Human resource management and decentralization in Botswana and South Africa

This study seeks to understand the relationship between decentralisation and human resource management in Botswana and South Africa. The study is situated within the context of the New Public Management (NPM) that has influenced the Human Resource Management reforms that the two countries aspire to adopt. This study’s main finding is that although strategic human resource management (SHRM) and decentralisation are frequently assumed to go together and are both advocated by the BrettonWoods institutions, in the cases researched SHRM reforms have been accompanied by a tendency towards centralisation. This implies a trade-off between SHRM and decentralisation in Botswana and South Africa. The study used a mixed methods approach consisting of both qualitative and quantitative research methods, applied to a sample of local authorities in Botswana and the neighbouring North West province of South Africa. In both countries the implementation of HRM reforms in local government has been slow due to other considerations – political factors in the case of South Africa and professional bureaucratic issues in Botswana, reflecting the different path dependencies of the two countries. This study argues that from the cases studied even though developing countries may implement similar reforms based on similar policy advice or prescription, a combination of factors such as social and organisational culture that are not transferable between countries account for the difference in outcomes

Characterisation of tabanid flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) in South Africa and Zambia and detection of protozoan parasites they are harbouring

Tabanids are haematophagous flies feeding on livestock and wildlife. In the absence of information on the relationship of tabanid flies and protozoan parasites in South Africa and Zambia, the current study was aimed at characterizing tabanid flies collected in these two countries as well as detecting protozoan parasites they are harbouring. A total of 527 tabanid flies were collected whereby 70.2% were from South Africa and 29.8% were from Zambia. Morphological analysis revealed a total of 5 different genera collected from the sampled areas namely: Ancala, Atylotus, Haematopota, Philoliche and Tabanus. DNA extracted from South African Tabanus par and T. taeniola tested positive for the presence of Trypanosoma congolense and T. theileri whilst one member from T. par was positive for T. brucei-like parasite. DNA extracted from Zambian tabanid flies tested positive for the presence of Besnoitia besnoiti at 1.27% (2/157), Babesia bigemina 5.73% (9/157), Theileria parva-like species 30.11% (30/157) and 9.82% (14/157) for Trypanosoma evansi-like species. This study is the first to report on Babesia and Theileria parasites in tabanid flies. Further investigations are required to determine the role of tabanids in transmission of the detected protozoan parasites in livestock and wildlife in South Africa and Zambia

The influence of balance of payment and fixed Investment on external debt level in South Africa

Journal article published in The 5th Annual International Conference on Public Administration and Development Alternatives 07 - 09 October 2020, Virtual ConferenceDebt remains a key and critical indicator for African countries, from state indebted institutions to state projects funded through external debt. Given that South Africa was recently downgraded, external debt is a contentious issue grappling policy formulation. Hence, the study investigates how balance of payment and internal investment influence external debt level. Quarterly time series data was used from 2004 to 2017 employing Vector Error Correction Model and Granger Causality techniques in the study. VECM results show that fixed investment has a negative and significant predictor of external debt, while balance of payment was an insignificant predictor in the long run. The Granger causality results revealed that fixed investment has a causal effect on external debt significant at 5%, while balance of payment is rather affected by external debt significant at 5% also. It is therefore recommended that the country needs to mobilise and sufficiently make use of internal investments, this will deter excessive external borrowing to fund infrastructure and critical projects. It is also recommended that, perhaps, South African firms need to invest productively abroad, thereby, improving foreign direct investment (an asset value) income, this will contribute to the current account. As such investment will help deter the impact of the negative outlook imposed by ratings agencies on the country. Balance of payment, with the causal effect on debt level, may also help deter the impact of the ratings agencies pronouncements on South Africa. Keywords: Balance of payment, External debt, Fixed Investment, Current accoun

Measuring Regional Policy Change and Pro-Poor Health Policy Success: A PRARI Toolkit of Indicators for the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

PRARI is a social development research project that looks at world-regional social governance, politics, and policy. PRARI brings together an international team of researchers studying the scope for enhancing the effectiveness of the contributions of Southern regional organisations to poverty reduction. It receives funding from the ESRC

Must Land Reform Benefit the Victims of Colonialism?

