ABSTRACT This article describes a teaching intervention, which was informed by a community of pra... more ABSTRACT This article describes a teaching intervention, which was informed by a community of practice approach, undertaken to manage a plagiarism problem at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), South Africa. In particular, many final year students were submitting assignments which were, to a large extent, plagiarised. As this problem posed a threat to the integrity of the academic programme, an intervention was necessary. To that end, a prevention-and-development approach was adopted. The intervention took the form of an action research project using critical reflection as a methodology. The intervention, especially phase two, was successful, although incidents of plagiarism were not completely eliminated. The teaching intervention proved to be both time and labour intensive. Formal training for students on what plagiarism is; how to correctly cite and reference; and how to write in an academically appropriate manner, was found to be necessary if plagiarism in higher education is to be dealt with within a developmental framework. It was further found that a prevention-and-development approach cannot be effective without a detection-and-enforcement system being in place.
Airports stimulate tourism and trade and are a vital link in any country’s tourism infrastructure... more Airports stimulate tourism and trade and are a vital link in any country’s tourism infrastructure and economy. Large airports such as South Africa’s busiest airport, the OR Tambo International Airport, in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, are usually located on the periphery of cities, usually on land that forms part of the peri-urban economy, reserved perhaps for farming or left undeveloped. As a result, such land often becomes a wildlife haven within the more “urbanized” or developed areas. Unfortunately, this places wildlife, especially birds on a collision course with aircraft. So much so that bird and other animal strikes cost the aviation industry millions of US dollars annually. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the number of wildlife strikes, not only lower the risk of damage to aircraft, increase passenger safety and reduce operational delays, but also prevent a decline in local wildlife populations. Thus, this paper argues that South Africa must improve its management of land-use cl...
In Douala, Cameroon, solid waste volumes and disposal costs are rising, placing pressure on a mun... more In Douala, Cameroon, solid waste volumes and disposal costs are rising, placing pressure on a municipality that has a small tax base and multiple demands for its meagre resources. Initially the municipality outsourced the collection and disposal of solid waste to the private sector, but collection rates are declining. Informal solid waste pickers operate in the sector, but their collection rates are low. The Cameroonian government now sees a public private partnership approach as a cost efficient solution to the problem. This study interviewed key decision makers within the solid waste sector to establish how the sector could become profitable, while improving collection and recyclable recovery rates. Results show that the Cameroonian government has not fostered an enabling environment for the private sector to flourish. Unless this changes, the number of enterprises, operating profits and recyclable recovery rates will not increase. An inadequate organizational structure; poor logi...
Abstract The drive to ensure regular and reliable access to domestic water supplies is a major ch... more Abstract The drive to ensure regular and reliable access to domestic water supplies is a major challenge for governments across sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated the rural water systems in North-West Cameroon across rural districts using the lenses of Cultural Theory and Systems Thinking Analysis (STA). Different social groups were classified using Cultural Theory to assist in appreciating and presenting solutions to preventing water resources becoming degraded and ensure water supplies are maintained. STA focuses on causal feedback principles and therefore, was used to evaluate relationships between the stakeholders and systems. Thereby allowing the development of a suggested policy intervention mechanism for sustainable community-based Water Management (CBWM) in the region under study. Findings revealed that in Cameroon, the provisioning of domestic water to rural residents faces significant hurdles. This is due, in part, to the centralisation of governance, where the national government determines how water resources are managed throughout the country. This is despite the promulgation of laws that support the decentralisation of decision-making. It was found that CBWM systems prevailed due to the enormous contributions of local inhabitants, extended community networks and the diaspora. However, CBWM serve to reinforce the status and situational power of local elites, government officials and, to a lesser degree, men. Therefore, a concerted effort to implement a more democratic and transparent politico-cultural mechanism to manage water resources could serve both to resolve water management conflicts and develop suitable policy intervention mechanisms for sustainable CBWM.
This study explores school choice and school commuting within the City of Johannesburg, with spec... more This study explores school choice and school commuting within the City of Johannesburg, with specific reference to enrolment in low cost inner city private high schools. The study found that the majority of learners enrolled in these schools were black and hailed from upper working class or lower middle class homes. Although most commuted to school, the schools also serve a resident inner city community. That is, private school enrolment is partly due to the changing land use patterns of the Johannesburg inner city, from residential to commercial. While much of the inner city has been transformed into housing, there has been no provision of essential social infrastructure such as public schools, leaving residents with little choice but to enrol in a private school, despite their low incomes. Learners from peripheral areas such as Soweto and Alexandria embark on a financially and socially costly school commute in order to access what they perceive to be quality education. That is, pa...
Supporting agriculture is crucial if food security and poverty alleviation are to be assured. In ... more Supporting agriculture is crucial if food security and poverty alleviation are to be assured. In that regard two crucial aspects - water and land are central to supporting smallholder farmers. This is especially true for the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa with its high rates of poverty and food insecurity. However, attention is seldom given to the fundamental factors of farm production. Access to land for food production in the Eastern Cape is problematic, as is the water situation. It is among the driest provinces in the country, enduring extended drought conditions with resultant water scarcity challenges. This is compounded by poor adaptation strategies deployed by smallholder farmers. This study investigated the relationship between water, land and food security with respect to smallholder farmers in the Eastern Cape. It found that while both food security and incomes could be improved for these smallholder farmers if they had more access to land and water, these two fact...
Water and land are vital resources essential to ensuring sustainable and productive rural economi... more Water and land are vital resources essential to ensuring sustainable and productive rural economies. They are also essential for safeguarding food security and socio-economic development. In spite of this, the concept of water-land-food (WLF) security nexus has generally been examined from a top-down manner with women mostly disenfranchised in the access and management of water and land in particular. Concurrently, risks linked with climate crisis aggravate gender inequalities. The limited access to resources, restricted formal rights through top-down management exacerbates the vulnerability of poor rural women. Furthermore, policy development procedures follow a sectoral approach with no account of interrelationship and interdependence between the sectors. This, directly and indirectly limits the stewardship of natural resources and mitigation of the effects of climate change. This study, therefore, examines gender roles and their implications for water, land, and food security in ...
The utilization of lignocellulosic materials to produce a variety of building blocks (e.g. fermen... more The utilization of lignocellulosic materials to produce a variety of building blocks (e.g. fermentable sugars) is an interesting alternative approach to meeting the growing demand for high value chemicals. Cellulose and hemicellulose can be hydrolyzed by cellulase and xylanase enzymes into their respective building blocks (hexoses and pentoses), which can later be converted into the targeted compounds. The aim of this study was to test the ability of Paenibacillus illinoisensis CX11 to saccharify different lignocellulosic materials, and to determine its ability to produce cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes for possible use in converting lignocellulosic materials into their respective fermentable sugars. The ability of P. illinoisensis CX11 to produce CMCase, xylanase, FPase, and avicelase was tested using SSF of corn stalk. Furthermore, the ability of P. illinoisensis CX11 to saccharify lignocellulosic materials was tested using corn stalk, wheat bran, sawdust, and corn cob. The a...
ABSTRACT This article describes a teaching intervention, which was informed by a community of pra... more ABSTRACT This article describes a teaching intervention, which was informed by a community of practice approach, undertaken to manage a plagiarism problem at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), South Africa. In particular, many final year students were submitting assignments which were, to a large extent, plagiarised. As this problem posed a threat to the integrity of the academic programme, an intervention was necessary. To that end, a prevention-and-development approach was adopted. The intervention took the form of an action research project using critical reflection as a methodology. The intervention, especially phase two, was successful, although incidents of plagiarism were not completely eliminated. The teaching intervention proved to be both time and labour intensive. Formal training for students on what plagiarism is; how to correctly cite and reference; and how to write in an academically appropriate manner, was found to be necessary if plagiarism in higher education is to be dealt with within a developmental framework. It was further found that a prevention-and-development approach cannot be effective without a detection-and-enforcement system being in place.
