Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf): Open Journal Systems
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Cyclopia subternata growth, yield, proline and relative water content in response to water deficit stress
No full textCyclopia, generally known as honeybush, and belonging to the Fabaceae family, originates from the Cape Floristic Region of the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. Currently, 6 honeybush species are commercially cultivated but, to date, there have been limited trials attempting to study their agronomic water demand. A pot trial was conducted where Cyclopia subternata plants were cultivated on different soil types (Stellenbosch granite, Stellenbosch shale and Stellenbosch clovelly) and subjected to three different water-deficit stress levels (well-watered, semi-stressed and stressed). Remarkably, irrigation treatments and soil types did not significantly affect the growth of the plants. However, the well-watered treatment consistently had higher yields compared to the other two treatments. The water-stressed (semi-stressed and stressed) treatments had lower relative water contents (RWC) with higher concentrations of proline, which signify water stress, compared to the control treatment. Higher proline and lower RWC contents found in this study are indications of water stress
Use of remote sensing to determine rainwater harvesting sites for piped micro-irrigation schemes in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe
No full textThe eastern highlands of Zimbabwe, particularly Chimanimani District, are endowed with natural water bodies such as springs, pools, wetlands, puddles and river systems, which are potential sources of water for irrigated farming. Despite this, water challenges continue to exist due to rainfall seasonality and lack of suitable water harvesting sites. This calls for solutions to harness water in long-lasting sources to support the piped micro-irrigation schemes. These schemes are pillars in agricultural interventions such as horticulture, livestock farming, fish farming and beekeeping. This study therefore, determined potential rainwater harvesting (RWH) sites in Chimanimani District using geospatial techniques. Water pixels from Landsat 8 images were extracted using the normalised difference moisture index (NDMI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Potential RWH sites were classified into land-based zones, wetlands and natural water bodies. Findings show that land-based zones cover 27.53%, wetlands cover 24.65% and water bodies cover 6.11% of the district. The study also indicates that integrating geographic information systems with remote-sensing tools is a useful approach in identifying RWH sites. Thus, this study provided a spatially explicit approach and presents a suitability map for RWH in Chimanimani District
Perfecting a General Notarial Bond: You Can't Have your Cake and Eat It! ABSA Bank Limited v Go on Supermarket (Pty) Limited (The Spar Group Limited intervening) (9442/2022) [2022] ZAGPJHC 173 (24 March 2022):
No full textA general notarial bond registered over movable property grants the bondholder a real security right enforceable against third parties only if the bond has been perfected by transferring possession of the property to the bondholder. Based on the facts and judgment in Absa Bank Limited v Go On Supermarket (Pty) Limited, this analysis revisits the basic principles of and requirements for the perfection of a general bond. We ultimately criticise the judgment on three scores. Firstly, the court regarded the form of delivery (transfer of possession) applicable in this matter as symbolic delivery, but we point out that it amounted to constitutum possessorium – meaning that the attempted perfection of the bond was ineffective. Secondly, the parties conceded and the court accepted that the general bond could not be perfected over property subject to the special notarial bond of another creditor. We reason that this is incorrect. It is indeed possible to attach property subject to the security right of another creditor, although the first creditor's rights will be preferred over those of the creditor who subsequently attached the property. Thirdly, the court rejected the argument that the general bond could not be perfected over property owned by another creditor in terms of a reservation-of-ownership clause in a sale agreement. However, the court should not have rejected this argument, since it was correct. A general bond indeed cannot cover property belonging to someone other than the debtor, unless the person agreed, and thus it was not possible in this case to attach the property belonging to someone other than the debtor
Children's Right to Education versus their Right to Religion and Culture in South Africa: With Specific Reference to the Wearing of a Headscarf in South African School
No full textIn terms of section 29(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution), ''everyone has the right to basic education''. At the same time the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion, and the right to participate in the cultural life of his or her choice.
