Community struggles concerning "pre-paid" water meters in Phiri

ABSTRACT South Africa, like numerous other developing countries throughout the world, faces increasing demands for public services in urban areas (Rondinelli and Kasarda, 1993). South Africa’s access to basic services such as water has clearly become part of social security/ citizenship. The research report investigates and elucidates the role of privatisation in the basic service delivery context. It argues that the GEAR policy framework blocks the resources required to achieve social citizenship (Cock 2000). This gave rise to community struggles concerning prepaid water meters in Phiri, Soweto. These struggles are examined and competing discourses surrounding public versus private sector participation in basic service (water) provision are also explored. The argument in this research report is two-fold. First, it establishes a view of water as an economic good, with the democratic government reducing the municipal problems of delivery to economic markets or private corporations. Second, it examines the perspective that water is a human right issue contained in the Bill of Rights. These two counter-arguments perpetuate struggles in relation to access, affordability and supply of water. The research seeks to examine these opposing arguments and further explores the impacts these struggles have on future delivery and access of such ‘life need’ as water. This exposure is done through the collection of Secondary data and empirical evidence obtained using various qualitative data gathering techniques. Although the advantages of prepaid water meters are recognised, the dominant argument in this report is in line with Dependency Theory. This maintains that the socio-economic inequalities as well as the socio-environmental injustices widespread in the policies of privatisation exclude various sectors of the population from full access to essential necessities such as water. These injustices are rooted in the fact that water is treated as a commodity to be sold and not as a basic human right (Maema 2003). To deny water to people reduces their citizenship and therefore the achievement of full citizens’ rights for the community of Phiri has become one of the crucial barometers for the realisation of the depth and sustainability of South Africa’s democracy (Khunou 2000). The research findings obtained suggest that the government does realise its responsibility to provide basic water services. Nevertheless, it delegates this responsibility to private institutions; hence making it an individual responsibility to gain access to water at a cost. This form of attempt in South Africa gives a clear reflection of Adam Smith’s “commercial society” which is viii encompassed and endorsed by privatisation and the capitalist endeavours. However, this is in contrast with the principles enshrined in the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which mandate the government to ensure the progressive realisation and maintenance of access to available basic services. The research report, however, suggests that some educational programmes need to be developed and promoted to inform and equip the public on how best to preserve water. This endeavour is gradually envisaged under the auspices of emerging corporatised utilities

Pebble bed: reflector treatment and pressure\ud velocity coupling

In this report, we describe some models and numerical methods used to simulate the flow and temperature in a pebble bed modular nuclear reactor. The reactor core is filled with around 450000 spheres containing low enriched uranium and helium is forced through these hot pebbles to cool the system down. The group first investigated the flow model in the pebbles. Numerical aspects were then considered to tackle difficulties encountered with the flow simulation and the temperature inside the pebbles. Numerical schemes are presented that can significantly improve the accuracy of the computed results

Adventist Spirituality in a Post-modern World

The Adventist movement, which originated in the 19th century, has long placed a strong emphasis on the study of biblical prophecy and the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. As the world continues to change and evolve, Adventists are faced with the challenge of maintaining their traditional spiritual practices while also adapting to the realities of a postmodern society. The challenge of maintaining their traditional spiritual practices while also adapting to the realities of a post-modern society. This research paper aims to explore the role of tradition and innovation in Adventist spirituality in the 21st century

Enhancing effective public sector governance

Audit committees are formed to provide impartial advice on matters of governance, risk management, internal controls and audits, performance management, compliance and financial reporting. It is alarming to see communities deteriorating due to poor municipal services, despite existing audit committees serving as independent advisory boards. Accountability is key to the success of municipalities; individuals opposing the implementation of improved service delivery should be held accountable. This book examines the obstacles that hinder audit committees from effectively executing their duties, giving a thorough analysis and resolutions to the South African service delivery crisis. The book's use of the IQA method reveals overlooked variables that South African municipalities and audit committees must contemplate. This methodological contribution results in the construction of a literature framework to substantiate the focus of the study through the identified themes. This book offers guidelines for municipal audit committees on executing their roles successfully and ethically. It also practically equips regulators, including the National Treasury, provincial treasuries, CoGTA and SALGA, with measures to enhance the efficacy of audit committees. Professional bodies and Best Practices Guidance bodies may augment their standards and ethical codes to guide members serving on audit committees

Governance challenges in combating supply chain management corruption in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality

Research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Public Policy in the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management at the University of Witwatersrand Degree of Confidentiality: A Date: March 2017This dissertation is set out to investigate corruption-related challenges within the procurement and Supply Chain Management practices in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality that hinder good practices and the promotion of good governance and offers insight on how those challenges could be addressed. A research design adopted is descriptive case study through a qualitative method approach which was influenced by the nature of the research problems understudy, in order to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem, using in-depth interviews. The findings of the study or the identified challenges that are associated with procurement and SCM processes in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality are a lack of capacity (skilled), inconsistent Bid Committee processes, lack of appraisal systems, ineffective technologically advanced SCM systems (E-procurement), lack of SCM monitoring tools, and lack of training programs for personnel. The study was meant to investigate corruption-related challenges within the procurement and Supply Chain Management practices in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality that hinder good practices and the promotion of good governance, with the focus being on issues of accountability, rule of law, ethics and integrity, and transparency as principles of good governance and elements of anti-corruption measures in curbing corruption. The findings highlight the challenges that are likely to hinder good governance; and with a clear bigger picture of what the challenges are, then that would pave a way for what could to be done, especially in the procurement and Supply Chain Management Unit of the Municipality to abate corruption-related activities.MT201

Wideband spectropolarimetry of extragalactic radio sources with KAT 7 and commissioning phase MeerKAT

