Adsorption of pharmaceuticals by nano-molecularly imprinted polymers (nano-MIPs) from wastewater: kinetics, isotherms, and thermodynamics studies.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.It has been reported that pharmaceuticals are not entirely removed or broken down during the wastewater treatment process, allowing them to escape into effluent water. This stems from the pharmaceuticals widespread use and the inefficient wastewater treatment methods. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop more effective methods for removing pharmaceuticals from wastewater systems. Adsorption-based pharmaceutical removal is one of the most promising approaches because it is easily incorporated into current water treatment systems. The first part of this work reports on literature studies for recent advancements in the adsorption process involving the incorporation of an artificial molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), that is an effective molecular receptor that can selectively recognize and remove pollutants. In magnetic solid-phase extraction, dispersive solid-phase microextraction, and solid-phase extraction, MIPs can be used as a selective adsorbent for analyte cleanup and preconcentration. Moreover, MIPs can be produced by combining nanoparticles to develop composite nanomaterials (nanoMIPs). In comparison to conventional bulk adsorbents, the enhanced selective adsorption capacity and kinetics are attributed to the large surface area per unit volume and specific functionality of nanomaterials. Nonetheless, some significant barriers to the application of nanomaterials are their dispersive qualities, difficulty in cycling, and secondary pollution from the loss of adsorbent during treatment. Another way to use nanoparticles for detectability enhancement is to modify the molecularly imprinted polymers chemical or physical characteristics. The nanoparticles' embedding in the MIP enhances the material's surface area or gives the adsorbent new features. This study describes a method for creating reusable, economical, and effective polymer-based silver nanoparticles-adsorbents. Notably, silver nanoparticles have a wide range of applications due to their unique properties which include their large surface area, shape and size. Plant-mediated synthesis plays a significant role in their synthesis. Remarkably, the synthesis of silver nanoparticles from plant extracts is inexpensive, easily scalable, and harmless for the environment. Plant extracts can be used to produce nanoparticles with controlled sizes and shapes. The molecular imprinting technique was used to create species-specific functionalities like carboxylic acid (-COOH) on a polymer surface. MIPs offer several advantages, including large surface area, targeted functionalities for high reactivity, and the ability to minimise nanoparticles from leaking into the surrounding environment when MIP-based adsorbents are being handled. To further comprehend the behaviour of adsorbents and the adsorption process, kinetics, thermodynamics, and isotherm models were explored. The second part of the work involved synthesizing the MIPs for efficient and selective removal of pharmaceuticals from specific groups. All target compounds were employed as multiple templates in a bulk polymerization process carried out at 70 °C to synthesize MIPs. Additional reagents utilized in the synthesis included toluene as a porogenic solvent, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, 1,1'-azobis-(cyclohexane carbonitrile) as an initiator and 2- vinyl pyridine as functional monomer, respectively. The synthesis of a non-imprinted polymer (NIP) was conducted without templates, using reaction conditions similar to those of MIP. Furthermore, following the synthesis, the polymers were characterized using X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was successfully used to develop an analytical method for detection and quantification of the target pharmaceuticals. The method yielded quantification limits of 0.42 to 0.75 mg L-1 and detection limits of 0.14 to 0.25 mg L-1 for the target pharmaceuticals. The synthesized polymer attained maximum matrix-matched adsorption capacities of 3.89, 4.97 and 3.40 mg g-1 for sulfamethoxazole, nevirapine and ibuprofen, respectively within 10 minutes. Competitive adsorption of the target pharmaceuticals demonstrated a link between adsorption and the pharmaceuticals pKa, log Kow, and molecular size. Studies on batch adsorption and kinetics revealed that the binding of pharmaceuticals to the MIP particles suited the pseudo-second order kinetics, leading to various interactions through chemisorption. The data also fitted well in Langmuir isotherm which meant that the target pharmaceuticals adsorption occurred on the homogeneous binding sites of the MIP. Furthermore, the thermodynamic data demonstrated the adsorption process's endothermic and spontaneous nature. Notably, the synthesized MIP was highly selective and its application in environmental studies led to the development of a less expensive analytical method. Moreover, the MIP particles that had been generated were recovered to be reusable up to five cycles with removal