Airports stimulate tourism and trade and are a vital link in any country’s tourism infrastructure... more Airports stimulate tourism and trade and are a vital link in any country’s tourism infrastructure and economy. Large airports such as South Africa’s busiest airport, the OR Tambo International Airport, in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, are usually located on the periphery of cities, usually on land that forms part of the peri-urban economy, reserved perhaps for farming or left undeveloped. As a result, such land often becomes a wildlife haven within the more “urbanized” or developed areas. Unfortunately, this places wildlife, especially birds on a collision course with aircraft. So much so that bird and other animal strikes cost the aviation industry millions of US dollars annually. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the number of wildlife strikes, not only lower the risk of damage to aircraft, increase passenger safety and reduce operational delays, but also prevent a decline in local wildlife populations. Thus, this paper argues that South Africa must improve its management of land-use cl...
In Douala, Cameroon, solid waste volumes and disposal costs are rising, placing pressure on a mun... more In Douala, Cameroon, solid waste volumes and disposal costs are rising, placing pressure on a municipality that has a small tax base and multiple demands for its meagre resources. Initially the municipality outsourced the collection and disposal of solid waste to the private sector, but collection rates are declining. Informal solid waste pickers operate in the sector, but their collection rates are low. The Cameroonian government now sees a public private partnership approach as a cost efficient solution to the problem. This study interviewed key decision makers within the solid waste sector to establish how the sector could become profitable, while improving collection and recyclable recovery rates. Results show that the Cameroonian government has not fostered an enabling environment for the private sector to flourish. Unless this changes, the number of enterprises, operating profits and recyclable recovery rates will not increase. An inadequate organizational structure; poor logi...
Abstract The drive to ensure regular and reliable access to domestic water supplies is a major ch... more Abstract The drive to ensure regular and reliable access to domestic water supplies is a major challenge for governments across sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated the rural water systems in North-West Cameroon across rural districts using the lenses of Cultural Theory and Systems Thinking Analysis (STA). Different social groups were classified using Cultural Theory to assist in appreciating and presenting solutions to preventing water resources becoming degraded and ensure water supplies are maintained. STA focuses on causal feedback principles and therefore, was used to evaluate relationships between the stakeholders and systems. Thereby allowing the development of a suggested policy intervention mechanism for sustainable community-based Water Management (CBWM) in the region under study. Findings revealed that in Cameroon, the provisioning of domestic water to rural residents faces significant hurdles. This is due, in part, to the centralisation of governance, where the national government determines how water resources are managed throughout the country. This is despite the promulgation of laws that support the decentralisation of decision-making. It was found that CBWM systems prevailed due to the enormous contributions of local inhabitants, extended community networks and the diaspora. However, CBWM serve to reinforce the status and situational power of local elites, government officials and, to a lesser degree, men. Therefore, a concerted effort to implement a more democratic and transparent politico-cultural mechanism to manage water resources could serve both to resolve water management conflicts and develop suitable policy intervention mechanisms for sustainable CBWM.
This study explores school choice and school commuting within the City of Johannesburg, with spec... more This study explores school choice and school commuting within the City of Johannesburg, with specific reference to enrolment in low cost inner city private high schools. The study found that the majority of learners enrolled in these schools were black and hailed from upper working class or lower middle class homes. Although most commuted to school, the schools also serve a resident inner city community. That is, private school enrolment is partly due to the changing land use patterns of the Johannesburg inner city, from residential to commercial. While much of the inner city has been transformed into housing, there has been no provision of essential social infrastructure such as public schools, leaving residents with little choice but to enrol in a private school, despite their low incomes. Learners from peripheral areas such as Soweto and Alexandria embark on a financially and socially costly school commute in order to access what they perceive to be quality education. That is, pa...