Children's right to education versus their right to religion and culture is a highly debated topic in South Africa. The Constitution guarantees both the right to education and the right to religion and culture. In the culturally diverse South African environment the right to education and the child's right to participate in the cultural life of their choice may conflict with each other. The conflict referred to can mean that the child's right to participate in the cultural life of his or her choice might be sacrificed to the right to education. One such instance is the wearing of a headscarf in schools. The headscarf, also known as a hijab, is a traditional piece of clothing worn by Muslim women in accordance with their religious beliefs. The wearing of a headscarf in schools has become a contentious issue as it is seen by some as conflicting with the principles of education and the dress codes of schools.
The government has a constitutional obligation to provide basic education to all children in the country. This right is seen as a crucial factor in ensuring that children can develop to their full potential. On the other hand, the right to religion and culture is equally important as it allows individuals to practice their religious beliefs and maintain their cultural identity. To evaluate discrimination against children in a culturally diverse classroom, it is mandatory to look at what the right to basic education entails and what obligations this right place on the state – more specifically on the Department of Basic Education – when it comes to promoting the right to basic education while protecting children's other constitutional rights.
The government must adopt a balanced approach to ensure that both the right to education and the right to religion and culture are respected and protected. This study will investigate whether the state fulfils its obligation to protect the child's constitutional right to basic education without infringing on the child's right to religion and culture
Factors promoting and hindering sporting success among South African former Olympians from historically disadvantaged areas
Full text linkThere are various contributing factors to sporting success among elite athletes, including Olympians. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the enablers and/or barriers to sporting success among South African former Olympians from historically disadvantaged areas (HDAs) using the SPLISS framework. This would enable an understanding of the factors that lead to sporting success among athletes from HDAs. A qualitative research design was employed for this study, whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted among 15 former Olympians who represented South Africa between the 1992 and 2016 Olympic Games. The ATLAS.ti (version 22) software tool was used to analyse the data. The study found that athletes from HDAs attributed their sporting success to the functional competition structure, sports access at community level, access to scholarships and bursaries to elite schools/universities, good coaching support and mentorship, access to local and international competitions, as well as community and peer athlete support. The highest barriers reported by athletes were inadequate financial support, a dysfunctional school sport system, lack of sports facilities, equipment and transport system, poor post-career and scientific support. Elite athletes from HDAs need consistent financial support, school/foundation level sport access, quality sports facilities, equipment, and reliable transport to training and competitions, post-career, as well as scientific support to achieve their full potential and attain international sporting success.
Alienation in Ntshavheni Alfred Milubi’s poetry
No full textIn this article, I analyse the thematization of alienation in the poetry of the Muvenḓa poet, playwright, and scholar Ntshavheni Alfred Milubi. Milubi ascribes people’s abandonment of moral values to their perpetual frustrations, herein described as alienation. Reference is made to the crumbling African traditional institutions, which, in the past, seemingly functioned as havens for the rehabilitation of alienated individuals in African communities. These institutions are shown to be triggering alienation in the modernising and globalising space, seemingly with no room for recuperation unless one heeds the poet’s clarion calls. I restrict my analysis of Milubi’s poetry only to social and cosmic alienation, guided by a fixed set of themes, namely, from society, a romantic lover, and God, respectively. The article represents the idea that African-language literatures provide insights into how the indigenes have grappled with the interface between tradition and modernity. The three forms of alienation as treated by Milubi serve as a representative sample of how Tshivenḓa poetry in particular and African-language literatures in general often register subaltern voices and the ways in which they inscribe their experiences to explain their relationship with God or god(s), society, and intimate partners, among others. This trifocal relationship is essential to the Vhavenḓa and other African communities because it reveals their concept of cosmology, community, and intimacy
What constitutes adequate legal protection for the collection, use and sharing of mobility and location data in health care in South Africa?
