Investigation into the slimes dams, mine dumps and landfills (residue deposits) as environmental constraints to low-cost housing projects in Gauteng, South Africa

Paper presented at the XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing, 27-30 September 2005,"Transforming Housing Environments through Design", University of Pretoria.Gauteng is the most industrialized province in South Africa, and one of the most industrialized regions in Africa. The conflict between sustaining an ideal healthy living environment and land uses such as industry and mining is a serious concern in Gauteng. It is possibly more pronounced here than in any of the other provinces. Mining is a major activity in Gauteng and as a result the province has a large number of slime dams, mine dumps, and landfills in areas earmarked for low-cost housing projects. The paper identifies and describes residue deposits constraining low-cost houses. It examines the potential health and safety hazards associated with residue deposits, and briefly reviews the current environmental legislation and its flaws regarding environmental management of mining activities. Possible rehabilitation or mitigation measures are also prescribed.Authors of papers in the proceedings and CD-ROM ceded copyright to the IAHS and UP. Authors furthermore declare that papers are their original work, not previously published and take responsibility for copyrighted excerpts from other works, included in their papers with due acknowledgment in the written manuscript. Furthermore, that papers describe genuine research or review work, contain no defamatory or unlawful statements and do not infringe the rights of others. The IAHS and UP may assign any or all of its rights and obligations under this agreement

Gender and changing patterns of political participation in sub–Saharan Africa: Evidence from the five waves of the Afrobarometer surveys

We used five waves of the Afrobarometer survey data to examine gender differences in political participation in the selected sub-Saharan Africa countries. The results showed that while the odds of voting have actually declined slightly over the time covered by the surveys, overall women were only about two-thirds as likely to vote as men with the gender gap in voting varying widely across countries and time. Also, the gender gap was narrowing by about 3.7% per survey round, with people in rural areas, more educated people, older people, employed people, people who belonged to a religious group, and people who expressed more interest in public affairs being more likely to vote. With regard to collective action, although it was increasing, the gender gap in collective action remained constant. In most regards, with its effects paralleling those for voting in that collective action was higher in rural areas, among older people, more educated people, people who were more interested in public affairs, poor people and members of religious groups. Results imply that civic education and other mechanisms are needed to encourage more female participation in all aspects of the political process