The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC)
The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal published by the LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg. AJIC's content focuses on dimensions of digital, electronic and physical ecosystems that facilitate information, communication, innovation and transformation in African settings and in the broader Global South.
LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
International Mobile Roaming: Progress and Challenges in African Markets
The persistence of high prices for international mobile roaming services, in contrast to falling national mobile prices, has been a recognised item on the global regulatory agenda for half a decade. In Africa, there have been studies and discussions about regulatory options in regional economic groups and in the various networks of national regulators. As yet, there has been no transnational regulatory action. Yet the initiative of one large operator saw the introduction of transnational tariff schemes (ie without a surcharge for roaming), forcing competitors to collaborate in order to respond, if they wished to attract and to retain customers. This has both saved money for consumers and greatly reduced the need for regulatory interventions that might have proved counterproductive. In some countries this type of offer remains impossible, because international gateways are a monopoly, having yet to be opened to competition.
Copyright (c) 2011 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
How are BRICS countries building AI sovereignty? Introduction to Thematic Section
In this article, the author provides an introduction to the AJIC Thematic Section: BRICS Countries and AI Sovereignty.
Thematic Section: BRICS Countries and AI Sovereignty
artificial intelligence (AI), AI sovereignty, BRICS
Copyright (c) 2025 Luca Belli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
AI-adoption attitudes in Southern Africa’s higher education sector: A pilot survey using the capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour (COM-B) model
Artificial intelligence (AI) drives innovation but faces numerous potential challenges to adoption. This pilot survey applied the capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour (COM-B) model to examine AI adoption attitudes in the Southern African higher education sector. The study sought to evaluate the extent to which the COM-B framework, rooted in behavioural science, can generate AI-adoption insights that would be complementary to insights generated by established information systems (IS) adoption models, such as the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Potential facilitators and barriers with respect to adoption of AI tools adoption were mapped against COM-B domains to develop a 10-point Likert-type scale survey that was piloted with 33 individuals working in the Southern African higher education sector. The findings identified key facilitators of AI as adequate technological infrastructure, readiness to address clients’ ethical concerns, and beliefs that AI tools benefit clients. The dominant barrier identified was clients’ potential ethical concerns regarding AI use in decision-making.
artificial intelligence (AI), adoption; higher education sector, Southern Africa, capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour (COM-B) model
Copyright (c) 2025 Mark E. Patterson, Johan Breytenbach, Ian Coffman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Detection of GenAI-produced and student-written C# code: A comparative study of classifier algorithms and code stylometry features
The prevalence of students using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to produce program code is such that certain courses are rendered ineffective because students can avoid learning the required skills. Meanwhile, detecting GenAI code and differentiating between GenAI-produced and human-written code are becoming increasingly challenging. This study tested the ability of six classifier algorithms to detect GenAI C# code and to distinguish it from C# code written by students at a South African university. A large dataset of verified student-written code was collated from first-year students at South Africa’s University of the Free State, and corresponding GenAI code produced by Blackbox.AI, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot was generated and collated. Code metric features were extracted using modified Roslyn APIs. The data was organised into four sets with an equal number of student-written and AI-generated code, and a machine- learning model was deployed with the four sets using six classifiers: extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), AdaBoost, random forest, and soft voting (with XGBoost, KNN and SVM as inputs). It was found that the GenAI C# code produced by Blackbox.AI, ChatGPT, and Copilot could, with a high degree of accuracy, be identified and distinguished from student-written C# code through use of the classifier algorithms, with XGBoost performing strongest in detecting GenAI code and random forest performing best in identification of student-written code.
