Infrastructure in South Africa: Who is to finance and who is to pay?

Against the backdrop of shifting views on the role of government in the provision of infrastructure, this paper distinguishes between the payment for and financing of the South African Government’s infrastructure investment programme. The paper also presents a classification system that enables a systematic mapping of all prospective projects, with reference to considerations of efficiency and equity. This mapping should assist in macro planning and in any analysis of the financial implications of project financing and cost recovery at all levels of government. The government’s financing strategy is questioned and alternatives are identified. The prospects for mobilising funds other than tax revenue are assessed, namely government loans, private equity, development finance and donor funds. Four investment projects are considered with a view to testing the classification system and evaluating the chosen financing options in terms of economic criteria.Infrastructure financing, government loans, benefit taxation, guarantees, private-public partnerships, South Africa

Residents’ perspective of Nelson Mandela Bay as a sustainable city

Currently, environmental issues have firmly entrenched itself at the centre of the world stage with regard to all spheres of development activity. This has been exemplified by the number of global and national agendas and international conferences, which are being held concerning the environment. This began with the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, which evolved into the current relentless environmental campaigns across the world from developed to developing nations. This was followed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, which defined critical targets for sustainable development, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These campaigns have become critical in response to the alarming rate at which human activities are affecting the environment. Africa is experiencing one of the fastest rates of urbanisation in the world, with sub-Saharan Africa leading the way. In 2009, there were more than 395 million Africans living in urban areas, which equates to approximately 40% of the continent’s population. The African population number is estimated to triple to more than 1.2 billion people, with an expected 60% of all Africans to reside in urban areas by 2050. The United Nations Human Settlements’ Programme identified that this rapid growth presents two major challenges. First, providing African cities with the ability to better harness their productive potential and secondly, assisting African cities with the ability to better serve the increased demands for municipal services and decent housing. The unique situation that makes Africa different from other global urban migrations is the speed this urban migration process is following. 1994 marked a significant change for politics in South Africa. It provided the new administrative South African government the opportunity to position South Africa on a path towards becoming Africa’s first recognised sustainable country. In 1994, the South African government amended the constitutional objective to align local government with focusing on securing ecological sustainable development and making use of natural resources, while promoting justifiable economic and social development. In support of this constitutional objective, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) No. 107 of 1998, established cooperative governance principles, institutional mechanisms and sustainable development tools needed to promote environmental sustainabilit

Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of plant flammability

Heterogeneity in the natural environment has led to plants adapting traits to fit a niche. Within natural systems, fire has been a major driver of vegetation across the globe. Flammability has been suggested by many to be a trait adapted to reoccurring fire events. Much of the literature on flammability is theoretical and little has been done to cement it as a functional trait. In this thesis, I explore flammability across a wide range of plant species from both fire-free and -driven communities and compare observed results to other functional traits to identify if any link may exist between fire and being flammable. I further focus on the impact moisture availability may have on flammability as fire regimes are often correlated to rainfall season. Lastly, I investigate how different vegetation types respond to seasonal climate in terms of flammability. As a functional trait, flammability does correlate with traits associated with fire-driven system (e.g. small leaves in dense twig matrix). However, fire associated traits were also observed in fire-free species (Forest, Thicket, and Nama-Karoo), and in some cases traits not associated to fire proved flammable (e.g. large leaves on trees). I find that at a regional scale, plant moisture only correlates to flammability when rainfall amounts are well above or below average (e.g. drought). I also identify that species have different responses to moisture fluctuations and that inherent or accidental responses may influence observed flammability (e.g. trichomes). Lastly, I note that some biomes indicate strong association to season or climate (Fynbos and Thicket), while others indicate plasticity towards weather with species having different responses (Grassland). The study is the first to present estimates of flammability across a large number of species sampled at different times of the year. Future research will have to approach flammability as a meta-analysis by experimenting on different scales, particularly temporal and spatial scales

