South Africa Research Articles

EPID-01. PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMORS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

Abstract OBJECTIVE brain tumors are a global problem, leading to higher cancer-related morbidity and mortality rates in children. Despite the progressive though slow advances in neuro-oncology care, research, and diagnostics in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the epidemiological landscape of pediatric brain tumors (PBTs) remains underestimated. This study aimed to systematically analyze the distribution of PBT types in SSA. METHODS major databases and grey literature were searched for literature on PBTs in SSA published before October 29, 2022. A proportional meta-analysis was performed. RESULTS forty-nine studies, involving 2360 children, met the inclusion criteria for review; only 20 (40.82%) were included in the quantitative analysis. South Africa and Nigeria were the countries with the most abundant data. Glioma not otherwise specified (NOS) was the common PBT in the 4 SSA regions combined. However, medulloblastoma was more commonly reported in Southern-SSA(p=0.01) than in other regions. The prevalence and the overall pooled proportion of the 3 common PBTs was estimated at 46.27% and 0.41 (95%CI 0.32–0.50, 95% prediction interval [PI] 0.11–0.79), 25.34% and 0.18 (95%CI 0.14–0.21, 95%PI 0.06–0.40), and 12.67% and 0.12 (95%CI 0.09–0.15, 95%PI 0.04–0.29) for glioma-NOS, medulloblastoma, and craniopharyngioma, respectively. Sample size moderated the estimated proportion of glioma-NOS (p = 0.02). The highest proportion of craniopharyngiomas was in Western-SSA, and medulloblastoma and glioma-NOS in Central-SSA. CONCLUSION these findings provide insight into the trends of PBT types and the proportion of the top 3 most common tumors across SSA. Although statistical conclusions are difficult due to the inconsistency in the data. We identify critical areas for policy development and collaborations that can facilitate improved outcomes in PBTs in SSA. More accurate epidemiological studies are needed to better understand the burden of the disease and the geographic variation in their distribution, and to raise awareness in their subsequent management.

Alleviating the public health burden of hypertension: debating precision prevention as a possible solution

ABSTRACT Hypertension is a major global health concern, with deaths attributed to the condition expected to increase to 1.57 million by 2034, particularly affecting low-and-middle-income countries such as those within sub-Saharan Africa. Non-communicable diseases, with hypertension as a core contributor, account for 74.36% of global deaths. The burden of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa is significant, with an estimated 10–20 million people currently affected. Systemic barriers, such as fragmented health services and socioeconomic inequalities, coupled with shifts in greater salt-intake, ultra-processed foods, more sedentary lifestyles, and overburdened healthcare services, have exacerbated elevated blood pressure and poorer management of people living with hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. Most public health strategies focus on detecting, treating, and controlling hypertension through lifestyle modifications and medication. However, evidence suggests only 10% of population hypertension is well managed. This indicates a growing need to shift towards preventative efforts. Precision prevention, a tailored health intervention approach utilising individual and population-specific factors – genetic, environmental, and social determinants – offers a potential alternative. Precision prevention aims to deliver the right preventative measures to the right population at the right time, promising to enhance intervention efficiency and health outcomes. This paper highlights various intervention levers, including environmental, biological, and behavioural modifications, examines case studies from high-income countries, and discusses the potential for implementing precision prevention in South Africa. While precision prevention shows promise, we also discuss the significant barriers to its implementation in LMICs such as those within sub-Saharan Africa.

Helping other customers to avoid harmful brands: The role of idealism, attitude and cynicism

Background: Consumers are not always aware of how their purchase decisions may harm other humans and the environment. Green customer helping behaviours could aid in solving this problem.Aim: The study aims to develop a research model, advancing knowledge of the extent to which idealism (an ethical philosophy) may influence green attitudes and promote green customer helping behaviours that could aid other customers in avoiding harmful brands. The study further aims to gain clarity regarding the moderating role of customer helper cynicism within the proposed model.Setting: A self-administered questionnaire was fielded amongst consumers in South Africa and the United States of America (US).Method: Mplus 8.5 and PROCESS macro in RStudio were used to analyse and compare the survey data obtained from the two samples.Results: All direct relationships assessed were positive and significant for South Africa and the US samples. Varying results were uncovered between the two samples concerning the moderating role of customer helper cynicism.Conclusion: The identified model confirms the important role of idealism in influencing green customer helping behaviours, as mediated by green attitudes and moderated by customer helper cynicism.Contribution: Novel insight is provided into the contribution of ethical philosophy in promoting green customer helping behaviours. Additionally, direction is provided for the deployment of strategies that could promote green customer helping behaviours in diverse green contexts and across continents and that effectively may aid other customers in avoiding brands harmful to society.