C# code, generative AI (GenAI) code, student-written code, machine-learning, code classification, code stylometry features
Copyright (c) 2025 Adewuyi Adetayo Adegbite, Eduan Kotzé https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Towards AI sovereignty: The good, the bad, and the ugly of AI policy in India
India’s approach to artificial intelligence (AI) policy reflects a mix of ambition, creativity, and inconsistency. While the country has made significant strides in areas such as computational capacity, data protection fundamentals, and connectivity, its AI sovereignty efforts are hampered by a lack of strategic coherence, inadequate cybersecurity, and an absence of algorithmic-accountability legislation. This article evaluates India’s AI policy through the lens of the key AI sovereignty enablers (KASE) framework (Belli, 2023; CyberBRICS, 2024), highlighting positive precursors, opportunities for improvement, and fundamental shortcomings of the Indian approach. It argues that India’s reactive and fragmented policymaking, coupled with frequent shifts in direction, undermines its potential to achieve AI sovereignty. The article concludes with recommendations for a more cohesive and forward-looking AI strategy that aligns with India’s long- term interests.
artificial intelligence (AI), AI sovereignty, India, policy, computational capacity, data protection, connectivity, cybersecurity, algorithmic accountability
Copyright (c) 2025 Jai Vipra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Understanding interrelationships between AI and digital public infrastructure (DPI) in India and Brazil
The conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) has gained tremendous momentum, especially since the onset of widespread use of generative AI. While certain countries dominate AI’s discourse, development and deployment, others are rushing to see how AI strategies can be built for their economies, in an effort to avoid missing out on potential benefits. To that end, many countries, including the BRICS nations, are seeking to develop their own competencies for AI development and are working towards greater AI sovereignty. In this context, the conversation around digital public infrastructure (DPI) is critical, given that both AI and DPI have the potential, when implemented well, to mutually advance the public good. In this article, we discuss the interrelationships between AI and DPI, with a particular emphasis on how this interrelationship is being operationalised in India and Brazil. We suggest two broad frames—AI for DPI, and DPI for AI—and examine the frameworks that integrate AI and DPI. We also point to some emergent risks and future considerations that countries and their policymakers need to take into account when considering interactions between AI and DPI.
artificial intelligence (AI), digital public infrastructure (DPI), digital public goods, AI sovereignty, public values, AI governance
Copyright (c) 2025 Amrita Sengupta, Alexandre Costa Barbosa, Mila Samdub https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
BRICS countries and AI sovereignty: Introduction to Thematic Section
artificial intelligence (AI), AI sovereignty, digital sovereignty, BRICS
Copyright (c) 2024 Luca Belli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Use of information-fusion deep-learning techniques to detect possible electricity theft: A proposed method
The performance of electricity utilities in many African countries is undermined by electricity theft. Such non-technical losses (NTLs) pose significant economic challenges to electricity grids, leading to the need for improved detection methods. This study tested an NTL detection method that transformed electricity consumption (EC) profiles into two-dimensional (2D) and one-dimensional (1D) representations, and utilised deep-learning techniques, specifically convolutional neural networks (CNN) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP), to extract features indicating NTLs. This NTL detection method involved three parallel branches: analysing temporal information from application of a Markov transition field (MTF) to EC patterns; analysing spectral information from application of the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) tool; and extracting frequent co-occurrence features from 1D consumption patterns. CNN and MLP were employed within the three branches to capture information from the 2D and 1D inputs, respectively. The features extracted from the three branches were then aggregated through information fusion and applied to EC datasets produced by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and the Irish Commission for Energy Regulation (CER). This multi-branch approach was found to offer strong NTL detection accuracy. With the SGCC dataset, the method achieved an AUC (area under the curve) of 96.7%, a mAP@100 (mean average precision at 100) of 95.7%, and an FPR (false positive rate) of 8.1%. With the CER dataset, the method achieved an AUC of 96.7%, a mAP@100 of 97.3%, and an FPR of 5.2%.
Copyright (c) 2025 Maria G. Chuwa, Daniel Ngondya, Rukia Mwifunyi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Russia’s securitised approach to AI sovereignty
In the context of the world’s major powers competing for dominance in the artificial intelligence (AI) realm, Russia aims to become a global leader in AI development. This article evaluates Russian AI governance through the lenses of the key AI sovereignty enablers (KASE) framework and the Copenhagen School’s securitisation theory. The Russian government’s approach to AI governance, in line with its broader approach to digital governance, grants extensive powers to state security and law enforcement entities, while major domestic AI market players are state-influenced. This securitised approach to AI sovereignty and governance stems from concerns about the country’s stability, alongside a high degree of politicisation of digital governance. The article argues that the likely impact of Russian securitisation of AI governance will be further consolidation of state control over AI innovations and a narrowing of the space for non-state technological developments.
