Category: News Blog

 

By Audrey Moyo

A breakfast stakeholder event for the Durban / eThekwini medium and large manufacturers survey results was held at the Durban Country Club on the 19th of May 2016. Approximately 60 stakeholders were in attendance, mostly from local government, manufacturing firms (some of whom took part in the Firm Survey) as well as media. The target audience was the public sector – mainly policy makers working with the local manufacturing firms, existing and potential business owners in the manufacturing sector as well as existing and potential employees in the manufacturing sector.

Several issues were raised particularly based off what firms participating in the survey identified as the major problems affecting their productivity. Among these issues raised, there were concerns of poor economic performance due to the decrease in the value of the rand to the dollar, lack of adequately skilled/trained personnel as well as other operational issues like load shedding. In the same manner, some of the major issues that were highlighted major constraints to growth included unavailability of technical/vocational labour skills, high costs of energy, low rates of economic growth in South Africa as well as the depreciation of the rand/dollar exchange rates.

The meeting was kicked off by greetings and an introduction by Glen Robbins (Senior Researcher), Prof Urmilla Bob (Dean of Research at UKZN) and SARChI chair holder Prof Sarah Bracking.

 

Glen then went on to explain the rationale for this survey.  In comparison to other cities such as Johannesburg, studies show that eThekwini is especially dependent on manufacturing in terms of GDP contribution. However, Durban is often underrepresented in national studies. There was a lack of empirical evidence in the region and it is this limited data which the survey with its strong local focus aimed to fill.

Myriam presented the research showing that eThekwini Municipality had its main production sectors within food and beverages, clothing and textile, paper and furniture and chemical products which together account for 68%. Even though there were some declines, about 75% of all full-time employment in the municipality is still within firms with at least 45 full time employees.  The data showed that most firms produced final goods that were sold to small as well as large and medium wholesalers and retailers in South Africa.

The survey findings indicate that for firms within eThekwini to expand employment by 10%, they have to ensure labour relations are more flexible, be guaranteed there is a sustained increase in the market demand for their products, but most importantly, a guaranteed supply of skilled workers. However, firms highlighted that it is not hard at all to recruit new staff or to fill in vacancies for labourers and related occupations but it is extremely hard to get skilled managers, professionals and technicians. This entails that there is a gap that exists between available vacancies, appropriate education to fill these vacancies and the available (un)skilled people.

Following the presentation, stakeholders were given the platform to ask questions and to share comments. Some of the inquiries that were made were directed towards local government – whether there were any sector support programs put in place and if they were making a difference and whether they are prioritizing areas of great need. To combat/address the issue of skills shortage/mismatch, it was suggested that there be institutional support programs where local government partners with institutions of higher learning and provide funding to individuals to enroll in technical related fields of study that are more relevant to the manufacturing and industrial sector. Small firms also reiterated that they wish to expand but they have not expanded over the years because they lack funding.

UKZN journalist, Melissa Mungroo also produced the following story:

Mungroo, M (02 June 2016). “Results from Durban firm survey presented to business leaders”  UKZNdaba 4(25).

 

Glen and Myriam at the May 2016 breakfast event

Photo credit:  M Mungroo

 

by Audrey Moyo

Glen Robbins and Myriam Velia presented at the  Wits/GCRO Faces of the City Seminar on the 10^th of May 2016. Their presentation was titled “De-industrializing the South African city?: Reflections from the Durban/eThekwini Medium and Large Manufacturers Survey”. The major aim of the presentation was to present data from firms on what local “industrial policy” responses should focus on. Their presentation highlighted that the contribution of South Africa’s manufacturing sector has been in decline as share of GDP since the late 1980s and the contribution of total (formal + informal) manufacturing employment to total employment has been in decline as a share and in absolute terms (based on their analysis of StatSA data).