Morphology and ecological significance of Holocene palynomorphs from the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt Biome of South Africa

Palynomorphs are indicators of past vegetation change. Since it is accepted that vegetation reflects the local climate, based on modern analogues, palynological analyses are a good proxy for climates of the past. In view of a demand for information on palynomorph types to support palaeoclimatic studies, we present an atlas of palynomorph taxa from the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt of eastern South Africa and Mozambique. Photomicrographs of the fossils are provided as well as brief descriptions and ecological information obtained from the literature. The palynomorphs in this atlas represent a vast variety of pollen, spores (algae, pteridophytes and fungi) and other palynomorphs such as types that were derived from the marine environment and incorporated into the lagoonal deposits. The holistic analysis of all microfossils found here is intended to assist palaeoecological interpretations of wetland dynamics, fire regimes, climate fluctuations and anthropogenic disturbances in the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt.

Indigenous communities and tourism-integrated climate change outcomes on subsistence within the hinterlands: a development management perspective

PurposeThe study focused on rural commodities, climate change and tourism activities for socioeconomic welfare and enhanced productivity within disadvantaged indigenous communities and remote areas. It relates primary and secondary data details on the Musina Municipality’s rural biodiversity, tourism management and integrated pastoral livelihoods, alongside climate change issues locally and abroad.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs focus group discussions and interviews to gather data. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation analysis and central tendencies, along with manual data sorting, provide non-inferential data analysis.FindingsThis study discloses a harmful connection between unsustainable integrated rural activities and tourism products and climate change-linked environmental consequences within such environs. Ultimately, the study has highlighted the need for proper biodiversity resource management and an agricultural approach to diminish climate change hazards and permit the indigenous communities of the municipality. Thus, there is a need for awareness and practices in responsible tourism, decent rural ecotourism and agro-tourism for enhanced productivity and sustainability achievements.Originality/valueMany rural citizens in the world naturally live in low-income areas. Southern Africa and Africa, with specific reference to the Musina Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa, are no exception. Despite the abundance of assorted natural and cultural biodiversity and rural tourism qualities, such regions are nonetheless prone to climate change consequences and the deprivation of socioeconomic sustainability.

Candidate Gene Expression in Adult Zebrafish Models of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Animal models are an important tool for studying noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as they provide a unique opportunity to investigate real-time changes that occur in the onset of, and during, the diseased state. This is of particular importance given that the global prevalence of NCDs, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), is rising at an alarming rate. In South Africa, which has one of the highest levels of HIV in the world, the incidence of T2DM is thought to be associated, in part, with exposure to combination antiretrovirals. We report on the establishment of both nonobese and obese zebrafish models of T2DM, as well as associated changes in mRNA expression of preproinsulin and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (pck) 1 and 2. The diabetic state was achieved by either immersing adult zebrafish in a 2% glucose solution for 40 days or by overfeeding adult zebrafish for 10 weeks. Glucose immersion resulted in significantly elevated fasting blood glucose levels twice as high as control, whereas bodyweight did not change significantly (nonobese model). Overfeeding led to both significantly elevated fasting blood glucose and bodyweight compared with control (obese model). Both models were characterized by significantly increased preproinsulin mRNA expression indicating insulin resistance; mRNA expression of metabolic enzymes PCK 1 and 2 was also significantly upregulated, as seen in diabetic patients. These candidate gene expression changes, similar in both zebrafish models, establish a baseline that can be utilized to investigate the underlying mechanisms driving the increased T2DM incidence, using an excellent alternative to traditional rodent models.

Excessive Pharmaceutical Pricing and Repercussions on Paediatric Health Services

Context: Paediatric pharmaceutics have a significant share in expensive drugs. Recent years have seen significant calls for intervention against high prices for pharmaceutical products. The prohibition of prices that are excessive as a form of abuse of dominance is considered as Competition law violation in the European Union Law and national legal orders of its Member States. Majority of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries have similar prohibitions in their respective Competition laws with important exemption of United States (US) Antirust Law, although there is some indication of change in US exactly in the area of pharmaceutical sector. Regulation of excessive prices also exists in Competition laws of all BRICS (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa) countries. The problem of excessive prices in pharmaceutics is one of the emerging themes in Competition law literature and case law development. This is the area where intellectual property rights, usually patent protection, collide with competition rules. Costs of research and development for such pharmaceutics are often very high emphasizing the need for balance between colliding legitimate interests: access to health and research development. Aim: To present regulatory and case law development of application of excessive prices as form of abuse of dominance in pharmaceutical sector with emphasis on paediatric health services. Data source: OECD, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus. Conclusion: Balance between competition rules on excessive prices as form of abuse of dominance and intellectual property rights in the area of expensive paediatric pharmaceutics can be regarded as suboptimal. Thus, there is a need for further regulatory development and application of rules on excessive prices in that field.

