OpenUCT is the open access institutional repository of the University of Cape Town (UCT). It preserves and makes UCT scholarly outputs digitally and freely available, including theses and dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, technical and research reports, as well as open educational resources.
Recent Submissions
Item
Open Access
Automotive policy and the restructuring of the South African industry, 1990-2005
(2007) Black, Anthony; Kaplan, David
Since 1990 the South African automotive industry has been through the most dramatic phase of its long history as reduced protection has led to much greater international integration. This thesis analyses the restructuring of the sector in response to these developments. The first major section provides a detailed assessment of the international environment and its impact on the prospects for growth of the automotive industry in developing countries and South Africa in particular. In many developing countries, the sector has been subject to extensive state support and intervention. While traditional production locations in advanced countries remain dominant, there has been a significant shift of production to developing countries. This expansion has, however, been focused on a relatively small number of locations. For countries which do not have very large existing or potential domestic markets, policy needs to define an 'automotive space' and provide some protection to anchor the domestic industry if local capacity is to be retained and developed. In South Africa, a gradual but sustained period of tariff liberalisation has been coupled with import-export complementation measures aimed at increasing exports and achieving a higher degree of specialisation. With its unfavourable geographical location and history of heavy protection, the prognosis for the South African industry in the early 1990s was not good. To date the costs of liberalisation have been quite low. The export response to the realignment of the incentive structure has been strong and the industry has become much more efficient and competitive. However, other objectives have not been achieved. Recently, the share of vehicle imports has grown sharply. Local content levels remain low partly because of lower protection. There have also been serious distortions. The system of export credits used to offset import duties has led to rapid expansion of 'peripheral' component exports, driven more by the objective of rebating import duties than any real economic justification. Investment levels have been modest compared to the investments flowing into some of the world's more dynamic emerging automotive industries. Historically, the development of small-scale, multi-model plants has been the central structural problem in the South African automotive industry. It exacerbated the lack of competitiveness associated with high levels of protection and limited the prospects for expanding local content. One of the key objectives of policy has been to encourage industry rationalisation. But while a theoretical case for industrial policies can easily be made, implementation is much more complex. There has been progress in achieving higher model volumes, but it has not been sufficient to justify investments in high levels of local content. A number of case studies of firm level restructuring were conducted. These illustrate that the major reason for the lack of competitiveness in the initial stages was not necessarily inefficiency or a lack of dynamism on the part of firms but rather an inefficient industry structure consisting of too many low volume producers. Component firms have in fact proved quite dynamic in adapting to this environment. Restructuring has taken a number of forms and firms have proved remarkably resourceful. But internal or plant level changes, while necessary have seldom proved sufficient. In many cases firms have been forced to seek out a foreign partner. Foreign ownership or control in turn has had a number of effects on firm performance and prospects in areas such as exports, R&D and the use of domestic suppliers. The industry has made substantial progress towards developing a more efficient and competitive structure. But difficulties remain as it attempts to attract investment in an increasingly competitive international environment. The scale of domestic production is still not sufficient to encourage high levels of localisation of components. That in turn means that assembly sector costs remain high because of the logistics costs associated with high import levels. The challenge for policy currently is to encourage investment in high volume, sustainable automotive production while at the same time gradually moving to more neutral and lower levels of support.