Supporting agriculture is crucial if food security and poverty alleviation are to be assured. In ... more Supporting agriculture is crucial if food security and poverty alleviation are to be assured. In that regard two crucial aspects - water and land are central to supporting smallholder farmers. This is especially true for the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa with its high rates of poverty and food insecurity. However, attention is seldom given to the fundamental factors of farm production. Access to land for food production in the Eastern Cape is problematic, as is the water situation. It is among the driest provinces in the country, enduring extended drought conditions with resultant water scarcity challenges. This is compounded by poor adaptation strategies deployed by smallholder farmers. This study investigated the relationship between water, land and food security with respect to smallholder farmers in the Eastern Cape. It found that while both food security and incomes could be improved for these smallholder farmers if they had more access to land and water, these two fact...
Water and land are vital resources essential to ensuring sustainable and productive rural economi... more Water and land are vital resources essential to ensuring sustainable and productive rural economies. They are also essential for safeguarding food security and socio-economic development. In spite of this, the concept of water-land-food (WLF) security nexus has generally been examined from a top-down manner with women mostly disenfranchised in the access and management of water and land in particular. Concurrently, risks linked with climate crisis aggravate gender inequalities. The limited access to resources, restricted formal rights through top-down management exacerbates the vulnerability of poor rural women. Furthermore, policy development procedures follow a sectoral approach with no account of interrelationship and interdependence between the sectors. This, directly and indirectly limits the stewardship of natural resources and mitigation of the effects of climate change. This study, therefore, examines gender roles and their implications for water, land, and food security in ...
The utilization of lignocellulosic materials to produce a variety of building blocks (e.g. fermen... more The utilization of lignocellulosic materials to produce a variety of building blocks (e.g. fermentable sugars) is an interesting alternative approach to meeting the growing demand for high value chemicals. Cellulose and hemicellulose can be hydrolyzed by cellulase and xylanase enzymes into their respective building blocks (hexoses and pentoses), which can later be converted into the targeted compounds. The aim of this study was to test the ability of Paenibacillus illinoisensis CX11 to saccharify different lignocellulosic materials, and to determine its ability to produce cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes for possible use in converting lignocellulosic materials into their respective fermentable sugars. The ability of P. illinoisensis CX11 to produce CMCase, xylanase, FPase, and avicelase was tested using SSF of corn stalk. Furthermore, the ability of P. illinoisensis CX11 to saccharify lignocellulosic materials was tested using corn stalk, wheat bran, sawdust, and corn cob. The a...
Much has been made of the glamour, efficiency and effectiveness of the Gautrain, an urban rapid r... more Much has been made of the glamour, efficiency and effectiveness of the Gautrain, an urban rapid rail transport system operating in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. However, little research has been done on the spatial layout of stations and the user experience of commuters. In particular, while the Gautrain has brought speed and convenience to thousands of daily commuters, the sterile nature of the train, stations and surrounds means that the commuters are isolated from the cities the stations are located in. This is different to other transport hubs, such as the various minibus tax ranks, bus and rail stations (and even airports) typical of South Africa's urban spaces. These tend to be characterised by formal shops and lively informal markets, easy links to other modes of transport and links to the local community. It is argued here that the Gautrain lacks the essential social, economic and physical links to its local surrounds. Thus, this research sought to explore the rational of creating a mixed use transit hub at the Sandton Gautrain station. A quantitative research methodology was used with non-probability convenience sampling of users of the Gautrain Sandton station to capture the views of commuters. Results indicated that there is indeed an unmet demand for the creation of markets, commercial space and a link to the local community at the station. Commuters expressed the desire to interact with local sellers, services and goods both within and outside of the current sterile station. This study points to the support for a mixed use development at Gautrain hubs in the province.
May I take a moment to thank the UMP LOC for making this conference possible? It is an enormous a... more May I take a moment to thank the UMP LOC for making this conference possible? It is an enormous amount of hard work to host a conference and on behalf of the SSAG I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations and appreciation for a job well done. What is important about this SSSAG student conference is that it is a celebration of Geography and an acknowledgement of the vibrancy of our discipline and its ability to attract young people who both find a home in Geography and wish to use Geography to make a difference in the world. It is to this difference making or purpose that I shall now turn. The heart of Geography is the contribution the discipline makes to our understanding of our world by assisting people to view the world through the spatial dimension. In particular to link local impacts and decisions with global trends, take a global view, a global dimension simultaneously.
Whilst many sub-sectors of the South African adventure tourism sector have been operating for dec... more Whilst many sub-sectors of the South African adventure tourism sector have been operating for decades, the body of academic scholarship on adventure tourism in South Africa is still in the emerging phase. Consequently, the body of knowledge is limited, as this study will reveal. What is more, it may be that in some instances idiocentric interests drive what has been studied rather than making an attempt to systemically investigate and understand the sector as a whole. Thus, this study sought to first deepen the understanding of the sector by identifying the thematic interests of those scholars who have undertaken adventure tourism research. In particular, is the stark failure of the literature to explore the sector as a spatial manifestation. This is unsurprisingly expected, as the international literature is also remarkably silent on the geographical nature of the adventure tourism industry. The study then moves to provide a geographical overview of the role booking agents play in the adventure tourism industry, as well as exploring the sector geographically in terms of specialised or generalist type adventure operators. A specialised operator focuses on offering only one type of adventure activity compared to a generalist who has a suite of activities on offer. Lastly, some recommendations for future academic studies of the adventure tourism industry as a whole is made.
This is a case study of a scaffolded Soil Science practical curriculum in the context of a large ... more This is a case study of a scaffolded Soil Science practical curriculum in the context of a large second year class at a South African contact institution of higher learning. The practical in question aimed to consolidate and develop skills relating to teamwork, mapping, mathematical literacy, scientific vocabulary and scientific report writing within the context of a Soil Science module. Such a teaching intervention contributes to the literature as there is a gap regarding the support of second year students in terms of achieving epistemological access. A significant challenge facing the tertiary education community in South Africa is the teaching of practical scientific skills in the context of an under prepared student body, large classes, and a resource poor environment. Consequently this intervention represents an attempt to overcome these challenges. Accordingly, an active learning approach was adopted, alongside a heavily scaffolded ‘desktop’ soil modelling project. Wischmeier and Smith’s (1978) Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), a widely used soil erosion calculation model, formed the basis of this project. Details of the intervention, in particular, the manner in which it was scaffolded, are elucidated here. Lecturer reflections subsequently shed light on the process, achievements, challenges and shortcomings of such an approach. Nevertheless, such an intervention should rather be viewed as a complement to field and laboratory work, as opposed to a substitute for it.
The Blesbokspruit wetland system is a high-altitude Ramsar site of global significance. It is the... more The Blesbokspruit wetland system is a high-altitude Ramsar site of global significance. It is the largest permanent wetland in the Highveld region of South Africa, with significant bird and ecological diversity, in part due to its four open water bodies. Nonetheless, the wetland has been subjected to sustained and extensive environmental degradation associated with agricultural runoff, industrial effluent, mining waste and sewerage discharge. The open water bodies are under threat by Phragmites australis and Typha capensis. This study mapped the open water bodies and found that they have declined in size due to encroaching reed beds. In addition, water quality data was analysed in order to determine water quality. It was found that the water is nutrient enriched although the cessation of gold mining by the upstream Grootvlei mine reduced both the sulphate and conductivity levels significantly. Despite the loss of open water and poor water quality it was found that the site is a statistically significant winter habitat for selected wader birds, namely: The Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis) and Three-banded plover (Charadrius tricollaris). To protect these birds, and promote the area for avitourism, it is recommended that the system is better managed, both in terms of water quality and in terms of reducing the size of the reed beds.
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Papers by Tracey McKay