Russia, artificial intelligence (AI), AI sovereignty, securitisation, digital economy
Copyright (c) 2025 Alexander Ignatov, Danil Kerimi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Healthcare research and development (R&D) as reflected in digital news: Analysis from Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa
This study used a new open-source repository of African news media to study coverage of healthcare research and development (R&D) in the news ecosystems of Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. A corpus of more than 5 million potentially relevant news articles was filtered through refined queries, ultimately yielding 2,917 highly topically relevant articles from 377 publications. These were analysed using both computational natural language processing (NLP) and manual qualitative analysis. The study revealed the following: the types of healthcare developments that were making news in each of the three countries (e.g., new medical technologies, activities of high-profile individuals in the health space, and health sector-building events); the diseases and conditions being prioritised (e.g., HIV/AIDS and mental health); the key stakeholders in the sector (e.g., government officials and funding organisations); and the media narratives around the impact of healthcare R&D (including emphasis on digital health). The study illustrates the value of using large news datasets to gain a deeper understanding of developments and discourse around rapidly evolving topics of high social importance, such as healthcare.
research and development (R&D), news media, media monitoring, big data, free and open-source software, healthcare
Copyright (c) 2024 Emily Boardman Ndulue, Sandra Roberts, Praise Ocheanya Abraham https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Analysis of cyber incidents in Senegal from 2005 to 2023
This article presents findings from a review of cyber incidents that occurred in Senegal between 2005 and 2023. Twenty-six incidents were identified, and they were analysed in terms of their frequency, incident type, perpetrator type, and victim type. The study found that cyber incidents are increasing in frequency in the country; that the most common incident types are cybercrimes and compromised websites; that the most frequent perpetrators are cybercriminals and hackers; that state/political organisations are slightly more likely than non-state/political entities to be attacked; that the most common incident type experienced by state/political entities is a compromised website; that the most frequent incident type for non-state/political organisations is cybercrime; and that insider attacks are much less common than external attacks, but still occur at a level that is a cause for concern. Based on the findings, the author recommends, inter alia, improved Senegalese government monitoring and reporting of cyber threats, with an emphasis on cooperation between the state’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT-Senegal, or SNCSIRT) and the CSIRT-Universitaire established by tertiary institutions in the country.
cybersecurity, cyber incidents, cyberattacks, cybercrimes, compromised websites, data exposure, denial-of-service (DoS), ransomware, Senegal
Copyright (c) 2024 Ciré Sall https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Regulatory Effectiveness: Stakeholder Perceptions of Namibia’s Communications Regulatory Framework
Communications regulatory frameworks are established to achieve myriad regulatory objectives. These may include affordable pricing, consumer welfare and competition. A regulatory framework is therefore endowed with regulatory governance measures and regulatory incentives to enable it to achieve these purposes. In applying these measures and incentives, the framework becomes effective, or ineffective, depending on whether the regulatory purpose is met. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to assess the perceptions of the stakeholders, as active participants in the evolution of the framework, regarding the effectiveness of the types of measures and incentives implemented within the Namibian institutional context. Perception studies can be valuable because they offer insight on how the policies, laws and regulations that are implemented are viewed by the stakeholders for whom they are designed and implemented. While these are not the only inputs, knowledge of stakeholder views informs the future redesign of these measures and incentives to make the regulatory framework increasingly more effective. One of the main findings of the research was that the perceived conflict of interests between the ICT policy role of the Ministry of ICT and its shareholder role over Telecom Namibia negatively impacts competition. Its policy support for the dominant role of Telecom Namibia is in conflict with the regulatory purpose of encouraging private investment. The conclusion was that this regulatory governance design measure conflicts with the regulatory framework and requires legislative amendment and a re-design of the framework in an effort to improve competitiveness in Namibia's electronic communications market.
