The #feesmustfall movement brought gains for democracy. As relatively free spaces for enquiry, universities have a public duty to fight, not facilitate, a slide into a national security state.
A solar water heating unit on the roof of a home in Kuyasa outside Cape Town. South Africa has a long way to go to get people off the grid and onto solar heating.
Epa/Nic Bothma
Wilfred Fritz, Cape Peninsula University of Technology et Deon Kallis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Africa is blessed with an abundance of sunshine.Given the heavy demand for energy, alternatives, such as solar, could provide solutions and help stimulate economic growth.
Understanding the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis has won a South African molecular biologist international recognition.
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Funding for South African higher education is inadequate considering past inequalities. Even more alarming is the fact that plans for research development and innovation in science remain elusive.
21 years into democracy, are South Africa’s university students showing other citizens how best to hold the state accountable?
EPA/Ihsaan Haffejee
University students in South Africa have shown the potential of mass mobilisation to influence policy in advancing justice for their constitutional democratic rights.
Phishing is a growing problem across Africa. South Africa has the highest number of victims.
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Cyber security has been identified as a global challenge, with Africa facing renewed threats through increasing internet use across many platforms.
A doctor observes mosquitoes to better understand the malaria parasite which has been developing a resistance to the anti-malarial drugs.
Reuters/RIcardo Rojas
Since the 1940s, it’s been common for political moderates to move to the fore in South Africa – then, intermittently, to the background. They are replaced by radicals or exclusivist nationalists.
It has been an exciting month for Africa, not least for the highly controversial elections in Tanzania, where the annulment of the entire vote in Zanzibar has played an important role in extending the…
South Africa is heavily dependent on burning coal to generate electricity.
Jon Hrusa/EPA
Environmental racism remains a reality in South Africa. It is poor, black citizens who live on the most damaged land and in the most polluted neighbourhoods.
A young girl plays inside a mosquito net in Kibera, Nairobi.
EPA/Stephen Morrison
Students have won an important victory. But to understand the complex nature of oppression and how to respond to it will require many struggles over a longer period of time.
The Chinese have helped build more than 300 dams in Africa, like this one on the Congo River.
Reuters
South Africans’ access to important knowledge and research is incredibly limited. In this time of Open Access, why is this the case – and will it ever change?
South Africa’s university students – and academics – are coming out of the shadows to share their stories and change the system.
Nic Bothma/EPA
An academic who has marched alongside students during university fee protests in South Africa explains why their demands resonate with her and so many others.
Students protest a planned tuition hike outside the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
Siphiwe Sibeko/REUTERS
Police brutality is an ongoing problem in South Africa. Police-worn body cameras may help reduce such incidents by improving accountability. They may also contribute to the safety of officers.
People throughout Africa can play a part in the work of the Square Kilometre Array even if they are not scientists.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
Citizen science will ensure that the skies have no limit when it comes to research, as ordinary people are encouraged to take part in simple acts of exploration.
Nelson Mandela was a lawyer, an activist, a political prisoner and a president. He was also a man who loved learning.
Reuters
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand