SOUTH AFRICA - Hunger in South Africa: study shows one in five are at risk [The Conversation, February 2023]

Title:

SOUTH AFRICA - Hunger in South Africa: study shows one in five are at risk 

 

Author:

Asanda Mtintsilana 

Postdoctoral researcher, University of the Witwatersrand

 

Published:

The Conversation, 15 February 2023

https://theconversation.com/hunger-in-south-africa-study-shows-one-in-five-are-at-risk-199133

 

From the article:

In terms of income distribution, South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world. The impact of COVID-19 on the economy has worsened this inequality and increased social vulnerability among poor people. Poverty is inherently associated with food insecurity – a state in which socially vulnerable people can’t get enough nutritious and safe food. 

 

SOUTH AFRICA - 3D printing is a key element in solving South Africa’s housing crisis [Daily Mavrick, February 2023]

Title:

3D printing is a key element in solving South Africa’s housing crisis 

 

By 

Letlhokwa Mpedi and Tshilidzi Marwala

 

Published:

Daily Maverick, 8 February 2023

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2023-02-08-3d-printing-is-a-key-element-in-solving-south-africas-housing-crisis/

 

From the article:

"The 3D printer at the University of Johannesburg can complete a house in one day. The finished house is stronger, can handle fire better, and is better insulated than conventional houses."

 

Making the invisible, visible: disability in South African distance education [Scholarly Article - Distance Education, November 2022]

Title:

Making the invisible, visible: disability in South African  distance education

 

Authors:

Paul Prinsloo & Chinaza Uleanya

 

Published:

Distance Education, Volume 43, Issue 4, 14 November 2022

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01587919.2022.2144139 

Abstract:

Distance education celebrates its humanitarian mission of providing opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized individuals who do not have access to traditional campus-based higher education. Large enrolments of students necessitate an industrialized approach in planning, design, and delivery informed by a normative assumption of ableism. In the context of post-apartheid South Africa, distance education fulfills a particular important role in ensuring access to education for all. This scoping review addressed two questions: “What is currently known, in the context of distance education in South Africa, about the educational experiences of SWDs?” and “How should we understand and respond to these experiences?” The scoping study shows, inter alia, that while there is an institutional commitment to providing equitable learning experiences, the lived experiences of students with disabilities provide evidence of their invisibility in the design, planning, and delivery of learning. The study concludes with some recommendations and provocations.

 

SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa’s dysfunctional universities: the consequences of corrupt decisions [The Conversation, 2023]

Title:

South Africa’s dysfunctional universities: the consequences of corrupt decisions

 

Author:

Jonathan Jansen

Distinguished Professor, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

 

Published:

The Conversation, 31 January 2023

https://theconversation.com/south-africas-dysfunctional-universities-the-consequences-of-corrupt-decisions-198677

 

From the article:

What happens when those responsible for managing universities cannot trust each other to act with integrity? In a nutshell, as I discuss in my new book, Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities, dysfunction is the consequence.

Self-identity discrepancy theory: Exploring returning South African Cuban-trained medical students sense of belonging [Scholarly Article - SAJHE, December 2022]

Title:

Self-identity discrepancy theory: Exploring returning South African Cuban-trained medical students sense of belonging

 

Authors:

B. M. Donda, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban Clinical and Professional Practice  

V. Singaram, University of KwaZulu-Natal Clinical and Professional Practice  

R. Hift, University of KwaZulu-Natal Clinical and Professional Practice

 

Published:

South African Journal of Higher Education, Volume 36, Number 6 (26 December 2022)

https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/5526

Abstract:

Background: The Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro Collaboration programme (NMFCMC) between South Africa and Cuba was established in 1996. South African students, undergo five years of medical training in Cuba and finish the final eighteen months of training in South Africa. These students experience academic difficulties on their return.  

 

Methods: All twelve NMFCMC students enrolled at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2015 participated in this study. Data were elicited using focus group interviews, narrative interviews, found photovoice and the Collage Life Story Elicitation Technique.  

 

Results: Challenges faced by participants resulted in identity discrepancy, which in turn promoted unfavourable attitudes, affect, psychological and physical behaviours towards participants’ belongingness.  

 

Conclusion: Returning NMFCMC students experienced difficulties in assimilation due to identity discrepancies and frustrated sense of belonging. Focusing on reinforcing positive aspects of identity, and interpersonal relationships through moderating the tendency of local teachers and students to emphasise the “otherness” of the NMFCMC student is crucial.

