Dwindling access to basic services in Zimbabwe

The study narrates the decline in access to three basic publicly provided services, namely, health, education, and water and sanitation for Zimbabwe for the period covering 2000 to May 2009. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of fiscal fragility on the ability of the government to provide these services. Through interviews and newspaper articles, the research found that, for the period under study, very few Zimbabweans residing in the country were able to access these basic services because they were not supplied in sufficient amounts, were not supplied at all, or were exorbitantly priced.fiscal fragility; health; education; water and sanitation

Trade reform and trade flows in South Africa: a product level analysis

Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences.This thesis investigates the impact of tariff liberalisation on South African trade flows and product quality. The thesis addresses four objectives. First, various measures of trade margins (extensive and intensive) are discussed and calculated for exports and imports. Second, focusing on the European Union-South African Free Trade Agreement, the study investigates the impact of tariff liberalisation on South Africa’s export intensive and extensive trade margins. Third, the impact of tariff liberalisation on the intensive and extensive import margins is investigated focusing on South Africa major trading partners. Lastly, the study examines the impact of tariff liberalisation on product quality of South African exports. In addressing these objectives, the study uses panel data exploiting variations across product, time and countries. The results (in Chapter 2) show that South Africa generally exports more varieties to developed countries and trade more at the intensive margin with China. For imports, the results show that South Africa imported more varieties from developed than developing countries. These results are consistent across different measures of trade margins. In general, the results shows that trade agreements have been important in shaping South Africa’s trade patterns. The study also finds differential impacts of tariff reduction across product groups exported (Chapter 3). Disaggregated results largely confirm that tariff reductions are associated with an increase in the number of destinations of South African exports, except for consumer goods. Homogenous products show a weaker relationship with tariff reduction suggesting that homogeneous products are not easily traded even if there is tariff reduction. This implies the need for South African exporters to differentiate their products to increase trade with the European Union. The results also show differential impacts of tariff reduction across different product groups imported (Chapter 4). Capital, intermediate and consumer products show greater responsiveness to changes in tariffs suggesting that trade policy should be targeted, especially to those sectors that aid production. Finally, results show a positive relationship between tariff changes and product quality (Chapter 5). The results suggest that tariff declines are associated with a decline in quality upgrading

Determinants of bond yield spread changes in South Africa

This paper offers an emerging market perspective on the determinants of bond yield spread changes. The study covers the period 2005-2013 and it is based on a sample of 106 corporate vanilla bonds listed on the South African market. To capture the impact of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the sample period is split into three sub periods, the pre-financial crisis (2005-2006), mid-financial crisis (2007-2009) and post financial crisis (2010-2013). The study shows that changes in equity volatility, interest rate level and the yield curve slope are significant determinants of bond yield spreads. The impact of equity volatility and interest rate level is more pronounced during the mid-financial crisis period. Controlling for credit ratings and bond convexity does not alter the findings. The study confirms the results documented in developed countries, and highlights the key determinants of bond values and returns of active bond trading strategies. For policy makers, the findings of this study call for further measures and reforms to address liquidity challenges on the bond market and volatility induced by non-resident investors.Keywords: Equity volatility; Bond yield spread changes; Corporate bonds; South Africa; Emerging market

Development and design of nanomaterial reagents in conjunction with new methods for their synthetic applications