efficiency >90%. The third part involved incorporating silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) into MIPs using ibuprofen, nevirapine, and sulfamethoxazole as templates. In this part, starch (St) and macadamia nutshells (MCD) were employed in the synthesis of AgNPs as reducing and stabilizing agents. Following that, each of these AgNPs was incorporated with MIP, and the most effective combination was identified through comparison. The synthesized adsorbents were further optimized for the adsorptive removal of selected target pharmaceuticals. The % removal efficiencies were greater than 70%, indicating that the adsorbents are suitable for use in water treatment processes. The material's adsorption mechanisms and performance were examined through the application of various kinetics and isotherm models. Both the St and MCD-AgNPs experimental data fit to Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherms. However, based on the somewhat higher correlation coefficients, the Langmuir isotherm model provided a better fit. The St/MCD nanoMIPs best suited the Freundlich model, indicating that the adsorption occurred on the multilayer heterogeneous surface. Further, both the St/MCD nanoMIP adsorbents underwent spontaneous, endothermic adsorption, as demonstrated by the thermodynamic data, whereas the behaviour of the kinetics was effectively anticipated by pseudo-second order model, which suggested adsorption through chemisorption. Accordingly, large internal surface area, greater loading capacity, thermal stability, and reusability were among the advantageous properties of the nanoMIPs adsorbent materials. Moreover, both adsorbents showed improved qualities and were highly selective and effective in removing the selected pharmaceuticals in wastewater. As a result, during the course of five adsorption/desorption cycles, the St/MCD nanoMIPs show a removal efficiency of more than 90%. As a result, they demonstrated proficiency in efficient application. The fourth part involved the incorporation of MIP with Platanus acerifolia and Moringa oleifera silver nanoparticles. Using plants to synthesize AgNPs is a more cost-effective and lowmaintenance method; in contrast, using other organisms requires a particular medium and a specific amount of time. Therefore, the leaves of both the platanus acerifolia (PL) and moringa oleifera (MO) served as stabilizing and reducing agents during the synthesis of AgNPs. Each optimized parameter that could influence the adsorption potential, such as temperature, adsorbate concentration, pH, adsorbent dose, and contact time, was examined in relation to the removal effectiveness of the MO/PL nanoMIP adsorbents. These evaluated parameters were optimum at pH 7, concentration of 0.2 mg/L and contact time of 10 minutes for both MO and PL-nanoMIPs, mass dosage of 30 mg and 20 mg, and temperature of 40 and 30 °C for MO and PL-nanoMIP, respectively. Further, the maximum removal efficiencies obtained at these optimum conditions were >97% for both MO-nanoMIP and PL-nanoMIP. The adsorption experimental data for both MO/PL-AgNPs and MO/PL-nanoMIPs nano-adsorbents fitted with the linear Langmuir model which suggests that the binding took place on the homogenous monolayer surface. Additionally, compared to MO/PL-AgNPs, the MO/PL-nanoMIPs adsorption capacities for the target pharmaceuticals were higher, suggesting that the nanoMIPs larger surface areas contribute to their enhanced adsorption capacity. The linear pseudo-second order kinetic model best fitted on MO/PL-nanoMIPs which implied adsorption through chemisorption, whereas the thermodynamic data demonstrated that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. Moreover, the values of ΔH° for the MO/AgNPs were less than 40 kJ/mol and more than 40 kJ/mol for the MO/PL-nanoMIPs. This therefore confirmed that the MO/AgNPs was dominated by physical adsorption whereas the MP/PL-nanoMIPs was dominated by chemical adsorption. The MO/PL-nanoMIPs confirmed the high efficiency for the removal of target pharmaceuticals in wastewater. Upon recycling the adsorbents for five cycles, it was noted that the MO-nanoMIP adsorbent was effective continued to remove 86.7- 88.8% and 97-98% for PL-nanoMIP even in the fifth cycle. Indeed, the removal of sulfamethoxazole, nevirapine, and ibuprofen by nanoMIP adsorbents has demonstrated the importance of the surface area, structural stability, pore size and the electrostatic interactions brought about by the charges on the nanoMIPs surface. Consequently, among the investigated nanoMIP adsorbents, PL-nanoMIP demonstrated strong adsorption capacities for the targeted pharmaceuticals due to it large surface area and narrow size distribution as compared to the other nanoMIP adsorbents. The usability of plant leaves as a reducing and capping agent for nanoparticles as well as the recycling of nanoMIPs has the potential to transform waste that is no longer useful into valuable pollutants adsorbents. This would solve the problem of waste disposal and have beneficial impacts on the environment pollution and the economy. Notably, the nanoMIPs synthesized in this study are highly selective, reusable adsorbents that are cost effective and environmentally friendly. In contrast, as a substitute for more costly synthetic materials, these nanoMIPs are a promising material for the removal of different classes of pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plants and they can possibly be applied on a large scale

