The protection offered in terms of the 2014 labour law amendments to fixed-term Contract and part-time employees

Labour law knows that employers are generally in a stronger bargaining position than employees.1Therefore, labour law is largely premised on the idea of protection of the interest of employees. Fixed term employees2 as ‘atypical’3 or ‘conditional’ employees are particularly weak bargaining parties in the employment relationship. It is common practice for employers to treat fixed term and part-time employees differently to their permanent colleagues. Temporary employment relationships are often associated with the withholding of rights and benefits, lack of job security, deprivation of status and poor remuneration. Fixed term employees are also likely to be more exposed to exploitation, particularly those who are not highly skilled. 4In addition, they often do not enjoy trade union protection and are not covered by collective agreements. Most of these workers are unskilled or work in sectors with limited trade union organisation and limited coverage by collective bargaining, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. Therefore, fixed term employees are more inclined to depend on the statutory protection enacted to ensure basic working conditions. These employees are often not recruited into trade unions due to the precarious or temporary nature of their work fixed term employees are more inclined to depend on statutory protection enacted to ensure basic working conditions

Structures and struggles of rural local government in South Africa: the case of traditional authorities in the Eastern Cape

This thesis is about the political implications of the constitutional recognition of the hereditary institution of traditional leadership in post-1994 South Africa for the democratization process in the rural areas of the former Bantustans. The thesis is organized around three related conceptual, historical and political questions. The conceptual question deals with the meaning of democracy in rural areas under the jurisdiction of traditional authorities. The historical question traces how the institution and traditional authorities have survived to the present post-colonial period. Lastly, this study investigates the political issue of why an ANC-led government came to recognize the institution. The focus of the thesis is the sphere of rural local government in the Xhalanga district, where these issues are best illustrated. The thesis argues that the institution of traditional leadership and its officials survived precisely because they were incorporated into the colonial and apartheid administrative structures in the project of indirect rule. Traditional authorities were central to the apartheid policy of retribalisation, which was essentially a form of control of Africans in the Bantustans. Rural residents engaged in fierce struggles against the imposition of rural local government structures such as the District Council and Tribal Authorities. In so far as traditional authorities were part of government structures, they could not avoid being targets in these struggles. In explaining the recognition of the institution of traditional leadership, the thesis focuses on the policies of the ANC, the majority party in the Government of National Unity, towards traditional authorities. Organisationally weak on the rural grounds, the ANC operated through what they considered to be “good/progressive/comrade chiefs”. The ANC had hoped that these traditional authorities would accept a non-political ceremonial role. However, traditional authorities have rejected this ceremonial role. Their refusal, coupled with the ANC’s ambivalence in resolving the tension imply, the study concludes, that the (political) citizenship rights of rural people are partial: they are neither citizens nor subjects

Youth in urban African townships, 1945-1992 : a case study of the East London townships.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.In this study an attempt is made to trace and analyse the changing nature of African youth in urban areas, with particular reference to the East London locations. The period covered is the period from the 1940s to the end of 1992. In common wisdom, an impression is often created that African youth is a homogeneous grouping. This has been particularly the case in the 1980s, when the youth of this country took to the streets and challenged the status quo in a manner unknown in South Africa's recorded history. However, the main conclusion of this study is that the African youth is not homogeneous, and has never been during the period under review. It is argued in the study that the youth divides into various categories which at times interact with one another, but are at times antagonistic to each other. It has been stressed though, that the various categories have not remained the same. Almost all underwent various changes and transformations. Some of the changes and transformations were radical, leading to the disappearance of some categories, for example, the old distinction of 'school' and 'red' youth. Where such took place, new categories have emerged, even in instances where the intentions were to bring the various categories under the roof of a single category, for example, bringing various categories under the wing of the political youth, or comrade (qabane), as was the case in the 1980s. In tracing the changing nature of African youth in urban areas, the underlying argument has been that there is no evidence of a single youth culture ever prevailing for long. This study attempts to explain why such a culture was not possible. Only a grasp of historical process will, moreover, help to explain the changing youth scene.Pages 144,160 missing

Decentralisation and natural resource management in rural South Africa: problems and prospects

In this paper, the issue of decentralisation and natural resource management will be interrogated primarily through a focus on local government reform and land administration. This focus illuminates problems that are on the horizon for other natural resources, such as forests, wildlife and fisheries, especially as these latter resources are to be managed through similar structures that are being constructed and contested in the local government and land policy arenas. Within this context, the role of traditional authorities (chiefs of various ranks) and municipal councillors will be assesse