Making Human Learning Visible in a World of Invisible Generative AI

The growth of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Higher Education (HE) challenges us to think differently and creatively about learning and assessment in order to prepare graduates for their futures (Dawson, 2023) This presentation will argue that the very strength of GenAI is also its Achilles’ heel. Anyone can access, garner and generate data rapidly, but human beings have never had a greater need for scrutiny and evaluation of this output. Our graduates will need to have a transparent understanding of how they are learning in terms of the critical choices they make, the information or knowledge they engage with, and where machine learning ends and theirs begins (Okolie et al, 2022). The future of assessment in HE must go beyond simply measuring knowledge acquisition and instead focus on capturing and evidencing students’ capacity for critical thinking. We will highlight some preliminary findings and early impacts of work underway at the University of Bath (UK) and University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), who are working collaboratively to ensure students develop holistically, excel in critical thinking, and gain the confidence and skills to use GenAI effectively to advance their ideas and learning (Osborne, 2024). This will be structured in three parts: Part one (Reviewing): We will outline work during academic year 23/24 by academic staff to review all their assessments against a three-fold categorisation model of permitted GenAI usage. From September 2024, all assessments clearly signal to students the extent to which GenAI is permitted in each assignment. Part two (Guidance): We will showcase resources that support staff to rethink assessment design that embeds GenAI in ways that are authentic, valid and robust (Upsher et al, 2024). We will also present resources that support students to consider how they might use GenAI ethically, and to develop their AI literacy skills and critical thinking. Part three (Examples): We will present initial findings from an internal project that is engaging with national and international employers, in-house world-leading AI researchers and our own students that highlight creative approaches to harnessing GenAI as a tool to reinforce and support (rather than replace) human learning. We conclude by suggesting that HE has always promoted critical thinking and the rigorous investigation and examination of the production of knowledge. We need graduates who can critically engage with their learning, and assessments that capture and evidence this. The only way to do this effectively is to put people at the start, middle and end of our assessment journey.

SENSORY EXPERIMENTS, SENSORY ORDERS, AND AESTHETIC EDUCATION

ABSTRACTErica Fretwell's Sensory Experiments: Psychophysics, Race, and the Aesthetics of Feeling (2020) raises crucial questions about the making of a concept of difference through marshaling the senses to the ends of a sensory order in postbellum United States. In this essay, I argue that Fretwell's book has opened a crucial horizon for rethinking how race and ideas of difference marking gender and disability were remade through the short‐lived but deeply consequential science of psychophysics. While the study focuses on how psychophysics and its aftermaths recast questions of difference in the US, Fretwell indirectly poses a major challenge for the critique of the twentieth‐century experience of race elsewhere—for example, of apartheid in South Africa. In this review essay, I argue that, beyond the US, Fretwell's meticulously elaborated argument renews approaches to the problem and problematization of race and difference. Read in relation to the making of race in South Africa, the book inadvertently brings into view a deceptive plot of petty apartheid, a banal everyday constitution of a sensory order that shares its origins in the discourse of psychophysics. When placed alongside the more pronounced forms of grand apartheid, the resultant psychophysical aesthesis conscripts the human sensorium to a cybernetic mode of power that shifts between a racialization of labor and a racialization of desire. Fretwell effectively invites us to consider the endpoints of psychophysics in a hierarchy of the senses, for which an aesthetic education may yet be required to short‐circuit and reroute the senses through intervals of synesthesia.