Furthermore, there were some national policy responses that were highlighted, for instance introduction of a raft of application driven, modestly funded, supply-side programmes (workplace challenge, competitiveness fund, export promotion support) and two priority sector initiatives – automotive & clothing as well as Spatial Development Initiatives to unblock potential for major export industries through special zones and major infrastructure development.

In the same manner, there is a need for local government to follow up and understand what the issue in the area of skills on the ground is and how the implications of the skills shortage problem can motivate for the right interactions with national government. Local government can also consider having an open dialogue with local stakeholders and keep lines of communication open. Furthermore, local and provincial government can consider claiming a stronger local role in industrial policy, while demonstrating real programmes & real investments behind evidence-informed initiatives. On the other hand, national and provincial governments can consider what can/should be done around the spatially differentiated features that are important to a broader notion of industrial policy regarding skills, costs of doing business, infrastructure maintenance.

On 19-20 April 2016, Kathleen, Sarah and Bahle attended a project meeting for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for eThekwini Municipality. This project falls within the Durban Research Action Partnership (D’RAP) between the municipality and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.  Our inputs are to help contribute towards thinking around indicators and variables on the social outcomes from strategic priority areas of the integrated development planning document of the city.  We are pleased to participate as much of this work may influence our own Climate Change and Poverty Reduction project which is also exploring the socio-economic elements within EM’s climate change projects.

The SEA hopes to be used to help with the upcoming Spatial Development framework of the city.  The work that is being done now reminds me just how much time it takes to prepare for ensuring good contributions towards larger policy documents.  It is also a privilege to be part of the process and see the thinking and development of locally bounded thresholds of both environmental and social elements come together in order to meet dual goals of ensuring human development thrives within clear environmental needs of the city kept intact (or perhaps expanded?).

With the growing population of eThekwini, the city needs to think about issues of water quality, air quality, environmental and occupational health and other issues and therefore it raises questions of what types and amounts of environmental resources need to be invested, in this case, by the city, to ensure our citizens can have a decent quality of life.  This point on environmental resource requirements is not easy to resolve since human needs are multi-dimensional and complex.  But the UKZN and EM are endeavouring to put together some work which can help make informed spatial recommendations which will ensure green space (like the D’MOSS areas) or our catchments, rivers and ocean areas as well as our air can be maintained at a good quality.

Photo: Brainstorming around water

[photo credit:  eThekwini Municipality]

The workshop also allowed the participants to start to work out the connection between planetary boundaries and socio-economic elements.  Some brainstorming around water and its connection to health and reach came up as a few themes of exploration.  Overall, it was a useful meeting and look forward to see how the Assessment unfolds.

Sarah reflects on climate change after the recent KwaZulu-Natal floods in early May 2016.

Bracking, S. (2016, 19 May).  “A good coat, because winters are cold”.  The Africa Report. Accessed at:  http://www.theafricareport.com/Columns/a-good-coat-because-winters-are-cold.html

[photo credit: Bracking]

As a result of the floods, the local news reported on mud slides, with many of those who lived by the river banks of the informal settlement saw their homes washed away into the the river, then out into the Indian Ocean.  As put in the article, “the poor were busy adapting to fossil fuels, their by-products, and climate change with a mountain of stranded plastic.”  The question posed by academics Wainwright and Mann, ”Whose lives will pay the cost of adaptation to a warming planet?“  The Bracking article gives way to who will suffer; the erratic and extreme rainfall are disastrous to those who live with the double consequences of climate change and poverty.

By Nduta Mbarathi

Publishing is essential, especially when a person decides to pursue or advance an academic career. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend a one-day peer review workshop organized by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Extended Learning programme on 10^th November 2015. Prof. Sarojini Nadar facilitated the workshop and freely shared her experience as an author during the seminar. The workshop attendees included Professors and PhD students from various academic departments in UKZN. The participants shared their experiences on the challenges and opportunities they faced from peer reviewers when attempting to get their articles published. As an aspiring researcher, the exercise was an eye-opener because, on one hand, it gave me an opportunity to examine written work using a peer reviewer’s lens. On the other hand, the session made me aware of the do’s and don’ts of publishing. Peer reviewing is not only limited to publishing a journal article, but it is also a process that happens when a prospective graduate student or professor applies for academic grants. Having submitted a manuscript for publishing last year, this seminar prepared me on what to expect from the peer review process.