The impacts of access to credit and information communication technology (ICT) on small-scale sugarcane farmers’ food security status in Ndwedwe Local Municipality of iLembe, KwaZulu Natal Province.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, PietermaritzburgAccess to credit and Information Communication Technology (ICT) are the most valuable resources in improving small-scale sugarcane farmer’s practices. These two resources make the life of these farmers easier financially, socially, and economically. Despite the significant contribution of credit and ICT on sugarcane production, smallscale farmers are faced with difficulties in accessing them which affect their ability to generate sustainable income. Apart from complications in accessing credit and ICT, the adoption of ICT by farmers is of paramount importance to ensure its applicability for the quick access to credit through online or the internet. Adopting Information Communication technology is important to help Small-scale farmers’ access credit thereby increasing their farm production. Therefore, alleviating the disproportionate burden of food insecurity in South Africa requires focused initiatives to assist small-scale farmers to adopt Information Communication Technology and be able to access credit. The main objective of this study was to determine the impact that credit and ICT have on food security of small-scale sugarcane farmers. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of access to credit; and information and Communication technology on the income of small-scale sugarcane farmers, assess the impact that determinants of ICT and credit accessibility have on the food security of small-scale sugarcane farmers and to assess efficiency among small-scale sugarcane farmers in South Africa using the Zero-efficiency stochastic frontier approach. A multi stage sampling procedure was used to select three villages namely, Ndwedwe Mission, Nhlangano, and Sonkombo of Ndwedwe Local Municipality, employing a quantitative research approach. The study used 300 small-scale sugarcane farmers which were randomly selected. The Recursive Bivariate Probit Regression model was applied to assess the access to credit by farmers and its influence on the adoption of ICT. The results from the Recursive Bivariate Probit Regression .model showed that access to credit , education and extension support with coefficient had a positive and significant influence on the adoption of ICT, while marital status and non-farm income had a negative and significant influence. On the other hand, gender and marital status had a positive and significant relationship with access to credit while age and non-farm income showed a negative and significant relationship. The study secondly assessed the impacts that determinants of ICT and credit accessibility have on the food security of small-scale sugarcane farmers. The two-step generalized linear square model with a control function was used to assess the combined effect of ICT adoption and access to credit on household food security in terms of HFIAS. HFIAS revealed that out of the total sample size, 86.7% of the small-scale farmers were food insecure while 13.3% were food secure. Age of the household head and low income had a negative and significant contribution to the food insecurity status. The results also showed that Seed cane and transportation costs decreased food security among small-scale farmers. In the last objective, the study employed the Zero-efficiency stochastic frontier approach to assess efficiency among small-scale sugarcane farmers. The results show that farmers received high efficiency (40%) at 0.71-0.90 efficiency scores while they received low efficiency (15%) at 0.51- 0.70 efficiency score. Age, gender, household size and seed cane age had a positive and significant influence on farmers’ efficiency. On the other hand, education and non-farm income had a negative and significant influence on farmers’ efficiency. An improvement in the factors that affect small-scale farmers’ production can lead to improvement in access to credit and adoption of ICT which in turn improves farm income and food security. Small-scale farmers need to be encouraged to get some education on how to adopt ICT and access credit. More training and workshops need to be conducted to teach and train farmers on the requirements needed to apply for formal credit. Moreover, they need to be trained on how to adopt modern information technology. This can help them to produce more efficiently and generate more income. Extension workers need to provide advisory support to small-scale farmers that need agricultural access to credit for agricultural activities