Depoliticisation as a Diplomatic Defensive Strategy: Analysis of the International Conflicts Waged in the ICAO

ABSTRACT The research is dedicated to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the politicised debates held on its forum. The purpose of the research was to investigate political debates on the ICAO forum and to analyse the attempts to terminate them through references to their political character or the technical character of ICAO. The main research question concerns the arguments used by the delegates/representatives engaged in political debates held on the ICAO forum. The researchers argued that the participants in these debates, mostly diplomats representing member states, have been employing depoliticisation techniques to terminate inconvenient debates, claiming that the ICAO is a technical organisation and political issues should not be debated there. The study covers several diplomatic standoffs at the ICAO forum: debates over ICAO membership/statehood in Spain, Taiwan, Cyprus and South Africa; various instances of the Arab-Israeli conflict; shootdowns of the Korean aircraft by the USSR and the Iranian aircraft by the US; and aviation aspects of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The study specifically covered individual statements of state representatives and debates on the forum of the ICAO Council and Assembly. The research has been performed through qualitative content analysis of the ICAO archival documents acquired both online and during research visit to the ICAO headquarters in Montreal. It was observed that state representatives have been employing depoliticisation in order to defend their countries on the forum of the ICAO from the attacks associated with international conflicts. Depoliticisation as a diplomatic tactic, however, in most cases proved unsuccessful.

Predictors of Early Mortality After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in South Africa.

Retrospective cohort study. To identify predictors for early mortality following traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI), as recognition of factors associated with early mortality is essential for public resource allocation and optimized acute care. Retrospective Analysis of SCI patients admitted to the acute SCI ward from 2003 to 2022 was performed. Days elapsing from the date of injury to date of death established the survival time. Early mortality was defined as survival time ≤ 365days. Multivariable logistic regression was used in modeling of early death following TSCI with age, gender, neurologic deficit, type of neurologic injury, ventilation status, and count of complications as covariates. Simple logistic regression indicated a significant association of early mortality with the number of complications (P < .0001), neurological deficit (P < .0001), complete neurological injury (P < .0001), ventilation status (P < .0001), and age group (P < .0003). After adjusting for other covariates, complete neurological injury (OR: 1.75, P < .0001), ventilation (OR: 2.80, P < .0001), and Age group (over 60 OR: 17.71, P < .0001) were significantly associated with early mortality. The multivariable model showed a good overall fit (Hosmer-Lemeshow P = .315; AUC 0.85). Predictors of early mortality after TSCI are high complete spinal cord injury, age, number of complications, and the need for ventilation. Identification of high-risk patients is crucial to rationalize and improve acute care to potentially reduce mortality rates.

Challenges and Opportunities

In this article, the authors consider the future possibility of public administration in South Africa being transformed by artificial intelligence (AI). It discusses the difficulties and advantages of AI/ML in this set up. They can use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the productivity of the public sector, quality in decision, and contribute to people's participation. The results show that AI can reduce paperwork, anticipate public health trends, make recommendations for people to get the best chance of recovery, and even optimise resource allocation – all with a view towards improving service delivery and governance. Problems with infrastructure, gaps in digital access, as well as scarcity of AI expertise within the public service work against any real integration of artificial intelligence. The study underscores the significance of strategic planning, large-scale infrastructural investments, and robust policy reforms in order to harness the full range of benefits from artificial intelligence (AI) with a fair share accruing to all.

Balancing Safety and Justice, the Ethics of Predictive Policing

Examining the ethical ramifications of predictive policing in South Africa, the research aims to pinpoint major obstacles and dangers while examining potential solutions to allay worries and guarantee responsible application. Key subjects include data privacy, algorithmic bias, over policing, community involvement, accountability and transparency, and transparency. reduction of bias, oversight procedures, Important Points, Significant ethical issues are brought up by predictive policing in South Africa, including invasions of privacy, algorithmic prejudice, and over policing. Given the historical and current backdrop of racial inequality, these worries are more pressing. In order to address these issues, a balanced strategy that puts individual rights and public safety first is needed. In order to guarantee that predictive policing is used responsibly in South Africa, transparency, accountability, community involvement, and ethical standards are crucial. It is essential to mitigate bias in algorithms and data in order to stop biased results. An over-reliance on predictive policing can be detrimental to community relations and conventional enforcement techniques. Methodological strategy: Designing qualitative research, review of the literature, semi-structured interviews with members of the public, law enforcement officers, and predictive policing specialists Case studies of South African predictive policing initiatives, Content study of South African media reports on predictive policing. Relevance. The work advances our knowledge of the moral conundrums raised by predictive policing in South Africa in a more comprehensive and nuanced way. The study can serve to raise public awareness and encourage participation in the discussion over predictive policing in South Africa. The findings can assist policymakers and law enforcement agencies in creating moral and practical strategies for implementing predictive policing. In conclusion, there are advantages and disadvantages to predictive policing in South Africa. Although technology presents the possibility of more effective and efficient law enforcement, it also brings up serious ethical issues. South Africa can minimize the dangers associated with predictive policing while maximizing its potential advantages by addressing these issues and putting the necessary procedures in place.

