Search

In this paper I examine the question of how masculinities and men's sexualties challenge, seek to become, and are resisted from becoming, part of tradition, as well as how such a confrontation is contigent on space. I employ the case of a famous 'traditional' gay wedding that took place in the relatively small township of KwaDukuza in KwaZulu, South Africa, and mediated responses to the wedding, to consider how we might better understand this question. In pointing out men's genders and sexualities and their traditions as discursive practices connected to specific places and temporalities I hope to raise the possibility of finding spaces for transforming gender relations and liberating masculinities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local climate governance has become a key focus of the climate change agenda. Much research has been conducted on the topic in northern countries, but more research is needed in the South, where local governments often are less equipped to deal with challenges associated with climate change. This paper discusses different forms of local climate governance, with a specific focus on the relevance of networks. Local climate governance in eThekwini Municipality, South Africa, is used as a case study, particularly focusing on a campaign that was implemented in 2011 before the international climate conference (COP17). The modes of governing in eThekwini are considered through a framework of local climate governing and identified mainly as self-governing and governing through enabling, the campaign being an example of the latter. The campaign also exemplifies how network governance can shape climate policy and significantly alter a project from initiation to implementation. While networks can contribute to improved communication and information exchange, there may be an inherent risk of private partners having a perverse incentive against implementing effective climate policies due to their own interests in maintaining current structures. It is not clear whether the change from regulative governance to governing by enabling will lead to more effective climate policies in the longer term. More research is required to determine this. While this study is too small to make broader generalizations, it does provide insight into how the introduction of network governance may impact climate governance at the local level in the South. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1996, the inclusion of sexual orientation in the anti-discrimination clause of South Africa's post-apartheid constitution aligned LGBT+ rights with the larger struggle against oppression and inequality. In this paper we focus on a small, rural town in the Eastern Cape, a town we call Forestville. How are LGBT+ identities made visible in this town? How do residents respond to the diverse sexualities they encounter? How do they talk about diversity (sexual and otherwise)? The data was collected in the context of a long-term ethnographic project, which looks at responses to diversity in non-metropolitan settings. Reconstructing local philosophies of hospitality and looking at affective-discursive practice, we argue that social life in Forestville shows traces of what Derrida () calls 'absolute hospitality'. There is a sense of welcome and inclusivity, but, unlike in Derrida's conception, this hospitality is deeply embedded in the speech act of asking, indeed in curiosity. At the same time, hospitality remains fragile; it is always on the border of exclusion and judgment. The article explores Mignolo's () idea of 'critical border thinking' as a core episteme for Southern theory and puts academic philosophy and everyday knowledges into dialogue with one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the potential output of the South African economy using several filters. We demonstrate that potential output measures are very sensitive to the different methodologies. We also provide estimates of South Africa's potential growth rate over the 1960-2015 period. Current estimates of the potential growth rate fall in the 1.9%-2.3% range. However, the evidence suggests that the rate is under considerable downward pressure. South African potential growth may be headed toward the 1% range. The strongest decline is in the real sectors of the economy (Manufacturing, Mining), the greatest resilience in the service sectors (financial in particular). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims Evidence suggests that adult per-capita alcohol consumption, as estimated from self-reports of nationally representative surveys, underestimates 'true' consumption, as measured as the sum of recorded and unrecorded consumption. The proportion of total adult alcohol per capita reported in representative surveys is usually labelled 'coverage'. The aim of the present paper was to estimate coverage for South Africa under different scenarios of alcohol use assessment and 'true' consumption. Design Five nationally representative surveys from South Africa were used to estimate the prevalence of drinking and the grams per day among current drinkers. All surveys used a complex multi-stage sampling frame that was accounted for by using survey weights. The total (recorded and unrecorded), the recorded and the adjusted total adult per-capita alcohol consumption in South Africa served as different estimates of the 'true' consumption. Setting South Africa. Participants Alcohol use information was assessed on a total of 8115, 16 398 and 13 181 adults (15 years or older) in surveys from the years 2003, 2005 and 2008, respectively. Two surveys in 2012 included 27 070 and 18 688 adults. Measurements Coverage of the alcohol use reported in the surveys was calculated, compared with the 'true' adult per-capita alcohol. Findings The survey data covered between 11.8% [2005; 95% uncertainty interval (UI) = 9.3-16.2%)] and 19.4% (2003; 95% UI = 14.9-24.2%) of the total alcohol used per capita. The highest coverage of 27.9% (95% UI = 22.4-36.8%) was observed when looking only at recorded alcohol in 2003. Conclusions Evidence from five nationally representative surveys assessing alcohol use suggests that less than 20% of the total adult per-capita alcohol consumption in South Africa is reported in surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on prejudice seeks to understand and transform inaccurate beliefs about others. Indeed, historically such research has offered a cautionary tale of the biased nature of human cognition. Recently, however, this view has been challenged by work defending the essential rationality of intergroup perception, a theme captured controversially in Jussim and colleagues' (2009) research on the 'unbearable accuracy of stereotyping'. The present paper argues that in its own terms the 'rationalist turn' in socio-cognitive research on stereotyping presents an important challenge to the prejudice tradition, raising troubling questions about its conceptual and empirical foundations. However, it also argues for the necessity of transcending those terms. By focusing on the correspondence between individual beliefs and the supposedly 'objective' characteristics of others, we neglect the historical and discursive practices through which the social realities that we 'perceive' are actively constructed and institutionalized. We mask their social origins, contested and perspectival nature, relativity, and relationship to wider structures of power. By implication, moving beyond the Allportian perspective that has dominated both the prejudice tradition and the emerging stereotype accuracy paradigm, we may now need to prioritize other kinds of questions. Reversing Allport's famous definition of prejudice, it may now be time to ask: How, and with what consequences, does 'thinking ill of others' become sufficiently warranted? How does such thinking become part of institutionalized relations of power and an accepted way of perceiving, evaluating and treating others? What should social psychologists be doing to challenge this state of affairs? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the teaching and research activities of 17 Economics Departments in 2005-2014 by consulting the information from each university's faculty prospectus, publication in accredited local and international peer-reviewed journals, Economic Society of South Africa conference participation, Economic Research Southern Africa working paper series and the National Research Foundation. The results indicate there is big variation in the departments' teaching and research activities during the period. Nonetheless, research output increased, in particular publication in accredited international journals in both absolute and proportional terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nature and sources of productivity growth in South African manufacturing sectors, from an international comparative perspective. On panel data estimations, we find that the evidence tends to support Schumpeterian explanations of productivity growth for a panel of countries including both developed and developing countries, and a panel of South African manufacturing sectors. By contrast, semi-endogenous productivity growth is supported for a panel of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) manufacturing sectors. However, we also report evidence that suggests that sectors are not homogeneous. For this reason, time series evidence may be more reliable than panel data. Time series evidence for South Africa suggests that prospects for the sustained productivity growth associated with Schumpeterian innovation processes, is restricted to a narrow set of sectors. For the OECD manufacturing sectors, both semi-endogenous and Schumpeterian growth finds support. Schumpeterian growth is present for a larger number of sectors than for South Africa, and is most prevalent in the North American economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses health policy and systems research in complex and rapidly changing contexts. It focuses on ethical issues at stake for researchers working with government policy makers to provide evidence to inform major health systems change at scale, particularly when the dynamic nature of the context and ongoing challenges to the health system can result in unpredictable outcomes. We focus on situations where 'country ownership' of HSR is relatively well established and where there is significant involvement of local researchers and close ties and relationships with policy makers are often present. We frame our discussion around two country case studies with which we are familiar, namely China and South Africa and discuss the implications for conducting 'embedded' research. We suggest that reflexivity is an important concept for health system researchers who need to think carefully about positionality and their normative stance and to use such reflection to ensure that they can negotiate to retain autonomy, whilst also contributing evidence for health system change. A research process informed by the notion of reflexive practice and iterative learning will require a longitudinal review at key points in the research timeline. Such review should include the convening of a deliberative process and should involve a range of stakeholders, including those most likely to be affected by the intended and unintended consequences of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Besides the right to freedom, human rights can be seen as a basic requirement also for the maintenance of human dignity and the opportunity to thrive - particularly in the case of children with disabilities. It is imperative to explore primary caregivers' awareness of the human rights of their children with intellectual disabilities in view of the role they may play in either facilitating or restricting these rights. This paper explores the awareness of 219 primary caregivers of the human rights of their children with intellectual disabilities. Method A descriptive survey design was used with a custom-designed questionnaire that employed a deductive content analysis based on the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child. Comparisons were drawn between the awareness of primary caregivers from urban and those from rural areas. Results The majority (85.5%) of participants agreed that their child with intellectual disability had rights. Three broad kinds of right were mentioned (in descending order): provision rights, protection rights and participation rights. Participants from both urban and rural areas mentioned education (a provision right) most frequently. However, participants from urban areas were more aware of the different rights that existed than were their counterparts from rural areas. Conclusion Primary caregivers in both rural and urban areas are aware of the rights of their children with disabilities, although there are significant differences between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses poor service delivery at local government level, which is attributed to the politicisation of administrative components in municipalities, resulting in poor local governance. The public service delivery system has been perceived as one of the most important ways of reducing poverty through poverty alleviation programmes. As part of the South African government's cooperative system, key stakeholders in municipalities ought to adopt an integrated approach to public service delivery. An integrated approach to public service delivery demands that local municipalities, together with relevant stakeholders, integrate processes and services to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. This ultimately will result in an improved standard of living and sustainable livelihood for communities. With regard to public service delivery, local municipalities have the obligation of creating income opportunities people, especially the poor, with the sole aim of contributing towards poverty reduction and the realisation of the expectations of people, as stated in the South African government's White Paper of transforming public service delivery. The political interface in local municipalities greatly affects effective and efficient administration, as well as growth opportunities. Administrators, therefore, have the important function of ensuring that explicit assignments of objectives and administrative functions are wholly separated from the policymaking activities of government. This paper, therefore, suggests that municipalities adopt the merit system and abandon the spoils system that is highly characterised by political favours and political interferences. Political favours and interferences are dominant in local South African government, and they hinder the process of providing services equally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on schedule for Eighth International Phycological Congress 2005, that will take place between August 13-19, 2005, in Durban, South Africa. The scientific program consists of Plenary Lectures for all delegates, Symposia, Contributed Paper sessions and Poster sessions. The Plenary Lecture each morning is followed by three parallel Symposia each comprising four talks. In addition to the regular Congress Symposia, the Scientific Program will include Contributed Paper Sessions. These sessions will be organized, where relevant and feasible, in conjunction with the Congress Symposia.

