No. 19: Irregular Migration to South Africa During the First Ten Years of Democracy

Irregular migration poses a considerable problem for South Africa in migration management, population planning, infrastructure development, resource management, governance, social services, economic development and security. A government can only work with what it knows, with a reasonable margin of error. By its nature, irregular migration creates many unknowns. Where entry into South Africa is clandestine or fraudulent, no proper account can be kept of the migrant’s presence, movement, identity, nationality, health status or activities. Without the ability to measure the problem, the ability to address it remains elusive. For years, figures on the number of irregular migrants present in South Africa have been bandied about and strongly contested. In a 1996 report, commissioned by the government, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) estimated the number at between 2.5 and 4 million, but suggested it could be as high as 12 million. The HSRC used a sample survey method to estimate the number of irregular migrants in South Africa. Going from door to door across the country, surveyors asked how many noncitizens lived on the property. The sample figure was then extrapolated and the number of legally resident non-citizens, as determined by Statistics South Africa through the census, was subtracted. This manner of survey was repeated every six months in an attempt to track movement patterns of irregular migrants. Critics of the HSRC figures include Maxine Reitzes and Jonathan Crush, who suggest that it could be as low as 500 000. In 2002 the HSRC withdrew its estimate. Nevertheless, the Department of Home Affairs quotes figures of between 2.5 and 5 million or up to 7 million. The media, not being in a position to conduct independent research, moves freely between these numbers. As the debate raged, the Minister of Home Affairs pleaded that less attention be given to how many irregular migrants were present, and more be focused on whether it is a problem and what it is costing South Africa7. As the Draft Green Paper on International Migration8 states: “Speculative assessments have also been made of the impact of unauthorised migration on our education, health-care and social welfare systems. We have looked carefully at all available figures and must declare that we have little faith in them. It would, of course, be very helpful if officials and planners had accurate statistics, but even under the best circumstances these are difficult to collect as people have an interest in not declaring their presence.

A Study of E-Cheating Habit of Students in Three Selected Universities in Nigeria.

Several studies have emerged on examination misconduct in Nigeria, but „e-cheating‟ habit of students, a new form of examination fraud is yet to be given adequate attention in the literature. This study is provoked to address this problem not only in the country but also in academic scholarship. Using three selected Universities samples, the study examines methods which students are using in engaging ICTs to perpetuate examination misconduct. Relying on raw data of one hundred and ninetynine (199) students retrieved, the study attempted to uncover if a significant difference exists in echeating habit between ICT-compliant students and other students in rubrics not science-oriented. It equally tried to discover if there is a significant difference in e-cheatng habit between male and female students. Drawing on the recorded data in each institution, the study reported five ICT tools associated with examination misconduct. Using chi-square (X2) to test the hypotheses, the study reported a significant difference between ICT-complinat students and other students in rubrics not scienceoriented. Finally, it revealed a significant difference in e-cheating habit between male and female students

Cyber security education is as essential as “The Three R’s”

Smartphones have diffused rapidly across South African society and constitute the most dominant information and communication technologies in everyday use. That being so, it is important to ensure that all South Africans know how to secure their smart devices. This requires a high level of security awareness and knowledge. As yet, there is no formal curriculum addressing cyber security in South African schools. Indeed, it seems to be left to Universities to teach cyber security principles, and they currently only do this when students take computing-related courses. The outcome of this approach is that only a very small percentage of South Africans, i.e. those who take computing courses at University, are made aware of cyber security risks and know how to take precautions. Moreover, because this group is overwhelmingly male, this educational strategy disproportionately leaves young female South Africans vulnerable to cyber attacks. We thus contend that cyber security ought to be taught as children learn the essential “3 Rs” – delivering requisite skills at University level does not adequately prepare young South Africans for a world where cyber security is an essential skill. Starting to provide awareness and knowledge at primary school, and embedding it across the curriculum would, in addition to ensuring that people have the skills when they need them, also remove the current gender imbalance in cyber security awareness

