the local labour market and the ways in which they think their skillsets match up to the types of jobs they desire. The lack of understanding of the South African labour market and the policies that are in place to redress the legacies of apartheid are among the factors influencing the lack of success these poor whites are experiencing in their search for work.
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Date Issued: 2020

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South Africa’s mohair value chain: institutional framework, governance and the perceptions of management and labour

- Heald, Arisa Oka

Authors: Heald, Arisa Oka
Date: 2020
Subjects: Management -- Employee participation , Management -- Employee participation -- South Africa , Agriculture -- South Africa -- History , Mohair industry -- South Africa , Mohair industry -- South Africa -- Employees
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164669 , vital:41153
Description: The primary objective of this research is to understand the ways in which the (working and living) conditions confronting employers and employees on mohair farms are the complex outcome of their position in the global mohair value chain, the nature of the labour process, and the ‘contours of voice’ (i.e., how and why employees voice). These three bodies of literature represent different levels of analysis: at the broadest level, the political economy of the mohair value chain is explained by drawing on the chain literature. This literature has been supplemented, at the level of the production process, by deploying the concepts of labour process theory (LPT), which focus on the control of work processes by management as well as workers’responses to this control. These responses were analysed by incorporating insights from the burgeoning research on employee voice (EV) in an effort to understand the practical ways in which workers on mohair farms articulate their needs and interests. The cross-collination of these three bodies of literature is, to my knowledge, a novel feature of this research on the mohair industry in South Africa, which, in turn, has itself been woefully under-researched. The research design consisted of a qualitative approach in which I used in-depth, semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions as the primary sources of data collection. The secondary source of data was available publications and documents from the agriculture industry and mohair sector. A qualitative approach acknowledges and gives great insight and meaning into the research topic. Twenty participants were interviewed for my research: six from key organisations within the mohair industry, ten farmers, two mohair farm workers and two mohair shearers. The main findings of the research include the following: first, institutions in South Africa’s mohair industry not only determine (in part) the structure of the mohair value chain but also play a vital role in governing the chain. Each institution and actor plays a significant role in adding value to the mohair product that leads to economic upgrading. Second, understanding the actions of farmers (as employers) by drawing on LPT allows me to show how the systemic pressures of capitalist accumulation compel employers to continuously enhance their control over production – and, by extension, over workers – who, in turn, resist and/or accommodate to these impositions by management. Lastly, the research shows that employee voice at the farm level is complex and contested – not surprisingly, given South Africa’s troubled history – yet, it is increasingly exercised by farm workers and accepted by mohair farmers as a necessary and inescapable means of resolving issues that arise in the employment relationship at the workplace and remaining competitive in a global market.
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Date Issued: 2020

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The impact of minimum wages on human resource management practices in the hospitality industry: a case study of selected firms in Polokwane, Limpopo Province

- Nkoana, Lekgoa Julia

Authors: Nkoana, Lekgoa Julia
Date: 2020
Subjects: Minimum wage -- South Africa , Minimum wage -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Polokane , Minimum wage -- South Africa -- Polokane -- Case studies , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Polokwane , Hospitality industry -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Polokwane , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Polokwane -- Case studies
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167188 , vital:41445
Description: This thesis sought to identify and isolate the impact of the minimum wage in the hospitality industry of Polokwane. To achieve this, qualitative research methods were used. These methods enabled an in-depth understanding of minimum wages. Thus in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted as they provided detailed information by enabling the researcher and the participant to have an informal, but expressive conversation about the minimum wage. Contrary to the assumptions of orthodox economics, which claim minimum wages create a ‘shock’ resulting in job losses, this research found that the minimum wage was absorbed causing few disruptions in existing work and employment relations in the selected establishments. This capacity to absorb the minimum wage is largely the outcome of informal labour relations policies and practices.
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Date Issued: 2020

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“Why me, Lord?”: some social factors associated with the receipt of a donor heart in South Africa

- Hartle, Raymond

Authors: Hartle, Raymond
Date: 2020
Subjects: Heart -- Transplantation -- Social aspects , Heart -- Transplantation -- Recipients -- Psychology , Heart -- Transplantation -- South Africa , Chronic diseases -- Psychological aspects
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146265 , vital:38510
Description: Since the first human-to-human heart transplant in the world was performed by Prof Chris Barnard in Cape Town in 1967, heart transplantation has become the gold standard to treat people suffering from end stage heart failure. This thesis explores heart recipients’ perceptions and experiences of their chronic heart illness before and after transplantation. It examines the medical experience in terms of the clinical diagnosis, the standard of communication about the illness and the proposed treatment, and the post-transplant regime. It also reflects how recipients make sense of heart disease and learn to live with a transplanted heart. The thesis also shows the extent to which the recipients’ culture and individual identity impact such complex medical issues as end stage heart failure and transplantation. Qualitative research was undertaken in private sector heart transplant programmes in South Africa. The study is underpinned by Mishel’s (1990) uncertainty theory as well as by social constructionism.
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Date Issued: 2020

