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.
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Mindset Matters: A pilot test of personal initiative training for university students in South Africa
(2026) Bernhardt, Talia; Meyer, Ines
In the current context of chaos, complexity, and competition, it is widely acknowledged that young graduates need to show Personal Initiative (PI) to successfully navigate the University-to-Work transition (UTWT). This is especially true in South Africa, where jobs are scarce and un(der)employment and precarious work are ubiquitous. Personal Initiative (PI) training is a promising intervention in this regard that has been shown to increase career success by fostering proactive behaviours. Moreover, it is a short-term and costeffective intervention that is applicable in research-constrained contexts. While PI training has been shown to increase PI in global South and student populations, the potential of PI training to enhance the PI of prospective graduates in South Africa, and whether training effects can be maintained over time, has not yet been tested. Thus, the aim of the present study was to conduct a pilot test of PI training among university students in South Africa using an experimental design with pre (T1), post (T2) and 16 months follow-up (T3) with a randomised wait-list control group. Experimental group participants (n = 13) who had participated in a 3day PI training programme were compared to control group participants who had not participated in PI training (n = 10). Contrary to what had been hypothesised, training participants did not have significantly higher levels of PI 16 months post-training. However, they had significantly higher levels of PI one-week post-training compared to before the training, and these effects were perfectly preserved at follow-up. Overall, the findings could imply that, although PI may develop naturally over time among university students, PI training may accelerate the development of PI. This would enable participants to benefit from higher PI sooner. Moreover, the results showed that among university students, the effects of PI training are maintained over time. The study provides initial support of the potential of PI training to cultivate PI behaviour in prospective graduates in South Africa. However, as no control group data was collected at T2, it is uncertain how long it took for PI in this non-trained group to organically develop compared to the experimental group. Additionally, the relatively homogenous and small sample (n = 23) limits the generalisability of these findings to the broader population of university students in South Africa. Therefore, additional research with a larger and more representative sample of South African university students, and which includes an initial post-test observation for the control group, is needed.
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Open Access
Mirrors in frames: Identity and belonging in the lives of second-generation Congolese immigrants in South Africa
(2026) Bashonga, Ragi; Chaturvedi, Ruchi; Garba, Muhammed Faisal
In various parts of the world, notions of belonging have become increasingly restrictive. This occurs in a global and regional context marked by rising migration and yet the promise of globalisation—more open borders, increased opportunities, and improved cultural relations—remains unfulfilled. In the Global South and Africa more specifically, migration is often necessitated by war, conflict, as well as political and economic instability. The war and economic downturn in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has been ongoing since the 1990s has led many Congolese to migrate to various countries, including South Africa. Considering South Africa's position as the top immigration destination on the continent, this thesis explores the experiences of identity and belonging among young, second-generation Congolese immigrants in post-apartheid South Africa. Employing a social constructivist framework, the thesis integrates portraiture and poetic inquiry as methodologies to centre the voices of research participants. Through a series of poetic portraits, the study highlights how intersecting factors such as race, gender, and social class inform migrant identities and experiences of belonging. Individual subjectivities and everyday experiences, as we know, are framed by larger sociohistorical contexts. This thesis offers storytelling as a critical and incisive epistemic tool to understand the formation of migrant subjectivities and foreground how personal narratives illuminate broader themes related to migration, identity politics, and the quest for belonging. I describe how fragility marks the experience of citizenship for migrants, even the ones who are, legally speaking, citizens of South Africa. For second-generation Congolese immigrants, this fragility extends to their Congolese national identity creating a tension in ‘feeling' at home in both South Africa and DRC. Migration, coupled with experiences of racism and xenophobia, destabilises fixed, essentialised national identities by positioning second-generation immigrants as both insiders and outsiders. At the same time, expressions of Congolese national identity and Africanity in the ‘everyday'—through the meanings of race, language, and culture—reveal a more dynamic and joyous connection to Congolese and African identities. Through the enjoyment of la sape (styles of dress), music, and traditional practices, fixed and essentialized expressions of identity and belonging are reimagined. This process embodies and reconstructs the multiplicity and temporality of Congolese and African identities. The thesis contributes to an evolving dialogue on African identities by challenging monolithic representations of nationhood in Africa and essentialised notions of Africanity more broadly.
