Exploring barriers to land accessibility for low-income housing delivery: A case of buffers of open space on the mining belt between Johannesburg CBD and Soweto

Student Number : 0001367T - MA dissertation - School of Architecture and Planning - Faculty of HumanitiesThis is an exploratory study which seeks to look at barriers to land accessibility for the construction of low-income or affordable housing on former mining lands between Soweto and Johannesburg CBD. Based on the findings, there are various barriers which inhibit and threaten the construction of houses on former mining lands. These barriers, exposed by the findings of this report are radon, mine dust - both of which pose a serious health risk to residents if exposed to it for a long period of time - high prices of land, inadequate funding for housing subsidies and the National Nuclear Regulator’s too strict and uncompromising stance on housing construction on contaminated lands. The conclusion drawn by this report is that the government, owners of former mining land and the National Nuclear Regulator need to co-operate and work together towards finding a common ground in order to enhance the possibility of a total removal of these barriers, so that the previously marginalized citizens can afford to own houses closer to the Central Business District of Johannesburg

Learner performance disparities between former white and former black schools in Gauteng Province of South Africa after more than a decade of democracy.

A Five-pillar conceptual framework -good social environment, focused instruction, well-trained and regularly supervised teachers, family background and language of learning and teaching- is used in this dissertation as a theoretical construct through which to make sense of persistent learner performance disparities between former white and former black schools in the South African public education system. This is a largely qualitative research project which employs a case study approach within a study area comprised of four purposive sample schools. The study is exploratory in nature in that it seeks to investigate why former white schools continue to perform better than former black schools despite massive educational changes made since 1994. I argue in this dissertation that teaching and learning processes between former white and former black schools are still fraught with huge inequalities, hence learner performance disparities. In other words, despite the investment, inputs and strategies since 1994, the education system in historically black schools is not working largely because of issues of classroom practice. A multi-method approach for data collection purposes was used in this study: testing, interviews, observations, intensive literature review and documentary analysis. Learner focus groups, maths teachers, teacher union representatives and school principals formed the backbone of research respondents in this project. The results show immense and unrelenting prevalence of inequalities and variations between former white and former black schools in terms of almost all aspects of teaching and learning processes. The essence of the results is that for the South African education system to achieve equitable learner performance across all schools, it must first achieve equity in terms of teaching and learning processes and needs

Distance no impediment for funerals: Death as a uniting ritual for African people � A pastoral study

<p>An African funeral is a very social event for the entire community in which the deceased lived.Regardless of whether the deceased was a Christian or not, death has always been a reunion forlong-separated relatives, believers and non-believers. Nowadays, tents, cars and the gatheringof multitudes of people demonstrate how death can bring people together, irrespective ofdistance and relationships. Of course, this is not to deny the fact that death can be a cause ofdivision between relatives and friends. Nonetheless, the funeral itself is also a uniting factor;many people come together, regardless of distance, to pay their last tributes to the deceasedand to provide the bereaved family with emotional support. In this article, I argue that death,amongst other things, is a uniting factor that is able to bring people, who are separated bydistance and other factors, together. The aim of this article is to discuss how death invitespeople into a family, regardless of bad blood, flawed relationships and separation.</p

Testing the Cosmological Principle in the radio sky

The Cosmological Principle states that the Universe is statistically isotropic and homogeneous on large scales. In particular, this implies statistical isotropy in the galaxy distribution, after removal of a dipole anisotropy due to the observer's motion. We test this hypothesis with number count maps from the NVSS radio catalogue. We use a local variance estimator based on patches of different angular radii across the sky and compare the source count variance between and within these patches. In order to assess the statistical significance of our results, we simulate radio maps with the NVSS specifications and mask. We conclude that the NVSS data is consistent with statistical isotropy.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. To appear in JCA

Popmopolis: an investigation into township popular culture

South African Townships are constantly developing and growing. Increased urbanisation, poverty, unemployment, ineffective service delivery and scarce natural resources are some of the harsh challenges our townships are facing, And while we have to come to terms with these , the spatial environment is also transformed, in some cases almost overnight. This happens as a result of cultural influences on our townships. An investigation into pop culture might reveal a set of parameters to which architecture can respond as an expression of contemporary South African culture. The goal of my investigation is to understand the plural realities of townships and their cultures, as reflected in the sometimescontroversial products of pop culture, and to ultimately relate these paradigms to inform an architectural solution for a facility to acknowledge pop culture in one of the townships, Soweto.The objective of this investigation is to question the significance and relevance of a changing cultural aspect of Townships, Pop culture. The background and motivation for this thesis is the immediate impact that pop culture has on architecture, place and spaceon the context of Soweto. My architectural intentions are to create a building that exhibits the history of township pop culture but also a centre that reflects pop through the building programm