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A critical analysis of A2 Fast Track Lowveld sugar cane farms in Zimbabwe in global value chains: interrogating the lives of farmers and farm labourers

- Chingono, Kudakwashe Rejoice

Authors: Chingono, Kudakwashe Rejoice
Date: 2019
Subjects: International trade , Sugar trade -- Zimbabwe , Sugar growing -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Agriculture -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93933 , vital:30972
Description: The sugar cane industry has for many years been a lucrative business with a booming global market. In Zimbabwe, the sugar cane industry is no exception, as it has been regarded as one of the most efficient in the region and even in the world. The sugar cane farms and mills in Zimbabwe are located in Triangle and Chiredzi, in the south-eastern part of the country and they are under the ownership of Tongaat Hullet and the Zimbabwean A2 farmers. The focus of this is on the A2 fast track farms in Hippo Valley, which are now owned by black farmers but as out-growers for Tongaat Hullet. The crucial question addressed in the thesis is whether the A2 sugar cane farmers and their workers, located at the production end of the sugar cane global value chain, are benefitting from their involvement in this value chain. A number of scholars argue that global value chains lead to economic and social upgrading at the production end of the chain, based on thoughts contained in modernisation and trickledown theory. There is an assumption, then, that integration into the global economy leads to economic upgrading which translates into social upgrading. In drawing upon critical global value theorists, bolstered by the Marxist perspective, considers the importance of a more critical view of global value chains in relation to the sugar cane industry in Zimbabwe, with the particular focus on A2 farms. Thus, the main objective of the thesis is to consider the lives and livelihoods of A2 sugar cane farmers and sugar cane workers through a case study, in the context of global value chains and arguments around economic and social upgrading. This is pursued through a case study of six A2 farms, which involved interviewing farmers, supervisors, and both permanent and temporary workers. The thesis concludes that there is no significant evidence of social upgrading amongst the labour force, and that the A2 farmers are in constant tension with Tongaat Hullet in seeking to engage in economic upgrading of their status as commercial farmers.
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Date Issued: 2019

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Mental health, where are we now?: a sociological analysis of the integration of mental health into primary healthcare in the Kingdom of Eswatini

- Dlamini, Zenanile Zoe

Authors: Dlamini, Zenanile Zoe
Date: 2019
Subjects: Mental health services -- Eswatini , Psychiatric hospitals -- Eswatini , Primary health care -- Eswatini , Mentally ill -- Services for -- Eswatini , Mental health policy -- Eswatini
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96269 , vital:31256
Description: This is a qualitative study exploring the integration of mental health into primary healthcare in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Primary healthcare forms the basis of any healthcare service provision. Primary Healthcare for mental health is an essential component of any well-functioning health system. Making mental healthcare available in primary healthcare allows for early detection and early treatment while it is still easier and cheaper. Purposive sampling was used to recruit nursesand a government official in the Hhohho region in the Kingdom of Eswatini.The study found that there are major challenges in the primary health care clinics, and this negatively affects the WHO (2001) proposal on mental health integration into primary health care. This finding is similar to other low-income countries’ challenges in mental health integration into primary health care. The impact of neo-liberal policies on healthcare in Eswatini is explored and it is clear these policies impact the ability of the Ministry of Health to provide health care. The study also drew on the symbolic interaction perspective to understand the meanings that nurses attach to mental illness and their experiences mental health care.
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Date Issued: 2019

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Discourses around abortion in a low-income community in the Western Cape

- Bowes, Tanya-Ann

Authors: Bowes, Tanya-Ann
Date: 2009
Subjects: Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects , Abortion -- Religious aspects -- Christianity , Patriarchy -- South Africa , Abortion -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Male domination (Social structure)
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
Identifier: vital:2939 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002448
Description: Since the introduction of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act in 1996, research concerning abortion has primarily focused on public health issues or on the personal experience of women. The cultural and social context within which women experience a termination of pregnancy and in which services are offered has received less attention. The purpose of this study was to analyse public discourses around abortion in a low-income community in the Western Cape. Focus groups were used to gather data from three women’s and three men’s groups. The findings suggest that the agenda of pro-life discourses in this community is not always to defend the life of the fetus. Rather these discourses serve to protect, preserve and maintain the power of the traditional nuclear family, headed by the husband, over women’s reproduction and sexuality. Religious and moral arguments serve to disguise the gender issues at stake. However, instances also occurred where TOP was supported if the husband participated in the decision-making process. Therefore, his presence normalised abortion. Thus, the prevailing public discourses around abortion in this community either support or negate abortion in order to further the agenda of patriarchy.
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Date Issued: 2009

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