Search Results (203)

The environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics has driven a global shift toward sustainable alternatives like biodegradable polymers, including polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), and polycaprolactone (PCL). Yet, these bioplastics often face limitations in mechanical and thermal properties, hindering broader use. Reinforcement with cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) has shown promise, yet most research focuses on conventional sources like wood pulp and cotton, neglecting agricultural residues. This review addresses the potential of maize husk, a lignocellulosic waste abundant in South Africa, as a source of CNFs. It evaluates the literature on the structure, extraction, characterisation, and integration of maize husk-derived CNFs into biodegradable polymers. The review examines the chemical composition, extraction methods, and key physicochemical properties that affect performance when blended with PLA, PBS, or PCL. However, high lignin content and heterogeneity pose extraction and dispersion challenges. Optimised maize husk CNFs can enhance the mechanical strength, barrier properties, and thermal resistance of biopolymer systems. This review highlights potential applications in packaging, biomedical, and agricultural sectors, aligning with South African bioeconomic goals. It concludes by identifying research priorities for improving compatibility and processing at an industrial scale, paving the way for maize husk CNFs as effective, locally sourced reinforcements in green material innovation. Full article

This study explores the impact of growth opportunities on the capital structure of South African banks, utilising panel data from registered banking institutions covering the period from 2014 to 2023. While a substantial body of literature examines the relationship between growth prospects and corporate leverage, limited attention has been paid to this interaction within the banking sector, particularly in emerging economies. By employing the dynamic panel Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to address endogeneity concerns, the analysis reveals a statistically significant positive relationship between growth opportunities and both the total debt ratio (TDR) and the long-term debt ratio (LTDR). In contrast, a significant negative association is found between growth opportunities and the short-term debt ratio (STDR). The findings suggest that banks with stronger growth prospects are more inclined to utilise long-term financing, possibly reflecting shareholder preferences for institutions with favourable future outlooks and lower refinancing risks. These results highlight the importance of aligning capital structure decisions with an institution’s growth trajectory, while indicating that this relationship shifts depending on the maturity of the debt considered. This study contributes to the existing literature by contextualising capital structure decisions within the framework of growth opportunities. Structure theory within the context of the banking sector in a developing market offers practical insights for strategic financial planning and regulatory policy. Full article

Despite having the world’s largest HIV burden, South Africa has yet to attain the 95-95-95 targets. Accurate, complete, and timely data are critical for monitoring a country’s HIV progress. The integration of unique identifier codes (UICs) for key populations (KPs) into routine health information management systems (RHIMS) strengthens data accuracy and completeness, facilitating more targeted HIV interventions and greater accountability. This systematic review assessed how Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have integrated KPs’ UICs into RHIMS, highlighting key enablers, challenges, and opportunities. A comprehensive search was conducted across PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, PLOS ONE, and various government and non-government websites to identify the published and grey literature relevant to the study objective from June 2013 to December 2024. References were managed using Zotero version 6.0.36. Two authors independently screened studies using Covidence software. The review was done in accordance with the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses” (PRISMA) guidelines and was registered with the “International Prospective Register of PROSPERO) Systematic Reviews” with the registration number CRD42023440656. Out of 1735 studies screened, 361 duplicates were removed. The review found that only nine of the fifty-three SSA countries have incorporated UICs for KPs into their RHIMS through alphanumeric codes. They include Burundi, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Kenya, Uganda, Togo, Malawi, and Liberia. Facilitators for KPs’ UIC adoption included strong data security and political will, whereas barriers encompassed compromised privacy, stigma and discrimination. In South Africa, the UIC for KPs can be integrated into the new electronic medical record (EMR) system. Full article

This study examines the impact of research and development (R&D) on productivity outcomes across South African industries. Drawing on an industry-level panel dataset covering 66 industries (6 mining, 37 manufacturing, and 23 services) stretching from 1993 to 2023, the study estimates how a change in the initial R&D stock affects labor and capital productivity over a five-year horizon using the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) method. The results reveal a positive but weak elasticity of labor productivity to R&D stock (0.01–0.02%), consistent with existing literature. The effects on capital productivity are even lower (0.003–0.005%), suggesting that R&D more directly enhances labor productivity than capital. Sectoral estimations indicate that R&D has no significant effect on labor productivity in mining but a strong productivity effect in manufacturing and services—twice as large in the latter. In contrast, capital productivity gains are only evident in mining. Additionally, the study finds that R&D effects are larger in technology-intensive industries, and the productivity benefits increase with the share of skilled workers, underscoring the importance of absorptive capacity. Overall, the findings suggest that while R&D matters for productivity, its returns are stronger in human capital- and technology-intensive industries. Full article