Economic analysis of conservation and sustainable use of indigenous medicinal plants by smallholder farmers.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.The agricultural sector is a lucrative pillar of survival for smallholder farmers worldwide for its determination to produce commodities that are key components in survival such as food. Farming is ideally one of the best means that has kept a significant number of smallholder farmers from poverty, malnourishment and food insecurity. African agriculture contributes merely 15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with smallholder farmers producing approximately 80% of the food from farms that are less than 2 hectares each. Smallholder farmers are involved in numerous direct and indirect methods of sustaining livelihoods such as passive income received from remittances from family, income from formal employment, and income from social grants. Medicinal plants have existed indigenously within the environments where smallholder farmers live for time immemorial. They have been great contributors to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers starting from health benefits greatly in bringing monetary value to household income through the development of trade arrangements of medicinal plants. There is a big market for medicinal plant products from people seeking traditional healthcare for themselves, livestock health and potential trade of high-value medicinal plants with pharmaceutical mega companies. However, smallholder farmers are faced with various impediments in the production of medicinal plants. Limited resources that are necessary for housing and sanitation, basic education, basic healthcare and crime prevention prohibit sustainable progress in the husbandry of and maintainable use of medicinal plants. Furthermore, the overharvesting of lucrative medicinal plant species without the desired amounts of propagation is depleting valuable species from existence and poses a threat to ecology and species diversity. The study investigates the conservation and sustainable use of indigenous medicinal plants by smallholder farmers of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It seeks to identify and profile challenges faced by different indigenous smallholder farmers, establish the determinants of profitability for high-value medicinal plants, assess the effective production of household welfare, and examine conservation strategies of indigenous medicinal. A sample size of 150 smallholder farmers actively involved in medicinal plant extraction and trade was used to achieve the objectives of the study. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were utilized to analyse the relationship between social demographics, economic factors, institutional, profitability and conservational factors of smallholder medicinal plant farmers. The Tobit regression model was used to identify and profile different challenges faced by different indigenous medicinal plant farmers. The results portrayed an adverse relationship between challenges in adopting medicinal plant farming, age, gender and education. The knowledge about indigenous medicinal plants is vested with the old generation of the community that has little or no education, who are mostly females, therefore they are most eligible to reap economic benefits. The profitability and determinants of high-value medicinal plant farmers were established using the budgetary technique and multiple regression. The statistical evidence suggests that variable costs impact significantly on the level of profitability of a farmer. In the case of the study, analyses revealed that the cost of production is relatively low due to the abundance of valuable medicinal species in the wild and most of the farmers, extract for themselves without needing to hire labour. Moreover, the factors influencing the production output were measured with a Multiple regression model. The variable costs influence the gross value of the production level at a 1% significance. The effects of producing medicinal plants were measured using the Propensity Score Matching technique. The econometric results showed that the production of medicinal plants has strong conservational outcomes, income generation opportunities, livelihood enhancement and poverty alleviation. The conservation strategies of indigenous medicinal plants were generated using a Likert scale and were analysed using descriptive statistics. The results depicted that there is a negative relationship between over-exploitation and the conservation of medicinal plants. Furthermore, evidence showed that more smallholder farmers are in the habit of harvesting medicinal plant material without proper intentions to propagate. Given that the medicinal plant market is promising to be booming, smallholder farmers should be encouraged to participate and share written knowledge with each other such that information is not lost. The increased profitability of the enterprise impacts positively on the livelihoods, social welfare of smallholder farmers and food security. However, if farmers are not courteous about maintaining the species diversity they may face an endangerment problem in future. This will need conservational experts and extension officers to be directly involved in imparting knowledge and foreseeing that order is maintained accordingly

The Diasporean I: the Southern African perspectives.