Nuts and Bolts of Peer Review

To begin with, the facilitator defined peer review as a process where written works undergo evaluation before publication. It is important to note that, prior to submitting a manuscript, one should familiarize themselves with the journal template and apply manuscript according to the specific standards. Initially, I was of the opinion that the peer reviewer’s role was to assess a manuscript and then provide an approval for its publication. However, this is not the case. A peer reviewer’s role is to recommend manuscripts to the Editorial panel who then make the final decision on whether to reject or approve it for publication.

Why is Peer Review Important?

As I mentioned earlier, peer reviewing happens throughout our academic journey. For example, once a candidate submits his or her dissertation it undergoes a peer review process to assess the quality of work. In this context, the candidate is awarded a mark after the peer review process. In contrast, a manuscript submitted for publication undergoes a peer review process where an Editor either accepts or rejects the manuscript.

That said, in both contexts, a peer review is essential because, it ensures that the work presented is of good quality, original, and scholarly. First, quality work should be printable science, and hence, the information emanating from the publication should be relevant to the particular discipline. Secondly, the work presented should be original and hence, the author should think about what scholarly contribution(s) the article is making to knowledge. Thirdly, I learnt the content should be articulated creatively and clearly.

How to Respond once your Manuscript is Rejected or Accepted

I did gain a wealth of information and courage during this part of the training (Remember that I earlier pointed out that I had submitted my manuscript to a particular journal for publishing). This part of the seminar touched on how to cope once a manuscript was accepted or rejected. The facilitator affirmed that receiving a rejected manuscript could be devastating! And yes, indeed, the participants affirmed this. Having an article rejected can make an author despair, especially after exerting all the time and effort on it!  I can affirm this because earlier this year I finally received feedback from the Editors expressing that my article was rejected! Thanks to the peer review seminar, I was able to handle the feedback imperturbably. I remembered that the facilitator advised us not to overreact. It was comforting to know that even Professors who have been in academia for years also get their articles rejected. It was also reassuring that, once this happens, an author can opt to publish in another journal. In my case, I requested for the reviewers’ comments to use their comments to improve my article.

Conversely, if a manuscript is accepted, the author has two options: first, the author can accept and work on the reviewer’s comments as is. Secondly, if an author is in disagreement with a reviewer’s highlighted comment or correction, it is acceptable to engage with the reviewer and discuss on the author’s stance in the comments. By all means, an author can decline to apply a reviewer’s comment if it differs with the author’s opinion. In such instances, authors should justify their viewpoint.

Points to Note before you Publish

Key facts that I learned towards the conclusion of the seminar are: it is imperative that authors avoid sending the same manuscript to over three different journals, lest you are accused of self-plagiarism! In addition, it is advisable to send to one journal at a time. Also, be aware of predatory journals! Such journals require payment from the author to get published. To avert this, authors should acquaint themselves with a list of approved publishers accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET). The link can be found in the University KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) website here.

Another point that authors should consider is that there is a limit to the number of publications that can come from one institution. Lastly, when planning to publish prospective authors should be aware that neoliberal politics do exist within the publishing sphere. These include, inter alia, politics of publishing and politics of citation where some authors are more likely to be published and cited more than others. For example, academics from Western countries are often published and cited compared to academics from developing and middle-income countries. One way this can be overcome, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa is by citing the work of local authors. In a nutshell, the facilitator emphasized that authors must follow the rules and make sure that the scholarly work presented has an impact in the various disciplines.

In conclusion, as an aspiring academic, I have learned that to get published it is important to strive towards producing quality work that is under the requirements of the themes and structure of a specified journal. Furthermore, ensuring that once a quality manuscript is submitted, it will help gain the confidence of peer reviewers that may then lead towards getting the article published.