No. 63: Dystopia and Disengagement: Diaspora Attitudes Towards South Africa

In 2008, South African Brandon Huntley was given refugee status in Canada by the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). The unprecedented decision, based on Huntley’s claim that as a white South African he was the victim of racial persecution in South Africa, caused a firestorm. Interest in the case was particularly intense in South Africa itself where the decision was derided in the media and the South African government lodged a formal protest with the Canadian government. Over 140 high-profile South African academics also filed a petition protesting the decision with the Canadian High Commission in Pretoria. Within weeks, the Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration had lodged an appeal against the IRB decision with the Federal Court of Appeal. Some have claimed that the decision of the Canadian Government to seek to overturn the decision of the IRB was motivated by a desire to appease South Africa. This is highly unlikely. Rather, the Canadian government was concerned about the precedent-setting nature of the case and that it could set the stage for a flood of applications from similarly unskilled white South Africans seeking a route into Canada. In late 2010, Justice James Russell of the Federal Court of Appeal issued an extended judgment upholding the Canadian government’s appeal and sending the Huntley case back to the IRB for reconsideration. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal of this judgment in mid-2012, so the case will be got back to the IRB. Huntley’s lawyers are confident of a second success at the IRB, indicating that the attention given to his case will make him a marked man if he is returned to South Africa. However, Justice Russell provided a systematic and painstaking demolition of virtually every element of the original IRB decision and it seems highly unlikely that Huntley will ever be able to prove that he qualifies for refugee protection status in Canada. The case may still drag on for several more years, however, as Huntley would be entitled to institute a second round of appeals in the courts if his claim is rejected this time. In constructing a narrative to convince IRB judge William Davis that he qualified for protection under the UN Refugee Convention, Huntley and his lawyers attempted to show that he had been the victim of a series of racially-motivated personal assaults and that the state had failed in its duty to protect. None of these supposed attacks were ever reported to the police which proved rather awkward for his case. However, this was explained away with the circular argument that since the police did nothing when whites were attacked, there was no point in reporting the assaults. Huntley’s recounting of his experiences make interesting reading but they were not, in fact, central to the Davis decision. Here we focus on what Davis called the “lifeline” of the Huntley decision: that is, the case made by Huntley’s lawyer, Russell Kaplan and his sister Lara Kaplan, that all whites in South Africa are being systematically targeted because of the colour of their skin. Justice Russell rejected this argument, and the selective evidence presented by the Kaplans, in its entirety. He designated their portrayal of the situation in South Africa the “Kaplan view.” The core elements of the Kaplan view included assertions that all Black South Africans hated white South Africans; that the country was experiencing “reverse apartheid; that black South Africans have “no regard” for the lives of white South Africans; that most violent crimes are committed by black against white South Africans; that the police will do nothing about the crimes committed against white South Africans; that white South Africans are undergoing a form of racial genocide; and that there is systematic discrimination against whites in the workplace. Justice Russell concluded that the Kaplan view was rooted in the personal experience of violent crime by the Kaplan family itself in South Africa. This paper argues that to attribute the Kaplan view purely to the negative personal experiences of the Kaplan family in South Africa is to take too narrow an interpretation. The central elements of the Kaplan view are not unique to the Kaplan family but are produced and reproduced by the white South African diaspora in Canada more generally. The evidence for this assertion comes from a survey of 1,485 South African immigrants in Canada conducted by SAMP in 2010, some 80% of whom had left South Africa after 1990. Between 1991 and 2006, just over 19,000 South Africans moved to Canada, a migration that shows few signs of letting up. Most South African immigrants to Canada are white, highly skilled and educated with many professionals in their ranks. They enter Canada as permanent residents in the economic class. South Africans in Canada are high income earners. For example, 26% of the survey respondents earn more than $200,000 a year and 43$100,000 (compared with only 6% of the overall Canadian population.) The survey respondents reported visiting South Africa relatively often (only 18% had never been back since arriving in Canada) although only 20% return at least once a year. The rest make episodic visits and the vast majority of all visits are connected with family issues and events. Most have family in South Africa to visit. Half of the respondents (54%) have taken out Canadian citizenship and another 30% are permanent residents. South Africans in Canada are neither large nor frequent remitters. Forty-two percent had never remitted funds to South Africa and only 13% do so on a monthly basis. Patterns of asset holding in South Africa show systematic disinvestment over time. Allied to this pattern of disinvestment are low levels of interest in return migration to South Africa. The survey also collected information about the attitudes and perceptions of this group towards their country of origin. The dystopian views advanced by the Kaplan view in the Huntley case fit comfortably within a broader narrative about South Africa by white South Africans in Canada. A considerable number of survey respondents portrayed South Africa as an extremely violent society in which whites live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. Many argued that whites were targeted not because they own a disproportionate share of the wealth in a highly unequal society, but simply because of their colour. The idea that the white population is under siege because of their skin colour extends well beyond personal knowledge of incidents of crime and violence. The theme of racial targeting was driven home by the frequent use of terms such as “apartheid in reverse” and “reverse discrimination.” Attacks on white farmers feature prominently in the narratives and are used as a platform for broader commentary on the supposed brutality of Africa and all Africans. Personal and hearsay stories of violent crime were laced with vituperative accounts of the callous and indifferent response of the police and the government. Another recurrent complaint was how affirmative action discriminated against whites. There is no sympathy for or understanding of the reasons for these policies nor of how they personally might have benefited educationally and economically from the racist policies of the apartheid government. Instead, they represent themselves, and whites in general, as victims. In many cases, the sense of outrage spills over into overtly racist diatribes about Africa and Africans. To rationalise their departure, disengagement and decision never to return to South Africa, this post-apartheid diaspora draws on the same narrative reservoir of images as the lawyers in the Huntley case. It is therefore inadequate to conclude that the Huntley case was simply a rather egregious but exceptional miscarriage of justice. Huntley is, in many ways, emblematic of a more general and troubling discourse about South Africa that circulates amongst white South Africans in Canada