The risks arising from contractual claims in the civil engineering construction industry in South Africa are a concern. Currently, there are no risk mitigation models available for managers to help reduce such risks. A theoretical risk mitigation model was developed from the literature and validated through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), using primary questionnaire data obtained from 166 respondents drawn from a pool of South African construction industry professionals, including project directors, project managers, supervisors, consultants, and contractors. The descriptive results indicate significant patterns, trends, and distributions of the variables across the three constructs in the study. The PLS-SEM results indicate that factors causing contractual claims risk in civil infrastructure projects have a significant relation to the impact of risk occurrence on these projects, influencing the strategies to be implemented to mitigate such risks. The PLS-SEM results also indicate a significant direct relation between the factors causing contractual claims risk and the strategies to be implemented to mitigate risks, thus implying that the holistic adaptation of the PLS-SEM (risk mitigation model) by construction industry professionals in South Africa should reduce contractual claims risk in civil infrastructure projects. The findings serve as a valuable guide not only to construction industry professionals but also to government agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure. Full article

The purpose of this study was to detect from the literature the roles of the Government, investors, and regulators in ESG implementation in South Africa from 2002 to 2022. ESG implementation in South Africa ensures sustainable business practices are adopted by firms operating within the country. The study used a scoping review methodology, with only articles in the English language being considered. A pilot search was carried out to identify key search phrases to be included in the search strategy. A total of 208 articles were identified and only 34 articles were eligible for the study. The results show an increase in ESG implementation by institutional investors, although investor activism is still low in South Africa. The South African Government actively enacted laws and regulations that supported ESG implementation after the global financial crisis of 2007–8. However, in recent years, there has been a lack of hard laws to support the non-legislative ESG rules that dominate ESG reporting. The study shows that the South African Government should improve its ESG laws for effective ESG adoption and avoid relying on the JSE, which enforces the King Code as a mandatory listing requirement to monitor ESG implementation. Training, capacity building, and active Government participation are critical for effective ESG implementation in South Africa. Full article

Despite the rapid improvement in the availability and resolution of real-time electricity data, budget development processes in mining have remained relatively unchanged. Currently, there is no standard for the evaluation of mine electricity cost budgets. This study aims to determine whether forecasting processes used by mines produce budgets of sufficient quality and resolution to be used as a tool for daily energy- and cost management. A literature review was conducted to determine a set of best practices for electricity budgeting on mines. These findings were used to develop a survey to evaluate the current state of budgeting processes on South African mines. Surveys were conducted at 41 mine business units. Survey results were processed and analyzed and found that there are significant shortcomings in complying with the identified best practices. The majority of mines produced forecasts in lower resolutions than actual available data, thereby reducing their usefulness as energy management tools. The methods currently employed by mining sites are not scalable and are vulnerable to human error. Only 7% of participating business units’ budgets passed the identified best practices. Adherence to best practices, identified in this paper, will assist mines in improving electricity cost forecasts for more proactive- and sustainable energy management. This will also assist the industry in aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9), and Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12). Full article

South Africa continues to experience a high HIV prevalence, necessitating innovative prevention strategies aligned with the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets. Long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), such as cabotegravir (CAB-LA), offers a promising alternative to daily oral regimens. However, the perspectives of primary healthcare workers (PHCWs)—key implementers of this intervention—remain underexplored. This scoping review aims to systematically map existing literature on PHCWs’ knowledge, awareness, perceptions, barriers, facilitators, and implementation experiences related to injectable PrEP within the South African healthcare context. The review will follow the Arksey and O’Malley framework, enhanced by Levac et al., and will be reported following PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A comprehensive search will be conducted across PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Web of Science, and Google Scholar, without language or date restrictions. The search strategy will employ both controlled vocabulary (e.g., MeSH and CINAHL Subject Headings) and free-text terms. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria will be managed using EndNote X20 and appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) 2018 version. Data will be synthesized thematically and presented narratively and in tabular form. By consolidating PHCWs’ perspectives, this review will identify implementation challenges, training needs, and systemic barriers, informing the development of context-specific strategies for PrEP rollout. The findings are expected to support the design of effective, culturally relevant educational interventions and guide policymakers in strengthening HIV prevention efforts in high-burden settings. Full article

