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Sustainability disclosures are frequently included within integrated reports, in order to provide disclosures relating to the capitals identified in the International Framework (the Framework). South Africa has been at the forefront of integrated reporting, following the guidance of King III and subsequently the Framework. This study draws on data previously presented by the authors, and identifies the relationships and correlation between the application of principles from the Framework, such as materiality and conciseness, as well as the total number of sustainability disclosures and the industry classification, age and size of the companies, through the lens of legitimacy theory. The study uses data collected through interpretive content analysis of the integrated reports of South African companies in 2011 and 2015, as well as company metrics, which are analysed using Spearman's rank correlation and a k-means cluster analysis. The results reveal that companies tend to consistently apply the principles from the Framework, and the size of the company was not consistently correlated. However, the age of the company was correlated to the materiality of disclosures provided. The findings are consistent with legitimacy theory and add to the legitimacy theory literature by identifying the sustainability reporting behaviour displayed by companies of various sizes, ages and industry classifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth of gig work – short-term tasks organized and mediated by digital labor platforms such as Uber and Upwork – is the focus for an increasing body of research. Yet there has been a lack of systematic frameworks that could evaluate this type of labor against decent work standards, and inform consumers and others about relative adherence to those standards across platforms and sectors. In this article we report the development of the "Fairwork framework", based on five decent work principles of fair pay, conditions, contracts, management, and representation. The framework and its associated methodology were first field-tested in South Africa and we report on its use to rate seven gig economy platforms. A league table of platforms was widely publicized and one platform was persuaded to improve working conditions. We reflect on the use and content of the framework, and its role in future action research on decent gig work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Fairwork Foundation, a research initiative that is also developing an intervention around the quality of work on digital labour platforms. Lacking the ability to collectively bargain, many platform workers have little ability to negotiate wages or working conditions with their employers. As a result of this new, digitally-managed market for work, many workers have jobs characterised by long and irregular hours, low income, and high stress. Fairwork's field research across India and South Africa finds challenges for workers across a range of issues which form the basis for a set of decent work principles on: pay, conditions, contracts, management, and representation. The results of the field research are being used to rank and compare platforms against these principles as a means to encourage decent, and discourage 'un-decent' platform work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is seen by the South African government as key to employment generation. BPO operations are reasonably footloose and the industry's immense focus on workplace control and high levels of attrition means that the development potential of the BPO industry on workers in South Africa is a matter of critical concern. This article uses the global production network (GPN) framework to understand the developmental potentials of contact center jobs for workers in South Africa. The key argument is that economic upgrading among contact center firms can lead to both social upgrading and downgrading among workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use and land cover change are major drivers of water quality deterioration in watercourses and impoundments. However, understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of land use change characteristics and their link to water quality parameters in catchments is limited. As a contribution to address this limitation, the objective of this study is to assess the linkages between biophysico-chemical water quality parameters and land use and land cover (LULC) classes in the upper reaches of the uMngeni Catchment, a rapidly developing catchment in South Africa. These were assessed using Geographic Information Systems tools and statistical analyses for the years 1994, 2000, 2008 and 2011 based on changes over time of eight LULC classes and available water quality information. Natural vegetation, forest plantations and cultivated areas occupy 85% of the catchment. Cultivated, urban/built-up and degraded areas increased by 6%, 4.5% and 3%, respectively coinciding with a decrease in natural vegetation by 17%. Variability in the concentration of water quality parameters from 1994 to 2011 and an overall decline in water quality were observed. Escherichia coli (E. coli) levels exceeding the recommended guidelines for recreation and public health protection was noted as a major issue at seven of the nine sampling points. Overall, water supply reservoirs in the catchment retained over 20% of nutrients and over 85% of E. coli entering them. A relationship between land use types and water quality variables was found. However, the degree and magnitude of the associations varies between sub-catchments and is difficult to quantify. This highlights the complexity and the site-specific nature of relationships between land use types and water quality parameters in the catchment. Thus, this study provides useful findings on the general relationship between land use and land cover and water quality degradation, but highlights the risks of applying simple relationships or adding complex relationships in the management of the catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]