 

Undergraduate students’ knowledge outcomes and how these relate to their educational experiences: a longitudinal study of chemistry in two countries [Scholarly Article - Higher Education, 2022]

Title:

Undergraduate students’ knowledge outcomes and how these relate to their educational experiences: a longitudinal study of chemistry in two countries

 

Authors:

Paul Ashwin, Margaret Blackie, Nicole Pitterson & Reneé Smit 

 

Published:

Higher Education, 23 November 2022

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-022-00962-1

 

Abstract:

Are the ways of engaging with the world that students develop through higher education particular to bodies of knowledge they study? In this article, we examine how students’ accounts of the discipline of chemistry in England and South Africa changed over the three years of their undergraduate degrees. Based on a longitudinal phenomenographic analysis of 105 interviews with 33 chemistry students over the course of their undergraduate degrees in four institutions, we constituted five qualitatively different ways of describing chemistry. These ranged from chemistry as something that happens when things are mixed in a laboratory to a more inclusive account that described chemistry as being able to explain molecular interactions in unfamiliar environments. Most students expressed more inclusive accounts of chemistry by the end of their degrees and the level of change appeared to be related to their educational experiences. In contrast to approaches that emphasise the generic student outcomes from higher education, these findings highlight the importance of recognising the distinctive outcomes that students gain from their engagement with particular bodies of disciplinary knowledge. It further highlights the importance of students understanding their degrees as an educational experience that requires them to commit to engaging with these bodies of knowledge. 

 

SOUTH AFRICA - Indian mynas are taking wing in the Kruger National Park and scientists are concerned [Mail&Guardian, October 2022]

Title:

Indian mynas are taking wing in the Kruger National Park and scientists are concerned

 

Author:

Sheree Bega

 

Published:

Mail & Guardian, 31 October 2022

https://mg.co.za/environment/2022-10-31-indian-mynas-are-taking-wing-in-the-kruger-national-park-and-scientists-are-concerned/

 

From the article:

"One of the world’s worst invasive species, the pesky Indian myna, has rapidly infiltrated the Kruger National Park over the past 20 years, worrying conservationists.  

 

The bird, also known as the common myna, is native to south-east Asia, but established as an alien globally, including in South Africa, where it is invasive, explained Dr Llewellyn Foxcroft, a SANParks scientist at the Kruger and a core team member of the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University."

 

SOUTH AFRICA - Technical background paper: The macroeconomics of establishing a basic income grant in South Africa [Economic Research Southern Africa, September 2022]

Title:

Technical background paper: The macroeconomics of establishing a basic income grant in South Africa

 

Authors:

Daan Steenkamp, Hylton Hollander & Roy Havemann

 

Published:

Economic Research Southern Africa, 16 September 2022 

[Series title: Working Paper 881]

https://econrsa.org/publications/technical-background-paper-the-macroeconomics-of-establishing-a-basic-income-grant-in-south-africa/

 

From the article:

This paper quantifies the effect of fiscal transfers on the trade-off between social relief and debt accumulation, and discusses the economic growth and fiscal implications of different combinations of expanded social support and funding choices. Given South Africa’s already high level of public debt, the opportunity to fund a basic income grant through higher debt is limited. Using a general equilibrium model, the paper shows that extending the social relief of distress grant could be fiscally feasible provided taxes rise to fund such a programme. Implementing such a policy would, however, have a contractionary impact on the economy. A larger basic income grant (even at the level of the food poverty line) would threaten fiscal sustainability as it would require large tax increases that would crowd-out consumption and investment. The model results show that sustainably expanding social transfers requires structurally higher growth, which necessitates growth-enhancing reforms that crowd-in the private sector through, for example, relieving the energy constraint, increasing government infrastructure investment and expanding employment programmes.

South African universities need to better support doctoral supervisors [The Conversation, September 2022]

Title:

South African universities need to better support doctoral supervisors

 

Author:

Puleng Motshoane 

Academic Developer, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

 

Published:

The Conversation, 30 September 2022

https://theconversation.com/south-african-universities-need-to-better-support-doctoral-supervisors-190675

 

From the article:

South Africa’s government has ambitious plans for doctoral education. The country aims to increase its output to 5,000 doctorates annually by 2030. In 2013, the figure stood at 2,051; by 2019 it was up to 3,445.

 

It also wants 75% of all academics employed at universities to hold a PhD by 2030. In 2019, that figure was just 46%.