While tariff liberalization under regional trade agreements has progressed, non-tariff measures (NTMs) have emerged as a significant impediment to the realization of full trade potential, particularly in the agriculture sector where NTMs are especially prevalent and in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) where intra-regional trade is low. Despite the extensive available literature on this subject, the impact of NTMs on trade efficiency in the SADC has hardly been explored. Against this background, this study estimates the impact of NTMs on the efficiency of South Africa’s bilateral agricultural trade with 11 SADC member states using data from 2011 to 2022 and a stochastic frontier gravity model. The average efficiency is found to be 45.6 percent, implying that more than half of South Africa’s agricultural trade potential remains unrealized in the region due to inefficiencies. NTMs are found to be a source of inefficiency, the effect of which is larger than that of tariffs by a factor of 6. This result emphasizes an urgent need for harmonizing NTMs across SADC member states to reduce compliance costs which are associated with trade inefficiency. The study contributes to the literature by treating NTMs as man-made trade resistances that affect trade efficiency rather than trade volumes. Full article

Background: In many African areas, herbal products still represent a significant source of healthcare. However, a major gender bias is evident in the literature, as most of the work is carried out by male researchers, collecting data from male traditional practitioners, and thus often neglecting women’s specific health issues. This warrants a detailed review of the current knowledge about the major medicinal plants historically and still used for women’s health. Objective: This study aims to compile and critically analyze published data on the use of traditional herbal remedies by African women in addressing specific health conditions, in order to evaluate the potential of traditional medicine as a viable alternative or complementary approach to modern healthcare for women globally. Methods: Data were retrieved from databases by combining the following relevant keywords: “abortion, adverse, Africa, attendant, birth, botanical, delivery, developing, drug, ethnomedicine, ethnopharmacology, folk, gynecological, healing, infertility, herb, indigenous, lactation, medicine, native, obstetric, phytomedicine, plant, pregnancy, remedy, side, sub-Saharan, traditional, treatment, women”. Results: More than 125 studies, carried out across 12 African nations, revealed that up to 80% of African women resort to herbal medicines. An estimated 200 medicinally important plant species are reported to be utilized by women in different African countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. These herbs have many applications, mostly focused on infertility, pregnancy, painful menstruation, breast feeding, breast cancer, and contraception. Interestingly, according to their occurrence of usage, the plants most commonly reported for these conditions that are important to women are ambivalent plants (i.e., used both as foods and medicines) that include Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Allium sativum L., Cucurbita pepo L., and Ricinus communis L. Conclusions: Even though most women, in most African countries, do use traditional medicine, the amount of work published remains quite limited and no data are available in many countries. Therefore, it is desirable to expand African studies in this direction. Full article

Given that there is a huge gap between environmental concerns, recycling awareness, and township consumers’ actual recycling behavior, it is important to determine their actual recycling behavior in order to develop sustainable recycling campaigns in townships. Studies have pointed out the significance of consumer, that is, user engagement in driving actual recycling behavior as part of addressing the negative effects of environmental challenges linked to not recycling on climate change. Studies on recycling behavior in South African townships are limited. The collection of waste in South African townships is less effective than in urban areas. This has resulted in consumers disposing of their waste informally in the spaces between their houses and shacks. An online survey was conducted among 411 township consumers in South Africa, which showed that a positive attitude towards recycling and perceived behavioral control positively and significantly affect consumers’ intention to engage in recycling, whereas subjective norms had no effect. Recycling attitude, personal norms, subjective norms, facilitating conditions, and environmental concerns were found to influence consumers’ actual recycling behavior. Furthermore, users’ intention to engage in recycling was found to mediate the relationship between recycling attitude, perceived behavioral control, facilitating conditions, personal norms, and actual recycling behavior. This paper contributes to the literature on recycling behavior and is useful for municipalities, policy makers, organizations, governments, and other relevant stakeholders on the drivers of actual recycling behavior among township consumers. Full article

Calf weaning plays a fundamental role in the sustainability of cow-calf production systems. In South Africa, conventional weaning at six to nine months is widely practiced, but increasing climatic variability has highlighted early weaning as an adaptive strategy. To support producers in determining the optimal weaning age, we developed a Calf Weaning Decision-Support Framework through an extensive literature review. To ensure its practicality, we validated the framework using the Delphi technique, incorporating real-world insights from livestock experts. A two-round Delphi study was conducted with ten experts in livestock production and research, evaluating key factors influencing weaning age decisions. The study also used the Relative Importance Index (RII) to rank these factors based on expert consensus. The main findings showed strong agreement on productive factors, including weaning weight, conception rate, and dam body condition score alongside financial aspects that influence profitability, such as calf health and feeding expenses, as well as income generated at weaning. Experts identified three additional factors—cattle breed, enterprise cash flow needs, and veld type, emphasizing the need for flexible weaning strategies tailored to specific conditions. This study concludes that the expert-validated framework is a practical and adaptable tool, empowering South African beef producers to make informed, context-specific weaning decisions. Full article

