The constitution’s mandate for transformation From ‘expropriation without compensation’ to ‘equitable access to land’

Expropriation without compensation’ (EWC) is a politically potent and simultaneously ambiguous term. It is politically potent not despite but precisely because of its ambiguity, in that it signals a radical departure from a land property regime that is patently illegitimate and unjust while obscuring how it is to be changed. It centres exclusively on the acquisition of land – thus on the nexus between the state and landowners – rather than on the distributive agenda – and thus on the nexus between the state and landless citizens. In this way, the EWC narrative sidesteps foundational questions of who should get which land, on what terms, for what purposes, where, and any wider agrarian reform agenda. These questions, which I have summarised as ‘who, what, where, how, why’, constitute the real politics of land reform and have been the focus of intense political negotiation, public debate and policy deliberation since the start of the political transition over three decades ago (Hall, 2010, 2015). Their scale and complexity have frequently been contracted into ‘the land question’

Global land deals: What has been done, what has changed, and what’s next?

In 2010, the Land Deals Politics Initiative formed to study the rising number of large-scale land deals taking place around the world. As the so-called ‘global land grab’ took shape, we organised small grant competitions to generate more empirical research into the phenomenon, and we organised conferences to debate the parameters and dynamics from the local level to the global. In this article, we take stock of what has been written about land grabbing as well as the way in which the context has changed since 2010. We highlight the ongoing need for research, as well as the changing nature of financial capital, the institutional “reforms” that resulted from calls for change, new technologies that have emerged to measure and distribute land access, the role of climate change in underpinning powerful new green grabs, and the changing geopolitical context that challenges resistance even as people struggle to retain their access to land. Finally, in the lead up to the 2024 Conference on Global Land Grabbing in Bogotá, Colombia, we highlight several challenges for the next decade of research on global land grabbing

Multimorbidity patterns in South Africa: A latent class analysis

Introduction: South Africa has the largest burden of HIV worldwide and has a growing burden of non-communicable diseases; the combination of which may lead to diseases clustering in ways that are not seen in other regions. This study sought to identify common disease classes and sociodemographic and lifestyle factors associated with each disease class. Methods: Data were analyzed from the South African Demographic and Health Survey 2016. A latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted using nine disease conditions. Sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with each disease cluster were explored. All analysis was conducted in Stata 15 and the LCA Stata plugin was used to conduct the latent class and regression analysis. Results: Multimorbid participants were included (n = 2 368). Four disease classes were identified: (1) HIV, Hypertension and Anemia (comprising 39.4% of the multimorbid population), (2) Anemia and Hypertension (23.7%), (3) Cardiovascular-related (19.9%) and (4) Diabetes and Hypertension (17.0%). Age, sex, and lifestyle risk factors were associated with class membership. In terms of age, with older adults were less likely to belong to the first class (HIV, Hypertension and Anemia). Males were more likely to belong to Class 2 (Anemia and Hypertension) and Class 4 (Diabetes and Hypertension). In terms of alcohol consumption, those that consumed alcohol were less likely to belong to Class 4 (Diabetes and Hypertension). Current smokers were more likely to belong to Class 3 (Cardiovascular-related). People with a higher body mass index tended to belong to Class 3 (Cardiovascular-related) or the Class 4 (Diabetes and Hypertension). Conclusion: This study affirmed that integrated care is urgently needed, evidenced by the largest disease class being an overlap of chronic infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. This study also highlighted the need for hypertension to be addressed. Tackling the risk factors associated with hypertension could avert an epidemic of multimorbidity

Short-period pulsating hot-subdwarf stars observed by TESS: I. Southern ecliptic hemisphere

We present results of a Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) search for short-period pulsations in compact stellar objects observed in years 1 and 3 of the TESS mission, during which the southern ecliptic hemisphere was targeted. We describe the TESS data used and the details of the search method. For many of the targets, we use unpublished spectroscopic observations to classify the objects. From the TESS photometry, we clearly identify 43 short-period hot-subdwarf pulsators, including 32 sdB stars, eight sdOB stars, two sdO stars, and, significantly, one He-sdOB star, which is the first of this kind to show short-period pulsations. Eight stars show signals at both low and high frequencies, and are therefore “hybrid” pulsators. We report the list of prewhitened frequencies and we show the amplitude spectra calculated from the TESS data. We make an attempt to identify possible multiplets caused by stellar rotation, and we select four candidates with rotation periods between 1 and 12.9 days. The most interesting targets discovered in this survey should be observed throughout the remainder of the TESS mission and from the ground. Asteroseismic investigations of these data sets will be invaluable in revealing the interior structure of these stars and will boost our understanding of their evolutionary history. We find three additional new variable stars but their spectral and variability types remain to be constrained

Intervention in mothers and newborns to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in 3 provinces in South Africa using a quality improvement approach: Protocol for a mixed method type 2 hybrid evaluation

The COVID-19 pandemic undermined gains in reducing maternal and perinatal mortality in South Africa. The Mphatlalatsane Initiative is a health system intervention to reduce mortality and morbidity in women and newborns to desired levels. Our evaluation aims to determine the effect of various exposures, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and a system-level, complex, patient-centered quality improvement (QI) intervention (the Mphatlalatsane Initiative) on maternal and neonatal health services at 21 selected South African facilities. The objectives are to determine whether Mphatlalatsane reduces the institutional maternal mortality ratio, neonatal mortality rate, and stillbirth rate (objective 1) and improves patients’ experiences (objective 2) and quality of care (objective 3). Objective 4 assesses the contextual and implementation process factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, that shape Mphatlalatsane uptake and variation