The study of cosmic magnetism is vital in fully understanding the role that magnetic fields play in the evolution of cosmological objects such as galaxies. The exact role played by magnetism in galaxy evolution is still not fully understood. This work aims to use wide band radio polarimetry to probe the frequency dependent polarization properties in a small sample of unresolved known disc and AGN powered radio galaxies and also in a larger faint radio source sample from a deep blind survey. The second sample is composed of lesser known faint radio sources spanning ∼ 4 square degrees. We also aim to develop broad band radio polarimetry techniques that can be utilised in the future. We observed six radio galaxies at frequencies spanning 1200−1900 MHz – divided into three 256 MHz bands centred on 1350, 1600, and 1850 MHz. We also analysed deeper wide band and wide field observations from the commissioning phase of the South African SKA precursor, MeerKAT. The MeerKAT observations are of the DEEP field, a radio quiet region in the southern sky. These observations were made at frequencies 890 MHz to 1702 MHz. Following data calibrations, we made sensitive (down to ∼ 7 µJy/beam) high resolution (6”) total intensity image maps for DEEP field source finding and characterization, as well as lower resolution (14”) IQU image cubes. We analysed sources with total flux density greater than one milliJy. The technique of Faraday rotation measure synthesis (RM synthesis) was employed through a python based algorithm to probe the broad band structure of the polarisation spectra. RM synthesis has the power to resolve individual contributions to the overall observed spectropolarimetric features along a line of sight. We found agreement with literature with regard to total radio intensities and the expected polarisation levels of order 1%. Our polarisation detection rate in the wide field case was estimated to be 24 ± 9% per square degree. This translates to 30 ± 13 polarised sources per square degree, in agreement with projections from the literature. The results confirm two main categories of polarised radio sources. These are: (1) sources with simple polarisation profiles, theoretically resulting from a scenario where incident polarised emission is Faraday rotated by a foreground region of coherent magnetic field such as in the case of a radio bright galactic nucleus emitting synchrotron radiation that then traverses disk and halo regions filled with a uniform magnetic field; (2) sources with complex Faraday spectra, indicating depolarisation and/or repolarisation suggesting other complex behaviour originating from several combinations of Faraday rotating and synchrotron emitting regions along the line of sight. We found that the most complex polarisation profiles emanate from the most polarised radio sources. From the sample of known sources observed with KAT 7, we found that unresolved disk dominated galaxies tended to be less polarised than compact sources suggesting a morphological dependence of the polarisation spectrum where disk galaxies may tend to have more regions within them, such as pockets of turbulent magnetic fields in the material disk, that may cause depolarisation to a larger degree as compared to earlier type non-disk dominated galaxies. Steep spectrum sources of different types (radio lobes and most polarised compact sources) show the most complexity with multiple Faraday emission components, depolarisation, and repolarisation. The more sensitive MeerKAT data allowed us to probe the broad band polarimetric properties of faint never observed radio sources. Our study is an early step to future campaigns with MeerKAT to explore relations between polarimetry and source properties, probing the correlations of magnetism with galaxy evolution and the evolution of large-scale fields in galaxies, galaxy groups and clusters

Book Review: Xulu-Gama, Nomkhosi, Hostels in South Africa: Spaces of Perplexity, Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu- Natal Press, 2017, 251 pp.

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Fourth industrial revolution (4IR) impact in assessment practices: Equaliser in producing a global graduate of the future, University of Pretoria a case in point

Disruptions in technology have impacted teaching and learning and, in particular for this paper, assessments in a rapid manner, with Covid-19 playing an accelerative role. Covid-19 forced universities to teach and assess students using online tools and platforms. This has, to some extent, raised concerns on whether this is necessary for the sustainability and resilience of teaching and learning in universities. Although the use of technology, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, in assessing students presents some challenges, like access and socio-economic conditions of a country like South Africa, it equally presents some benefits such as promoting authentic assessments, which ensures that critically thoughtful and reasoning graduates, who are able to deal with real life scenarios, and problems, are produced. This is premised, among others, on the fact that AI is a useful tool for academics to be able to prepare authentic assessments with minimal time and to achieve module outcomes. Thus, promoting quality teaching and learning by producing critically thoughtful graduates who have meaningful impact in society. Despite the challenges of technological usage in assessments, such as the compromise of student privacy through the use of protracting tools in assessments, there are benefits which have a positive impact on graduate attributes that are relevant in today’s world of work. Hence, the use of technologies must be promoted and carefully managed to balance the pros and cons

A MeerKAT Polarization Survey of Southern Calibration Sources

We report on full-Stokes L-band observations of 98 MeerKAT calibration sources. Linear polarization is detected in 71 objects above a fractional level of 0.2\%. We identify ten sources with strong fractional linear polarization and low Faraday Rotation Measure that could be suitable for wide-band absolute polarization calibration. We detect significant circular polarization from 24\% of the sample down to a detection level of 0.07\%. Circularly polarized emission is seen only for flat spectrum sources $\alpha > -0.5$. We compare our polarized intensities and Faraday Synthesis results to data from the NVSS at 1400\,MHz and the ATCA SPASS survey at 2300\,MHz. NVSS data exists for 54 of our sources and SPASS data for 20 sources. The percent polarization and Rotation Measures from both surveys agree well with our results. The residual instrumental linear polarization for these observations is measured at 0.16\% and the residual instrumental circular polarization is measured at 0.05\%. These levels may reflect either instabilities in the relative bandpass between the two polarization channels with either time or antenna orientation, or atmospheric/ionospheric variations with pointing direction. Tracking of the hourly gain solutions on J0408-6545 after transfer of the primary gain solutions suggests a deterioration of the gain stability by a factor of several starting about two hours after sunrise. This suggests that observing during the nighttime could dramatically improve the precision of polarization calibration