 

How migrants who move between Zimbabwe and South Africa access healthcare in border towns [The Conversation, September 2022]

Title:

How migrants who move between Zimbabwe and South Africa access healthcare in border towns

 

Authors:

Vinayak Bhardwaj 

Regional Migration Referent, Johns Hopkins University

 

Published:

The Conversation, 5 September 2022

https://theconversation.com/how-migrants-who-move-between-zimbabwe-and-south-africa-access-healthcare-in-border-towns-189822

 

From the article:

Zimbabwe and South Africa share a 225 km common border. There is only one official border crossing, at Beitbridge. An estimated 15,000 migrants and refugees from Zimbabwe and other countries cross daily either through the official border post or at illegal crossing points. Migrants’ access to healthcare, particularly in the two towns along this border – Beitbridge and Musina – has come into sharp focus after the health minister of Limpopo province made disparaging remarks to a Zimbabwean woman seeking help at a South African hospital. Doctors Without Borders has been providing healthcare to displaced populations at Beitbridge for 22 years. The Conversation Africa spoke to Doctors Without Borders’ regional migration advisor Vinayak Bhardwaj about their research into migrants’ healthcare needs in the area.

 

Barriers to recycling e-waste within a changing legal environment in South Africa [Scholarly Article - South African Journal of Science, August 2022]

Title:

Barriers to recycling e-waste within a changing legal environment in South Africa

 

Authors:

Thandazile Moyo, Zaynab Sadan, Aysha Lötter & Jochen Petersen

 

All from the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa

 

Published:

South African Journal of Science, Volume 118, Special Issue: Waste as a Resource, August 2022

https://sajs.co.za/article/view/12564

 

Abstract:

Electronic waste (e-waste) recycling presents an opportunity to reclaim materials from a secondary resource and to create jobs and other economic opportunities. E-waste consists of various materials such as metals, plastics, glass, and other chemical substances. Some of these materials are hazardous if processed or disposed of improperly. Therefore, e-waste is classified as hazardous in South African law up until the hazardous components are removed. With the appropriate infrastructure and technology, a large portion of materials contained in e-waste can be reclaimed, and any adverse impacts of irresponsible management prevented. The private sector has played a proactive role in shaping the South African waste economy, and the government is taking strides to draw up enabling regulatory frameworks. Through a literature review and stakeholder engagements, this paper unpacks the organisation of the South African e-waste recycling industry. We consider whether the legal environment drives a common vision for a circular e-waste economy and probe the barriers to e-waste recycling across the value chain. The findings indicate that the development of the e-waste recycling sector in South Africa is dependent on a robust collection network and the enabling of local end-processing, refining, and manufacturing capacity. The availability and quality of input material and the development of local refining and manufacturing capacity are co-dependent and should be addressed simultaneously.

SOUTH AFRICA - MTN has announced that they are going to spend over R620m in Free State, Northern Cape in network expansion and 5G drive [TechAfrica News, August 2022]

Title:

MTN Commits R620M for 5G Network Expansion in Northern Cape

 

Author:

Sunette Els

General Manager: Regional Operations, MTN

Published:

TechAfrica News, 22 August 2022

https://techafricanews.com/2022/03/29/mtn-commits-r620m-for-5g-network-expansion-in-northern-cape/

From the article:

Focused on improving network availability, expediting battery resilience and maintaining throughput excellence across the Free State and Northern Cape , MTN will invest R412m in the Free State and R215m in the Northern Cape in 2022.

 

University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa - UP and Amazon Web Services Institute team up to bring major digital transformation initiative to the public sector in South Africa

Title:

UP and Amazon Web Services Institute team up to bring major digital transformation initiative to the public sector in South Africa 

By:

Hlengiwe Mnguni

 

Published:

University of Pretoria, 25 July 2022

https://www.up.ac.za/news/post_3090059-up-and-amazon-web-services-institute-team-up-to-bring-major-digital-transformation-initiative-to-the-public-sector-in-south-africa-

 

Form the news article:

In a bid to accelerate digital transformation in South Africa’s public sector, the University of Pretoria (UP) and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Institute teamed up for the first time to host an executive education programme, for senior government officials and leaders of state-owned enterprises.  

SOUTH AFRICA - Universities could be downgraded, or closed, under new draft rules to differentiate colleges [Business Insider South Africa, August 2022]

Title:

Universities could be downgraded, or closed, under new draft rules to differentiate colleges

 

Compiled by:

Phillip de Wet

 

Published:

Business Insider South Africa, 9 August

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/dhet-criteria-for-higher-education-institutional-types-lay-down-university-college-rules-2022-8

 

From the article:

The government may downgrade or close down universities that fail to live up to what is required of them, a new draft definition of different types of tertiary education institutions bluntly warns.  

