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Performance evaluation of solar-powered groundwater pumping systems in rural communities of greater Giyani municipality, Limpopo, South Africa
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2026) Jovanovic, Nebojsa; Shika, Seemole S.; Mashabatu, Munashe
Large portions of rural population in South Africa lack access to basic water and sanitation. This advocates for urgent interventions in support of water supply. This study assessed the performance of solar-powered groundwater pumping systems established at nine pilot sites in rural areas of Greater Giyani Municipality (Limpopo, South Africa). Performance assessment indicators, namely weather, groundwater abstraction, power supply, water supply, water quality, number of beneficiaries and farm productivity, were monitored (2023–2024). Increased groundwater abstraction reduced groundwater levels by 0.4–11 m, depending on the monitored borehole. This was replenished by above-average rainfall in 2023 (≈650 mm). Power supply and pump discharge rates were stable with generally low fluctuations at recommended pumping rates (0.5–2.0 L s−1). Groundwater quality was generally fit to marginal for irrigation and drinking. High levels of NO3− and total organic carbon, especially in the proximity of villages, mandated the installation of mini water treatment plants for drinking water. The implementation of solar-powered groundwater pumping schemes was generally successful, with more than 5000 villagers benefiting directly from the interventions, whilst smallholder farms turned into commercial and financially viable enterprises. Long-term monitoring of bio-physical and socio-economic drivers is essential to ensure long-term sustainability of the solar-powered groundwater pumping systems.
A distorted process of care framework: why do South African women stay in abusive relationships?
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2026) Roman, Nicolette V.; Johannes, Chanté; Wareley, Shenaaz
Abusive relationships are too often explained solely in terms of individual behaviour, as if a woman’s decision to stay were simply a matter of psychology or poor judgement. In South African communities, however, the reality is considerably more complex. The reasons women remain are situated within what can be described as a distorted process of care: a network of relational, material, and structural forces that alter the very meaning of care itself. This study aimed to explore these interconnections. Guided by an ethics of care framework, we employed multimodal qualitative methods to engage participants from four South African communities between August 2024 and July 2025. Participants (n = 262) were recruited through snowball, purposive, and convenience sampling. Data were coded using ATLAS.ti V8 and analysed thematically. Five interconnected themes shaped the framework. Distorted care described how caregiving could become coercive, shaped by fear, rigid gender roles, intergenerational abuse, and substance misuse. Care under constraint highlighted the material limitations, financial dependency, daily survival challenges, and self-sacrificing caregiving, that left women depleted. The silence of care captured emotional withdrawal, isolation, and the disabling effect of shame on help-seeking. Reclaiming care traced the tentative routes towards healing through ethical self-care, faith, forgiveness, and a conscious effort to disrupt harmful patterns. Woven throughout was structural failure, including absent family networks, the moral decline of communities, and institutional systems that consistently failed women. Remaining in an abusive relationship is not a sign of weakness. It is a negotiation, profoundly constrained, within systems of care that have been fundamentally distorted. Effective intervention should move beyond framing gender-based violence as an individual problem and address it as a collective one, restoring care as a shared social and political responsibility.
The African court on human and peoples’ rights’ understanding of the principle of “equality before the courts and tribunals” considering the drafting history of article 14(1) of the ICCPR
(Istanbul University Press, 2026) Mujuzi, Jamil Ddamulira
Article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that “All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals.” A similar provision does not appear in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Thus, Article 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter) provides that “(1) Every individual shall be equal before the law. (2) Every individual shall be entitled to equal protection under the law. Article 60 of the African Charter empowers the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights to refer to international instruments when interpreting the Charter. Article 7 of the Protocol establishing the Court empowers the Court to “apply the provisions of the Charter and any other relevant human rights instruments ratified by the state concerned.” It is on the basis of those two provisions, the African Court has referred to Article 14(1) of the ICCPR when interpreting Article 3 of the African Charter. In many decisions, the African Court has held that the “right to equality before the law requires that all persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals.” The African Court has also held that the right to equality before the law and the right to equality before courts are the same “in substance.” However, the drafting history of Article 14(1) shows that the principle of equality before courts and tribunals is different from the right to equality before the law under Article 26 of the ICCPR. Relying on this drafting history, the author argues that the African Court has blurred the distinction between the principle of equality before courts and tribunals and the right to equality before the law. This implies, as the submissions by some delegates during the Third Committee meetings show, that states may establish separate courts for different groups of people based on grounds such as race or economic status provided that such courts apply the same law(s) (people are equal before the law). In other words, the “separate but equal” approach. It also implies that some judicial officers may exercise their discretion discriminatorily.
