Recognizing the Evolving Cybercrime Threats in South Africa

This article addresses the challenge to the church in the struggle against poverty amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It starts by giving an overview of the enormity of poverty in a post-apartheid South Africa. It also indicates how the pandemic has enlarged the problem to extreme proportions. After looking at poverty through the lens of the Bible, the article attempts to define poverty as different forms of deprivation on the one hand and inequality on the other hand. In South Africa, deprivation and inequality are the two sides of the same coin, which serve as important indicators for the local church in the struggle against poverty. This article thirdly refers to the history of the church to describe how the church, as an agent of change, is called to react to the challenge of poverty. The fourth part of the article introduces the action plan that was developed by the South African Council of Churches through Local Ecumenical Action Networks. This serves as an example of how different churches can work together in communities in the struggle against poverty in a holistic way. The article concludes with the emphasis that the struggle against poverty in South Africa is an ongoing struggle that has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Contribution: This article examines the devastating effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has on communities in South Africa with specfic reference to poverty. The focus is on how the church as agent of change is in the perfect position to rise to this challenge to make a difference by means of Local Ecumenical Area Networks.

Die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie was reeds voor die COVID-19-pandemie in 'n benarde posisie. Dagloners en andere in die informele ekonomie was struktureel selfs meer kwesbaar vir so 'n eksogene skok. Die doel van hierdie oorsigstudie was om die impak van die COVID-19-pandemie op die lewensomstandighede van dagloners op die navorsingsagenda te plaas. 'n Oorsig van tersaaklike elemente uit die enigste nasionaal verteenwoordigende databasis van dagloners, afkomstig vanuit die Blaauw (2010) studie, in Suid-Afrika, was die vertrekpunt. Daarna is die jongste beskikbare navorsingsinligting oor veranderinge in die daglonermark gebruik om die moontlike kort-, medium- en langtermynimpak van die pandemie te bespreek. In 2008 was die dagloners in die Wes-Kaap en Gauteng se loonvlakke hoër as dié van die dagloners in die res van Suid-Afrika. Selfs dagloners in hierdie twee provinsies was steeds kwesbaar met lae en onsekere inkomstevlakke. Sedert 2008 het makro-ekonomiese faktore en 'n derde golf van oorgrensmigrasie 'n verdere verswakking in dagloners se posisie meegebring. Die vraag na hul arbeid het verminder en reële lone het in verskeie stede gedaal. Die COVID-19-pandemie het dagloners op die kort termyn voor hongersnood te staan gebring. Die talle mense wat vanweë die pandemie hul formele werk verloor het of nog gaan verloor sal die daglonermark onder verdere druk plaas. Die minimum loonvlak waarvoor dagloners bereid is om te werk, sal selfs verder daal. In die lang termyn kan duisende van die leerlinge wat hul skoolopleiding te midde van die pandemie staak ook dagloners word, met rampspoedige gevolge vir die maatskaplike bestel in Suid-Afrika.

This paper provides an analysis of poverty in South Africa by focussing on the labour market. It seeks to understand inequality and poverty in contemporary South Africa by analysing the main factors that have contributed to these socio-economic outcomes. The paper shows that poverty and inequality are still widespread in South Africa, and have their origins in the labour market. The labour market in South Africa has been shaped by particular historical factors, which are discussed within the paper. This allows for an understanding of the constraints and possibilities for redistribution. The paper utilises a class of poverty measures to determine the potential cost to the fiscus, in 1995 Rands, of alleviating poverty in South Africa. The simulations are undertaken for both households and individuals in the society, by the different covariates of poverty. The study finds that the commitment required from the state to reduce poverty, is fairly modest, albeit within the realm of very strict assumptions. In addition, the paper illustrates that individual and household level data imparts differential poverty information, which is important for policy prescriptions. Finally, it is evident that for state targeting purposes, the nature of household poverty is fairly easily reduced to a small sub-group of labour market defined household types.

Human capital (HC) has increasingly been identified as a driver of economic development, with the potential to reduce income inequality, which, in South Africa, originates in the labour market. HC is, however, a complex concept to measure. This study uses Fields’ regression-based decomposition method to analyse the relationships between income inequality and HC in South Africa. The Fields method allows for the analysis of the impact of several factors contributing to HC on the distribution of a measure of income. Data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) wave 1 (2008) and 5 (2017) are used. The findings suggest that increasing educational attainment, through improved school quality for all, would likely play a key role in reducing income inequality in South Africa. Furthermore, the large role of education attainment in explaining household income inequality supports the use of education attainment as a proxy for HC in South Africa.

Moher and colleagues introduce PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), an update of the QUOROM guidelines for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Us...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between poverty and carbon emissions in South Africa covering the period between 1994 and 2020. The study employed the ARDL bounds test to assess the existence of a long run relationship between the variables. The results evidenced existence of a long run relationship between poverty, carbon emissions, economic growth and renewable energy consumption in South Africa. The results are such that carbon emissions have a positive and a significant effect on poverty in the long run. Therefore, with CO2 emissions having a positive influence on poverty, causes more losses in the socioeconomic system and reduces the ability of the population to cope with poverty. Therefore, it is recommended that the government should promote the growth of the South African carbon market, increase enterprise involvement through acceptable price and quota allocation, and work in tandem with other environmental measures to promote sustainable development. This will help alleviate poverty in South Africa.