Empirical econometric evaluation of alternative methods of dealing with missing values in investment climate surveys

Investment climate Surveys are valuable instruments that improve our understanding of the economic, social, political, and institutional factors determining economic growth, particularly in emerging and transition economies. However, at the same time, they have to overcome some difficult issues related to the quality of the information provided; measurement errors, outlier observations, and missing data that are frequently found in these datasets. This paper discusses the applicability of recent procedures to deal with missing observations in investment climate surveys. In particular, it presents a simple replacement mechanism -- for application in models with a large number of explanatory variables -- which in turn is a proxy of two methods: multiple imputations and an export-import algorithm. The performance of this method in the context of total factor productivity estimation in extended production functions is evaluated using investment climate surveys from four countries: India, South Africa, Tanzania, and Turkey. It is shown that the method is very robust and performs reasonably well even under different assumptions on the nature of the mechanism generating missing data.E-Business,Statistical&Mathematical Sciences,Economic Theory&Research,Information Security&Privacy,Information and Records Management

Designing and Operating Safe and Secure Transit Systems: Assessing Current Practices in the United States and Abroad, MTI Report 04-05

Public transit systems around the world have for decades served as a principal venue for terrorist acts. Today, transit security is widely viewed as an important public policy issue and is a high priority at most large transit systems and at smaller systems operating in large metropolitan areas. Research on transit security in the United States has mushroomed since 9/11; this study is part of that new wave of research. This study contributes to our understanding of transit security by (1) reviewing and synthesizing nearly all previously published research on transit terrorism; (2) conducting detailed case studies of transit systems in London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.; (3) interviewing federal officials here in the United States responsible for overseeing transit security and transit industry representatives both here and abroad to learn about efforts to coordinate and finance transit security planning; and (4) surveying 113 of the largest transit operators in the United States. Our major findings include: (1) the threat of transit terrorism is probably not universal—most major attacks in the developed world have been on the largest systems in the largest cities; (2) this asymmetry of risk does not square with fiscal politics that seek to spread security funding among many jurisdictions; (3) transit managers are struggling to balance the costs and (uncertain) benefits of increased security against the costs and (certain) benefits of attracting passengers; (4) coordination and cooperation between security and transit agencies is improving, but far from complete; (5) enlisting passengers in surveillance has benefits, but fearful passengers may stop using public transit; (6) the role of crime prevention through environmental design in security planning is waxing; and (7) given the uncertain effectiveness of antitransit terrorism efforts, the most tangible benefits of increased attention to and spending on transit security may be a reduction in transit-related person and property crimes

