The state of secularism: constituting religion and tradition towards a post-apartheid South Africa

This thesis studies the place of religion and tradition in South Africa’s democratic constitution and its political public. It begins by developing an analytical framework for the study of political secularism, which it defines as a normative account of the place of religion in politics and society and a series of disciplinary interventions that secure that religion is put and kept in its place. The body of the thesis analyses the constitution of contemporary South African secularism through a close reading of the archive of the constitutional negotiations in the 1980s and 1990s. It argues that individual rights to religion and the rights of religious bodies to the freedom of religion were secured in the transition. The foundations of the democratic political order were grounded in secular normative principles. In addition to this liberal constitutionalism, the terms of nation-building introduced elements of a Christian civil religion. The thesis also addresses the recognition of traditional authorities and customary law within the constitution. In this it argues that the African National Congress (ANC) tried but failed to secularise the institution of traditional leadership. During the period of the negotiations the ANC was unable to differentiate state politics and custom, unable to separate traditional institutions from the state, and therefore unable to wrest its powers to the state. The final chapter addresses some of the ambivalences and contradictions inherent in the political and legal dispensations around religion and traditional authority since 1994

The effect of carbohydrate ingestion on the motor skill proficiency of soccer players

This study examined the effects of ingesting a glucose-polymer (GP) solution on the motor skill proficiencies of association football (soccer) players from two teams playing during two matches in a cool environment. Fifteen minutes before each match and at halftime, players from both teams ingested 5 ml/kg of either placebo or a 6.9% GP solution. GP ingestion did not improve tackling, heading, dribbling, or shooting ability. On the contrary, the mean of successful tackles was lower with GP ingestion than with placebo. The success rate for heading, dribbling, and shooting also tended to be lower in the GP than in the placebo condition. In contrast, success in passing and ball control was similar in the two conditions. Improvements in passing and ball control may have been related to a decrease in the intensity of play in the second half of the game. These data indicate that there are no measurable benefits of GP ingestion for the motor skill proficiencies of soccer players during games played in a cool environment.IS

Factors that promote or inhibit the implementation of e-health systems: an explanatory systematic review

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the literature on the implementation of e-health to identify: (i) barriers and facilitators to e-health implementation, and (ii) outstanding gaps in research on the subject.METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PSYCINFO and the Cochrane Library were searched for reviews published between 1 January 1995 and 17 March 2009. Studies had to be systematic reviews, narrative reviews, qualitative metasyntheses or meta-ethnographies of e-health implementation. Abstracts and papers were double screened and data were extracted on country of origin; e-health domain; publication date; aims and methods; databases searched; inclusion and exclusion criteria and number of papers included. Data were analysed qualitatively using normalization process theory as an explanatory coding framework.FINDINGS: Inclusion criteria were met by 37 papers; 20 had been published between 1995 and 2007 and 17 between 2008 and 2009. Methodological quality was poor: 19 papers did not specify the inclusion and exclusion criteria and 13 did not indicate the precise number of articles screened. The use of normalization process theory as a conceptual framework revealed that relatively little attention was paid to: (i) work directed at making sense of e-health systems, specifying their purposes and benefits, establishing their value to users and planning their implementation; (ii) factors promoting or inhibiting engagement and participation; (iii) effects on roles and responsibilities; (iv) risk management, and (v) ways in which implementation processes might be reconfigured by user-produced knowledge.CONCLUSION: The published literature focused on organizational issues, neglecting the wider social framework that must be considered when introducing new technologies.<br/

Reaching out to children: an analysis of the first six months of the extension of the Child Support Grant

The Child Support Grant is the South African government’s primary poverty alleviation mechanism targeted at children. From April 2003 eligibility for the grant was extended to children above the age of six who live in poverty. The South African Department of Social Development plans a phased-in extension to the age of 14. If they meet the means test and other criteria, children up to the age of nine are eligible to receive the Child Support Grant in 2003/4 as the first phase of the extension. This paper examines the first six months of the extension of the Child Support Grant from April to September 2003. An analysis was done by using administrative data from the department of Social Development, as well as a range of other supporting research. The author found that the extension is proceeding according to the department’s targets at a national level. Despite this, more than half of children living in poverty in this age category have yet to access the grant, and there are a number of administrative problems which, if resolved, would greatly improve access. In addition, the nine provinces are performing at very different levels in implementing the extension. The paper ends with a range of recommendations to the Department to ensure administrative justice for children and the realisation of children’s right to social security

Granting assistance: an analysis of the Child Support Grant and its extension to seven- and eight-year-olds

This paper focuses on the Child Support Grant (CSG), the biggest poverty alleviation mechanism targeting children. The extent of poverty and increased social security provision in South Africa are examined to contextualise the CSG. Since its inception in 1998, this grant has been available to poor children from birth to six years of age. At the beginning of April 2003, eligibility was extended to children under the age of nine as a first step in extending the grant to all poor children up to the age of fourteen. This paper considers the first year of this extension. Using administrative data from the Department of Social Development and relevant development literature, the paper assesses the reach of the CSG and its extension relative to the departments own targets, and absolute poverty lines. Provincial uptake rates are calculated with a view to identifying provinces where additional support is needed to increase uptake of the CSG. The remainder of the paper identifies administrative issues in the roll-out of the grant, highlighting the cases of children whose grants have lapsed due to the age limit, only to re-register a few months later, and concerns about the very low levels of the means test thresholds. The paper then looks at the demographics of beneficiaries of the CSG, including the gender, marital status, rural or urban location and relationship of caregiver to child. The author concludes that the department came close to reaching its own targets, and was successful in reaching very large numbers of children aged seven and eight in this first year of the extension. However, low uptake rates in the Eastern Cape Province in particular are highlighted, while problems in the administrative system are pointed out, as grants lapse because of the death of a caregiver or because of shifting age eligibility