Role of Indigenous and local knowledge in seasonal forecasts and climate adaptation: A case study of smallholder farmers in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe

Accessible, reliable and diverse sources of climate information are needed to inform climate change adaptation at all levels of society, particularly for vulnerable sectors such as smallholder farming. Globally, many smallholder farmers use Indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge (LK) to forecast weather and climate; however, less is known about how the use of these forecasts connects to decisions and actions for reducing climate risks. We examined the role of IK and LK in seasonal forecasting and the broader climate adaptation decision-making of smallholder farmers in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe. The data were collected from a sample of 100 smallholder farmers. Seventy-three of the 100 interviewed farmers used IK and LK weather and climate forecasts, and 32% relied solely on IK and LK forecasts for climate adaptation decision-making. Observations of cuckoo birds, leafsprouting of Mopane trees, high summer temperatures, and Nimbus clouds are the main indicators used for IK and LK forecasts. The use of IK and LK climate forecasts was significantly positively associated with increasing farmer age and farmland size

Catalogue of South African mine tailings for geochemical carbon dioxide removal purposes

South Africa has the potential to be a global leader in implementing strategies targeting geochemical carbon dioxide removal (CDR) using mine tailings, utilising methods for alkalinity production and mineral carbonation. This is due to the hundreds of millions of tonnes of geochemically and mineralogically suitable tailings produced annually from diamond, PGM, chrome, nickel, phosphate, copper, talc and magnesite mines, exploiting mafic and ultramafic rocks. This approach may offer an additional route towards emissions offsets and reduction targets for South Africa. Here, a catalogue of tailings has been developed to highlight overall national CDR potential, drawing attention to site opportunities for pilot schemes. It has been calculated, using bulk geochemistry and shrinking core modelling, that South Africa has an average 1.1-1.7 MtCO2 removal capacity per year across all suitable sites, while an additional 11-17 MtCO2 could be removed through weathering historic tailings. The total CDR that could be achieved over the 2030-2100 period, considering all annually produced tailings available to weather, is 79-119 MtCO2. The capacity may be higher if mines of limited production information are considered, and pre- 2017 tailings production amounts, abandoned stockpiles, and other industrial by-products are included

High power asymmetric supercapacitor based on activated carbon/reduced graphene oxide electrode system

We synthesized Graphene oxide (GO) using the modified Hummers method and further reduced to reduced graphene oxide (rGO) using hydrazine monohydrate and ammonia solution. The prepared materials were interrogated using different characterization techniques to determine which of them is more suitable for supercapacitor application. High resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) revealed a sheet-like morphology of separated thin sheets and wrinkled edges for GO, whereas rGO consist of thinner sheets with smaller pores than GO. The structural studies as elucidated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that the GO has more interlayer spacing due to a higher oxygen content as compared to the rGO. The oxygen containing functional groups seen in GO either disappear or are greatly reduced in intensity in rGO as evidenced from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of the materials. The electrochemical studies indicate that the rGO gave a higher current response compared to GO and a specific capacitance of 105.3 and 56.7 F g 1 respectively was delivered by rGO and GO at a scan rate of 10 mV s 1 in a three-electrode set-up. Asymmetric supercapacitor cells using GO and rGO as positive electrodes and activated carbon as the negative electrodes gave the highest specific capacitance value of 94.3 F g 1 for the AC//rGO cell and 59.6 F g 1 for the AC//GO cell at a current load of 0.25 A g 1. The specific capacitance obtained from the AC//rGO is comparable to most recorded values for rGO electrodes. A high specific power of 6411.7 W kg 1 was obtained at a specific energy of 22.6 W h kg 1 while at a specific energy of 25.7 W h kg 1, a specific power of 700.1 W kg 1 was obtained for the AC//rGO. This is due to the more porous and thinner sheet of the rGO. The overall results showed that the rGO gave better supercapacitive properties than the GO

Hypoglycaemic activity of biosynthesized copper oxide nanoparticles in alloxan-induced diabetic Wister rats

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that affects the body's ability to produce or use insulin. This study evaluated the hypoglycaemic activity of biosynthesized copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) in alloxan-induced diabetic Wister rats. CuO-NPs were synthesized via the green route and characterized using different analytical tools. Diabetes was induced intraperitoneally using 90 mg/kg body weight of alloxan monohydrate in albino rats. Thirty (30) rats were randomly divided into 5 groups of 6 rats each and orally treated for 21 days. Groups I and II were treated with 300 mg/kg bwt Cereus hildmannianus extract and CuO-NPs, respectively. Groups III and IV received 5 mg/kg bwt of Glibenclamide and 2 mL of normal saline, respectively, while Group V was left untreated as the diabetic control. Blood glucose (BG) levels and body weight changes were monitored at 3- and 7- day intervals, respectively, throughout 21-day treatment period. Lipid profiles, enzyme assays and histopathological studies of the liver were also carried out