ABSTRACT In this paper we discuss language-in-education practices, along with the ideologies and attitudes that undergird them, in the two countries. The focus is on the ideology of development, the essence of which is captured in the second epigraph: An education through the medium of English brings about employment, literacy, and development, personal success and upward social mobility. We discuss these presumed outcomes in the context of Kenya and South Africa, and argue that the language remains accessible only to a select few, the elite, and so do literacy and socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2012 the residents of an inner-city tenement building in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, were evicted on a court order. The building was situated in a post-industrial neighbourhood in which thousands of South Africans and foreign nationals, many blind or disabled, live in unlawfully occupied buildings without access to water, basic sanitation, electricity and waste management services. Such buildings are known in policy discourse as 'bad buildings', and informally as 'dark buildings', invoking both a sense of developmental failure and spiritual insecurity. In this paper I analyse how urban renewal policies created social divisions and alliances not only among the residents of Chambers, which were channelled along nationalist lines, but also between the able-bodied and disabled, and produced new social alliances. In particular, I document how a group of blind Zimbabweans experienced threats of violence and accusations of betrayal, as they were offered alternate accommodation by the evicting company because of their disability. I argue here that the pressures of private-sector housing developments intersected with the insecurities and divisions of inner-city social spaces and also fostered new alliances. Following the work of Deleuze and Guattari, I invoke the concept of 'decoding dispossession', proposing that ongoing evictions and dispossessions are characterized by simultaneous movements of 'decoding and deterritorialization' and 'overcoding-reterritorialization'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A research gap exists for the conceptual strengthening, measurement and analysis of innovation at the tourism firm and systems levels, especially in the context of the global South. This paper investigates tourism innovation in the Western Cape region of South Africa. In particular, the nature and types of innovation by tourism firms and system actors are interrogated. It is revealed that innovation by tourism firms is widespread, albeit is largely incremental in nature. The main contribution of this research is the development of an expanded evidence-based tourism innovation typology from a cross-sectoral survey of tourism firms and qualitative interviews undertaken with tourism system actors. In addition, recommendations are provided regarding measurement of innovation in tourism. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Sex workers, people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, women who have sex with women and transgender people in South Africa frequently experience high levels of stigma, abuse and discrimination. Evidence suggests that such abuse is sometimes committed by police officers, meaning that those charged with protection are perpetrators. This reinforces cycles of violence, increases the risk of HIV infection, undermines HIV prevention and treatment interventions and violates the constitutional prescriptions that the police are mandated to protect. This paper explores how relationship building can create positive outcomes while taking into account the challenges associated with reforming police strategies in relation to key populations, and vice versa. Discussion: We argue that relationships between law enforcement agencies and key populations need to be re-examined and reconstituted to enable appropriate responses and services. The antagonistic positioning, ''othering'' and blame assignment frequently seen in interactions between law enforcement officials and key populations can negatively influence both, albeit for different reasons. In addressing these concerns, we argue that mediation based on consensual dialogue is required, and can be harnessed through a process that highlights points of familiarity that are often shared, but not understood, by both parties. Rather than laying blame, we argue that substantive changes need to be owned and executed by all role-players, informed by a common language that is cognisant of differing perspectives. Conclusions: Relational approaches can be used to identify programmes that align goals that are part of law enforcement, human rights and public health despite not always being seen as such. Law enforcement champions and representatives of key populations need to be identified and supported to promote interventions that are mutually reinforcing, and address perceived differences by highlighting commonality. Creating opportunities to share experiences in mediation can be beneficial to all role-players. While training is important, it is not a primary mechanism to change behaviour and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This paper reports part of the findings of a study which exposed sexual violence in schools for learners with mild intellectual disability in South Africa. Special attention was paid on factors contributing to such a problem. Methods Data were collected using focus groups and individual interviews with 16 learners with mild intellectual disability at two special schools in South Africa. This was followed by individual interviews with the school nurse and social worker, and an analysis of schools' books of incidents. Results Factors contributing to sexual violence at schools for learners with mild intellectual disability included: (i) peer pressure, (ii) concealment of reported incidents of sexual violence, (iii) unsupervised areas linked to schools and (iv) arranged relationships. Conclusion The following suggestions are put forth: (i) awareness programmes, (ii) sensitization of teachers about the consequences and prevention of sexual violence, (iii) boundaries within which the arranged relationship occurs, (iv) intensification of sexuality education and (v) supervision around the school premises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the impact of land restitution involving the Khomani San 'bushmen' in the Kgalagadi area of South Africa. It seeks to investigate the effect of land restitution on poverty reduction among the beneficiaries. We run two-stage least squares models of access to nature, per capita income and poverty status on the use of restituted land, among other variables. Our results suggest that the Khomani San beneficiaries have gotten more access to natural resources but that the use of restituted land has neither increased per capita income nor reduced poverty. In fact, the use of restituted land has contributed to increased poverty. Therefore, land restitution should become part of a broader, carefully crafted rural developmental strategy for it to be effective in reducing poverty. Otherwise, land restitution risks enabling indigenous communities to continue with