This Ph.D. deals with the integration of nanotechnology with organometallic/ organic synthetic technologies. The first part of this research sought to develop a library of novel molecular gears programmed to exploit photo-switching and electrostatic repulsion to control the molecular rotation of covalently linked triptypyrazines. Incorporation of these two modes allows for control of triptycene based gear systems using unexplored external methods. The triptypyrazine was an attractive scaffold because of its intrinsic pH and electrochemical activity, thus providing a novel construct for controlling molecular motion. This design finds relevance in the fabrication of nano-electromechanical devices and understanding controlled molecular motion.This Ph.D. also sought to address the need to generate and recycle low cost hydrosilylation catalysts. Metal nanoparticle catalysts can potentially meet this need due to their high surface area and reactivity. Their morphology and surface texture provide avenues for selectivity in reactions. Metal-nanoparticles on a silicon matrix can be formed by reducing metal salts with silicon hydrides. Investigations towards iron-nanoparticle catalyzed hydrosilylation of unsaturated bonds were conducted. Furthermore, this research sought to develop highly functionalized silanes, as guiding scaffolds for generating chiral silicon hydrides. Fabrication of metal-nanoparticle catalysts with the same, could install surface definition on these heterogeneous green catalysts, thus allowing selectivity in their catalysis.A bottom up approach to nanofabrication, started with the generation of a library of highly functionalized alkynyl-silane building blocks using the hydrosilylation reaction. Hydrosilylation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom unsaturated bonds has proven to be an important reaction in organic syntheses. Additionally, silicon tethers have been utilized in complex organic syntheses as a way to increase reaction rates, and selectivity. The most commonly employed silicon tethers have been disiloxanes followed by siloxanes, then silanes. Of these methods the synthesis and utilization of tethered silyl-alkynes was limited. To address this gap, this work developed methodology to prepare tethered silyl alkynes through a hydrosilylation reaction. It was established that [IrCl(COD)]2 in the presence of excess COD can selectively catalyze the hydrosilylation of alkenes with alkynyl-silanes. This approach overrides traditional hydrosilylation catalysts' reactivity trends

Dwindling access to basic services in Zimbabwe

The study narrates the decline in access to three basic publicly provided services, namely, health, education, and water and sanitation for Zimbabwe for the period covering 2000 to May 2009. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of fiscal fragility on the ability of the government to provide these services. Through interviews and newspaper articles, the research found that, for the period under study, very few Zimbabweans residing in the country were able to access these basic services because they were not supplied in sufficient amounts, were not supplied at all, or were exorbitantly priced

Organisational leadership, women and development in the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe : a practical theology perspective

This article focusses on women and the organisational leadership structures of the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) in Zimbabwe. The aim is to identify the roles, practices and contributions of women to the developmental agenda in the church. The AFM in Zimbabwe identifies leadership positions in their various assemblies as pastor (mufundisi), elder (muvhangeri), deacon (muparidzi) and lay worker (mubati). From these ranks, the provincial and national leadership is chosen. The access to and participation of women in these offices and leadership positions will be investigated to ascertain their input to the development of the church and perception of women in the society. The article discusses the mechanisms for the election of leadership in the AFM in Zimbabwe. It analyses leadership succession and leadership roles within the AFM in Zimbabwe from the perspective of gender equity and the involvement (or lack thereof) of women in policy-making, decision-making and the management of the church. Four aspects of the Exploratory Descriptive Normative Action research (EDNA) model were utilised from a practical theology perspective. The article shows that women do not have access to top leadership positions in the AFM in Zimbabwe even though there are no explicit policies that regulate their exclusion. It highlights their contribution to the development of the church despite this exclusion and engages critically with the unspoken assumption that women are not fit to take up the presidium offices and develop the AFM. The article finds that unquestioned patriarchal discourse contributes to women’s invisibility, which results in their not being taken into consideration when choices are made to elect people for higher leadership positions in the church.This research is part of the project, ‘Gender Studies and Practical Theology Theory Formation’, directed by Prof. Dr Yolanda Dreyer, Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2020Practical Theolog

Dwindling access to basic services in Zimbabwe

The study narrates the decline in access to three basic publicly provided services, namely, health, education, and water and sanitation for Zimbabwe for the period covering 2000 to May 2009. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of fiscal fragility on the ability of the government to provide these services. Through interviews and newspaper articles, the research found that, for the period under study, very few Zimbabweans residing in the country were able to access these basic services because they were not supplied in sufficient amounts, were not supplied at all, or were exorbitantly priced

Institutions, credit markets and development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper reviews the evidence on the impact of institutions and credit market on development outcomes. The study uses panel data techniques and the data is from 1995 to 2013. The results shows that the better the institutions, the higher the credit extension to the private sector and higher the level of economic development. This applies also to credit market. If credit market functions well, development is bound to increase. This has important implications for policy in Africa. Governments should aim to improve their institutions to increase the economic development of their countries. Also, improvement in markets, especially, credit access will increase development. Keywords: institutions, credit market, fixed effects, development and Africa. JEL Classification: E5, C23, O16, G1, G2