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Open Access
“I want young girls to know they can smash it too” The experiences of women referees in elite rugby: pathways, challenges, coping, and victories
(2026) Broster, Philip; Goodman, Suki
Despite increasing attention to gender equity in sport and sports organisations, women's experiences in rugby officiating remain largely undocumented, particularly at elite levels. This study explored how women rugby referees experience and navigate challenges and victories as they progress through rugby organisations undergoing gender transformation. Using a qualitative research approach informed by conflict and critical theories, 18 women who had officiated men's rugby at elite levels across eleven major rugby-playing nations were interviewed. Data were analysed through thematic analysis to identify patterns in participants' experiences. Four themes emerged: (1) self-initiated pathways into officiating, driven by personal agency rather than direct organisational recruitment; (2) multifaceted organisational challenges, including accountability gaps in assessment, compound vulnerabilities, and gendered scrutiny; (3) adaptive coping strategies requiring overperformance and strategic acquiescence; and (4) navigation of contradictory demands for professional invisibility and symbolic visibility. The study makes three significant contributions to knowledge. Empirically, it provides the first systematic account of elite women rugby referees' experiences across multiple nations. Theoretically, it introduces the concept of the 'victorious double bind,' revealing how the hypervisibility of women in positions of structurally protected authority becomes, through repeated and competent presence, a mechanism for normalising their place within the institution over time. Practically, it offers diagnostic tools for identifying where organisational resistance emerges, and provides targeted intervention strategies for meaningful transformation. These findings advance understanding of gender transformation in male-dominated institutions, revealing how women's challenges represent diagnostic friction points that illuminate where organisations remain invested in maintaining traditional power. Keywords: rugby; women; officiating; qualitative; gender; transformation; organisations
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Open Access
Financing Coal land repurposing for South Africa's Just Energy Transition: A Seriti green case study
(2026) Adu, Kwame; Albertus, Rene
South Africa's commitment to a low-carbon development path has placed the repurposing of coal mining land at the centre of the country's Just Energy Transition (JET). While international partners and domestic institutions have pledged significant resources, there is limited empirical evidence on how finance is actually mobilised, structured, and governed for post-mining land uses. This dissertation assesses the financing landscape for repurposing coal mining land in South Africa, using Seriti Green as an in-depth case study in Mpumalanga. The study pursues four objectives: to identify existing financing mechanisms for coal land repurposing; to examine the financial, regulatory, and institutional barriers faced by Seriti Green; to analyse stakeholder perceptions of accessibility, fairness, and effectiveness of current models; and to evaluate the roles and interactions of key financial actors, including development finance institutions, government, and private investors. A qualitative, inductive, single-case study design is adopted. Primary data were collected through nine semi-structured interviews with Seriti Power and Seriti Green executives, complemented by documentary analysis of policy, regulatory and financial reports. The data were analysed using NVivoassisted thematic analysis, guided by an integrated theoretical framework combining perspectives on Just Transition, Development Finance, Post-Extractive Transition, and Sustainable Development Goals. The findings show that Seriti Green mobilises a sophisticated hybrid financing structure combining cash-backed rehabilitation provisions, guarantees, senior bank loans, mezzanine capital, and insurance-linked instruments to meet both mine closure and renewable energy investment requirements. However, this architecture is constrained by fragmented regulation, risk-averse commercial lending, complex access to international climate finance, and the absence of dedicated post-mining finance facilities. Stakeholders recognise the innovation and bankability of the Seriti Green model but highlight persistent entry barriers for communityscale projects and smaller developers, as well as gaps in benefit-sharing and participatory governance. The dissertation concludes that while industry led models can demonstrate technical and financial feasibility, they are insufficient on their own to deliver a just transition. It recommends developing an integrated national Just Transition Financing Facility, clearer regulatory pathways for land repurposing, and dedicated instruments to de-risk post-mining investments while expanding meaningful community participation and ownership.