Thematic Issue: Economic regulation and regulatory performance
Copyright (c) 2015 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Technology Transfer for Climate Change Mitigation: A Perspective from Kenya
The impact of climate change continues to be experienced worldwide. Treaties such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of 1992 and the UNFCCC Paris Agreement of 2015 demonstrate the value that UN Member States attach to reaching consensus on climate change mitigation steps. In this thematic report, the author looks at the issue of climate change mitigation technology transfer (TT) from a Kenyan perspective, specifically with reference to Kenya’s National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP), and to provisions in Kenya’s patent law that are relevant to TT licensing agreements between foreign and Kenyan entities.
Copyright (c) 2016 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Treatment of Kenya's Internet Intermediaries under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018
Kenya has this year enacted the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018. This article reviews the Act from the perspective of internet intermediaries, with a view to establishing the impact the Act is expected to have on intermediaries' operations. The article outlines key concerns regarding the Act's provisions in respect of obligations and liabilities of intermediaries, particularly with regard to obligations to support state agencies. Recommendations are made for how the Act could be amended to cater more optimally to both state and intermediary concerns.
Copyright (c) 2018 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Digital Transformation in South Africa's Short-Term Insurance Sector: Traditional Insurers' Responses to the Internet of Things (IoT) and Insurtech
This article explores the impact of the internet of things (IoT) and insurtech on South Africa's short-term insurance industry. The research found, based on interviews with high-level players in or connected to the South African industry, that while IoT and insurtech are significant potential drivers, the country’s incumbent insurers have to date been slow to adopt these digital transformation elements in their business models. This article outlines the drivers of IoT and insurtech, the factors influencing the slow adoption of these elements by traditional South African insurers, and recommendations for the adoption of these elements by South African insurers.
Copyright (c) 2019 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Factors Impacting Tanzanian Rural and Peri-urban Drug Dispensaries' Perceived Benefits from Using an mHealth Reporting System
This study examines the factors impacting Tanzanian drug dispensaries' perceptions of the potential benefits of using a mobile health (mHealth) reporting system. Since 2003, the Government of Tanzania has implemented its Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlet (ADDO) programme in support of dispensaries in under-served rural and peri-urban areas. A core element of this ADDO programme is the dispensary use of an mHealth application for reporting on the drugs they are dispensing and the medical conditions that are being treated. This study canvassed the views of ADDO programme dispensaries using the mHealth reporting system in the Iringa, Mbeya, and Njombe Regions, through a survey questionnaire completed by 318 dispensaries and focus group discussions with 38 dispensary personnel. The data revealed that four factors-system quality, information quality, service quality, and price value-are all having a statistically significant impact on dispensaries' perceptions of the potential benefits of using the mHealth system.
extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2)
Copyright (c) 2020 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cyber-Threat Information-Sharing Standards: A Review of Evaluation Literature
Cyber-threat information-sharing tools, through which cybersecurity teams share threat information, are essential to combatting today's increasingly frequent and sophisticated cyber-attacks. Several cyber-threat information-sharing standards exist, but there is at present no single standard or set of standards widely adopted by organisations and by computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs) operating at organisational, sectoral, national, and international levels. This introduces an interoperability problem in respect of communication across the various organisations and CSIRTs. Harmonised adoption of threat information-sharing standards would be of great benefit to cybersecurity efforts. In an effort to support harmonised use of cyber-threat information-sharing standards, this article provides findings from a review of the extant literature on such standards.
computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs)
Assessing the Potential Role of Open Data in South African Environmental Management
This study explores the possibilities for open data as a knowledge governance mechanism that could benefit environmental management in South Africa. The authors consider the potential benefits of open data in support of public participatory governance modalities, and the legislative frameworks and Constitutional Court stance in South Africa in support of the right of access to information and proactive disclosure of environmental information. The article also looks at potential barriers to effective use of open data in South Africa. The authors find that effective deployment of open data as a means to support participatory environmental governance will require a dedicated South African open data legal instrument, as well as political will to compile the necessary data, and steps to ensure meaningful citizen data access and use.