 

Living alone in the age of freedom: The paradox of solo households in postapartheid South Africa [Scholarly Article - Population, Space and Place, 2022]

Title:

Living alone in the age of freedom: The paradox of solo households in postapartheid South Africa

 

Authors:

Dorrit posel & Mark Hunter

 

Published:

Population, Space and Place, 6 June 2022

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/psp.2593

 

Abstract:

This paper considers an apparent paradox in South Africa: the share of single-person households increased after the end of apartheid despite the ending of apartheid's racial laws that restricted ‘African’ families from living together, the postapartheid state's building of around four-million low-cost houses for families, the economies of scale offered by multiple-person households in a country where poverty remains prevalent and the reduced significance of some of the longstanding sites of single-person households—including mining compounds and hostels for men. Bringing together quantitative and qualitative data, we argue that solo dwelling remains associated with persistent rural–urban spatial divisions, increased migration and urbanization, continued declining marriage rates and the nature of employment. These arguments are supported by quantitative data that show an increase in solo dwelling, its greater occurrence among men and working-age African men, in particular, its concentration in certain urban spaces and the way it fluctuated in the 2000s according to changing labour market conditions. We also draw on a township survey and interviews that show how, as apartheid restrictions collapsed, new areas of land suitable for solo living became available in the 1990s and provide examples of unmarried and married adults living alone, including to access work opportunities.

 

SOUTH AFRICA - SA back in contention for being the place where our species originated following new Sterkfontein Caves discovery [Daily Maverick, June 2022]

Title:

SA back in contention for being the place where our species originated following new Sterkfontein Caves discovery

 

Author:

Shaun Smillie

 

Published:

Daily Maverick, 27 June 2022

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-27-sa-back-in-contention-for-being-the-place-where-our-species-originated-following-new-sterkfontein-caves-discovery/

 

From the article:

A section of the Sterkfontein Caves has been found to be more than a million years older than previously thought — a discovery that is likely to shake up our family tree.

SOUTH AFRICA / SUID-AFRIKA - Afrikaners worstel met angs, depressie [Maroela Media, Junie 2022] - Article & video in Afrikaans

Titel:

Video: Afrikaners worstel met angs, depressie

 

Outeur:

Elaine Krige

 

Gepubliseer:

Maroela Media, 3 Junie 2022

https://maroelamedia.co.za/nuus/sa-nuus/afrikaners-worstel-met-angs-depressie/

 

Aangehaal uit artikel:

Omtrent die helfte van Afrikaners landwyd het aangedui dat hulle die verlede jaar angs, depressie en huwelikskonflik ondervind het. Maatskaplike kwessies is veral onder inwoners van Kaapstad, Krugersdorp en Pretoria-Oos waargeneem.

 

The countries maintaining research ties with Russia despite Ukraine [Nature, April 2022]

Title:

The countries maintaining research ties with Russia despite Ukraine 

 

Authors:

Smriti Mallapaty, T. V. Padma, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, Richard Van Noorden & Ehsan Masood

 

Published:

Nature, 6 April 2022

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00945-3

 

From the article:

Many Western nations are severing scientific links — but it’s a different story in China, India and South Africa.

 

SOUTH AFRICA - Nearly everyone in South Africa has COVID antibodies, study shows [EWN, May 2022]

Title: 

SOUTH AFRICA - Nearly everyone in South Africa has COVID antibodies, study shows 

 

Author: 

James Stent  

 

Published: 

EWN, 27 May 2022 

https://ewn.co.za/2022/05/27/nearly-everyone-in-south-africa-has-covid-antibodies-study-shows  

 

From the article: 

• The results of a third COVID survey by the South African National Blood Service have been published.  

 

• By testing for two different antibodies in blood donors, the researchers were able to conclude that about 98% of people in South Africa have either been vaccinated against COVID, infected by COVID, or both.  

 

• About 10% of people have been vaccinated but not had COVID.  

 

• The survey was conducted shortly before the April/May wave, which indicates that reinfection is now commonplace.

 

SOUTH AFRICA - Work underway to build two new universities in South Africa [BusinessTech, May 2022]

Title:

Work underway to build two new universities in South Africa

 

Published:

BusinessTech, 3 May 2022

https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/582456/work-underway-to-build-two-new-universities-in-south-africa/

 

From the article:

The Department of Higher Education and Training says it is making steady progress in its plans to develop two new universities in South Africa.