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Open Access
Innovation capabilities in West African firms
(2026) Ananeh-Frempong, Betty-Ann; Daniels, Reza; Black , Anthony
This thesis examines the factors that influence innovation by West African firms. It also seeks to determine the relationship between the different types of innovation. In addition, a case study is used to complement the quantitative chapters. It sets out to provide an in-depth understanding of how backward linkage firms in the Ghanaian gold mining sector develop innovation capability through knowledge transfer and how this is influenced by government policy on procurement and local content. There was little data on innovation outcomes and innovative capability activity of firms in the West African region until the World Bank Enterprise Survey conducted investment climate assessment surveys that included questions about innovation in firms in the region beginning in 2014. This has provided the opportunity to conduct research on the determinants of innovation outcomes in the region. The case study provides insights into issues not covered in the innovation surveys that influence innovation outcomes such as transfer of knowledge within an industry and government policy aimed at an industry. Chapter two uses innovation data for ten West African countries to ascertain how innovative activities influence the probability of innovating. The innovation activities used in this chapter are R&D investment, investment in training programmes for employees, the purchase of assets and equipment, and making an export sale. Product and process innovation are the dependent variables. The chapter uses two recursive bivariate probit models to ascertain correlation between product and process innovation. The estimation results show that for both recursive bivariate probit models, firms that engage in one innovation outcome have an increased probability by over 90% of engaging in the other innovation outcome. Thus, the recursive bivariate probit results show that product innovation influences process innovation and vice versa. The marginal effects show that of the innovation activities, R&D investment had the largest marginal effect on the probability that a firm would engage in product and process innovation for both models. The results also show that investment in training programmes for employees increased the probability of innovating in product and process innovation in the first model and in product innovation in the second model. Investment in assets and equipment increased the probability that a firm will engage in process innovation in the first model and in both product and process innovation in the second model. Making an export sale increased the probability that a firm will engage in process innovation in the first model and in product innovation in the second model. Chapter three uses innovation data for Ghana and Nigeria because it includes data on marketing and organisational innovation. The objective of chapter three is to investigate how product, process, marketing, and organisational innovation are related to each other. This chapter also assesses the influence of innovation activities on all the innovation outcomes. A multivariate probit model with the four types of innovation as the outcome variables and innovation activities such as R&D, worker training, export, and purchase of assets and equipment included as regressors is used for this chapter. The regression results show that three innovation activities namely R&D, worker training and purchase of assets and equipment increase the probability that firms will engage in all the four types of innovation. Export however is not statistically significant for product and process innovation although it increases the probability that firms will engage in marketing and organisational innovation. The results of the off-diagonal elements of the correlation matrix show that there is correlation between the error terms of the innovation outcomes. This means that the innovation outcomes are positively associated and dependent on each other. The values of the covariance matrix show that there is a stronger correlation between the error terms for product and process innovation. Similarly, the error term for marketing innovation is most strongly correlated to that for organisational innovation. Thus, the regression results show that there is a relationship between all four types of innovation. The case study is to assess how the local content policy has encouraged local participation in the backward linkage firms to the gold mining industry in Ghana. It assesses the prevalence of innovation in these firms. It also assesses the development of innovation capability through the transfer of knowledge from multinational corporations to local supply firms. This was done by interviewing the management of six firms that supply goods and services to the mining companies. These firms are all affiliate members of the Ghana Chamber of Mines. The chapter shows that government policy to promote the local participation of backward linkage firms by increasing Ghanaian content has been able to substantially increase Ghanaian participation in the supply of mining inputs to the mining firms. The management of the firms believed that the policy has also encouraged knowledge transfer between local firms and multinational corporations. Yet, it can be deduced from the supply firms interviewed that there is not much innovation in these firms. The present policy direction encourages the importation of mining inputs over local manufacturing and value-addition. The firms interviewed that import finished goods expressed an interest in adding value through the establishment of assembly and or manufacturing plants if supported by the government.