No full textMobile phone technology has been a catalyst that has added an innovative dimension in health care and created new opportunities for digital health services. These digital devices can be viewed as an extension of the person using them due to the deluge of personal information that can be collected and stored on them. Data collected on mobile phones are used extensively in health services and research. Personal, mobility and location data are constantly collected. The unique mobile phone architecture provides for an easy flow of data between various role players such as application developers and phone manufacturers. The collection, storage and sharing of personal information on mobile phones elicit various legal questions relating to the protection of privacy, consent, liability and the accountability of stakeholders such as health insurance providers, hospital groups and national departments of health.
Significance:
We analyse the major legal concerns of mobility and location data collection and processing through mobile phones in the context of health care and provide recommendations to develop data protection guidelines that are built on the principles of lawfulness, fairness and transparency. The issues explored are of relevance in an African context and to a broader international audience
Managing and assembling population-scale data streams, tools and workflows to plan for future pandemics within the INFORM-Africa Consortium
No full textExploring perspectives of research ethics committee members on the governance of big data in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textInterest in the governance of big data is growing exponentially. However, finding the right balance between making large volumes of data accessible, and safeguarding privacy, preventing data misuse, determining authorship and protecting intellectual property remain challenging. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), research ethics committees (RECs) play an important role in reviewing data-intense research protocols. However, this regulatory role must be embedded in a context of robust governance. There is currently a paucity of published literature on how big data are regulated in SSA and if the capacity to review protocols is sufficient. The aim of this study was to provide a broad overview of REC members’ awareness and perceptions of big data governance in SSA. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted from April to July 2022. We invited 300 REC members to participate in our online survey via Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). A total of 140 REC members, representing 34 SSA countries, completed the online survey. Awareness of data governance laws, policies and guidelines was variable across the subcontinent. A quarter of respondents (25%) indicated that national regulations on the transborder flow of research data are inadequate. Institutional policies on research data protection were also regarded as being inadequate. Most respondents (64%) believed that they lacked experience in reviewing data-intense protocols. Data governance and regulation in SSA need to be strengthened at both national and institutional levels. There is a strong need for capacity development in the review of data-intense research protocols on the subcontinent.
Significance:
This is the first empirical survey in SSA in which awareness and perspectives of REC members have been explored specifically relating to the review of data-intense research protocols. Big data have raised new ethics and legal challenges, and this survey provides a broad overview of these challenges in SSA. Our study confirms that knowledge and awareness of legislative frameworks and ethics guidance in SSA vary considerably where big data are concerned. The research results could be useful for a range of stakeholders, including RECs, data scientists, researchers, research and academic institutions, government decisionmakers and artificial intelligence (AI) coders
The use of stable isotopes to identify surface water–groundwater interaction in the Kruger National Park, South Africa
No full textThe role of groundwater, in general, is often overlooked in freshwater ecosystem management policies and in the management of South Africa’s flagship conservation area, the Kruger National Park (KNP). To address this gap, a generalised conceptual model of surface water–ground water (sw–gw) interactions in the southern and central regions of the KNP was developed. To do this, stable isotope ratios (d18O and d2H) of groundwater, rainfall and surface water were used to determine the extent to which the base flow of perennial, seasonal and ephemeral streams on different geologies (granite vs. basalt) is driven by rainfall or groundwater. These results show that the δ18O and δ2H ratios of perennial rivers are similar to that of groundwater, while seasonal and ephemeral rivers on basalts have values closer to rainfall. On granite substrates, however, the isotope ratios of the seasonal and ephemeral rivers have values closer to groundwater than rainfall. The larger seasonal Mbyamiti River had similar isotope ratios to that of groundwater, and the highly ephemeral Nwaswitsontso had episodic interaction with groundwater (i.e. isotopic ratios overlap occasionally). These results show that decisions necessary for the sustainable management of groundwater resources are better informed when the natural interaction, movement, and exchange between groundwater and rivers are understood. This has particular relevance for large conservation areas in southern Africa that are expected to experience more variable climates in the future with both increases in drought and rainfall intensities