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Policy responses to the challenges associated with environmental change, including more frequent and severe climatic events, have interlinked environmental and social impacts. Less attention has been afforded to the latter, and specifically to the question of not just whether but how such responses create or entrench inequality. This paper examines policy responses to drought events in California, United States, and the Western Cape Province, South Africa, in terms of their effects on inequality, revealed in relationships to water access networks. We use concepts of water justice and hydraulic citizenship to evaluate how and why these policy responses reproduced water injustices in the two settings. We focus particularly on two mechanisms linking responses to widened inequalities: values‐reinforcement and strategic communication. Using interviews, policy documents, and media reports, we employ process tracing methods to illustrate these mechanisms through which drought policy impacts hydraulic citizenship experiences, manifesting water injustice. We contribute to emerging examinations of environmental policy responses and maladaptation by demonstrating how concepts of hydraulic citizenship and an emphasis on mechanisms can help us better understand and identify experiences of water injustice. We note policy implications and areas for future research, highlighting droughts as consequential policy sites for advancing social and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021/2022, galls formed by a nematode, Anguina woodi, were found on the stems, leaves and leaf sheaths of dune grass, Ehrharta villosa var. villosa on Milnerton Beach, Blouberg Beach and Langebaan, Western Cape Province, South Africa. These galls were spongy in texture, deep purple to blackish in colour and non-pedunculate. They were found in clusters, but also as single entities. Larger, harder galls varying from beige to dark brown in colour, apparently caused by insects, were also found on the stems of dune grass at Blouberg Beach and Langebaan Nature Reserve. Some nematode galls were found immediately next to or on top of the insect galls. Those found on top of insect galls seemed to be harder and drier than those found on stems not infected by insect galls. The co-infection of insects and anguinid nematodes has not been reported from the current study areas and was thus included in the present study. Both molecular and morphological studies were conducted on the nematodes and wasps leading to the identification of a host specific, gall-forming nematode from all three localities. The wasps were identified morphologically and molecularly to the family Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera). No insect galls were found on dune grass from Milnerton Beach. The paper includes speculations on a probable association between nematodes and insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phlyctinus callosus and P. xerophilus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are two cryptic species of native entimine weevils, previously grouped together under the P. callosus sensu lato concept, that are pests of economic importance to the deciduous fruit and vine industry in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Laboratory bioassays were conducted using entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) isolates of Beauveria and entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), Heterorhabditis indica and Steinernema yirgalemense, to determine differences in susceptibility of adult P. callosus and P. xerophilus to potential biological control agents. The test arena used was 24‐well bioassay plates with an inoculation rate of 200 infective juveniles (IJs)/insect for EPNs and 5 × 105 conidia/insect for EPF. Insects were inoculated using a 12.7 mm filter paper impregnated with 50 μL of entomopathogen suspension. Infection was determined after 96 h incubation for EPNs through dissection of cadavers. Insects inoculated with EPF were incubated in the wells for 18 days and mortality recorded daily. Cadavers were surface sterilized and observed for overt mycosis. Differential susceptibility between P. callosus and P. xerophilus was observed in EPF but not in EPN bioassays. Differential susceptibility to EPF could be due to methodology. Low adult weevil pathogenicity was found for all entomopathogens, with variable results obtained from different bioassay batches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-apartheid government in South Africa has provided increased opportunities for public participation at the local government level. Local party politics tend to bedevil these local participatory processes. This paper discusses ANC party politics and how they impact on public participation. It draws on a case study of five municipalities in the Cape Winelands District of the Western Cape that was conducted through semi-structured interviews and secondary data analysis. Local ANC politics has a huge impact on local government structures and their participatory processes. The ANC is a unitary structure in its policy but there is a lack of uniformity in understanding, commitment, and implementation of participatory policies at different levels of the organisation and government spheres. Some deployed public representatives work to advance themselves and their factions, at the expense of the ANC and the communities they are supposed to be leading. The findings of this study have as much significance for civil society as for the local state and its representatives. They show that it is not always the case that the state is bad and civil society is good as leaders of civil society get involved in clientelist relationships and blatant corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To better understand the aetiologies of epileptic spasms in infants, as well as the safety and efficacy of high dose corticosteroids in tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) endemic resource‐limited settings. Method: This was a retrospective analysis of infants with epileptic spasms managed at the tertiary referral centres in the Western Cape, South Africa. Results: Of 175 children with epileptic spasms, the median age at onset was 6 months (interquartile range 4–8 months). Structural aetiologies were most common (115 out of 175 [66%]), with two‐thirds related to perinatal insults. A lead time to treatment (LTTT) of less than 1 month was more likely in the epileptic encephalopathy/developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) group: 58 out of 92 (63%), compared to 28 out of 76 (37%) of those with developmental encephalopathy (p = 0.001). Failure to recognize preceding developmental delay was common. Ninety‐nine children (57%) received first line hormonal therapy such as adrenocorticotropic hormone. A total of 111 out of 172 children (65%) from the developmental encephalopathy and epileptic encephalopathy/DEE groups had clinical and/or electroencephalogram resolution of spasms within 14 days. In our population, children in whom an aetiology could not be identified were statistically more likely to have moderate to profound developmental delay at 1 year of age: 33 out of 44 (p = 0.001). Based on reported incidence of epileptic spasms, 23 to 58 cases per annum would be expected but a far smaller proportion presented to our centres. Interpretation: Whilst this is the largest cohort of infants with epileptic spasms from sub‐Saharan Africa, the study size is less than expected; this may reflect misdiagnosis and failure of referral pathways. Despite a reported shorter LTTT, infants with DEE had worse developmental outcomes compared to international studies. Hormonal therapy was safe and effective in our setting, despite exposure to high levels of tuberculosis and HIV. What this paper adds: The number of unreferred cases of epileptic spasms in South Africa remains high.Caregivers and health care workers in primary care facilities often fail to recognize developmental delay.The burden of disease from hypoxic‐ischaemic encephalopathy remains high in our resource‐limited setting.Hormonal treatment (e.g. adrenocorticotropic hormone) was safe and effective despite the high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's basic education system is dysfunctional. It scores last or close to last in a myriad of metrics and delivers learners with some of the worst literacy and numeracy competencies worldwide. A bimodal distribution in the results exists when learners from the richest socioeconomic quintile are performing adequately well, while learners from the poorest quintiles are failing. This paper presents a system dynamics simulation model to describe the causal linkages between improved early childhood and pre-school learning practices on the education system as a whole. The paper investigates the difference in performance between rich and poor communities. Three interventions explore the research question of whether it is the number of enrolments into early childhood development programs that increases a cohort's school readiness, or rather the quality of the early childhood development programs into which they were enrolled. The results answer the research question for the Western Cape province by showing that increasing the quality of the formal ECD programs leads to a greater percentage of school-ready five year olds than increasing the percentage of enrolled children, but that decreasing community poverty leads to better results than either intervention. The results show the simulation model to be a powerful tool to assist with policy setting and intervention testing for any other province or country by simply changing the input data and calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's basic education system is dysfunctional. It scores last or close to last in a myriad of metrics and delivers learners with some of the worst literacy and numeracy competencies worldwide. A bimodal distribution in the results exists when learners from the richest socioeconomic quintile are performing adequately well, while learners from the poorest quintiles are failing. This paper presents a system dynamics simulation model to describe the causal linkages between improved early childhood and pre-school learning practices on the education system as a whole. The paper investigates the difference in performance between rich and poor communities. Three interventions explore the research question of whether it is the number of enrolments into early childhood development programs that increases a cohort's school readiness, or rather the quality of the early childhood development programs into which they were enrolled. The results answer the research question for the Western Cape province by showing that increasing the quality of the formal ECD programs leads to a greater percentage of school-ready five year olds than increasing the percentage of enrolled children, but that decreasing community poverty leads to better results than either intervention. The results show the simulation model to be a powerful tool to assist with policy setting and intervention testing for any other province or country by simply changing the input data and calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the wealth of Late Pleistocene archaeology that exists across southern Africa's open landscape, it is routinely neglected in favour of rock shelter (re)excavation, biasing interpretation of human–environment interaction. This is compounded by the scarcity of open-air studies that use geoarchaeological methods to investigate the history and processes involved in their formation. The open-air archaeology of the Doring River Valley is an example of this, despite nearly a decade of dedicated study and publication. Consequently, there remains a limited and untested understanding of the valley's formation history. This paper rectifies this by providing a sedimentary context for the surface archaeology exposed across one of the Doring River Valley's artefact-baring localities, Uitspankraal 7 (UPK7). Characterisation, particle size, mineralogical, morphometric, and geophysical analysis of UPK7′s sand mantle resulted in the identification of four artefact-bearing sedimentary units, the aeolian and pedogenic processes involved in their formation, and their proposed order of deposition. This provides a stratigraphic, taphonomic, and environmental context against which chronometric dating and an analysis of the taphonomic, spatio-temporal, and technological composition of UPK7′s surface archaeology can be compared. This work is the first vital step towards understanding the depositional and behavioural history of a landscape, irrespective of context type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the adoption of rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) by high-income households and businesses in the Western Cape, South Africa, the article analyzes its effects on the hybridization of urban electricity systems and the ability of municipalities to drive a just transition in cities where inequality remains very high. By reducing municipal electricity sales, decentralized solar technologies threaten the surpluses generated from charges paid by grid customers, which are essential to subsidize electricity services for the poor and support other municipal services. Based on fieldwork in four Western Cape cities, the paper shows that municipalities are implementing a variety of local arrangements (regulatory, tariff, and technical) to control distributed electricity generation and are seeking, with mixed success, to avoid a post-carbon transition model that undermines grid benefits by creating a new energy divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing delivery in South Africa continues to dominate conversations on human rights and social development. Using a social development lens, this paper presents the findings of a qualitative study that aimed at exploring the housing experiences of social rental housing (SRH) beneficiaries and how this interlinked with human rights and social development in South Africa. Using the purposive sampling method, the study selected three social housing institutions (SHIs) in Gauteng and two in the Western Cape province. With each SHI, a focus group discussion was conducted with its tenants to establish if there are any linkages with human rights and social development. Participants shared positive sentiments relating to SRH. The authors of this article note that SRH is implemented from a rights-based perspective, in line with international law and the social development perspective. In concluding the article, the authors provide policy recommendations for government and civil society actors operating in the arena of SRH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the dawn of democracy promised a new beginning in South Africa, lingering effects of Apartheid remained, including the struggle to address gang violence and gender-based violence amidst the backdrop of widespread organised crime and corruption, social inequality, a sluggish economy, and poor service delivery. The last policy - National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy (2017) - required implementation at provincial level. This study examines the Western Cape policy content and deconstructs the concept of gangsterism. The paper shows that sustained anti-gang strategies and interventions demand structural obstacles and inequality are addressed in the context of the spill-over from the Apartheid era. Notably, it will be concluded that there are long-term benefits of reframing the problem of gangsterism in the Western Cape as 'a youth-at-risk-crisis' with specific attention gender-sensitivity to contribute to local peacebuilding by focusing on youth to exert agency and become empowered in pursuit of individual and community resilience and active citizenry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the concept of social-ecological resilience gains increasing policy attention, there is growing demand for approaches that operationalise it. Amongst these demands is the need to empirically assess absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacities that underpin resilience to better understand the ways in which social-ecological systems can navigate change and uncertainty. We explore the application of a capitals approach for assessing resilience capacities, using an example of deciduous fruit farming operations in the Western Cape region of South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, thematically coded, and analysed using causal loop diagrams and co-occurrence analyses to identify changes experienced by farming operations, their responses to these changes, and the effects of both on capital resources. We then apply the criteria developed for the classification of resilience capacities. A variety of changes affect farming operations at multiple points across the value chain, and have effects across capital resources. Most significant to farmers are changes which impact the amount of water available and the cashflow they require to sustain their operations. The most common responses employed by farmers consisted of activities which either increase the availability of an affected resource, or decrease its demand in order to maintain the same functions (adaptive capacity). In fewer cases, farming operations were able to absorb the depletion of their capital resources due to pre-emptive management (absorptive capacity). In similarly few cases, the potential or realised resource deficiencies caused by changes were either corrected or decoupled from the farming operation through structural reorganisation towards a different or additional function and types of output being delivered (transformative capacity). Evidence of changes being anticipated prior to their onset were also identified, leading to responses which are used in conjunction with the preceding three capacities. Our findings suggest that the criteria we developed for classifying resilience capacities offer a useful means of operationalising resilience. In particular, the approach we pilot in this paper enables the application of a systems perspective to identify interactions between changes and responses, which broadens the options for identifying management strategies and interventions. The approach we propose can be used to identify key leverage points to strengthen the capacities of vulnerable farmers. Further work is required to integrate consideration of cross-scale effects of farm-scale resilience strategies on the broader social-ecological system. [Display omitted] • Empirical examples of studies which operationalise social-ecological resilience are in high demand. • We assess resilience identifying the capital effects of change and responses in farming operations. • The interaction between changes and responses are used to infer capacities of resilience. • Most response strategies reveal adaptive capacity, with other capacities utilised to a lesser extent. • The criteria employs a systemic outlook which broadens considerations for responses and management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gated developments are a defining feature of the post-apartheid residential landscape. The fortification practices witnessed in gated developments are part of a wider securitisation of the South African urban- and ruralscapes. This research resides in the ambit of the theory of crime and violence as a precursor to the growth in gated developments. Research on gated developments has tended to focus on their proliferation in larger urban settlements, with scant attention being paid to gated developments in smaller settlements and in rural areas. However, non-metropolitan gated developments are a reality, and they display similar security features as those found in metropolitan areas. This paper compares the security levels of gated developments in a suburb of Cape Town with those in small towns in the Western Cape province. Security features are quantified to determine whether differences in securitisation levels exist between the locales. The gated developments in the city display higher levels of security than those in small towns. However, a closer analysis of small-town gated developments reveals high security levels in towns where tourism is the mainstay of the local economy. As the technology of security migrates from military applications to residential applications, a securified small-town future is a real possibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015 the Western Cape Government (WCG) in South Africa introduced the e-Learning