Item
Open Access
The international covenant on economic social and cultural rights: a critical examination of the relative importance of resource constraints on benchmarks and benchmarking processes in the African context
(2007) Jackson, Laurie-Ann; Chirwa, Danwood
This thesis focusses on the emergence of Sesotho written culture from its earliest origins to the publication of the first Sesotho language newspaper, Leselinyana in 1863. It demonstrates that Sesotho written culture has deep roots in the period before colonialism through indigenous litaba (dialogical conversation, news communication and storytelling) communicative praxis. Litaba communicative praxis was at work in many aspects of life on the eve of colonialism: in politics, diplomacy, navigation of the landscape, technology usage, and in the maintenance of intelligence and news networks. It influenced local Africans long before the pen and press, and even missionaries and incoming colonists before the first documents were printed and it had influence for long after the first press arrived. This thesis takes on the enormous challenge of historical research into the predocumentary past and the sparsely documented early contact years. It focuses on early texts in Sesotho and makes imaginative and methodologically novel use of missionary and colonial archives, and landscape, to develop a view of African modes of communication, and intellectual and political praxis, and of the ways in which they accumulated and changed over time. In so doing it foregrounds African experiences and viewpoints in the creation of early written culture. Between the 1820s and 1863 Sesotho written culture was made in a space full of the negotiations and intrigues of various groupings, between the Cape and the Molopo River, competing for space, control, and safety. When print technology penetrated the interior of south Africa and the areas surrounding the Maloti Mountains, it entered a region abuzz with litaba activity. The thesis foregrounds what the existing communicative activity involved, its accumulations and consequences over time, and how these shaped Sesotho written culture. The accumulations include contributions on precolonial travel routes and other news in villages and towns provided by, amongst others, transient African interlocutors, traders, royals and advisors, spies, children, women and missionaries. The people resident these valleys and highlands understood well that the circulation of information, stories and news would allow them to make informed decisions about their rapidly changing world. This influenced their approach to the new technologies of writing, printing, and publishing and underpinned the patronage, mentorship, and support that Moshoeshoe and his people extended to missionaries. Basotho and missionaries alike adapted oral language forms and litaba communicative praxis and made it work for the new period resulting in a newspaper like Leselinyana. The newspaper is an exemplar of what happened when precolonial Southern African practice and modes came together with print technology.
Item
Open Access
Early and pre-documentary litaba communicative praxis and influences in the creation of the written culture of Lesotho, circa 1820s-1888
(2026) Nkomo, Sibusiso; Hamilton, Carolyn
This thesis focusses on the emergence of Sesotho written culture from its earliest origins to the publication of the first Sesotho language newspaper, Leselinyana in 1863. It demonstrates that Sesotho written culture has deep roots in the period before colonialism through indigenous litaba (dialogical conversation, news communication and storytelling) communicative praxis. Litaba communicative praxis was at work in many aspects of life on the eve of colonialism: in politics, diplomacy, navigation of the landscape, technology usage, and in the maintenance of intelligence and news networks. It influenced local Africans long before the pen and press, and even missionaries and incoming colonists before the first documents were printed and it had influence for long after the first press arrived. This thesis takes on the enormous challenge of historical research into the predocumentary past and the sparsely documented early contact years. It focuses on early texts in Sesotho and makes imaginative and methodologically novel use of missionary and colonial archives, and landscape, to develop a view of African modes of communication, and intellectual and political praxis, and of the ways in which they accumulated and changed over time. In so doing it foregrounds African experiences and viewpoints in the creation of early written culture. Between the 1820s and 1863 Sesotho written culture was made in a space full of the negotiations and intrigues of various groupings, between the Cape and the Molopo River, competing for space, control, and safety. When print technology penetrated the interior of south Africa and the areas surrounding the Maloti Mountains, it entered a region abuzz with litaba activity. The thesis foregrounds what the existing communicative activity involved, its accumulations and consequences over time, and how these shaped Sesotho written culture. The accumulations include contributions on precolonial travel routes and other news in villages and towns provided by, amongst others, transient African interlocutors, traders, royals and advisors, spies, children, women and missionaries. The people resident these valleys and highlands understood well that the circulation of information, stories and news would allow them to make informed decisions about their rapidly changing world. This influenced their approach to the new technologies of writing, printing, and publishing and underpinned the patronage, mentorship, and support that Moshoeshoe and his people extended to missionaries. Basotho and missionaries alike adapted oral language forms and litaba communicative praxis and made it work for the new period resulting in a newspaper like Leselinyana. The newspaper is an exemplar of what happened when precolonial Southern African practice and modes came together with print technology