Simbasimulation: the effect of feedback physics on matter distribution in the cosmic web
(Oxford University Press, 2026) Dong, Chenze; Dedieu, Florian; Davé, Romeel
The discrepancy between the early-time estimation and late-time observation of the cosmic baryon content – the ‘missing baryon problem’ – is a long-standing problem in cosmology. Although recent studies with fast radio bursts (FRBs) have largely addressed this discrepancy, the precise spatial distribution of these baryons remains uncertain due to the effects of galaxy feedback. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations such as Simba have shown that the partitioning of baryons between the intergalactic medium (IGM) and haloes is sensitive to feedback models, motivating the connection between baryon distribution and feedback physics. With the Simba simulation suite, this study investigates how feedback affects the distribution of matter within large-scale cosmic structures, with implications for FRB foreground modelling. We apply the T-web method to classify the cosmic web into different structures: knots, filaments, sheets, and voids. We then analyse how the different feedback variants of Simba affect the distribution of matter within each structure. Our results show that in Simba, the fractions of IGM gas in different cosmic web structures vary by only a few per cent under different feedback models. However, jet feedback produces noticeable changes in the gas distribution within structures, enhancing the diffuse IGM on the outskirts of filaments and knots, potentially biassing the empirical relation between matter distribution and dispersion measure. This research provides a new perspective on the impact of feedback on the IGM and motivates a refined data model for FRB foreground mapping.
The application of actinobacterial extracts for plant growth promotion
(University od the Western Cape, 2025) Kota, Busisiwe
Environmental stress conditions such as drought and salinity are some of the limiting factors affecting crop yield. The frequency of these environmental stress conditions is predicted to increase with the effects of climate change over the years posing a threat to global food security. To overcome these declines, farmers depend on chemical fertilisers which are both expensive and increasingly becoming a major health concern. The use of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) as bioinoculants is viewed as a promising avenue for sustainable agriculture, especially under environmental stress conditions. In this study, 27 actinobacterial strains isolated from South African medicinal plants Aloe ferox and Sutherlandia frutescens, were evaluated for their potential as candidate bioinoculants under normal and stressed (drought and salinity) conditions. Phenotypic analysis of the isolates using International Streptomyces Project (ISP) media, coupled with molecular identification through 16S rRNA and gyrB gene sequencing revealed that the studied isolates were predominantly Streptomyces strains, alongside two rare actinobacterial strains – Micromonospora and Thermomonosporaceae. Isolates were screened for both direct - (including ammonia production, siderophore production, and IAA activity) and indirect - (including antimicrobial activity and hydrolytic enzyme production such as cellulase and xylanase activity) plant growth-promoting properties. Several isolates had broad activity across all assays, suggesting a multifaceted plant growth-promoting potential. Nine isolates were selected for inclusion in plant growth trials comparing actinobacteria-treated plants to untreated control plants grown under normal, drought, and salinity stress conditions. Notably, some actinobacteria-treated plants were observed to have enhanced plant height, root development, and improved stress tolerance especially under drought conditions. These findings suggested the potential of these isolates in mitigating osmotic stress. Furthermore, genome sequencing coupled with antiSMASH analysis revealed the presence of several of biosynthetic gene clusters associated with stress mitigation and plant growth promotion. Particularly, gene clusters encoding ectoine, siderophores, and naringenin biosynthesis were identified, suggesting potential evidence for the observed drought tolerance in plant growth trials. Overall, the findings of this study revealed that medicinal plants are a potential pool of untapped microbial diversity with promising potential as bioinoculants. Integrating culture-based methods with molecular techniques provided a comprehensive understanding of the functional potential of these actinobacterial isolates as potential bioinoculants, especially under drought stress conditions. This polyphasic approach highlights the potential of actinobacteria associated with medicinal plants as a sustainable alternative for plant growth and stress mitigation.