The role of leader-member-exchange in mediating the relationship between work locus of control and job satisfaction.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between work locus of control, the quality of exchanges between subordinates and leaders (leader-member exchange) and job satisfaction. The research design of this study was a non-experimental, cross-sectional mediator design. A biographical questionnaire was used to ascertain the demographic information for the participants. Work locus of control was assessed using Spector’s (1988) work locus of control measure. Leader Member exchange was measured utilizing the member form of the leader member exchange scale LMX7. Job satisfaction of the employees was measured using The Warr 15-item Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS). The sample consisted of 115 employees from all levels of the organisation with the exception of members in top management. The sampling strategy that was utilised was non-probability sampling in which participants were recruited on the basis of their willingness to participate in the study. The study used correlations and regression analyses to analyse the data. The results of this study indicated that work locus of control had an inverse relationship with job satisfaction and leader member exchange. Mediation regression analysis indicated that leader member exchange partially mediated the relationship between work locus of control and job satisfaction. In view of the findings of this study, it is suggested that researchers on industrial relations could focus on ways in which South African organisations could improve employee-manager relations through the management of employee work locus of control, leader-member exchanges and workplace factors that contribute to employee job satisfactio

Land restitution, traditional leadership and belonging: defining Barokologadi identity

How do government policies and practices affect struggles over collective identity and struggles over land? Examining the interconnections among collective identity struggles, land struggles and state policies and practices in post-apartheid South Africa, this paper argues that the government\u27s contradictory policies and ambivalent practices have aggravated collective struggles over the boundaries of belonging. Specifically, the differing definitions of community set forth in traditional leadership, land tenure and land restitution policies exacerbate existing divisions among ‘communities’ concurrently subject to these policies and create practical policy dilemmas for decision-makers. This paper illustrates the interplay between public policies and collective identity struggles through close examination of struggles among the Barokologadi ba ga Maotwe, a so-called traditional community. The Barokologadi case underscores the necessity of attending to these interactions

Real acts, imagined landscapes: reflections on the discourses of land reform in South Africa after 1994

This paper discusses the discourses by which land reform policies in South Africa have been justified and criticized. Critical thought is needed about the underlying assumptions and frameworks informing policy and critique. While key aspects of populist, ‘Left’ and liberal ideologies helped mobilize support for land reform after 1994, they framed questions of equitable transformation and justice in ways that obscured the terrain of struggle rather than revealing it. The broad consensus on the legitimacy of land reform in the initial decade after 1994 was underpinned by narratives about redress and reconciliation that privileged reparative justice above distributive equity. It tended to obscure the complex trade-offs and impacts involved in implementation. Coherent policy-making was further undermined by simplistic oppositions between ’market’ and ‘rights-based’ approaches that often led to ill-targeted policies. Land and agrarian reform needs to be liberated from this symbolic burden. It should be informed by an understanding of the nature of inequality in South Africa and the contribution that agrarian change can make to reducing it.Web of Scienc

Cattle ownership and production in the communal areas of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

This report documents a study of the social and economic structure of cattle ownership and production in the communal tenure areas of the Eastern Cape (i.e. the former Bantustans of Transkei and Ciskei). The report begins with a review of the conventional arguments relating to cattle production systems in communal tenure areas, i.e. that they are inefficient and irrational. In seeking to challenge these pervasive assumptions concerning the way in which cattle production systems in these areas apparently work, it is argued, first, that very little systematic and detailed knowledge of these systems actually exists on which to base arguments that have had considerable impact and, second, that cattle ownership and production for African people in the Eastern Cape, quite apart from its obvious utility and cultural resonance, has been, for many decades, expressly about political-economic struggle against the state and its varied policies, which have had the effect – if not always the explicit intention – of the gradual proletarianisation of the rural population

Institutions and governance of communal rangelands in South Africa

The creation of local institutions with a mandate over land access and control is seen as a prerequisite for successful decentralisation of land tenure and effective local resource management in sub-Saharan Africa. However, with land tenure reform in South Africa currently at a state of legislative impasse, real uncertainty now exists over land rights and governance of rangeland in many communal areas. This paper draws on case study material from Eastern Cape province to illustrate how this ongoing uncertainty has resulted in the operation of a range of traditional authority and civil society institutions in different communal areas with varying degrees of legitimate authority over land administration and highly variable performance in managing rangeland resources. Collective management of rangeland resources seems most difficult in environments where land rights are contested because of the coexistence of traditional leaders and civil society institutions. On this basis an approach to tenure reform is advocated, which vests all powers over local land administration in democratically elected and accountable civil society institutions. Some successful examples of this already exist and might serve to guide policy formation, which must be flexible enough to accommodate collective management approaches that emphasise cooperation both within and between communities.Keywords: common property, land tenure, natural resource management, traditional leadersAfrican Journal of Range & Forage Science 2013, 30(1&2): 77–8