Globalisation, the development of constitutionalism and the individual employee

To establish which legal system will govern the relationship between parties involved in an international employment contract, the rules of private international law (or conflict of laws) must be applied. Each country has its own rules of private international law and each country’s courts will apply its own rules if the court is seized with a matter that involves foreign elements. There may be conflict between the potentially applicable legal systems of countries in terms of the level of protection afforded to employees who are parties to international employment contracts. South Africa has constitutionalised the right to fair labour practices and the question is whether this right is applicable to South African employees working in other countries, or to foreigners working in South Africa who originate from countries where this right is not protected. The answer to this question is to be found in the influence of the Constitution on the rules of private international law as applied by South African courts. It is evident from recent judgments of the Labour Court that the Court will readily assume jurisdiction and will furthermore readily hold that the proper law of the contract is South African law in order to protect the constitutional rights of employees involved in international employment contracts. Had the Labour Court held that the place of performance was still the decisive connecting factor, (as previously decided in most South African cases on this aspect) the law of the other countries involved in the international employment relationship could have left employees in a worse position than under South African law. This possibility seems to be one of the important underlying reasons for the Labour Court’s willingness to assume jurisdiction and to hold that the proper law was in fact South African law. In the globalisation context the Labour Court has contributed to the advancement of constitutionalism by developing South Africa’s common law rules of private international law to afford constitutional protection to employees involved in international employment contracts.

Adapted SERVQUAL for evaluating the provision of information as an agricultural extension service in South Africa

The paper describes the adaptation of the Service Quality Instrument (SERVQUAL) for measuring the provision of information as an Extension Service. It explores agricultural Extension Services as a customer service and SERVQUAL as a service evaluation tool. The study aims to provide an adapted SERVQUAL instrument which includes a dimension for the measurement of the provision of information as a service. The reliability of the adapted instrument is tested by examining the results of a practical implementation thereof. The reliability of the adapted instrument is confirmed by using quantitative analysis of empirical data. Data used in the analysis was collected by means of a case study involving an agricultural organisation in the South African grain sector. This paper serves as the impetus for a discussion on the evaluation of the provision of Information as a Service, as provided by an agricultural organisation using Extension Services.Keywords: SERVQUAL, Information as a Service, Agricultural Extension Service

Die resepsie van arbeidsreg in Suid-Afrika

This article investigates the reception and early development of labour law in South Africa. The labour law systems of both the Netherlands and England were adapted to local socio-economic and political circumstances. A unique dual labour law system came about. This system made provision for black and white workers separately. Research into the reception of labour law in South Africa is complicated by the fact that the 17th-century colonists had no instructions as to which legal system to apply. Moreover, the first court, the Court of Justice, furnished no reasons for its decisions. Legislation in the form of plakkaaten of the earliest legislative body, the Political Council, did not contain any material law either. The only possible way of establishing which legal system and thus which labour law system applied to the Cape, is by investigating the labour law practices in place, together with the labour law heritage of the colonists. The labour relationship between white employers and white employees was based on the Roman locatio conductio operarum, a contract entered into freely and which did not affect the personal freedom of the employee. However, feudalism which was being phased out in the Netherlands where most of the early colonists came from, applied in respect of the labour relationship between white employers and black employees. The reason for this appears to be that the unsophisticated indigenous habitants who had no possessions (the Khoikhoi), sought work and protection from those who possessed land (the whites). This feudal relationship curtailed the freedom and thus brought about a change in the status of the employee (servant/vassal). The position of the indigenous people degenerated from one of being able to enter freely into a labour relationship to one of being forced to seek employment by white persons. This was brought about by methods used by the colonists and legal measures implemented by the different governments to ensure a stable labour force. Although the Netherlands and British governments in South Africa endeavoured to protect indigenous labourers from the practices ‘enslaving’ them, both governments legalised some of the oppressing measures practised by the colonists. Slavery had a definite influence on the labour relations in the Cape. White people associated Khoikhoi and slaves (dark-skinned people) with each other. The result was that white people who experienced labour shortages, regarded themselves as being entitled to thelabour of indigenous people as well. Certain measures, such as the apprenticeship system, pass laws and the tot system were implemented to combat labour shortages and had the effect that indigenous people were kept in a slave-like position