The Breakdown: Police-Community Communication and its Impact on Safety and Security in South Africa

The article explores the importance of good police-community communication in South Africa, focusing on the historical context, theoretical models, and factors affecting collaboration and trust. It highlights the role of community policing programs in safety advocacy and the challenges in productive police-community relations. . Methodological approach: review of the body of literature on the relationship between the police and the community in South Africa. Examples of particular police-community collaborations. The study suggests that effective public safety and crime reduction depend on trust and cooperation between police and communities. It suggests strategies to enhance ties, such as increasing openness, accountability, and community involvement. The audience includes academics and students, emphasizing the importance of efficient police- community communication for a secure South Africa, promoting justice and equity. The findings can guide policy choices and strengthen plans for public safety in South Africa. This study explores strategies to improve police-community collaborations in South Africa, focusing on public safety, crime reduction, and trust. It highlights the importance of openness, accountability, and community involvement in fostering these relationships. The study's findings can guide policy decisions and strengthen plans for public safety, promoting social justice and equality. The audience includes policymakers, law enforcement officers, community leaders, academics, and students. A safe and secure South Africa relies on efficient police-community communication.

Fifty years of teacher education in South Africa: towards systematic learning and social transformation

ABSTRACT The article tracks key moments in teacher education policy and curriculum in South Africa from the 1970s to the present day. Political and social features of education in each decade are outlined, from a racialised and fragmented system of teacher education, to the imagining of alternatives, and the imperative for educational transformation. The article pays special attention to the role of teacher education in a national agenda of social reconstruction within the goals of the 1996 Constitution of South Africa, to establish a post-apartheid society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights. Drawing on a conception of teaching as organising systematic learning, we track ways in which changes in teacher education policy have enabled or restricted opportunities for systematic learning for students in different social contexts, and towards advancing equity. We argue that insights from strong theoretical frameworks create conditions of possibility for student teachers to analyse and interrogate their observations and experiences within the existing schooling system. In so doing, they potentially become agents of transformation, as they imagine practical possibilities for improving teaching in and beyond their immediate school and contextual realities. At the same time, we note the limitation of too narrow a focus on systematised knowledge, without sufficient attention to the life histories and aspirations of student teachers themselves. We suggest that a crucial way forward is to consider how personal development, teacher knowledges and classroom experiences and interactions work symbiotically to support student teachers’ pedagogic learning, even against the enduring challenges of severe inequalities in South Africa. This requires attention to how knowledge informs teaching, how curricula can support the process of learning to teach, and how systematic learning can be nurtured in the pursuit of social transformation.

Examining the Barriers to Redesigning Smallholder Production Practices for Water-Use Efficiency in Numbi, Mbombela Local Municipality, South Africa

Smallholder farmers in South Africa face issues related to water shortages and poor irrigation water management. This study investigated barriers to improving water-use efficiency (WUE) in smallholder production practices in Numbi, South Africa. The objectives were to identify barriers in redesigning production practices for higher agricultural productivity and analyze the relationship between irrigation water supply and the adoption of WUE methods. From a population of 7696 people, 141 smallholder farmers were sampled using a simple random sampling technique through Taro Yamane’s sample size formula. The data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and descriptive statistics. Unreliable water supply (M = 3.78, SD = 0.85), poor soil water retention (M = 3.78, SD = 0.85), lack of water-efficient irrigation systems (M = 3.91, SD = 0.71), lack of water storage facilities (M = 3.85, SD = 0.93), limited access to credit (M = 4.09, SD = 0.85), income instability due to market fluctuations (M = 3.96, SD = 0.91), inadequate knowledge of irrigation management (M = 4.00, SD = 0.84), and harsh climatic factors were identified. A positive correlation (r = 0.339, n = 141, p &lt; 0.001) between irrigation water source and WUE techniques was evident, indicating that irrigation water source had an insignificant impact on WUE methods. Resolving these barriers requires a holistic approach focusing on investments in irrigation infrastructure and targeted education initiatives by extension agents and other stakeholders, as this can enhance agricultural productivity.

