DFI Funding and Infrastructure Development: A case of the under-resourced Municipalities in South Africa

Abstract Despite powers and resources given to local authorities to deliver and manage their own resources, most municipalities still struggle to achieve their objectives as set out in the South African constitution. This research study sought to investigate and establish whether the infrastructure development funding by DFIs e.g. the DBSA invested in some of the under-resourced municipalities in all the provinces of the country has resulted in improved service delivery and upliftment of the socioeconomic standard of their communities and if not, what the specific reasons are. A qualitative research methodology was conducted because the objective was to get the opinions and experiences of the under resourced municipalities throughout all the nine provinces of South Africa. The results of the study indicated that municipalities are very aware of the role of DFIs and all the municipalities that participated in the study stated that they had received development loans from the DBSA. The results of this study also revealed that all the respondents indicated that development finance they received made a significant difference in improving infrastructure developments in their municipalities. It has advanced and uplifted the socio economic statuses of the communities and improved service delivery and quelling the frequency and severity of service delivery protests. Poor governance was a serious impediment in municipalities where lack of accountability, lack of leadership, tensions between political and administrative interface; poor ability of many councillors to deal with the demands of local government; lack of clear separation of roles between the legislative and executive; inadequate accountability measures and support systems and resources for local democracy and poor compliance with the legislative and regulatory frameworks for municipalities and fraud and corruption are among the key governance challenges faced by municipalitie

Determinants of investments : a comparative study of RSA Retail Savings Bonds and stokvel

This research established the determinants of the investment choices between the RSA Government Retail Bonds and the stokvel by salaried individuals. The research carried out a comparative analysis between the two investment instruments. The main data was drawn from FinMark for the period 2011 to 2015. The research used a combination of data tables and graphs to analyse frequency (distribution) of use in each of the investment choices. The research used Pearson’s Chi square and Fishers’ t-test to determine the distribution, independence and Cramer’s V coefficient was applied to establish the correlation between the investment choices and the demographic under review. The outcome of the research indicated that more than risk or return inherent in the investment instruments under review, social, psychological and cultural disposition towards these investment instruments played a significant part in influencing the investment choices under review. Furthermore, lower educated individuals at low salary levels had the highest usage in stokvel and the highly educated at the higher level of education opted to invest in the RSA Government Retail Bonds. There was a very low usage in both the investment instruments by the ‘no formal education’ and primary education levels. Pearson’s Chi square and Fishers’ exact tests indicated that, race, education, location and salary levels can be used to explain the differences in investment choices between the RSA Government Retail Bonds and stokvel. According to these tests, age was statistically insignificant to explain the effects of the demographics under review on making investment choices. The results indicate that racial, educational, salary and location differences need to be properly factored into the policy development in so far as investment and savings are concerned.Finance, Risk Management and BankingM. Com. (Business Management

Assessment of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 status of home grown maize in Swaziland

Aflatoxins belong to a group of naturally occurring toxins which contaminate foodstuffs under favourable conditions. Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus produce aflatoxins; the four major aflatoxins which contaminate foodstuffs are B1, B2, G1 and G2. Maize, groundnuts, rice, wheat and other foodstuffs are susceptible to aflatoxin contamination. B1 in the majority of cases is the most abundant, most toxic and the most potent natural carcinogen and is classified as a Group 1 human carcinogen. The extent of contamination varies with geographical location, agricultural practices of farmers and susceptibility of crops to fungal activity during pre- and/ or post-harvesting. Research on groundnuts in Swaziland showed contamination with aflatoxins; however, no data exists on the contamination of maize grains, yet maize is a main staple food of the Swazi nation and its consumption is high. The purpose of the study was to carry out an investigation on the occurrence of aflatoxins on maize grown in various homesteads. Maize samples were collected from different areas in Hhohho, Manzini, Shiselweni and Lubombo regions. Extraction with methanol:water (85:15 v/v) was followed by detection with HPLC-PDA for the analysis of aflatoxins. Results showed that B1 was the most pre-dominant toxin with the lowest concentration at 0.4 ppb and the highest at 25 ppb, both samples were from the Shiselweni region. A total of 90 maize samples were collected for analysis, it was determined that overall contamination with G2 was 20% with 13% above 4 ppb- the European Union (EU) maximum recommended limit. B1 contamination was at 31%, overall, with 18% above 2 ppb- the EU maximum recommended limit. Concentrations for G1 and B2 could not be determined due to poor resolution of peaks. These results show that people in Swaziland are being exposed to aflatoxins through feeding on contaminated maize. There is a growing urgency for the Swaziland government to come up with strategies of teaching the people about food safety.Keywords: aflatoxins, Aspergillus, maize, contamination, carcinogen, toxin, Swaziland, HPLC-PD

Investigating the high level of consumer indebtedness in the South African retail market

This study was aimed at investigating the high level of consumer indebtedness in the South African retail market more specifically factors that contribute to consumer indebtedness. Recommendations on how to control the level of consumer indebtedness are also presented. Consumer indebtedness is a problem in many countries around the world and as witnessed during the 2008 global financial crisis, its impact can be disastrous. Not only does it create problems for the families but also for a country and even to the extent of the whole world. The literature conducted did not reveal a study undertaken to investigate factors that impact consumer indebtedness. Eight factors were identified and explored further in this study. Results were analysed in chapter three and outcomes presented in chapter four. The method used in conducting this study is the quantitative method. A questionnaire was developed based on the literature review conducted. The questionnaire was a five point Likert scale and was distributed to the respondents in the southern area of Tshwane Municipal district. In view of a manageable number of responses, results were analysed using an excel spreadsheet. Results were verified by an independent expert. From the eight factors that are identified, one (easy access to credit) was found to impact the high level of consumer indebtedness. Although there are other weaknesses, easy access to credit is found to be the main contributor. Recommendations on the findings are presented in chapter five of this study

An exploration of foundation phase teachers' knowledge of handwriting in the Limpopo Province.