Despite the emphasis on consumption and production patterns in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), plastic pollution remains inadequately addressed. This research contributes to the limited literature on sustainable consumption and disposal of plastic in developing contexts and demonstrates how universities can effectively integrate sustainability competencies into a subject-specific curriculum. This study examined how teacher training programs can address plastic pollution through curriculum innovation and experiential challenge-based learning. Focusing on technology student teachers (TSTs) at a South African institution, the research explored their experiences with community-based problem-solving activities related to plastic consumption and disposal. The polymer module was restructured to combine theoretical knowledge with practical sustainability actions, engaging students in real-world environmental challenges. Data were generated via focus group interview, reflective journal, and photovoice. Working in teams across four communities, TSTs conducted plastic audits in households, shared findings with community members, and collaboratively developed sustainable solutions. This approach bridged the gap between academic learning and environmental action, addressing the critical global plastic crisis that contributes to fossil fuel depletion, ecosystem damage, and greenhouse gas emissions. The findings highlight the potential of teacher education to cultivate environmentally conscious educators who can inspire sustainable thinking and action across educational settings. The practical implications of this research extend beyond the classroom, offering a replicable model for teacher education programs to empower future educators as change agents who can facilitate sustainable community action through knowledge co-creation and context-specific environmental problem-solving. Full article

Nigeria is among the countries highly vulnerable to climate change impact. Thus, there has been growing emphasis on the pursuit of decarbonization and net-zero (net-zero transition) strategies. The aim of this work is to review major concepts in research publications associated with climate change mitigation in Nigeria. The literature search was conducted on the Scopus database using relevant keyword operators. Mixed methods were adopted to conduct bibliometric, text mining and content analysis. Bibliometric software (VOSviewer) was used. The research objectives were to identify how net-zero transition research has evolved in Nigeria; their important research themes and trends in Nigeria, and potential directions for future research on achieving them in Nigeria. The results show that the number of publications in the field has been increasing, with 87% of the articles included in the dataset published between 2016 and 2024. Through data clustering, eight clusters of articles were identified, namely (i) the renewable energy, economic growth and emission reduction nexus (ii) energy transition in the Nigerian power system, (iii) policy drivers (socio-technical and economic) for a cleaner energy system, (iv) energy transition governance, (v) hybrid renewable energy systems, (vi) low-carbon transition, (vii) energy efficiency and low-carbon growth and others. By checking through the keywords used by authors, it appears that the most popular keywords are carbon neutrality, hydrogen, biomass, circular economy, and electric vehicles. These keywords further highlight areas of research interests. Some of the potential future directions identified include the need for effective research communication and strong cooperation between academia and relevant CC policy-making bodies to translate scientific research into evidence-based policies and actionable frameworks; tiered subsidies or tax rebates to low-income households to promote CC mitigating technologies and align CC objectives with social equity; and others. Although this work focuses solely on Nigeria, the country shares similar characteristics with many sub-Saharan African countries, and some others in the global South. Accordingly, the findings will be relevant to those areas, with some unique adaptations. Full article

In linguistically diverse and multilingual South African communities, it is common to use non-standard language varieties (NSLVs), often called mixed languages, as lingua franca. These NSLVs are primarily spoken in black townships throughout South Africa. Previous studies show that the discursive production of oral narratives impacts the development and use of higher-order language processing, as they require the knowledge, language skills and abilities to produce coherent discourse. The main focus of the existing literature in oral narrative is mostly on standard languages. In this study, we explore how speakers of Sepitori, a non-standard language variety (NSLV), produce an oral narrative compared to Sesotho, a standard language. The current study investigates the oral narrative production of a total number of 20 participants who are adult speakers of Sesotho and Sepitori (ten from each language). The Sesotho speakers were bilingual speakers of English and Sesotho. The Sepitori speakers were multilingual speakers of English, Sesotho, Zulu and other languages spoken in the Mamelodi township. This study used a mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Narratives were annotated for language complexity in the macro- and microstructure elements: the length and type of clause, pragmatic acts, referential lexical choices and code-switched words. Sepitori speakers produced narratives characterised by interactive clauses unrelated to the narrative level and with a greater range of lexical referents, showcasing more individual linguistic variation. Sesotho speakers produced a more sequential oral narrative in line with story schema with fewer interjections to the researcher. In an increasingly linguistically heterogeneous South Africa, more research is required to gain insights into how multilingual individuals develop and refine their narrative skills, emphasising the much-needed focus on NSLV from a psycholinguistic perspective, which may ultimately inform tools of assessment for multilingual children and adults in social, clinical and academic contexts. Full article