Introduction to “Psychology, Global Threats, Social Challenge, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: European Perspectives”

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement

With cybercrime increasing at a rapid rate due to the improvement in technologies, cyber security has become a global matter of interest. Cyber security professionals protect organisations from cybercrime and other cyber threats. A shortage of skills has increased the demand for cyber security professionals. This research study examines the skills, knowledge and qualification requirements that are required of a cyber security professional in South Africa. 196 unique job advertisements from 5 job portal websites were collected. A content analysis of the advertisements show that cyber security professionals require technical and interpersonal skills amongst others. Organisations looking to employ cyber security professionals require most professionals to have a Bachelor degree in either Computer Science, Information Systems or Engineering as a minimum qualification along with industry certifications. This paper is an initial exploratory study that can serve as a basis for more specific studies in future.

This paper unpacks the ways in which race and modernity shaped perceptions of crime, disorder, and poverty in South Africa by looking at how aspects of inequality and injustice were inscribed into discourses of disorder in the past. Historically, the issues of race and poverty in South Africa were often used in traditional urban settings to produce numerous images of urban crises. The paper is presented in four sections. The first section focuses on Michel Foucault's ideas on the nature of punishment in modern society and how correctional institutions regulate the lives of those deemed to be a “danger to modern society.” Foucault's ideas are set to provide an explanatory platform for the paper's overall analysis of penal practice in South Africa. The second section focuses on the interaction between the construction of mechanisms of racial hegemony in South Africa in the past and the development of a penal system that could harness and control the consequences of rapid social change. Punishment is here linked to four broad developments that emerged alongside the construction of a modernizing society. These developments included debates and processes that sought to respond to problems on indigency, links between punishment systems and understandings of racial mixing, the reliance on the authority of scientific interventions and programs of education to assess and address identified needs, and the belief in preparing subjects for work in order that they later not be a burden to the state. The third section addresses the ways in which the evolving punishment system in South Africa was both informed and constituted by academic criminological thought during the twentieth century. Dirk Van Zyl Smit has identified two criminological periods in the development of penal practice in South Africa after 1910, periods that he has characterized as “Legal Reformism” and “Afrikaner Nationalism.” He notes that the two periods and traditions interacted in complex ways to inform the development of social policy thereafter. For example, Van Zyl Smit notes that both traditions of criminological thinking assumed that the building of a new South African nation within the broader imperial framework would always only be based on “Afrikaners and English working together.” It was also assumed that indigent whites that committed crimes of serious social consequence did so only because there weren't enough social welfare programs in place to protect them from “falling into disrepute.” Using the key concepts prevalent in the first three sections, the fourth section briefly suggests how notions of color shaped and interacted with institutional provision and arrangements in the period 1945 to 1970.

Poverty and unemployment are considered social threats in South Africa as the rate keeps on escalating while few measures are implemented to alleviate the trend. This study devised a hybrid model to reduce the rate of poverty and unemployment in South Africa. The Human Capital Theory formed the theoretical base of this study, which explained the need for the government to invest in education to improve the chances of gaining employment to reduce poverty. The study adopted a quantitative approach and data were collected from only secondary sources. Major findings disclosed that the poverty rate in South Africa is at 49.2% while 64.2% of South African blacks remain poor. The study revealed that the unemployment rate is at 30.1% in the first quarter of 2020 while provinces such as Eastern Cape (40.5%) and the Free State (38.4%) have the highest share of unemployment in the country. The meta-analysis conducted revealed that improvement is needed in areas such as legislation and labour laws, entrepreneurial development, youth development policies, common vision and leadership, sectoral development, business climate, acquisition of skills and education, engagement management, and strategic management. This is in an endeavour to reduce poverty and unemployment rate in South Africa.

The economy, unemployment, and job creation of South Africa heavily depend on the growth of the agricultural sector. With a growing population of 60 million, there are approximately 4 million small-scale farmers (SSF) number, and about 36,000 commercial farmers which serve South Africa. The agricultural sector in South Africa faces challenges such as climate change, lack of access to infrastructure and training, high labour costs, limited access to modern technology, and resource constraints. Precision agriculture (PA) using AI can address many of these issues for small-scale farmers by improving access to technology, reducing production costs, enhancing skills and training, improving data management, and providing better irrigation infrastructure and transport access. However, there is a dearth of research on the application of precision agriculture using artificial intelligence (AI) by small scale farmers (SSF) in South Africa and Africa at large. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and Bibliometric analysis guidelines were used to investigate the adoption of precision agriculture and its socio-economic implications for small-scale farmers in South Africa or the systematic literature review (SLR) compared various challenges and the use of PA and AI for small-scale farmers. The incorporation of AI-driven PA offers a significant increase in productivity and efficiency. Through a detailed systematic review of existing literature from inception to date, this study examines 182 articles synthesized from two major databases (Scopus and Web of Science). The systematic review was conducted using the machine learning tool R Studio. The study analyzed the literature review articled identified, challenges, and potential societal impact of AI-driven precision agriculture.

