Street traders, regulation and development in the eThekwini Unicity : an assessment of the new informal economy policy.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.This research paper looks at the issues that arise when implementing the regulatory regime governing street trading in the city of Durban. It does three things. First, it provides a comprehensive overview of the context of the street trading policy environment, in an attempt to set out the various discourses surrounding street trading regulation in the eThekwini municipal area from colonial times till the present. Second, the paper looks at the institutional profile of street trading and related issues within the operations of the city bureaucracy as part of the argument that its structural location determines, the attention and support that the sector gets. Consideration of related institutional variables such as location, budgeting, management strategy, and human resources revealed that the paradigm shift proposed by informal economy policy has occurred to some extent. However there are views that the organizational logic and culture of the municipality undermines speedy problem-solving mechanisms. Third, the paper explores issues that have to do with the impact of the changing regulation and institutional environment on the operations and livelihoods of street traders. Regulation is operationalised as registration, spatial allocation, enforcement and system capacity. The related experience of the regulatory regime suggests that implementation remains a problem in transforming a progressive policy intention

Energy democracy in Lesotho: Prioritising the participation of rural citizens

When projects are exclusionary, they are bound to fail because they are void of a collective sense of belonging and ownership. The government of Lesotho has been stridently pursuing renewable energy initiatives to augment the hamstrung monopoly provider and increasing user demand in energy provision. Based on content analysis, this study revealed that the government’s troubles in managing grid and off-grid energy provision in the country result from its exclusionary technical-economic strategy that subverts citizen participation in decision-making. This study contends that power without a people is not a realistic option. This calls for an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in Lesotho. It proposes that operationalising energy democracy is not only transformative but also a sustainable future. Widening civic space in the energy sector and adopting a participatory approach will likely transform the status quo by creating jobs and ensuring environmental justice

Community engagement and sustainability: Two cases of implementation of mini-grids in Lesotho

Based on a survey of two Lesotho communities, this study assessed the type of governance of energy that favours the emergence of energy democracy or community energy. It established that the centralized energy governance of Semonkong seems less effective in solving conflicts compared to the decentralized energy governance of Ha-Makebe. Poor communication and lack of will to respond to community needs caused dissatisfaction and misunderstanding towards the centralized energy project. The study found that the decentralized energy project was more likely to be sustainable because it was characterized by community participation and engagement. The findings also revealed that the satisfaction of energy consumers results from a consistent supply of energy accompanied by responsiveness to community needs as opposed to a cheap inconsistent electricity supply. The implications are that the Semonkong plant's sustainability is at risk, and the project may collapse unless the Government of Lesotho, in the short term, engages with the community regarding its concerns

Women’s changing domestic responsibilities in neoliberal Africa: a relational time-space analysis of Lesotho’s garment industry

Since 2001 when Lesotho embraced the neoliberal African Growth and Opportunities Act that offers preferential access to the US market, its garment industry has expanded dramatically to become the nation’s leading employer. Elsewhere, large-scale employment of women in low-paid factory jobs has entailed spatial restructuring of gender and age relations. Lesotho is a distinctive context, with socio-spatial relations historically adjusted to male labour migration, high levels of contemporary male unemployment and alarming AIDS prevalence. Based on semi-structured interviews with 40 female factoryworkers and 37 dependents, this article applies a relational time-space analysis to explore how financial and spatio-temporal aspects of factory employment articulate to alter women’s relationships with those for whom they have culturally determined responsibilities: their children, those suffering from ill health and their (generally rural) home communities. The analysis highlights that such employment is not merely adding to women’s responsibilities, but transforming how they are able to undertake social reproduction, as practical, social and emotional roles are converted to largely financial obligations

The politics of constitutionalism in South Africa : institutions supporting democracy

Abstract: This thesis on the politics of constitutionalism is a broad prognosis on state institutions supporting democracy in South Africa. Empowered by the country's supreme law, the chapter 9 institutions are essential elements of the country's rights infused constitutional democracy. This study employed a qualitative research design to make sense of a wide variety of secondary data sources on selected cases of Chapter 9 institutions: the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRCRL). The research design used is decidedly qualitative, with the express intention of understanding unique interactions that formed these institutions' creation and their current performance. The study's primary premise is that the constitutional form of government in South Africa and the institutional arrangements it has spawned are bound up in a legitimatising and symbiotic continuum. However, these institutions have not actualised the purpose for which they were set up but are experiencing ongoing performance problems. In this thesis, I have argued that the problem with these institutions originates from their founding. They are products of the country's fractious history, internationally driven human rights discourse and also the negotiated settlement. Seeing these institutions this way allows for a wider reading of constitutions as more than rule-bound documents, but as empowering certain institutional forms over others. In this way we can understand why Chapter 9 institutions were created and the effect they have had in realising desired outcomes of the democratic government. Having found these institutions to be underwhelming in terms of their performance, necessary questions have been asked of their relevance to the current political environment. Logically capacitating them may seem to be a panacea for their problems. Government support in terms of funding is essential as much as political will to support and respect the work these institutions do on a continuous basis. Similarly, these institutions have to perform, they have to actually do the job for which they were created, they should strive to be accessible and public support of their function will naturally follow....D. Litt. et Phil. (Politics