Molecular epidemiology of carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Gauteng South Africa

Klebsiella pneumoniae multidrug-resistant (MDR) high-risk clones drive the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) associated infections, resulting in limited therapeutic options. This study described the genomic characteristics of K. pneumoniae MDR high-risk clones in Gauteng, South Africa. Representative carbapenem-resistant [K. pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-2, New-Delhi metallo-beta (β)-lactamase (NDM)-1, oxacillinase (OXA)-181, OXA-232, OXA-48, Verona integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase (VIM)-1] K. pneumoniae isolates (n = 22) obtained from inpatient and outpatient’s urine (n = 9) and inpatients rectal carriage (n = 13) were selected for short-read whole genome sequencing. Klebsiella pneumoniae population include sequence type (ST)-307 (n = 3), ST2497 (n = 5) and ST17 (n = 4). The ST17 strains were exclusively obtained from rectal screening. Ten isolates co-harboured carbapenemase genes including β-lactamase gene encoding KPC-2 + OXA-181, NDM-1 + OXA-48 and NDM-1 + OXA-181. One ST307 isolate (UP-KT-73CKP) co-harboured three carbapenemase genes (blaNDM-1 + blaOXA-48 + blaOXA-181), while all the ST2497 strains co-harboured (blaNDM-1 + blaOXA-232). Phenotypically, hypermucoviscosity was observed in a single ST307 isolate. The ST307 isolate UP-KT-151UKP harboured colibactin genotoxins. The following mobile genetic elements were detected: plasmids [incompatibility group (Inc)-FIB(K), IncX3], and bacteriophages [e.g. Klebsi_ST16_OXA48phi5.4_NC_049450, Klebsi_3LV2017_NC_047817(36)]. The study highlights the importance of local genomic surveillance systems to characterise K. pneumoniae MDR high-risk clones. This data will aid in designing infection and prevention measures for limiting the spread of carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae in Gauteng, South Africa.

Narcissistic female serial killers: A psychobiographical study of Cecilia Johanna Steyn

This article examines the psychobiography of Cecilia Johanna Steyn, a female serial killer from South Africa. The study analysed Cecilia Steyn’s childhood development to suggest possible adverse childhood experiences predisposing her to instigate murders on her demand. Drawing on the narcissistic theoretical frameworks of Heinz Kohut and Robert Hare, we analysed Cecilia Steyn’s childhood development, indicating the occurrence of narcissistic injury. We found that Cecilia Steyn could be considered a highly manipulative, narcissistic female serial killer. The analyses provided a profile of a gendered female serial killer, highlighting similarities and differences based on narcissism and psychopathy.

Toponymic renaming as a reflection of social cohesion and social justice in the City of Tshwane

ABSTRACT Recently, the concept of social cohesion has been increasingly used in the South African government and policy circles when discussing the challenges of social cohesion in a society deeply divided by race, class, and nationality. Related to this concept is the practice of naming and renaming places, precisely after regime change. Also known as a toponymic purge, new rulers change exisiting names to gian political legitimacy for their political values and to reflect the new socio-political order, rendering place names of the previous regime obsolete in the process. As a result, this paper analyses toponymic renaming as a reflection of social cohesion in the street renaming process of the City of Tshwane, South Africa. The paper uses a qualitative research approach and a case study design. A sample of 14 participants were puposively selected and data were technically analysed. The findings of the study revealed that the street renaming process accomodated Black people who had previously been marginalized. Therefore, Coloureds and Black participants believed that social cohesion and social justice had been accomplished through the process of renaming the streets. White participants, on the other hand, held a different perspective that the process did not contribute to social cohesion.

Navigating COVID-19: Non-Government Actors’ Communication Interventions in South Africa

During the COVID-19 outbreak, diverse groups and organisations in South Africa played an important communicative role which, alongside the government, collectively mitigated the spread of the disease. A previous study that we undertook to assess government communication revealed that there were organisations, groups, and actors that addressed gaps in official messaging. In this article, we explore the ways in which these actors recognised gaps in government communication and stepped in both to draw attention to these gaps and to devise timely solutions. Seven representatives of four groupings were interviewed. The groups and actors were identified because the researchers became aware of their non-governmental communications efforts. Their insights were transcribed and thematically analysed. The findings showed that although the government, through its agencies and presidential addresses to the nation, made concerted efforts to provide relevant information to the entire population, these actors were quick to identify the communications lacunae and stepped in where there was lack of reach. They identified inadequacies such as: non-optimal use of communication channels, neglected languages, a lack of scientifically based information, and a lack of context-driven information. The findings highlight the complexity of the challenge of talking to a nation when the country’s communications landscape is complex, multilingual, and multifaceted.1