Social Vices Associated with the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in a Private Christian Mission University, Southern Nigeria

This study is designed to address social problems associated with Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and implications they portend on studentship in a Private Christian Mission University, Southern Nigeria. It tries to find out how the engagement of ICT devices results in social vices on campus. Drawing from recorded data between 2006 and 2012 academic year, the study reported six ICT tools associated with eight social- ills. Relying on raw data of 900 students disciplined within this period, the study reported that 187 students were expelled while 46 were advised to withdraw due to their involvement in ICT-related vices. Moreover, the study shows that 78 students served 1 year suspension while 589 students were suspended for one month. Findings of the study also revealed loss of all student rights infinitely for expelled students, nearly all rights for those advised-to-withdraw and all for a specified period for the suspended students. Practical implications of these disciplinary actions are discussed and potential future directions on this subject are proposed

Privacy Preserving Internet Browsers: Forensic Analysis of Browzar

With the advance of technology, Criminal Justice agencies are being confronted with an increased need to investigate crimes perpetuated partially or entirely over the Internet. These types of crime are known as cybercrimes. In order to conceal illegal online activity, criminals often use private browsing features or browsers designed to provide total browsing privacy. The use of private browsing is a common challenge faced in for example child exploitation investigations, which usually originate on the Internet. Although private browsing features are not designed specifically for criminal activity, they have become a valuable tool for criminals looking to conceal their online activity. As such, Technological Crime units often focus their forensic analysis on thoroughly examining the web history on a computer. Private browsing features and browsers often require a more in-depth, post mortem analysis. This often requires the use of multiple tools, as well as different forensic approaches to uncover incriminating evidence. This evidence may be required in a court of law, where analysts are often challenged both on their findings and on the tools and approaches used to recover evidence. However, there are very few research on evaluating of private browsing in terms of privacy preserving as well as forensic acquisition and analysis of privacy preserving internet browsers. Therefore in this chapter, we firstly review the private mode of popular internet browsers. Next, we describe the forensic acquisition and analysis of Browzar, a privacy preserving internet browser and compare it with other popular internet browser

Obstacles to Business, Technology Use, and Firms with Female Principal Owners in Kenya

Data on 778 establishments indicates that firms in Kenya rely on technologies such as computers, generators, and cell-phones to conduct operations when regulations, infrastructure, security, workforce, corruption, and finance pose significant hurdles in the business environment. Obstacles related to regulations, security, and workforce, increase the probability of technology ownership, whereas obstacles related to infrastructure in particular, reduces the probability that firms own technology. Results indicate that while all firms rely on technology in the face of regulatory and other obstacles, those with female principal owners experience net effects that are statistically distinct from those experienced by their counterparts. A gender-of-owner disaggregated Oaxaca-Blinder type decomposition of differences in technology ownership indicates that up to 18% of the total gap is unexplained by differences in measurable characteristics between firms that are female-owned and those that are not, suggesting that female-owned firms may own technology to a higher level than is warranted by their observed covariates.Obstacles to Business, Technology, Kenya, Firms, Female Owners

Global Risks 2014, Ninth Edition.

The Global Risks 2014 report highlights how global risks are not only interconnected but also have systemic impacts. To manage global risks effectively and build resilience to their impacts, better efforts are needed to understand, measure and foresee the evolution of interdependencies between risks, supplementing traditional risk-management tools with new concepts designed for uncertain environments. If global risks are not effectively addressed, their social, economic and political fallouts could be far-reaching, as exemplified by the continuing impacts of the financial crisis of 2007-2008