Book. School of Management, IT and Governance

Teacher learning through teacher learning communities (TLCs): a case of consumer studies teachers in one district in KwaZulu-Natal.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This study aimed to better understand how Consumer Studies teachers learned through Teacher Learning Communities (TLCs) in one district in KwaZulu-Natal. Recurring curriculum changes that have plagued the South African education system have been evident in Consumer Studies as a subject. As a result, to ensure that teachers understand the continuous changes and implementation in the subject, there is a need for Consumer Studies teachers to be developed professionally to ensure that the quality of their teaching is up to the required standard, and they are kept abreast with the latest developments. The study is grounded in the Community of Practice (CoP) theoretical framework. The study utilised a qualitative case study design supported by the interpretive paradigm. The ten Consumer Studies teachers teaching the subject were purposefully selected through purposive sampling. Data were generated through telephonic semi-structured interviews, WhatsApp-based Focus group interviews and reflective journals. The generated data were thematically analysed. The study's findings indicated that Consumer Studies teachers learned through various platforms and forms within their schools and outside the schools. The study revealed the benefits of engaging as a community in various programmes such as developmental workshops, subject committees, moderations and conferences. Although Consumer Studies teachers were engaging in TLCs through different forms, challenges encountered during learning limited the way learning occurred in these programmes. Given the constraints imposed by the circumstances in Consumer Studies on the effective face-to-face interactions among teachers in learning communities, the participants adopted a supportive culture and interdependent strategies that facilitated their learning community engagements. This created the availability of excess resources and expertise that the Consumer Studies teachers could tap into. They utilised social media platforms with which they were conversant to communicate and share teaching materials while fostering social interaction. Based on the findings, the study found the need to improve the implementation of TLCs for better learning. The study also made recommendations to effect the needed changes to enhance teachers’ engagement in Consumer Studies learning community programmes

A discursive analysis of the construction of Afrophobia in TimesLive, News24 and Independent Online in South Africa, 2019 - 2022.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Immigration has become a global phenomenon where nearly half of the world‘s populations are refugees, migrants or asylum seekers. However, the representation of black African migrants has not been fair and balanced leading to studies outlining the negative representation of migrants in the media. Previous scholarship has explored how such reporting could be deemed xenophobic. This study is specifically interested in the phenomenon of Afrophobia, defined as fear of black people or systematic discrimination against people with African ancestry (Dube, 2019). This study explores the representation of black African migrants in Timeslive, News24 and IOL news sites and how the reporting language may be used in the construction of Afrophobic sentiments. The study utilises content analysis to gather data. A total of 66 news articles were purposively selected from the three news sites. The data is grouped according to emerging themes: illegality, undocumented migrants, job takers, criminals and drug dealers. Critical discourse analysis is used to analyse the discursive portrayal of black African migrants. The focus of the analysis is on how Afrophobia is problematised and transformed into a discursive crisis through the construction of anti-immigrant themes. Representation theory and post-colonial theory conceptually guide this study. Although the findings of this study generally support earlier studies which argue that the media representation of black Africans is negative, the critical discourse analysis also revealed sympathetic representations available in the news. The study‘s unique contributions are that it explores the Afrophobic sentiments manifested as prejudices and stereotypes, and systemic discrimination faced by foreign nationals in South Africa, through the online news as they are depicted as criminals, drug dealers and illegal or undocumented people, blamed for social ills in South Africa. It also reveals positive reporting where black African migrants are portrayed as entrepreneurs, employing the local population and adding value to the economy. However, the negative homogenous reporting of black African migrants is still prevalent