 

Bio

Nduta Mbarathi is an aspiring researcher and development practitioner who holds a Masters Degree in Development Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.  Her areas of research interest are poverty alleviation, agriculture, rural development and Information Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D). Her other interests include, volunteering for worthy causes, philanthropy, farming, exotic cuisines and mountaineering.

Dr Andrew Okem, a Senior Researcher with the South African Research Chair Initiative in Applied Poverty Reduction Assessment in the School of Built Environment and Development Studies (BEDS), recently presented his research that explored stakeholder’s perspectives on the social acceptability of effluent in agriculture at the eThekwini University Research Symposium. The symposium is an annual event that “aims to provide a common platform for city practitioners and its academic partners to network and identify opportunities for strategic and collaborative research outputs that advance municipal service delivery”. This year’s event revolved around the theme of “Durban, A City in Transformation: Towards an Effective, Inclusive and Sustainable Socioeconomic Outcome”.

Dr Okem’s presentation at the conference is part of a large interdisciplinary research titled “Integrating Agriculture in Designing Low-Cost Sanitation Technologies in Social Housing Schemes” led by Dr Alfred Odindo. The study was informed by the need to simultaneously address the challenges of sanitation backlog, food security, lack of access to safe water, and environmental pollution. In his presentation, Okem noted that “increasing population density in the urban and peri-urban areas of eThekwini Municipality, coupled water constraints has necessitated the need to explore innovative ways to manage the provision of water and sanitation services. One of the innovative options being explored is closing the water-sanitation-food security loop by integrating sanitation systems in social housing schemes with agriculture”. Okem pointed out that “despite the potential of this approach in addressing challenges of water, sanitation, food security and pollution, questions around the social acceptability of food grown using domestic effluent remains unanswered”. The study was grounded on the qualitative paradigm with samples drawn from local communities, municipal officials and academics. The study finds that although literature identifies culture, religion, odour and health concerns as barriers to reusing human excreta in agriculture, finding from the focus groups demonstrate openness towards growing and consuming food using domestic effluent. Importantly, the study demonstrates that there is potential in simultaneously addressing issues of food insecurity and sanitation that characterise many peri-urban and rural areas in South Africa. Critically, we recommend that existing government policies restricting the use of human excreta in agriculture be revisited in order to permit the exploitation of a potentially valuable resource.

 

Okem noted that  although there are mixed responses with regard to whether food grown using domestic effluent should be labelled, the prevalent finding is that participants have no problem purchasing labelled food. Conversely, interviews with technocrats and academics show that food grown with effluent can be labelled as organic. Given the above findings, Okem recommended further research to explore the ethical and policy implications of labelling food grown using effluent.

Former SARChI post-doctoral fellow and current Housing Lecturer within the School of Built Environment and Development Studies, Dr Sithembiso Myeni, published an article in the Journal of Public Administration (SA) based on a conference paper he had presented at South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) in April 2015.

Myeni, S. L., & Mvuyana, B. Y. (2015). Rethinking administrative accountability and the rule of law in housing development in South Africa.Journal of Public Administration, 50(4), 788-800

Below is the abstract to the article:

Abstract

South Africa is facing a backlog with regard to housing provision in both rural and urban areas, even though, over the last two dec­ades, the housing programme has produced large numbers of housing units, which have changed the country’s landscape. This arti­cle is an ongoing effort to make sense of the continued increase in social protests around service delivery and access to free houses. It focuses on the role and impor­tance of private sector players in housing development under the neo-liberal rational­ity of rule, and seeks to interrogate how the growing privatisation of the public sector is causing serious problems for administrative accountability. The article further develops an interpretation of how the implementation of the New Public Management (NPM) approach, evident in housing development, contributes to problems of unethical gov­ernance and despotism. It is argued that the analytical perspective of institutional assemblage is a useful way of understand­ing the role of private sector players and un(ethical) governance in housing devel­opment. This perspective illuminates two paradoxes that characterise governance arrangements of housing development: while we have a clear rule of law for tradi­tional administration, we have information asymmetries that make it hard to enforce that law; and while we have a rule of law for much administration, problems in enforc­ing it undermine accountability. The article draws on two main sources. First, it draws on official discourses on governance and housing development, complemented by secondary literature on housing policy and local governance. Second, interviews with informants (housing beneficiaries, state administration and private sector repre­sentatives) in housing development were conducted in KwaZulu-Natal. The issue of understanding how to build effective new layers of accountability, supported by an effective rule of law, is discussed.

In the UKZN Ndaba (26 April 2016, vol 4, issue 20), our SARChI senior researcher is highlighted in the news article written by Melissa Mungroo titled ‘Study on Relationship Between Co-Operatives and Privately Owned Businesses in uMgungundlovu.

[Photo credit: Ms S Durgiah]

An Excerpt from UKZN Ndaba:

“A UKZN researcher recently presented his work investigating the networking activities or the lack of them between co-operatives and privately owned businesses in the uMgungundlovu District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.

He is Dr Andrew Okem, a Senior Researcher with the South African Research Chair Initiative in Applied Poverty Reduction Assessment in the School of Built Environment and Development Studies (BEDS).

Okem’s study found that most participant co-operatives operated in rural, underdeveloped locations and were hindered by several challenges including lack of finance, access to inputs, land, transport, market, income, knowledge, and skills. Of the 26 co-operatives interviewed, only three reported networking with private business.

‘Access to market and inputs were the two benefits that accrued to co-operatives from networks with privately owned businesses,’ said Okem. ‘Those interviewed identified a number of barriers to networking with private businesses including lack of benefits for co-operatives, lack of interests in networking with co-operatives, lack of experience on the part of co-operatives and a general absence of trust between co-operatives and private businesses.’

According to Okem, the identified challenges, coupled with the absence of networks with private business, have precluded these cooperatives from producing positive outcomes for members in light of existing government institutional support to cooperatives in South Africa.

‘Such support should be geared towards capacitating cooperatives to engaging in productive networking activities with privately owned businesses. However, the support should enhance rather than undermine the independence of cooperatives,’ concluded Okem.”

 

SARCHI PhD student, Mr Danford Chibvongodze recently published is article titled, “Ubuntu is Not Only about the Human! An Analysis of the Role of African Philosophy and Ethics in Environment Management“. The journal article is based on a conference paper he presented at the International Conference on Indigenous Knowledge Systems Environmental Ethics: Implications for Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.

Citation:  Chibvongodze, D T. “Ubuntu is Not Only about the Human! An Analysis of the Role of African Philosophy and Ethics in Environment Management“  J Hum Ecol, 53(2): 157-166 (2016)

“ABSTRACT: A Marxist discourse on metabolic rift is used to examine the alienation of Africans from their environment and religious connections by capitalism and urbanisation. The paper emphasises the understanding of Ubuntu as an intimate relationship between humans and the natural environment. Indeed, the epitomisation of
Ubuntu centres on the consolidation of the human, natural and spiritual tripartite. The paper shows that such a tripartite relationship allows Africans to transpose their Ubuntuness (humanness) and moral obligations not only to their fellow human beings, but also to the surrounding natural environment, including wildlife. Despite the usefulness of Ubuntu in the conservation of natural environments, the paper questions its effectiveness particularly in a capitalist and urbanised society where Africans are continually alienated from the natural environment.”

Sarah recently presented (20 April 2016) on the content of her upcoming book at the School of Built Environment and Development Studies (SoBEDS) seminar under the title, “Financialisation of Power:  what are the political consequences of an offshore illicit economy?”

The Routledge (2016) published book will be launched 23 May 2016 as “Financialisation of Power:  how financiers rule Africa”.