The increasing reliance on engineering databases for storing, managing, and processing sensitive industrial and operational data has heightened their susceptibility to evolving cybersecurity threats. To ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability, structured cybersecurity risk assessment frameworks are essential for identifying vulnerabilities, mitigating cyber risks, and enhancing database security. This study presents a systematic review of 125 high-quality articles following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, offering a comprehensive analysis of risk assessment methodologies, regulatory frameworks, and cybersecurity governance models applicable to engineering database environments. The findings highlight that risk quantification models such as CVSS, FAIR, and CRAMM are widely utilized for evaluating cybersecurity threats, with CVSS being the most frequently applied due to its standardized vulnerability scoring approach. Additionally, supply chain vulnerabilities, insider threats, and ransomware attacks emerged as the most significant cybersecurity risks, requiring multi-layered security controls, zero-trust frameworks, and continuous monitoring for effective mitigation. Regulatory compliance frameworks such as GDPR, NIST SP 800-53, and CMMC were found to be instrumental in enhancing cybersecurity resilience, ensuring adherence to standardized security policies and legal requirements. Furthermore, the study underscores the increasing adoption of AI-driven risk assessment models, predictive analytics, and security automation as critical components of modern cybersecurity strategies. The results confirm that engineering database security must evolve beyond traditional risk assessment models by integrating advanced AI-driven analytics, proactive risk governance, and compliance-driven cybersecurity frameworks to safeguard against emerging cyber threats in high-risk industrial environments. The findings contribute to the growing body of research on cybersecurity risk assessment and provide practical insights for database administrators, cybersecurity professionals, and regulatory bodies working to fortify engineering databases against sophisticated cyberattacks.

Energy poverty is a multifaceted and urgent issue in the Global South, especially in South Africa, where, despite an electrification rate exceeding 90%, a substantial 40% of the population still experiences energy poverty. This paper presents a systematic review of literature on energy poverty in South Africa, covering the period from 1994 to 2023. The review identifies eleven key themes that offer a multi-dimensional perspective on such energy poverty. It offers insights into addressing critical issues for advancing an equitable and just energy system. Understanding the extent and nature of energy poverty could facilitate a deeper understanding of (in)justices entrenched in South Africa’s socio-technical energy system, for policymakers, practitioners and experts alike. Energy justice is employed as an analytical framework to examine the implications of energy poverty through the lenses of restorative, distributive, procedural, and recognitional justice. The analysis seeks to contribute to South Africa’s just transition (JT) Framework, which currently addresses energy poverty primarily as a matter of restorative justice. South Africa’s just energy transition cannot be achieved in an inclusive and transformative manner without accounting for multifaceted dynamics at the household level; here, energy poverty serves to bring about a more intersectional focus on the justice dimensions inherent in energy transitions. The findings underscore the need to address energy poverty at the household level, where it intersects with broader socio-technical dynamics. Such a multi-dimensional perspective on energy poverty in South Africa could help to inform targeted policies and initiatives to meet the specific needs of energy-poor households, while broader socio-technical changes are accelerated as part of the energy transition, thus more strongly meeting the goals spelled out in the JT Framework.

The purpose of this study is fourfold: first, to summarise the current state of knowledge about chronic poverty in South Africa; second, to describe the range of existing governmental and civil society initiatives which address chronic poverty; third, to identify challenges to addressing chronic poverty in South Africa; and fourth, to identify themes for further research. The introduction to the paper is followed by a brief survey of the historical background, current economic context and poverty profile of South Africa. The paper then presents a quantitative and qualitative picture of South Africa's chronically poor. To date, there has been only one data set collected in South Africa allowing an inter-temporal comparison among the same households. This is the KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Study (KIDS), covering one of the provinces rather than the whole country. Because this data set and the analyses based upon it are unique, we discuss them at length. The KIDS data suggest that at least half of households that are poor are chronically poor; that 'ultra-poverty' is not synonymous with chronic poverty; and the there is a large degree of employment volatility experienced by households. The KIDS-based studies as well as other poverty analyses allow identification of groups especially likely to be chronically poor. These include rural households, women-headed households, households effectively headed by elderly people, and former (retrenched) farm workers. Over the next 10 years, however, AIDS orphans and households directly affected by AIDS, will likely figure as the most prominent category of people mired in chronic poverty. The paper goes on to survey the variety of anti-poverty measures of government and civil society. Measured by expenditure, the government's social security system is by far the largest anti-poverty instrument in the country, and probably one of the more functional. The paper suggests that a number of challenges face government and civil society to address poverty in general and chronic poverty in particular. Among these are: first, the absence of a coherent anti-poverty strategy, and particularly one that takes into account the distinction between chronic poverty and transitory poverty; second, the bleak prospects for growth in formal sector employment over the medium terms, together with general uncertainty about how to improve support to the SMME sector; and third, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the effects of which will likely be far more apparent in the next 15 years than to date. The paper concludes with suggested priority areas for further research.