November 13, 2023
South Africa: Diseases On Farms in South Africa - Recent Outbreaks Point to Weaknesses in the System
South Africa has had a number of outbreaks of animal diseases in recent months that suggest there are weaknesses in the country's biosecurity system - the measures in place to… Read more »
South Africa: Bad Food Choices - Clearer Labels Aim to Help South Africans Pick Healthier Options
South Africans have a hard time figuring out which foods are unhealthy when they go shopping. But this is about to change. Read more »
November 09, 2023
South Africa: Ubuntu Offers Lessons in How to Treat People With Disabilities - a Study of Bomvana Rituals
Research shows that people with disabilities have always been largely excluded and marginalised in societies across the world. Read more »
South Africa: Tourists Are Returning to South Africa - but the Sector Will Need to Go Green to Deal With the Country's Electricity Crisis
For the past 16 years South Africans have dreaded rolling power cuts euphemistically dubbed "loadshedding". These are caused by the ailing state power entity Eskom's crumbling… Read more »
November 08, 2023
South Africa: Do You Like Snakes, Lizards and Frogs? Why Herpetology Might Be the Career for You
We are so fortunate to share the world with a huge diversity of creatures. For me, some of the most fascinating are reptiles and amphibians. Collectively called herpetofauna,… Read more »
November 07, 2023
South Africa: South Africa's Universities Aren't Training Future Civil Servants for What the Country Needs
Many analysts blame state capture - the corruption of the management of public affairs - for the weakening of state capacity in South Africa. A judicial commission of inquiry into… Read more »
November 05, 2023
South Africa: Wage Gap Is Huge - Why Companies Should Report What CEOs and Workers Earn
Inequality in South Africa is high, whether measured by income or wealth. One of the results is that there's acute public scrutiny of executive compensation. Read more »
November 02, 2023
South Africa: Bird Flu Could Be Eradicated By Editing the Genes of Chickens - Our Study Shows How
Recent advances in gene editing technology could potentially be used to create disease-resistant animals. This could curtail the spread of avian influenza, commonly known as bird… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Literacy Crisis - Our App Could Help Young Readers By Using Home Language and English
Literacy changes lives: in Unesco's words, it "empowers and liberates people, ... reduces poverty, increases participation in the labour market and has positive effects on health… Read more »
November 01, 2023
South Africa: South Africa's Medium-Term Budget Reflects Difficult and Contested Decisions
The medium-term budget policy statement presented by South Africa's finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, to parliament on 1 November 2023 is intended to provide a preview of… Read more »
South Africa: Multimedia Is Key to Distance Education - I Built a Model South African Universities Can Use
Distance education first appeared in the United States in the 1800s. At the time, students received the relevant material through the post and then returned it to the institution. Read more »
October 31, 2023
South Africa: South Africa Power Outages - Some Improvement but a Long Way to Go Before the Grid Is Stable
Over the past few months, South Africa's power generation sector has performed better than expected. Four factors explain this: an acceleration of solar power installations, less… Read more »
October 29, 2023
Africa: AGOA Trade Deal Talks - South Africa Will Need to Carefully Manage Relations With U.S., China
South Africa must tread carefully in its economic relationships to avoid being caught in the escalating tension between east and west, and more specifically China and the US. The… Read more »
October 26, 2023
South Africa: DNA Tech Solves 40-Year-Old Mystery of Pine Tree Disease in South Africa
In the 1970s and 1980s, pine trees growing in various forestry plantations in South Africa's Western Cape province began to die in patches. These trees succumbed to a mysterious… Read more »
October 25, 2023
South Africa: Izikhothane - A South African Youth Subculture That Trashes Luxury Items
In South Africa, a skhothane is a young, fashionably dressed black urban resident who engages in destructive conspicuous consumption. This involves regular get-togethers on… Read more »
October 24, 2023
South Africa: The Thorny Issue of 'Race' in South African Politics
"Race" continues to have much political salience in South Africa, a country where, in the past, perceived differences of skin colour were used to construct a hierarchy of "races",… Read more »
October 23, 2023
South Africa: How President Ramaphosa's Covid Speeches Drew On Mandela's Ideas of Unity
In times of crisis, leaders wield more than just political power. They harness the art of rhetoric in a bid to unite their nations towards a common goal. South Africa, with a… Read more »
October 22, 2023
South Africa: Community Radio - Young South Africans Are Helping Shape the News Through Social Media
The number of South African internet users has nearly doubled in the past decade. One 2023 study of 45 developed countries suggests that South Africans even lead the world when it… Read more »
October 19, 2023
South Africa: Expert Explains What's Behind the Chicken Crisis and What Must Be Done About It
An outbreak of avian flu - a highly contagious viral infection that affects wild birds as well as poultry - has hit poultry farms in South Africa. Two different strains are causing… Read more »
October 18, 2023
South Africa: Evolution Revolution - How a Cape Town Museum Exhibit Is Rewriting the Story of Humankind
Picture your typical human evolution museum display. You walk into a dimly lit space with glass boxes on white plinths or roped off areas. There are lots and lots of bones. Maybe a… Read more »
October 17, 2023
South Africa: South Africa's 2022 Census - Has Johannesburg Stopped Growing, or Are the Numbers Wrong?
South Africa's census is a vital source of information for policy making, planning and research, and so the Census 2022 findings released last week were eagerly awaited. It offers… Read more »
October 13, 2023
South Africa: South Africa's 2022 Census Missed 31% of People - Big Data Could Help in Future
No census is ever exact: as academics Tom Moultrie and Rob Dorrington at the University of Cape Town have noted previously: Read more »
October 12, 2023
South Africa: Jerry Coovadia Remembered - a Champion of Science, Children and Compassionate Public Health
Deeply saddened as we in the South African health community were by the loss of Professor Jerry Hoosen Coovadia on 4 October 2023, I reflected on what he had come to mean in my… Read more »
October 11, 2023
South Africa: Male Domestic Workers in South Africa - Study Sheds Light On the Experiences of Malawian and Zimbabwean Migrants
An estimated 800,000 people work as domestic workers in South Africa. Most are black women from marginalised backgrounds. It's therefore not surprising that the bulk of the… Read more »
October 10, 2023
South Africa: Israel-Palestine Conflict Divides South African Politicians - What Their Responses Reveal About Historical Alliances
Hamas' brazen and deadly attack on Israel on October 7 elicited varied responses within the South African political scene. These diverse reactions reflect the long history, since… Read more »