Item
Open Access
Investigating niche differentiation through adaptation and proteomics in the genus Paranthropus
(2025) Hlazo, Nomawethu; Ackermann, Rebecca Rogers
Robust “hyper megadont” morphology across the genus Paranthropus has traditionally been interpreted as resulting from varied dietary adaptations. However, recent studies of the cranium and mandible suggest that divergent, species-specific adaptations do occur. Moreover, previous research indicates that non-adaptive processes may play much more of a role than previously appreciated in shaping the highly variable Paranthropus morphology. This thesis expands on earlier work by investigating inter and intra-specific variation across Paranthropus. A quantitative genetics hypothesis testing framework is applied to test whether this variation results from selection versus genetic drift. Additionally, to examine the position of the distinctive Gondolin tooth, in particular, relative to other fossils and extant taxa, occlusal second molar shape outlines are compared using Elliptical Fourier Analysis. Additionally, a molecular approach (palaeoproteomics) is used to test the feasibility of protein recovery in ca. 2 Ma fossil material. This study includes fossil samples of Paranthropus (P. robustus, P. boisei, P. aethiopicus, Paranthropus sp.; n=35), and comparative samples of Australopithecus africanus (n=15), Australopithecus sp. (n=5), A. prometheus (n=1), and early Homo (n=1), as well as faunal material for the palaeoproteomic study. Extant taxa (Homo sapiens (n=82), Pan troglodytes (n=83) and Gorilla gorilla (n=54) serve as models of within-species variation for the fossil samples. Results are consistent with previous analyses on the face and indicate that both selection and drift play roles in shaping Paranthropus craniomandibular and dental morphology. The Gondolin molar appears to be different from the rest of the P. robustus sample, aligning closely with all specimens from Drimolen. Thus, lending credence to suggestions that there may be taxonomic diversity within Paranthropus in South Africa. Finally, the molecular data confirm that protein recovery at ca. 2 Ma is feasible in fossils from the Cradle of Humankind, paving the way for future palaeoproteomic investigations on early hominin taxa.
Item
Open Access
Positron enhanced prompt gamma imaging
(2026) Roux, Alice; Peterson, Steve
Proton therapy is a form of radiation therapy where the patient is treated using abeam of high energy protons. The protons enter the patient and slow down, eventually stopping and dropping most of their energy within a certain depth due to Coulomb interactions between the protons and the electrons within the patient. The depth of the dose deposition, called the Bragg peak, is set by the initial energy of the proton beam, where higher energy protons will travel further than lower energy protons. Once a treatment is under way it is beneficial to monitor the position of the dose deposition within the patient in case the positioning of the beam is miscalculated, and the dose is not delivered to the cancerous area but instead to healthy tissue. Prompt Gamma Imaging (PGI) is a technique that has been developed to reconstruct the dose deposition, using a Compton Camera (CC). PGI uses the prompt ys produced by inelastic scatters between the proton beam and nuclei within the target. These y rays are detected using a detector capable of recording the position of two or more Compton scattering events within the detector crystals. For this work, PolarisM400 detectors were used which have four 20 x 20 x 10 mm Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) crystals with a resolution of 11 x 11 pixels across each crystal face as well as depth sensitivity. PGI then uses the scattering positions within the detector to reconstruct a cone on whose surface the prompt y originated. There are various reconstruction algorithms that can combine these cones into an image which shows the likelihood of where the prompt ys originated from. Unfortunately, PGI has its drawbacks in a treatment scenario as the signal to noise ratio is low along with treatment intervals being too short to get statistically significant amounts of data. This thesis proposes a new approach to combine Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) along with PGI in a technique called PEPGI. Two 511 keV coincidence y rays, produced when positrons along the beam line annihilate with an electron, are detected within two detectors on either side of the target. The position of the beam line is located using the Birmingham algorithm. PEPT has been done successfully using a previous model of Polaris detectors and shown to locate a tracer with sub-millimeter precision. Different variables have been investigated for their effect on beam line locating, such as the distance of the detectors from the beam and the ability of the algorithm to detect the beam when it is not located along the z-axis. These investigations make use of the Geant4 simulation toolkit, which produces Monte Carlo simulations of the proton beam, target and detectors. These simulations are a cost effective and insightful method of benchmarking new techniques. Once the position of the beam line has been determined, a distance of closest approach (DCA) filter can be used to remove cones whose surfaces do not come within a prescribed distance to the beam line. This step has been proposed to improve the quality of data being used for image reconstruction. The filtered data can then be used for PGI reconstruction using the OCTANE EM2 algorithm within the CORE reconstruction toolkit. This work focuses on determining if the addition of the DCA filter does in fact improve image quality. This is done by removing the off-beam cones, running the reconstruction and comparing the results to PGI reconstructions that do not use the DCA filter. This shows the advantages of the PEPGI process to improve PGI dose reconstruction, and progress towards producing a clinically viable dose verification system for proton therapy.