their 'traditional' way of life, and in fact thereby keep them poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current literature on middle-income traps has been dominated by economists who have relied on economic explanations mainly around stages of development and the structural transformation of economies. But there is an equally vigorous literature from political science which speaks to the political economy of transitions. We look at the dynamics of how economic modernisation triggers structural changes with winners and losers and how this is reflected in the polarisation of the political sphere amongst middle-income countries. This paper asks the question of whether South Africa is an archetypical example of a country stuck in a trap and how this has affected the policy choices that it has made. South Africa needs to move up the value chain with a viable value proposition, and this requires a very different policy set and human capital plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of the relationship between clinical investigator and research participant continues to be contested. The related discussions have largely focused on the doctor-researcher dichotomy thought to permeate the work of a clinical investigator with research participants, whom in turn occupy two corresponding roles: patient and subject. This paper contributes to current debates on the topic by providing a voice to research participants, whose perspectives have been largely invisible. It draws on 42 in-depth interviews conducted in Ghana and South Africa with respondents at different stages of involvement in clinical research, ranging from no experience in clinical research to enrollment in several clinical trials. The perspectives of all respondents were largely congruent and rooted in the common view that clinical research contributed to the improvement of local health. They went beyond the researcher/participant versus doctor/patient dichotomy, long established in research ethics, and preferred to view participants and investigators as partners working together to find ways to address local health needs. The conceptualization of investigator-participant relations as a partnership reinforced expectations of care, transparency and accountability, which were viewed as necessary expressions of mutuality and respect within equal collaborations. It is important to engage with these views in order to avoid antagonizing societal expectations and to build up long-term public trust, crucial for the continuous operation of clinical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures of core inflation convey critical information about an economy. They have a direct effect on the policymaking process, particularly in inflation-targeting countries, and are utilised in forecasting and modelling exercises. In South Africa, the price indices on which inflation is based have been subject to important structural breaks following changes to the underlying basket of goods and the methodology for constructing price indices. This paper seeks to identify a consistent measure of core inflation for South Africa using trimmed means estimates, measures that exclude changes in food and energy prices, dynamic factor models, and wavelet decompositions. After considering the forecasting ability of these measures, which provide an indication of expected second-round inflationary effects, traditional in-sample criteria were used for further comparative purposes. The results suggest that wavelet decompositions provide a useful measure of this critical variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of special insolvency rules for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has attracted attention in international spheres, and within the ambit of some international and comparative approaches, same is considered in this article with particular focus on the South African position. In particular, we show that the South African insolvency regime does not, at present, cater for financially distressed small businesses in a specific and viable manner. In South Africa, although attention has been paid to the development and support of small businesses, similar considerations have not been observed with regard to the insolvency side of small business concerns. No comprehensive and focused process of dealing with financially distressed small businesses exists in the South African insolvency framework. This scenario prevails, notwithstanding that there are existing foreign and international policy guidelines, rules and regimes in developed jurisdictions that can serve as pointers in this regard. The purpose of this article is to first highlight the need for special treatment of small businesses by focusing on the shortcomings in the South African system, and, as a natural sequential development, policy proposals as unavoidable foundations to address these shortcomings. In the premises, the focus is on the principles and policies that are relevant to any discussion regarding insolvent businesses that fall within the scope of the SME category. Therefore, this paper deals with the concept of the small business, the South African insolvency regime and the international position pertaining to small businesses. In particular, the need for special treatment of SMEs under insolvent circumstances is discussed, consideration is given to the existing South African mechanisms available to small businesses in distress and the lack of suitable contextual provisions for small businesses in distress is noted. A core component of this article is the position in South Africa viewed against the backdrop of some international developments, international documents and principles that are relevant to an insolvency and rescue/rehabilitation regime within the context of the small business. As a logical conclusion, recommendations for reform of the South African regime are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly understanding of the nature of the science around silicosis has been strongly influenced, in recent years, by the idea that the mine doctors were responsible for hiding an epidemic, on the mines and in the countryside. In this paper, I try to show that the opposite was in fact the case, and that the science and government institutions for the regulation of silicosis and tuberculosis in white and black male workers were distinctively elaborated, and very largely successful in tracking and controlling the disease. This singular visibility, funded by the mines, stands in marked contrast with disease in general in South Africa, and forms a major part of the explanation for the very strong association of silicosis with mine work. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:S15-S22, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Twenty years after the advent of democracy in South Africa (SA), there have been some successes in the achievement of greater equality, access and inclusion for many persons with disabilities. The move towards inclusive education may, however, have had unanticipated embodied consequences for people positioned discursively as included, but who in fact may in some respects be further marginalised than they had been under apartheid. We describe ethnographic research conducted in a special needs school in SA to explore the lived experiences of children with cerebral palsy and their involvement in physical activity. Our study shows how inclusive educational practices in SA have impeded involvement in sport for some children with motor impairments because of resource limitations and other historic reasons. This paper raises important questions about the role of community psychology in recognising, naming and contributing to action around injustices, which may be hard to see but which can have profound effects on the lives and bodies of those who experience exclusion. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being hearing impaired does not only affect a child's academic performance, but can also influence a child's overall development and ability to succeed academically. Children with hearing impairment often experience delays in other areas of their development and an understanding of the inter-relatedness of these delays are important in order to address all these aspects, and thus minimise the impact on a child's overall development. The paper provides a neurodevelopmental profile of 4-year-old to 8-year-old rural hearing-impaired children based on the result of a psychometric assessment. Eighteen children were selected from a special needs school in the rural Qwa Qwa Free State area of South Africa and underwent a psychometric assessment using two test batteries ( Griffiths mental developmental scales - extended revised and a neurodevelopmental evaluation scale). The neurodevelopmental profile will contribute to knowledge of the nature of the challenges faced by the hearing-impaired child in rural education and the neurodevelopmental origin of these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the role of personal characteristics in not only determining the unemployment duration but also the probability of unemployment terminating with transitions into wage-employment, self-employment or higher education. Formulated within the survival analysis framework using the Labour Market Entry Survey, this study provides the first empirical evidence on black youth unemployment duration in South Africa. The results of the analysis indicate non-monotonic duration dependence with other individual, household and locational covariates exerting very different impacts on the state-specific exit rates from unemployment for both young men and women. The scarring impact evident in negative duration dependence and gender-specific findings point to the need for more informed policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil prices have become increasingly important to determine indicators such as inflation; this in turn affects savings and investments. This paper investigates the impact of the volatility of oil prices on savings in South Africa using quarterly data covering the period 1960-2014. The study used the GARCH-in-mean VAR model. This model also provides a way of examining the effect of a negative and positive shock in oil prices on savings. The outcome of this study proves that oil price uncertainty which is measured as the conditional standard deviation of a one-step-ahead forecast error of the change in oil price affects South Africa's savings in a negative way. The responses of savings to a positive and negative oil price shocks are symmetric in both direction and magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes South Africa's Free Basic Water Policy, under which households receive a free water allowance equal to the World Health Organization's recommended minimum. I estimate residential water demand, evaluate the welfare effects of free water, and provide optimal price schedules derived from a social planner's problem. I use a data set of monthly metered billing data for 60,000 households for 2002-2009 from a particularly disadvantaged suburb of Pretoria, with rich price variation across 20 different nonlinear tariff schedules. I find that the free allowance acts as a lump-sum subsidy, without large effects on water consumption. However, it is possible to reallocate the current subsidy to form an optimal tariff without a free allowance, which would increase welfare while leaving the water provider's profit unchanged. This optimal tariff would also reduce the number of households consuming low quantities of water, a desirable policy goal according to the WHO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first four years of P. W. Botha's premiership in apartheid South Africa were plagued by intra-party politicking, renewed anti-apartheid resistance, economic instability, and Satan. Between 1978 and 1982, the heavy political rhetoric of 'total onslaught' inflected perceived 'moral onslaught' in a virulent moral panic over Satanism in white, and particularly Afrikaner, South Africa. With attention to its discursive and socio-political context, this paper seeks to explore the emergence of this distinct satanic moral panic in white South African history, arguing that it reflects the intense political and moral ambiguity of white society as the edifices of apartheid began to fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is set against the backdrop of criticism from certain quarters framing second homes as an elitist phenomenon that is part of the negative consequences of changing rural geographies. It is shown that South Africa has a long history and ever growing number of second home owners across the whole spectrum of class cohorts who form an integral part of the country's rural geographies. It is argued that accepting and framing second homes as a potential positive development agency might suggest strategies that could enhance rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eubank findings on taxation, political accountability and foreign aid have had an important influence on academic and policymaking debates. Eubank has warned that his findings should not be generalised across Africa until they are backed by robust empirical evidence. This paper puts some empirical structure to the celebrated literature. The empirical evidence which is based on data from 53 African countries for the period 1996-2010 broadly confirms the Somaliland-based Eubank hypothesis that in the absence of foreign aid, the dependence of government on local tax revenues provides the leverage for better political governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surprising volatility of floating exchange rates have puzzled macroeconomists and challenged policy makers since the seventies. This is no less true in South Arica where the Rand's volatility is a longstanding policy and business challenge. This paper extends the literature on nominal and institutional factors associated with currency volatility. Rose's description of inflation as ' Bretton Woods in reverse' is the departure point and is read with Berganza and Broto's recent demonstration in a time series study that inflation targeting emerging market economies have experience higher exchange rate volatility. Meanwhile Bleaney and Tian have shown the cross-sectional connection between the level of inflation and exchange rate volatility. We build on Bleaney and Tian's cross-sectional approach to investigate the association between the level at which inflation targeting countries target inflation and exchange rate volatility over the long run. Crucially, we control for the average level of inflation and distinguish between inflation targeting countries that target high and low levels of inflation, in order to investigate whether the choice of the level of the inflation target (an institutional feature) is associated with greater exchange rate volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Migrating nursing labour inadvertently reinforces South Africa's care drain, contributes to a global care crisis and forces us to