Game Changer initiative to offer teachers in public schools information and communications technology (ICT) resources to improve their pedagogy. Despite the efforts by the WCG to improve ICT use for teaching in public schools, successful ICT integration hardly takes place in several historically disadvantaged (albeit affluent) schools, which constitute a minority of schools in the Western Cape. The primary aim of this study was to investigate those conversion factors allowing or impeding teachers in two public primary schools in the Western Cape from attaining the potential capabilities required for successful ICT integration. Amartya Sen's capability approach was used as the study's theoretical framework. The study employed a qualitative research method involving 10 educators observed during their lessons and interviewed. The findings confirmed that only a few conversion factors, such as the attainment of ICT skills through a community of practice and university training by the teachers, provided them with capabilities to use ICT to deliver curriculum content and perform basic ICT skills effectively. Several conversion factors, including teachers' age, provincial and school policies, infrastructure and resources, prevented these teachers from realising their ICT potential. This study contends that the White Paper on e-Education (2004) policy might benefit from the results, which could help to build or rethink programmes that encourage continual teacher training. Transdisciplinarity Contribution: This research shows that policymakers need to take into consideration the conversion factors that may impact teachers' capabilities to deliver curriculum utilising ICTs. This study's findings provide new light on how these conversion factors limit or expand teachers' ICT capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the decision-making process of patients with pregnancies affected by serious congenital abnormalities. The study design was an exploratory qualitative study. The sample for this study was pregnant individuals who had a prenatal diagnosis of a serious congenital abnormality and were offered termination of pregnancy. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with closed and open-ended questions, recorded and transcribed verbatim, were used to collect the data; this was then analyzed using a thematic data analysis approach. Five topics were developed: "Health care services", "Home", "Being a mother", "Finding meaning", and "The aftermath". The first four topics describe the decision-making process where the participants filtered through multiple factors to reach their final decision. Although the participants consulted with their families, partners, and community, they made the final decision themselves. The final topics describes activities which were necessary for closure and coping. This study has provided valuable insight into the decision-making process, which can be used to improve services offered to patients. Information should be communicated clearly with follow-up appointments to discuss further. Healthcare professional should show empathy and assure the participants that their decision is supported. • There are limited qualitative data on termination of pregnancy decision-making for serious congenital abnormalities in the African setting. • This paper provides insight into the decision-making process of pregnant individuals from the Western Cape, South Africa. • Decision-making for terminating pregnancy affected by congenital abnormality is multifaceted but with one deciding factor. • Contrary to what is anecdotally expected, in this study the participants made the final decision. • Tragic optimism was necessary for the participants to carry on with their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expected electrification of Sub-Sahara Africa's urban paratransit with an electric minibus taxi (eMBT) has received increased attention in energy research and expenditure analyses. In this paper, several long-distance routes between the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape in South Africa are assessed for electrification. To mitigate the long charging time of eMBTs, we propose a battery swapping approach in which a trailer acts as a mobile battery bank to the vehicle (eMBT+T); which is to be charged from a solar charging station to reduce emissions. Compared to the current MBTs, the proposed model results in only a 6% trip time increase. Crucially, emissions are reduced by 75%, where a 20% increase is seen when using an eMBT. The results show that a trailer battery enables viable long-distance electrical paratransit, and with the integration of solar power charging, this transition can also be sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallholder farmers are vulnerable and hardest hit by droughts in Africa. One of the main causes of the increased vulnerability is limited access to resources resulting in limited drought preparedness. The heterogeneous nature of smallholder farmers means that they deal with droughts differently. Responses to drought are context-specific depending on the socio-economic, political, and cultural dimensions, which make it difficult to generalize. However, information on smallholder farmer drought perceptions, impacts on livelihoods, and the way droughts are dealt with at farm-level is scarce and mostly site-specific. This paper presents the findings from a study conducted in the Western Cape Province, in South Africa. The main objective of the study was to assess the impacts of the 2015-18 drought on the smallholder farmer livelihoods, and the coping and adaptation strategies adopted. The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach was used to frame questions on the coping mechanisms used by farmers, and any other strategies developed to adapt to future droughts. The study adopted the qualitative research design and focused on 112 smallholder farmers in two districts. Face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data, which was analysed using Atlas. ti 8.1 for Windows. The results showed that ownership of assets and support from private and public organisations facilitates better coping and adaptation to drought. There were social networks in farmer groups, but their benefits did not go beyond the members. Further research is required to determine the best models of support to smallholder farmers to empower them for adaption to future droughts. • Perceptions of drought by smallholder farmers did not translate into strategies for drought coping or adaptation. • Drought support was mainly through fodder for livestock. • Livelihood capitals can enhance smallholder farmer adaptation to drought. • Smallholder farmers were limited in their adaptation strategies mainly because of limited resources. • There was limited social networking beyond the farmer groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]