Access to Africa's Knowledge: Publishing Development Research and Measuring Value
This paper reviews, critically, the discourse of research publication policy and the directives of the regional and global organisations that advise African countries with respect to their relevance to African scholarly communication. What emerges is a readiness to use the concepts and language of the public good, making claims for the power of technology to resolve issues of African development. However, when it comes to implementing scholarly publication policies, this vision of technological power and development-focused scientific output is undermined by a reversion to a conservative research culture that relies on competitive systems for valuing and accrediting scholarship, predicated upon the systems and values managed by powerful global commercial publishing consortia. The result is that the policies put in place to advance African research effectively act as an impediment to ambitions for a revival of a form of scholarship that could drive continental growth. While open access publishing models offer solutions to the marginalisation of African research, the paper argues that what is also needed is a re-evaluation of the values that underpin the recognition of scholarly publishing, to better align with the continent’s articulated research goals.
Copyright (c) 2010 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Regulation in pursuit of artificial intelligence (AI) sovereignty: China’s mix of restrictive and facilitative modalities
With the geopoliticisation of the digital economy, the realisation of artificial intelligence (AI) sovereignty is increasingly influenced by the geopolitical manoeuvrings into which a state is drawn. China, the EU, and the US currently form the three poles of AI in the world. The EU has emerged as a global leader in AI regulation, and the US is currently a world leader in AI innovation. The research outlined in this article explored how China’s regulators are responding to these two currents of geopolitical pressure, from the EU and the US. The study found that China’s response manifests as a dual-track AI regulatory approach, comprising (1) a mix of restrictive and facilitative regulation at the central level; and (2) facilitative regulation at the local level.
artificial intelligence (AI), AI sovereignty, restrictive regulation, facilitative regulation, China, EU, US
Copyright (c) 2024 Aifang Ma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Risks of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)-assisted scams on online sharing-economy platforms
The prevalence of scams proliferating via online platforms has been identified as an emerging societal problem resulting in large-scale financial losses for victims. Online scams typically rely for their success on the generation of fake but convincing user profiles to conceal the identities of the scammers from the people being tricked into parting with their money. The increasing sophistication of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which can produce outputs indistinguishable from real content, thus carries the risk of being adopted by fraudsters to assist in the enactment of online scams. This article considers the risks of the potential uptake and use of GenAI applications by online scammers operating in the sharing economy, with a focus on homestay-marketplace platforms and, in particular, the largest such platform, Airbnb.
online scams, fraud, artificial intelligence (AI), generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), sharing economy, homestay-marketplace platforms, Airbnb
Copyright (c) 2024 Julie Reid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
South African Electoral Commission’s mobile app for voters: Data privacy and security dimensions
In 2014, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (also known the “IEC”) launched a mobile app to support voter participation in electoral processes. The app, called IEC South Africa, can be used to verify, update, and confirm a voter’s registration details and voting station. It also provides an interface for special-vote applications and real-time election results. This study conducted a privacy and security analysis of the app, through a compliance review of the IEC’s privacy policy in terms of the South African data protection legislation, followed by an analysis of the app’s APK files, permissions, third-party trackers, and vulnerabilities, including API (application programming interface) calls. The analysis revealed several security and privacy concerns, including inadequately secured API keys, the potential for unauthorised access, and the potential for data breaches. In addition, the presence of advertising and analytics trackers suggested third-party data-sharing, raising concerns about transparency and user consent. The study draws attention to the need for the IEC to take action to address the app’s security and privacy weaknesses. The study also demonstrates the importance of data minimisation, transparent practices, and adherence to privacy policies in order to maintain user trust and security in electoral technology.
elections, voters, technology, mobile apps, data privacy, data security, South Africa, Electoral Commission, IEC
Copyright (c) 2024 Nawal Omar, Scott Timcke https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Information systems (IS) and smallholder farming in developing countries: A systematic literature review
In the context of the fourth industrial revolution, the potential of information systems (IS) to revolutionise smallholder farming practices and enhance sustainability is a topic of growing interest, particularly in developing countries. This systematic literature review examines the intersection of agriculture and IS to explore how technology adoption can help to transform small-scale, subsistence farming enterprises into profit-generating, sustainable small businesses, while at the same time addressing the unique challenges present in developing-world contexts. The review critically examines the potential barriers and challenges faced by smallholder farmers in adopting and effectively using IS solutions in their operations. Among other things, the review investigates the assumption of basic literacy in many IS theories, and the extent to which this assumption aligns with the reality of developing-world smallholder farming communities, where literacy levels and digital proficiency may be limited.
information systems (IS), smallholder farming, developing world, technology adoption, sustainable agriculture, literacy, food security
Copyright (c) 2024 Peter Mkhize https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Brazil’s Artificial Intelligence Plan (PBIA) of 2024: Enabler of AI sovereignty?
This study assesses the extent to which the Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Plan (PBIA, Plano Brasileiro de Inteligência Artificial) of 2024 supports the country’s pursuit of AI sovereignty. The authors map the financial allocations to the PBIA’s 54 proposed structural actions against the components of Belli’s (2023a; 2023b) key AI sovereignty enablers (KASE) framework: data, algorithms, computing capacity, connectivity, electricity, education, cybersecurity, and regulation. The study finds that the PBIA’s structural actions support six of the KASE enablers, in the following order of priority: algorithms, data, computing capacity, education, electricity, and cybersecurity. Close to 50% of the PBIA’s proposed investments for structural actions are found to be for actions related to the algorithms enabler in the KASE framework, followed by 20% for actions connected to the data enabler, 20% for actions supporting the computing capacity enabler, and 11% for actions related to the education enabler. Much lower levels of expenditure are set out in the PBIA for the electricity enabler (2%) and the cybersecurity enabler (1%). The authors analyse the implications of the PBIA’s prioritisations for Brazil’s progress towards AI development and AI sovereignty.
artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms, data, computing capacity, education, electricity, cybersecurity, AI sovereignty, key AI sovereignty enablers (KASE), Brazil, Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Plan, Plano Brasileiro de Inteligência Artificial (PBIA)
Copyright (c) 2024 Germano P. Johansson Neto, Viviane C. Farias da Costa, Walter Britto Gaspar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Non-compliant health record-keeping in South Africa: Judicial responses, and progress towards a digital remedy
Numerous South African public health facilities fail to meet their record-keeping obligations as required by law. One of the impacts of this non-compliant medical record-keeping is, as this study found, the undermining of medical negligence claims. The study reviewed numerous South African medical negligence court cases in which an absence of comprehensive, reliable patient records was central to the court’s judgment. The research also examined progress towards, and challenges facing, the South African government’s efforts to improve medical record-keeping through implementation of a national, digital Health Patient Registration System (HPRS) comprising online electronic medical records (EMRs) linked to unique personal identifiers. Based on the study findings, this article concludes with a call for the South African courts to take steps to compel the state, and public health facilities, to meet the record-keeping requirements contained in the country’s applicable legal- regulatory and policy instruments.
health care, records, medical negligence claims, court proceedings, judicial decisions, electronic medical records (EMRs), Health Patient Registration System (HPRS), South Africa
Copyright (c) 2024 Omowamiwa Kolawole https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Intersections between civic technology (civic tech) and governance in Nigeria and South Africa
This study explores the drivers and impact of the civic technology (“civic tech”) ecosystems in Nigeria and South Africa, with a focus on civic tech actors’ engagement with governance matters in the two countries. Framed by a social accountability conceptual framework and based on data collected from an African civic tech database and interviews with civic tech players in both countries, the research explored the work of 26 initiatives in each country. Based on the content in the civic tech database, it was found that, in both countries, civic tech initiatives’ foci could be grouped into five categories: (1) citizen engagement and participation; (2) accountability and transparency; (3) service delivery and government responsiveness; (4) improving and/or helping government; and (5) policy. The emphases among these foci were found to be largely similar between the two countries, with the exception of the fourth category of focus—improving and/ or helping government—which was significantly more prominent in the work of the South African initiatives than in the work of their Nigerian counterparts. A similar difference was identified in the findings from the interviews with Nigerian and South African civic tech actors. The South African interviewees identified, to a greater extent than the Nigerian interviewees, a collaborative ethos that was bringing government entities and civic tech actors together to jointly implement projects, including projects that had been fully integrated into the operations of government departments.