reconsider migration motivation. This paper highlights issues that complicate psychiatric intellectual disability nursing care and identifies loci for change in an attempt to redress this care challenge. Method An exploratory descriptive-interpretivist method investigated nurses' experiences of psychiatric intellectual disability work. Sixteen free association narrative interviews were collected in 2013. Thematic analysis allowed findings to emerge from the data. Results Findings reflect a number of themes: 'relational interaction', 'care burden', 'system fatigue', 'infantilising dynamic of care' and 'resources for coping'. Conclusion System fatigue contributes more to negative experiences of providing care than direct patient work, and nurses experience more relational reciprocity from patients than from institutional management. Organizations should meet nurses' needs for burnout prevention, afford them impact in implementing institutional controls, and engage in a non-exploitative and non-exclusionary way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse of social media adoption in higher education has often been funnelled through utopian and dystopian perspectives, which are polarised but determinist theorisations of human engagement with educational technologies. Consequently, these determinist approaches have obscured a broadened grasp of the situated, socially constructed nature of human interaction with educational technologies and failed to explain ambivalent positions of technology adoption. To contest the innate determinism embodied in the aforementioned technological views, this paper draws on technological ambivalence to unravel the complex, multiple possibilities in pragmatic use of technology-including the double-bound relationship between human agency and educational technology. A phenomenological approach that draws on self-narratives of the use of social media by Computer Science and Informatics educators at a South African university is employed to unravel how their perceptions of social media shaped and informed their pragmatic instructional uses of these technologies. Findings suggest that the sharp contrasting experiences of collaborative engagement, enactment of decentralised power and democratic expression in social media coexist recursively with the disempowering, dependence-ridden and distractive effects of these technologies. This technological divergence is further compounded by ambivalent views that neither celebrate the unrealistic hopes of social media nor grossly protest against the debilitating effects of these technologies. This view foregrounds the social embeddedness of technology and its potentially multiple, contradictory effects. The implications of these findings include the need for educators to consider social conditions of technology use, the alignment of such conditions with innovative social media-enhanced pedagogical models and the use of proven models to demonstrate the educational potential of social media technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the removal of restrictions on movement and increasing female participation in migration, only a minority of migrant parents in South Africa include their children in their destination household. Quantitative analyses of the circumstances in which children accompany a migrant parent have been limited by the lack of available data that document family arrangements from the perspective of more than one household. This paper uses data about members of rural households in a demographic surveillance population in KwaZulu-Natal and a linked sample survey of adult migrants to examine factors associated with children's inclusion in the destination household of migrant parents, analyse the timing and sequence of children's moves to parental destination households, and describe the composition of parental origin and destination households. The findings confirm that in contemporary South Africa, only a small percentage (14%) of migrants' children who are members of the parental origin household are also members of the parental destination household. Membership of the parental destination household is associated with parental characteristics and the child's age, but not measures of socio-economic status, and children most commonly migrate several years after their migrant parent. Children included in the destination household of migrant fathers frequently live in small households, which also include their mother, whereas children included in the destination household of migrant mothers live in larger households. This study contributes to understanding the contexts of children's inclusion in parental destination households in South Africa and demonstrates the potential of data collected in migrants' origin and destination households. © 2014 The Authors. Population, Space and Place published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents data from 48 resightings of 16 southern right whales that were satellite-tagged on the South African coast in September 2001, up to and including 2012. Tag performance in terms of number of days with locations received was significantly higher in males than females, and lowest in cows with calves, and attributed to behavioral differences leading to variable degrees of antenna damage. Resightings occurred from 4 to 4,054 d after tagging: tags were retained in all whales seen within 27 mo, but were apparently shed in all but one individual seen within 36 mo of tagging. The exception was a whale that still had the tag present 11 yr after tagging. Healing at the tag site occurred gradually and within 5 yr of tagging (and 2 yr after tag shedding). No significant difference in the subsequent frequency of calving was detected between 12 tagged and 382 untagged females photographed contemporaneously, and although statistical power was low, a 21% or greater reduction in calving rate in tagged females would seem incompatible with the observations. The death of one female 3 yr after tagging was more likely attributable to a ship strike on an animal debilitated by a prolapsed uterus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital is increasingly conceptualised in academic and policy literature as a panacea for a range of health and development issues, particularly in the context of HIV. In this paper, we conceptualise social capital as an umbrella concept capturing processes including networks, norms, trust and relationships that open up opportunities for participation and collective action that allow communities to address issues of common concern. We specifically outline social capital as comprising three distinct forms: bonding, bridging and linking social capital. Rather than presenting original data, we draw on three well-documented and previously published case studies of health volunteers in South Africa. We explore how social contexts shape the possibility for the emergence and sustainability of social capital. We identify three cross-cutting contextual factors that are critical barriers to the emergence of social capital: poverty, stigma and the weakness of external organisations' abilities to support small groups. Our three case studies suggest that the assumption that social capital can be generated from the ground upwards is not reasonable. Rather, there needs to be a greater focus on how those charged with supporting small groups--non-governmental organisations, bureaucracies and development agencies--can work to enable social capital to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale, aims and objectives