South Africa’s Electricity Consumption: A Sectoral Decomposition Analysis

South Africa's electricity consumption has increased sharply since the early 1990s. Here we conduct a sectoral decomposition analysis of the electricity consumption for the period 1993 to 2006, to determine the main drivers of this increase. The results show that the increase was due mainly to output- or production-related factors, with structural changes playing a secondary role. While there is some evidence of efficiency improvements, indicated here as a slowdown in the rate of increase in electricity intensity, it was not nearly sufficient to offset the combined production and structural effects that propelled electricity consumption higher.

Electricity Intensities of the OECD and South Africa: A Comparison

Improving a country’s electricity efficiency is considered one of the important ways to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and to meet its commitments concerning climate change mitigation. In this paper, we conduct a comparative analysis between South Africa and OECD members’ total and sectoral electricity intensities. This is done to establish a sense of South Africa’s relative performance in this regard, to ascertain the possible scope for improvement and, if such scope exists, to determine in which of the industrial sectors

Modelling South African grain farmers’ preferences to adopt derivative contracts using discrete choice models

This paper applies a discrete choice model to determine specific characteristics that influence South African grain farmers’ preferences to hedge against uncertainties. This is the first empirical study on South African grain producers’ preferences to adopt derivative contracting and is based on the survey data of Grain South Africa for 2006. With the application of separate binary logit models for each major grain commodity, this paper establishes that different grain farmers are significantly heterogeneous. The results also show that grain farmers’ preferences to adopt derivative contracting are mostly influenced by the farmers’ prediction of daily grain prices and trends, farm size and various geographic characteristics. From a policy perspective it has been indicated that food and income insecurity will be reduced if farmers can adopt derivative contracting at large scale since it will enable the producers to produce staple food on a continuous basis at a relatively profitable level.Discrete choice models, micro-analysis of farmers, agricultural markets and marketing,

Modeling the Marginal Revenue of Water in Selected Agricultural Commodities: A Panel Date Approach

South Africa is a water-stressed country where water availability is an important constraint to economic and social development, and will become even more so in the future if this scarce resource is not managed effectively. In order to manage this scarce supply of water, we need to value it. This study focuses on the value of water in the agricultural sector, in particular the marginal revenue of water for six irrigation commodities namely avocados, bananas, grapefruit, mangoes, oranges and sugarcane. A quadratic production function was fitted with an SUR model specification in a panel data study from 1975 to 2002 to obtain marginal revenue functions for each of the six commodities. We found that mangoes are the most efficient commodity in its water use relative to revenue generated (marginal revenue of water equals R25.43/m3 in 2002) and sugarcane the least efficient (marginal revenue of water equals R1.67/m3 in 2002). The marginal revenue of water is not an indication of the true “market” price. Neither is it an indication what the administered price should be. The marginal revenue of water is rather a guideline for policy makers to determine which industries or commodities within an industry can generate the largest revenue per unit water applied.Marginal revenue, water efficiency, panel data

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

The development of a management error orientation questionnaire.

The aim of this study was to develop a Management Error Orientation Questionnaire (MEOQ) to be used as an instrument to measure the attitude of management towards errors in the workplace. The sample comprised of 232 managers from a variety of business sectors. A factor analysis on 59 items yielded three factors and these factors were interpreted as the attitude of dealing with errors, the risk of errors and error strain. The three scales were subjected to an item analysis and yielded significant levels of reliability

The impact of an electricity generation tax on the South African economy

In the 2008 budget of the Minister of Finance, the South African Government proposed to impose a 2 cents/kilowatt-hour (c/kWh) tax on the sale of electricity generated from non-renewable sources; this tax is to be collected at source by the producers/generators of electricity. The intention of this measure is to serve a dual purpose of protecting the environment and helping to manage the current electricity supply shortages by reducing demand. The objective here is to evaluate the impact of such an electricity generation tax on the South African, SACU and SADC economies. The paper firstly considers the theoretical foundations of an electricity generation tax supported by international experiences in this regard. This section also contrasts the suitability of a permit with a tax system to achieve CO2 emission reduction. We subsequently apply the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model to evaluate the impact of an electricity generation tax on the South African, SACU and SADC economies. We simulate the proposed tax as a 10 percent increase in the output price of electricity. We assume a closure rule that allows unskilled labour to migrate and a limited skilled workforce. As expected, the electricity generation tax will reduce demand. Due to the decrease in domestic demand, export volume increases and import volume decreases, this is despite a weaker terms of trade. We also found that unemployment for unskilled labour increases and wages of skilled workers are expected to decrease. A unilateral electricity generation tax will benefit other SACU and SADC countries through an improvement in relative competitiveness, as shown by the improvement of the terms of trade for these regions. If, however, the benefits of pollution abatement are internalised, then electricity generation tax is expected to yield a positive effect on the South African economy.

Tailoring IT Education for Effective IT Professionals in a Third World Setting

Small group learning combined with innovative teaching methods were introduced at tertiary level to teach computer-related subjects. Teams were constituted according to Belbin’s theory of effective team building. A study conducted over two years showed that certain qualities needed in the IT field were lacking in these students

Smartphone security awareness, perceptions and practices:a Welsh higher education case study

Higher Education students are purported to be heavy users of technology; specifically smartphones, which represent the “Internet of Things” (IoT). These have revolutionized every sector of public and personal lives, and also revolutionised teaching and learning within Higher Education, providing students a 21st century learning experience. The way students engage with each other, with institutions of higher learning, and with their own learning, has changed dramatically. The smartphone is used to assist with all areas of their lives; however, a plethora of security issues accompanies its use. Cybersecurity perceptions are said to inform security practices and precautionary-related behaviours. If perceptions are skewed, the necessary security behaviours might be inadequate. The main objective of this quantitative study was to investigate the level of smartphone security awareness of Higher Education students undertaking a Business degree at a Welsh University during the 2016-17 and 2018-19 academic years. Understanding whether students have acquired prior cybersecurity knowledge through formal means was key to understanding whether there was a link between security education, security awareness, smartphone security behaviours, perceptions and practices.This research therefore aimed to investigate:1) The level of smartphone security awareness depicted in the attitudes, behaviours, knowledge and competences of these university students;2) Any gender differences in terms of attitudes, behaviours, knowledge and competences regarding smartphone security awareness;3) The importance of cybersecurity awareness training.Participants in this study were largely male, with half of the participants having undertaken a prior information communication technology related type courses. Almost all participants recognised that there were security related issues with social networking and location based applications. The majority of participants did not deploy measures to prevent viruses, this being the case for significantly more females. More than half of the participants used some mechanisms to protect their data. However, significantly more of the 2018-19 participant group compared to the 2016-17 participant group indicated that they did not do this. Moreover, a large proportion of the participants were unaware of the liability linked to the use of social media and the related rules applicable. This study suggests that students who received some formal information communication technology training prior to university entry were more aware of the security risks and their behaviours reflect this. Despite this, the level of smartphone security awareness is not as high as it should be which is in keeping with other research findings. This study suggests that as technology and digital literacy gain further importance, smartphone security literacy training should not be left to chance. . It is clear that education and training should occur early in the education life cycle, and should be a lifelong learning activity