Use of Contingent Valuation Analysis in a Developing Country: Market Perceptions of Contamination on Johannesburg’s Mine Dumps

This study reports the results of a contingent valuation (CV) survey that was carried out in Johannesburg, South Africa. Students at Wits University conducted more than 300 face-to-face interviews with Africans living and/or working in Soweto, an African township located on the outskirts of Johannesburg, and nearby areas. The questions they asked were designed to determine the perceptions of risk regarding airborne mine dust and radon, a naturally occurring gas, and the effect that these perceptions had on the valuation of residential properties impacted by these substances. A probit model was used to evaluate the determinants of bidder behavior, using respondent demographics and other characteristics as independent variables. Residential property discounts for potentially contaminated housing sites by marginal bidders at the top of the market varied from -24% to -50%. Research issues in developing countries were addressed. Contingent valuation results in South Africa were compared to published results in the United States.

Sustainable State Housing Programmes: The Case of Pennyville

Planning Honours Research Report 2014, Wits UniversityThe Breaking New Ground Policy has played a major role in guiding the development of sustainable human settlements. It has also played a major role in guiding the formulation of housing policy amongst municipalities. For example in the City of Johannesburg it has influenced key policy documents such as the Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) 2040 and the Sustainable Human Settlement Urbanisation Plan. This report aimed to investigate how the notion of sustainable human settlements intersects with people‟s livelihoods. In other words, the research focused on how Pennyville is experienced as a sustainable human settlement by its residents. This intersection was guided by three key themes i.e. sustainable human settlements conceptualisation in theory and in South African housing policy, and sustainable livelihoods. The research aimed at understanding the intersection of the aforementioned things. Perhaps one of the main findings of the research was that the relationship between sustainable livelihoods and sustainable human settlements policy is fuzzy within the policy documents and in practice.National Research Foundation (NRF) ; University of the Witwatersrand Postgraduate Merit Awar

Second trimester termination of pregnancy at Chris Hani Baragwanath academic hospital

A Dissertation that is being submitted for an MMed in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in partial fulfilment of the FCOG (SA) Part II 07 April 2015Objectives: The main objective of this study was to characterise women who presented at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) between 12 and 20 weeks for termination of pregnancy (TOP). Secondary objectives were to determine time to abortion, compare sonar gestational age to gestational age by dates and reasons for late presentation. Method: This was a prospective cohort study of women over the age of 18 who were referred to CHBAH for second trimester TOP between August 2012 and May 2013. The exclusion criteria were pregnancies more advanced than 20 weeks gestation. Data was collected from the medical file and by interview. Demographics and reasons to terminate were extracted from the files. Outcome variables included bleeding, pain, and time to abortion. Results: One hundred and ninety one women (91.39%) aborted. The median age of women was 25.00 (IQR=21.00-31.00), range (18-43). Women older than 25 years were 33% less likely to abort than women less than 25 years of age. Ninety nine women (47.14%) bled severely. One woman had a uterine perforation following evacuation of the uterus. The median gestational age by sonar was14.71 (IQR=13.86-16.14), range (13.00-20.00). The median gestational age by dates was13.57 (IQR=12.29-15.00), range (4.14-26.28). One hundred and thirty five women (63.98%) had an MVA for RPOC using analgesia following medical induction. Two women (0.95%) needed hysterotomy following failed TOP. The median time to abortion was 11.50(IQR=8.67-17.92), range (3.50-69.33) and incidence rate of 0.5 per hour or 1 per 2hours. Conclusion: The majority of women (91%) aborted within 72 hours following medical induction with less complication rate and short induction to abortion time. This affirm misoprostol efficacy as the suitable drug for conducting second trimester medical TOP.MT201

Sex as an expression of hospitality - Theological investigation amongst some Africans

Besides the fact that sexual relationships have been understood and misunderstood in different ways, the possibility of sexual abuse remains a big issue amongst African South Africans. It has been sexual relationships, amongst other factors that have been widely used to dominate one gender by the other. Sometimes because of their defencelessness women are perceived to enjoy the kind of sexual abuse they are subjected to. It is from attitude that some people, particularly men, come to the conclusion that sexual intercourse is another form of hospitality that can be offered to women. This kind of thinking has been fuelled by the traditional rejection of singlehood or widowhood and other related situations. It is for this reason that polygamy, levirate marriage and cohabitation have crept into the minds of some men. This paper will attempt to unveil how the thinking of sexual intercourse as hospitality has encouraged the domination and abuse of women in the African context. The study will also unveil how the gift of sex has been misunderstood and misinterpreted in order to subject women to sexual violence and harassmenthttps://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.81.2.224