Physiotherapists form an important part of the inter-professional team that cares for critically ill patients in intensive care units ( ICU). No formalized clinical practice guidelines or standards exist for the educational profile or scope of practice requirements for physiotherapy within critical care, which poses a threat to physiotherapy practice and professional credibility. Methods The aim of this paper was to describe the nominal group technique ( NGT) used to identify the minimum standards of clinical practice needed by physiotherapists to ensure safe and independent practice in South African ICUs. Results Twenty-five subjects participated in one of three forums. Sixty-six concepts were considered in the three domains ( knowledge, skills and attitudes). Not all concepts were discussed by all three focus groups. Just over half (54% n = 14) the concepts generated in the knowledge domain; a third of the concepts (35% n = 7) generated in the skills domain and only 10% ( n = 2) of attitudes were consistently raised by all three groups. Almost two-thirds of the concepts generated (62% n = 41) were considered in more than one domain. Only six concepts reached the threshold consensus level across all three focus groups, four knowledge parameters and two skills. Conclusion The NGT allowed for the cross-stimulation of ideas in an engaging yet anonymous and structured manner. The importance of discussion in reaching consensus is highlighted. Going forward, it is intended to use the concepts generated through this process as the foundation for further consensus-building activities among the wider physiotherapy and intensive care communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, South African serial homicide cases will be used to illustrate how practice can inform research and how research can aid practice by highlighting key questions that need to be answered and practice-based assumptions that need to be empirically tested. The cases will also be used to highlight some of the unique features of series in South Africa. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Understanding the impact of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) on HIV transmissibility is essential for effective HIV prevention programs. Investigating the impact of longitudinally measured recurrent STIs on HIV seroconversion is the interest of the current paper. Methods: In this prospective study, data from a total of 1456 HIV-negative women who enrolled in a HIV biomedical trial were used. It was hypothesized that women who had recurrent STI diagnoses during the study share a common biological heterogeneity which cannot be quantified. To incorporate this "unobserved" correlation in the analysis, times to HIV seroconversion were jointly modelled with repeated STI diagnoses using Cox regression with random effects. Results and discussion: A total of 110 HIV seroconversions were observed (incidence rate of 6.00 per 100 person-years). In a multivariable model, women who were diagnosed at least once were more likely to seroconvert compared to those who had no STI diagnosis [hazard ratio (HR): 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04, 2.57]; women who had recurrent STI diagnoses during the study were 2.5 times more likely to be at increased risk of HIV infection (95% CI: 1.35, 4.01) with an estimated frailty variance of 1.52, with p<0.001, indicating strong evidence that there is a significant correlation (heterogeneity) among women who had recurrent STIs. In addition to this, factors associated with incidence of STIs, namely not being married and having a new sexual partner during the study follow-up, were all significantly associated with increased risk for HIV seroconversion (HR: 2.92, 95% CI: 1.76, 5.01 and HR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.63, 3.83 respectively). Conclusions: The results indicated that women who were at risk for STIs were also at risk of HIV infection. In fact, they share the similar risk factors. In addition to this, repeated STI diagnoses also increased women's susceptibility for HIV infection significantly. Decreasing STIs by increasing uptake of testing and treatment and reducing partner change plays a significant role in the trajectory of the epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pass-through of shifts in the rand exchange rate to consumer price inflation has been well documented for South Africa. Although estimates of the absolute level of pass-through vary, some studies document a decline in pass-through over time. In order to better illuminate the policy implications of pass-through, this paper seeks to add to the literature by decomposing pass-through into a number of time-varying impulses. This has the advantage of providing deeper insights of pass-through over time and across various monetary policy regimes. We then analyse the determinants of time-varying pass-through. Our results confirm that pass-through has declined over time but is subject to a stable and low inflation environment. We also show that a volatile exchange rate leads to higher pass-through. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparison of the movements in the VIX index, the rand - dollar exchange rate and South African CPI inflation reveals a striking resemblance between them, raising the question as to whether or not there is an empirical relationship among them. The aim of this paper is to determine whether or not changes in market uncertainty, as reflected in the VIX index, influence South African inflation. Given that the VIX index reflects market uncertainty, its impact on the inflation rate may differ between times of heightened uncertainty and normality, thus suggesting the presence of multiple regimes. To cater for this possibility, the analysis first uses the general-to-specific procedure (including squared and cubed values of dependent and independent variables) with impulse indicator saturation dummies to look for non-linear behaviour in the form of statistically significant squared and cubed variables and clustered periods of outlier dummies that might reflect an alternative regime. Finding such periods, the analysis next uses a Markov-switching model to model this non-linear behaviour explicitly. The results show that market volatility as measured by the VIX indeed explains South African inflation. Moreover, as shown by the second regime of the Markov-switching model, when market volatility is elevated, its influence on inflation also increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyse the utilisation of production capacity and total under-utilisation in order to identify weak-performing industries across the nine South African provinces. Detecting inefficiencies within the different provinces will help to identify where sound managerial or government intervention is required, which can contribute to the future success of the New Growth Path Framework and the Strategic Integrated Projects. Using a multistage data envelopment analysis model at the subnational level, several categories of production factors are explored: intermediate demand, labour, capital, as well as taxes and subsidies. The results emphasise South Africa's weak infrastructure and the failure to effectively promote stability in managing factor inputs. The results further illustrate that industry scale efficiency for water and electricity are poorest across all provinces, highlighting the current water and energy supply concerns in South Africa and problem areas associated with the National Development Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is one of the emerging market countries that have received a relatively large amount of foreign capital since the mid-2000s. In South Africa's case, these inflows were partly used to build the country's foreign exchange reserves, but more particularly to finance continued large current account deficits. During the course of the past two years, however, adverse domestic political developments, combined with the potential negative impacts of the unwinding of quantitative easing policies and the normalising of monetary policy in the United States on emerging markets in general, has raised the spectre of a sharp slowdown in foreign capital flows to South Africa and an associated reversal of the current deficit. This paper explores the potential impact of such a development on macroeconomic conditions in South Africa. The analysis consists of macroeconometric model-based alternative scenarios backed up by both the international evidence on the impact of such events and South Africa's own history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys frameworks of labour migration in southern Africa and determines South Africa's policy responses to inflows of migrants from seven neighbouring countries. Legislations, policy reports and scientific publications on migration were thoroughly reviewed and interviews and correspondence with key policymakers were conducted. Statistical analyses of data on foreign worker recruitments and permits issued by South Africa's Department of Home Affairs were also performed. The absence of a migration protocol in southern Africa suggests SADC Members have not implemented the African Union's migration policy basic guidelines. Two systems coexist in southern Africa that complicate migration governance: a South Africa-managed bilateral migration policy, and aspirations for a formal SADC-managed migration policy. Bilateral agreements between South Africa and neighbours have established a labour migration system that dims prospects for a regional migration policy. SACU Members could establish a two-tier policy to achieve free movement while maintaining managed migration policy outside SACU. An official multilateral migration governance mechanism would serve SADC better than the current ad-hoc measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exploits the unique institutional features of South Africa to estimate the impact of provincial public spending on firm productivity. In contrast to existing microeconomic evidence, we explore the effects of fiscal expenditures and remove the effects of revenue raising policies. Our identification strategy is based on differences in the effects of public spending across firms within the same industry and province. We show that public spending composition affects productivity depending on the capital intensity of firms, with less capital intensive firms being particularly affected. These effects appear to be robust. ( JEL D24, H32, H72) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary places British geography within transnational currents of student-focused decolonisation movements. In October 2015, the author travelled to South Africa for the first time, visiting Witwatersrand University (Johannesburg), University of Cape Town ( UCT) and Rhodes University in Grahamstown. This paper draws on historical accounts of the British colonisation of what is now South Africa, contextualising both the domestic and global inequalities which it's students are currently challenging. British imperial history also provides a basis for understanding the roots of British geography, offering the campaigns to decolonise the South African university as an opportunity to critically reflect on how our own discipline produces knowledge. The commentary asks this timely question: as geographers, particularly those based in the old centre of Empire, how can our work be used to dismantle the colonialism our discipline has been implicated in since its formal inception? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the authors reflect on how therapeutic practices wove a community of care and concern with a young man in South Africa who was at risk of anger ruling his life. A counselor and outsider witnesses participated in responding to the problems the young man and his family faced. The authors discuss the steps they took in the therapeutic journey and describe how their personal and professional lives were shaped by this collaboration. This work inspires and sustains their enthusiasm in seeking to understand how to best respond when positioned to counsel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2002-2003, the South African yield spread falsely signalled a downswing that never materialised. This paper provides two reasons for this false signal. First, while the Reserve Bank never actually officially declared the start of a downswing, by alternative measures a downswing did actually occur. It is this severe weakness in economic activity at that time that the yield curve pointed to. Second, short-term interest rates in 2003 were higher than they should have been because of a mistake made in measuring consumer price inflation. Because South Africa had recently introduced an inflation-targeting regime, policy interest rates were, as a result of this error, kept too high for too long. This policy mistake was rectified as soon as the error in the Consumer Price Index was discovered. Thus, the yield curve in 2003 pointed to the reality that short-term interest rates were too high and risked pushing the economy into full blown recession. This is demonstrated by the fact that it was a fall in long bond interest rates that caused the yield spread to turn negative, indicating expectations that short-term interest rates would need to be cut - as indeed they were. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To determine whether a national training program on post-rape care in South Africa resulted in improvements in knowledge and confidence in health professionals, and to distinguish baseline factors related to these changes in knowledge and confidence. Methods Data for this cross-sectional study were collected over four training sessions in 2008 using questionnaires and multiple choice question papers given to 152 health professionals. Information was collected on demographics, service provision, and previous training. The change in knowledge and confidence was calculated from baseline and post-training scores. Factors related to these changes in knowledge and confidence were tested through the development of two models. Results Seventy-four percent of the health professionals (n=112) who attended the training had completed all components of the data collection. The average age of the professionals was 41.6years, 71% were females, and 68% nurses. Health professionals showed significant increases in percentage knowledge (40% at baseline vs 51% post training; P<0.001) and confidence (67% at baseline vs 80% post training; P<0.001) after the training. In the final multivariate models, empathy was significantly associated with a change in knowledge (coefficient -1.2; 95% CI, -1.9 to 0.4; P=0.005), while the facility level and baseline knowledge and confidence were significantly associated with change in confidence. Conclusion The training program was found to improve levels of knowledge and confidence in health professionals. Rollout of this program is critical with expansion into undergraduate curriculums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]