Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf): Open Journal Systems
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Comment on Havenga et al. (2022): Standard heat stress indices may not be appropriate for assessing marathons
No full textOpen data set: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.834833
HOLDING THE EXECUTIVE TO ACCOUNT? Public Protector v President of the RSA 2021 (9) BCLR 929 (CC)
No full textThis case is part of a growing body of jurisprudence relating to the Public Protector (PP). In particular, it concerns the PP’s mandate, contained in section 182 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution), to “investigate any conduct in state affairs, or in the public administration, that is alleged or suspected to be improper or to result in any impropriety or prejudice”. The PP is further empowered in terms of the Public Protector Act (23 of 1994) (PP Act) to investigate, inter alia, maladministration, the unjustifiable exercise of power and dishonest conduct.In terms of this statutory framework, the PP’s primary function is to hold the executive to account. The Constitutional Court judgment that is the focus of this case note is an example of the PP attempting to hold the President accountable, but failing to do so as a result of producing an error-strewn report that was rejected by a full bench of the High Court and by a majority of judges in the apex court. On the facts, it is possible that had another PP produced a different report – one that satisfied the judges’ concerns – the President might have been less successful in avoiding public accountability.Apart from the main issue of the (at time of publication) now-suspended PP’s inability to hold the President to account, the judgment is significant from an administrative law perspective. In particular, the judgment adds to the debate on whether the PP’s remedial action amounts to administrative action.Although the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) held in 2018 that the PP’s remedial action does not constitute administrative action, the question has yet to be definitively dealt with by the Constitutional Court, with judges generally being content to leave the question open. Confusingly, the court a quo held that it was common cause that the PP’s reports do not amount to administrative action, but the judgment nevertheless made numerous references to the right to just administrative action. While Jafta J chose to leave the question open in Public Protector v President of the RSA (2021 (9) BCLR 929 (CC)), he engaged with the SCA’s judgment in Minister of Home Affairs v Public Protector (2018 (3) SA 380 (SCA) (Home Affairs)) and set out some guidelines on how the issue could be dealt with in the future
THE SEARCH WARRANT PROVISIONS OF THE CYBERCRIMES ACT AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT
No full textThe recently enacted Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020 regulates the powers of the police and investigators to investigate cybercrimes. Chapter 4 of the Act provides for the powers of the police and others in respect of search, access or seizure in the investigation of cybercrimes and other offences committed by means of cybertechnology. The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 will continue to operate in addition to the provisions of the Cybercrimes Act, to the extent that the Criminal Procedure Act is not inconsistent with the Cybercrimes Act. The search and seizure provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act are object-based, as they do not deal explicitly with the specialised procedures that are required to investigate cybercrimes or other offences that involve the use of digital devices. The Cybercrimes Act attempts to address this shortcoming. The coexistence of the search and seizure provisions in these two Acts may cause difficulties in the fight against crime. In addition to the validity requirements of search warrants, as set out in the Acts, additional intelligibility requirements for the validity of search warrants have been developed by the courts
Exploring COVID-19 public perceptions in South Africa through sentiment analysis and topic modelling of Twitter posts
No full textThe narratives shared on social media during a health crisis such as COVID-19 reflect public perceptions of the crisis. This article provides findings from a study of the perceptions of South African citizens regarding the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic from March to May 2020. The study analysed Twitter data from posts by government officials and the public in South Africa to measure the public’s confidence in how the government was handling the pandemic. Results produced by four popular machine-learning classifiers for sentiment analysis— logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost)—demonstrated these classifiers’ levels of effectiveness. In addition, the study used, and evaluated the effectiveness of, two topic-modelling algorithms—latent dirichlet allocation (LDA) and non-negative matrix factorisation (NMF)—in the classification of social media discourses in terms of frequently occurring topics. In terms of South African public sentiment towards COVID-19 and the government’s response, it was found that, based on the Twitter data, South Africans held predominantly negative views
The use of M-learning to foster the development of self-regulated learning in university students: A systematic review
Get PDFThe rapid development of mobile technologies and their price decrease have enabled mobile devices to become ubiquitous. Both lecturers and students are integrating mobile technologies into teaching and learning. The continuous global innovation in emerging mobile technologies and their ever-increasing overlap with the lives of students and lecturers in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have thrust Mlearning and self-regulated learning into prominence. Accordingly, this review analyses conference proceedings and national and international journals on the potential of M-learning for fostering self-regulated learning. To select relevant sources, a systematic literature review approach was employed. This study fills gaps in existing literature and investigates how mobile devices might enhance self-regulated learning among university students. It also signals future research directions and offers implications for researchers and practitioners in HEIs
Exploring the autism “diagnostic odyssey” in the Greater Accra region of Ghana
Get PDFIntroduction: Despite the increasing global prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), there is limited information about ASD in Africa. Existing research on ASD in Africa shows that autistic children are diagnosed relatively late or not at all. The purpose of this study was to understand the barriers to an autism diagnosis and to engage key stakeholders to action plan steps to reduce the barriers. Methods: We conducted a participatory, mixed methods study using semi-structured interviews, a survey, photo elicitation, and focus groups with 11 participants (four parents and seven health professionals) in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Findings: Neuro-paediatricians in our study reported that it takes, on average, two to six visits over two weeks to two years or more to diagnose a child. Our thematic qualitative analysis yielded three overarching themes, with barriers and facilitators for each: 1) Systemic, 2) Community, and 3) Parent/Family factors that influence the diagnostic process. The action plan of our stakeholder focus group prioritizes community education to dispel myths and encourage autism acceptance within the Ghanaian community. Conclusion: Knowledge about the diagnostic odyssey can help facilitate early diagnosis and intervention. Implications for practice This research study confirmed known challenges to the autism diagnostic process. It contributed nuanced insights into the role of culture, the importance of education, and the need for community involvement in improving the diagnostic process, early occupational therapy intervention, and autism acceptance within the community
Probabilistic vs deterministic forecasts – interpreting skill statistics for the benefit of users
No full textOwing to probabilistic uncertainties associated with seasonal forecasts, especially over areas such as southern Africa where forecast skill is limited, non-climatologists and users of such forecasts frequently prefer them to be presented or distributed in terms of the likelihood (expressed as a probability) of certain categories occurring or thresholds being exceeded. Probabilistic forecast verification is needed to verify such forecasts. Whilst the resulting verification statistics can provide clear insights into forecast attributes, they are often difficult to understand, which might hinder forecast uptake and use. This problem can be addressed by issuing forecasts with some understandable evidence of skill, with the purpose of reflecting how similar forecasts may have performed in the past. In this paper, we present a range of different probabilistic forecast verification scores, and determine if these statistics can be readily compared to more commonly known and understood ‘ordinary’ correlations between forecasts and their associated observations – assuming that ordinary correlations are more intuitively understood and informative to seasonal forecast users. Of the range of scores considered, the relative operating characteristics (ROC) was found to be the most intrinsically similar to correlation