civic technology (civic tech), governance, digitisation, social accountability, open data, Nigeria, South Africa
Copyright (c) 2024 Melissa Zisengwe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Pastoralists’ use of mobile phones for livestock management in Karamoja, Uganda
In the semi-arid pastoral region of Karamoja in Uganda, foot and mouth disease and tick infestations remain leading causes of livestock losses and lower milk production, costing the regional economy over USD92 million per year. This study investigated the use of mobile phones for livestock management among pastoralists in Karamoja. A total of 29 pastoralists were convened in focus group discussions (FGDs), and 11 government veterinary extension workers were interviewed. The FGDs and interviews explored the pastoralists’ existing uses of mobile phones for livestock management, the challenges they face in pursuing these uses, and the additional uses they would like to see in the future. The findings were then analysed through the lens of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), generating lessons that may be useful to the Ugandan government and other stakeholders seeking to support pastoralists’ livelihoods.
pastoralists, livestock management, mobile phones, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), Uganda, Karamoja
Copyright (c) 2024 Rigan Mark Acheke, Emmanuel Eilu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Infrastructure, human capital, and online teaching during COVID-19 disruptions: Teachers’ experiences at five South African private schools
This study explored the lessons that were learnt about online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic in five private high schools in a suburb of Pretoria. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with 15 schoolteachers (three from each school), in which they were asked about their experiences with, and perceptions of, the online teaching that they and their schools provided during the periods in 2020 when in-person schooling was prohibited in South Africa due to the pandemic. Thematic analysis of the interview data produced two categories of factors that affected the ability of teachers to successfully offer online-only teaching and learning: infrastructural factors and human capital factors. Drawing on the teachers’ inputs in these thematic areas, four lessons learnt were determined, as follows: ensure reliable power supply in support of internet connectivity; allow teacher internet connectivity on a bring your own device (BYOD) basis; ensure practical and up-to-date teacher skills in online teaching; and harness the power of peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing.
COVID-19, lockdowns, online learning, private schools, South Africa, infrastructure, internet connectivity, human capital, teachers, peer-to-peer learning
Copyright (c) 2023 Baldreck Chipangura https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Complexities of competition regulation in Zimbabwe’s mobile money sector
This study explores the complexities of competition regulation in Zimbabwe’s mobile money sector—through an analysis of EcoCash’s market position and practices, and the regulatory steps taken in response. The study is grounded in the competition complaint made in 2014 by Zimbabwean banks against EcoCash to the Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC), wherein EcoCash was alleged to have initially refused to share its unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) infrastructure with banks; and then later to have granted access only on discriminatory terms. The research assessed the market structure and market power in the Zimbabwe mobile money sector; the regulatory challenges that these market features pose; the market power and conduct of EcoCash; and the effectiveness of the measures taken by regulators to address the competition concerns raised in relation to EcoCash. The findings indicated that, in spite of regulatory attempts to dilute its power in the market, EcoCash was, at the time of the core data collection in 2021–22, still in a dominant position in Zimbabwe’s mobile money market.
mobile money, competition regulation, network effects, market power, market dominance, Zimbabwe, EcoCash
Copyright (c) 2023 Siphiwe Ncube https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Mergers and acquisitions between online automobile-marketplace platforms: Responses by competition authorities in South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom
This study explores how competition authorities in three jurisdictions—South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom—have responded to proposed corporate mergers and acquisitions involving online intermediation platforms that provide automobile marketplaces. The article examines the notified (and ultimately prohibited) MIH eCommerce Holdings acquisition of WeBuyCars in South Africa; the notified (and authorised) Gumtree acquisition of Cox Media in Australia; and, in the UK, the notified (and authorised) eBay acquisition of Motors.co.uk. The author evaluates the competition considerations that came to the fore in each of these three cases and, based on these determinations, the competition authorities’ decisions. The article then highlights some of the complexities that digital online intermediation platforms pose for competition authorities, and some of the possible ways in which the complexities can be managed.
Copyright (c) 2023 Megan Friday https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0