Appealing to African values associated with ubuntu such as communion and reconciliation, elsewhere I have argued that they require compensating those who have been wronged in ways that are likely to improve their lives. In the context of land reform, I further contended that this principle probably entails not transferring unjustly acquired land en masse and immediately to dispossessed populations since doing so would foreseeably lead to such things as capital flight and food shortages, which would harm them and the broader society. Oritsegbubemi Anthony Oyowe has recently argued against my claim that land reform should be enacted in a way expected to benefit victims of colonialism while not greatly burdening innocent third parties, instead supporting the return of land to its rightful owners regardless of how the manner in which it were done would affect people’s quality of life. Here I expound Oyowe’s argumentation and respond to it in defence of my initial position, appealing to examples from southern Africa to illustrate

Monitoring Pro-Poor Health-Policy Success in the SADC Region

Policy Conclusions Monitoring pro-poor health policies at the regional level can support both the countries and the regional bodies themselves by identifying gaps in addressing poverty and health, strengthening the link between regions and member states, holding actors accountable to their commitments and identifying better mechanisms for data sharing, monitoring and evaluation of activities. In the area of health, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has conducted important work in understanding how poor health and poverty coincide, are mutually reinforcing, and socially-structured by gender, age, class, ethnicity and location, demonstrated by the key health policy documents that have been facilitated by the secretariat. Yet the time lapse between the formulation of guidelines and policies and their implementation has at times been uneven. The “Poverty Reduction and Regional Integration” (PRARI) project seeks to support the development of a monitoring system to measure the contribution of regional governance in the development of pro-poor health policies in collaboration with key stakeholders in the region. This system will build on existing efforts in the region and focus on policy areas such as the social determinants of health; HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria; non-communicable diseases; maternal and child health; human resources for health; pharmaceuticals; among others. Global developments such as those related to the incoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will also be considered. In order for this indicator-based monitoring system to be effective and to have an impact, it requires ‘regional ownership’, active participation of national and regional experts throughout the process of indicator development, implementation and evaluation, and evidence that it will be addressing health priorities for the region. For this, the institutional leadership from the SADC secretariat and the support from its Member States that are the main beneficiaries of the process is crucial. The strength of a regional body lies in the relevance that member-states see in it addressing their needs and managing the disparities between regional and national priorities. Monitoring existing processes would demonstrate the value-added by such integration efforts

Monitoreo del éxito de las políticas de salud en favor de los pobres en la región de la SADC

El monitoreo de las políticas de salud en favor de los pobres a nivel regional puede apoyar tanto a los países como a los organismos regionales identificando brechas en cuanto al tratamiento de la pobreza y la salud, lo cual fortalece el vínculo entre las regiones y los estados miembro; hace que los actores se responsabilicen por sus compromisos; e identifica mecanismos más eficaces para el intercambio de datos, el monitoreo y la evaluación de actividades. En el área de la salud, la Comunidad de Desarrollo de África Austral (SADC) ha llevado a cabo trabajos importantes para comprender cómo la mala salud y la pobreza coinciden, se agravan mutuamente y están estructuradas socialmente por género, edad, clase, etnia y ubicación, lo cual está demostrado por los documentos clave de políticas de salud que la Secretaría ha facilitado. Sin embargo, los plazos entre la formulación de las pautas y las políticas y su implementación han sido irregulares. El proyecto “Reducción de la pobreza e integración regional” (PRARI/REPIR) busca apoyar el desarrollo de un sistema de monitoreo para medir la contribución de la gobernanza regional en el desarrollo de políticas de salud en favor de los pobreza en colaboración con las partes interesadas clave de la región. Este sistema se creará sobre la base de los esfuerzos existentes en la región y se centrará en áreas de la política como los determinantes sociales de la salud; el VIH/SIDA, la tuberculosis y la malaria; las enfermedades no contagiosas; la salud maternal e infantil; los recursos humanos para la salud; los medicamentos; entre otras. Los desarrollos globales, como los relacionados con los próximos Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) también se tendrán en cuenta. Para que este sistema de monitoreo basado en indicadores sea eficaz y tenga un impacto, se requieren un “compromiso y responsabilidad regional”, una participación activa de los expertos nacionales y regionales a través del proceso de desarrollo de indicadores, una implementación y evaluación de este y pruebas de evidencia que abordará las prioridades de salud de la región. Para esto, son esenciales el liderazgo institucional de la Secretaría de la SADC y el apoyo de los estados miembro que son los beneficiarios principales del proceso. La fuerza de un organismo regional yace en la relevancia que los estados miembros ven en el abordaje de sus necesidades y en la gestión de las disparidades entre las prioridades regionales y las nacionales. El monitoreo de los procesos existentes demostraría el valor agregado de dichos esfuerzos de integración