This study sought to explore Foundation Phase teachers’ content knowledge of Handwriting. South Africa’s Annual National Assessments and international comparative research show that learners in the Limpopo Province achieve below their national and international peers. Literature suggests that the teacher’s content knowledge is the primary resource for learners’ to learn the subject. This therefore implies that if teachers know less than what they are supposed to teach then learners cannot be expected to know more than what they are taught. This research studied six teachers in the Capricorn District. All the teachers sat for a semi-structured interview and two of them were observed teaching Handwriting. The key finding of this research was that teachers in the study possessed partial subject matter content knowledge of Handwriting and that this did not translate fully into pedagogical content knowledge. Teachers also could not integrate their knowledge of the aspects of handwriting thus undermining practices that they did have knowledge of. The research concludes that teachers need training to teach handwriting effectively

Dimensions for the assessment of ethical leadership : an internal audit perspective

Ethical leadership is regarded as the key to building trust and sustaining organisations. However, monitoring the effectiveness of organisations in promoting ethical leadership poses a challenge to assurance providers, in particular internal auditors. Although attempts have been made to provide internal auditors with guidelines on how to assess the tone-at-the-top, these efforts are still based on the traditional compliance approach that in the past has fallen short of expectations when applied to questions of ethics. This paper proposes additional dimensions, to be included in a value-based approach to the assessment of ethical leadership. The foundation on which these dimensions are assessed is the Integrated Control Framework prepared by The Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).http://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication/sajaaram201

The Grand Illusion: The Myth of Software Portability and Implications for ML Progress

Pushing the boundaries of machine learning often requires exploring different hardware and software combinations. However, the freedom to experiment across different tooling stacks can be at odds with the drive for efficiency, which has produced increasingly specialized AI hardware and incentivized consolidation around a narrow set of ML frameworks. Exploratory research can be restricted if software and hardware are co-evolving, making it even harder to stray away from mainstream ideas that work well with popular tooling stacks. While this friction increasingly impacts the rate of innovation in machine learning, to our knowledge the lack of portability in tooling has not been quantified. In this work, we ask: How portable are popular ML software frameworks? We conduct a large-scale study of the portability of mainstream ML frameworks across different hardware types. Our findings paint an uncomfortable picture -- frameworks can lose more than 40% of their key functions when ported to other hardware. Worse, even when functions are portable, the slowdown in their performance can be extreme and render performance untenable. Collectively, our results reveal how costly straying from a narrow set of hardware-software combinations can be - and suggest that specialization of hardware impedes innovation in machine learning research.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, repo can be found at associated https://github.com/for-ai/portabilit

Non-acid gastro-oesophageal reflux is associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus

INTRODUCTION : Squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus is a common cancer among South Africans. Due to the absence of effective screening and surveillance programme for early detection and late presentation, squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage or when metastasis has already occurred. The 5-year survival is often quoted at 5%–10%, which is poor. OBJECTIVES : To determine the association between oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and non-acid gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. METHODS : A cross-sectional case–control analytical study of patients referred to the Gastroenterology Division of Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. All patients had combined multichannel impedance and pH studies done and interpreted after upper gastroscopy using the American College of Gastroenterology guidelines by two clinicians. RESULTS : Thirty-two patients with OSCC were recruited: non-acid reflux was found in 23 patients (73%), acid reflux in 2 patients (6%) and 7 patients (22%) had normal multichannel impedance and pH studies. Forty-nine patients matched by age, gender and race were recruited as a control group. Non-acid reflux was found in 11 patients (22%), acid reflux in 31 patients (63%) and 7 patients (14%) had normal multichannel impedance and pH monitoring study. CONCLUSION : The significance of the association between non-acid reflux and OSCC was tested using χ2, and simple logistic regression was used to adjust for the effects of potential confounders. The OR of developing OSCC in patients with non-acid gastro-oesophageal reflux was 8.8 (95% CI 3.2 to 24.5, P<0.0001) in this South African group. Alcohol and smoking had no effect on these results.http://bmjopengastro.bmj.comam2018Internal MedicineSurger

Sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy (Rosai-Dorfman disease) and cirrhosis of the liver: A case report and literature review

Patients with cirrhosis of the liver usually present with a small shrunken liver and a large spleen. The presence of an unusually huge liver should prompt the treating doctor to look for another cause, as this may be treatable and improve the patient’s outcome. In South Africa tuberculosis and lymphoma in the presence of HIV infection should be excluded. Sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy and cirrhosis is a rare combination and has not been reported before in the literature. This case is intended to make clinicians aware of this rare combination of diseases