Extraction of pesticides using selected analytical methods from soil and maize segments : cumulative and health risks assessment.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Increased agricultural operations result in increased usage of various pesticides to safeguard agricultural crops, however this is done without paying attention to the effects of the amounting potential harm both humans and the environment are exposed to. In this present study, a structured study was conducted to investigate the uptake of atrazine, mesotrione, 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and glyphosate herbicides from contaminated soil and their translocation into different maize segments. Soil profile and quality of irrigation water were also assessed as they are crucial resources required in agricultural crop production due to their ability to influence the yield and quality of the agricultural products. Various physicochemical parameters were measured in an attempt to monitor the soil profile, irrigation water and maize quality harvested from Buhle farm located in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal Province. The irrigation water physicochemical parameters considered were the pH, electrical conductivity, alkalinity and chloride concentration. The soil physicochemical parameters considered were moisture content, pH, electrical conductivity, texture, total nitrogen as well Mg, Na, K, Zn, Mn, P and N elements. Maize was analysed for nutrition content and medicinal health promoting compounds. Based on the attained results, the soil texture contained high clay content (56.4%), followed by sand (40.6%) and silt (2.98%). The concentrations for total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which were translated to high soil fertility were 2700, 19 and 222 mg L-1, respectively. These particular elements are essential for agricultural plantation processes and consequently maize quality and maize yield. The levels of sodium, sodium adsorption ratio and electrical conductivity found in irrigation water were 0.05 mg L-1, 2 and 1.81 μS m-1, respectively. The findings showed that maize harvested from Buhle farm had high starch content of 58.6%. Fibre, protein and fat contents in maize were 23.4, 9.01 and 4.55%, respectively. Furthermore, the total anthocyanin, total flavonoids and total phenolic acid content were 8.5, 49.5 and 100 mg L-1, respectively. High amounts of phenolic acid detected indicated therapeutic ability of the maize since phenolic acids are essential for cancer prevention to the consumer. The presence of anthocyanin, flavonols and phenolic acids in maize crop is associated with its quality that could benefit livestock and human after consumption. The analysis of herbicides in soil and maize samples require sample pre-treatment due to their low concentration and complex matrix hence an ultrasonic extraction, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), Soxhlet extraction (SE) and QuEChERS methods were investigated. The optimization and application of ultrasonic extraction, MAE, SE and QuEChERS methods were conducted for the effective extraction of pesticides from maize and their corresponding soil samples. The analysis of pesticides (atrazine, glyphosate, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and mesotrione) was done with gas chromatography-flame ionization detector. Factors influencing the efficiency of the extraction methods such as the extraction solvent, extraction time, solvent volume, sample wetting and spiking concentration were assessed. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the relative standard deviation (RSD), coefficient of determination (R2), limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), and percentage recoveries were the quantitative characteristics of the current methods assessed. All calibration curves showed a high correlation coefficient (R2) ≥0.996, indicating good linearity. The LODs and LOQs ranged between 0.22-0.32 μg L-1 and 2.0-2.9 μg L-1 for SE , 0.1-0.25 μg L-1 and 1.1-2.2 μg L- 1 for MAE, 0.02 – 0.15 μg L-1 and 0.2 - 0.5 μg L-1 for UE and 0.01 – 0.23 μg L-1 and 0.13 – 0.8 μg L-1 for QuEChERS. The maize and soil analytes recoveries for SE, MAE, EU and QuEChERS ranged between 62-80% and 70-81%, 80-98% and 85-101%, 100-104% and 91- 97 % and 94-115% and 92-101%, respectively with the repeatability, articulated as RSD values of which are within the acceptable range as they are lower than 20%. MAE method showed higher sensitivity compared to SE while, UE and QuEChERS both showed high sensitivity for the extraction and quantification of the target analytes at low concentrations found in soil and maize cob. It was observed that 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2.4-D) was least absorbed by the soil, however, all the studied herbicides showed high absorption in the leafy segment of the maize plant due to the high polarity of the leaf cuticle. Glyphosate showed high absorption rate in soil, roots, stalk and leaves while mesotrione was highly absorbed in corn and tassels in all treatments. The absorption rate of analyte increased with increasing growth days. The higher treatment concentration (0.75 g L-1) showed elevated accumulation with the highest concentration (1.02 μg L-1) observed for glyphosate in leaves after 140 days and high mesotrione in corn (0.51 μg L-1) and tassel (0.42 μg L-1) observed after 120 days. Even though all maize treatment showed a pesticide toxicity index (PTI) values of <1, the health risk index (HI) data were below 100% threshold as well indicating no possible health risk linked with the intake of these crops by both adults and children

South African post-graduate theses on student transactional sex relationships: a scoping review.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Through a scoping review, this study focused on transactional sexual relationships among university students. Transactional sex is a distinct set of behaviours, labels, and identities which differs from commercial sex work. It is characterised by the exchange of monetary or material support and typically occurs outside the context of marriages or formal sex work. Transactional sexual relationships are a new social phenomenon prevailing in modern society across races, cultures, religions, political affiliations, or economic systems. Transactional sexual relationships have increasingly received the attention of researchers, and the practice seems to be complex and perhaps misunderstood; thus, this study aimed to conduct a systematic scoping review of studies conducted by post- graduate students in South Africa on transactional sexual relationships occurring among university students. The objectives of the study were: to explore how transactional sexual relationships are defined in the post-graduate theses; to determine the different types of transactional sexual relationships within the university context; to explore the samples that have been studied in these theses; and to review the strengths and limitations of these studies on transactional sexual relationships. A scoping review research design was suitable for this study. Firstly, it reviewed and described how post-graduate theses have engaged with transactional sexual relationships in general. Secondly, it determined the findings of these studies about university students and transactional sexual relationships. A matrix table presented the thesis and dissertations from South African universities that met the inclusion criteria which looked at South African university’s dissertations from 2010. The results that were presented thematically were: peer pressure, poverty and vulnerability, social norms and gender roles, substance abuse and risk, HIV and AIDS and sexual violence. From the findings and discussion, the researcher recommended awareness designed to educate students to shun transactional sex, the provision of health education through pamphlets and the provision of student grants to help cater for student needs during their stay at university

Barriers inhibiting women progression to leadership positions within KwaZulu-Natal municipalities: a case of eThekwini Municipality.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Despite these several laws that are enshrined in the Constitution, women are still underrepresented in leadership and senior management positions, and there is still much that needs to be done to address gender inequality in the workplace. Gender equality is a top global priority reflecting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number five which aims to achieve gender equity and empower girls and women equally to their male counterparts. Although women have made unprecedented strides in climbing the ranks of middle management positions in government, they are still less presented in senior leadership positions, particularly in local government which includes municipalities. The study aims to identify and assess barriers that prevent the progression of women in senior leadership positions in municipalities within KwaZulu-Natal, with specific reference to eThekwini Municipality. The study employed a qualitative approach that opts for a phenomenological research design to identify the socio-cultural phenomenon that predominates in municipalities and creates hurdles that hinder women from advancing into top management positions. The data collection used semistructured one-on-one interviews with a purposive sample of 10 managers in various municipal business clusters. With the use of an interpretative paradigm, the researcher was able to elucidate the various realities that women experience in pursuing senior leadership positions within the eThekwini Municipality. The study found that eThekwini Municipality's organisational culture and climate predominantly supported gender prejudices that favoured men. Other factors identified were associated with gender stereotypes that perpetuate traditional roles and functions, which creates unbalanced opportunities and expectations of what women can and cannot do. Similarly, factors that affect them as individuals, such as their lack of confidence, lack of mutual support, and dual responsibility were found to be hindering women’s progression into senior leadership positions. The study also provided a precis of measures that may be taken by the municipality to ensure that gender transformation occurs with greater speed to enable women to advance to top management roles. These include change management programmes, close monitoring of gender policies, empowerment of women, and redress of political interference

Integrated reporting and financial performance of mining companies listed on the JSE: evidence from South Africa.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Corporate reporting standards have evolved over time, with companies now employing a framework that demonstrates accountability to sakeholders, the environment, society, and the global economy. South Africa was the initial country to mandate the application of the widely adopted framework to all listed companies. Businesses implementing integrated reporting enjoy various benefits, but studies on the benefits of integrated reporting have lagged behind, particularly regarding the financial benefits to the implementing company. This may be the reason why some countries have not yet adopted this reporting framework. The current study investigated the relationship between integrated reporting and the financial performance and firm value of JSE-listed mining companies. The study adhered to a positivist paradigm and made use of numerical analysis of secondary data. Both random effects and fixed effects models were utilised to assess the effect. The study sample comprised mining companies listed on the JSE from 2005 to 2019. The findings revealed a significant negative relationship between integrated reporting and financial performance as evaluated by ROA and EVA. Additionally, the results indicated a negligible negative relationship between integrated reporting and firm value as measured by Tobin’s Q. This suggests that mining companies are not experiencing quantitative benefits from the synergies that arise from the adoption of integrated reporting