Featured Research: People & Society

Talking Point

South Africa must address hesitancy to increase COVID vaccination: here’s how

In February 2021, as the first COVID-19 vaccinations were rolled out to healthcare workers in South Africa, there was a renewed sense of hope in the fight against SARS-CoV-2. At the time there were concerns around vaccine procurement and inequity in vaccine distribution. But in the latter part of the year the major obstacle was a slow uptake of the vaccine among the South African public.

Story

University of Pretoria study reveals hand sanitisers in Gauteng and Tshwane to be substandard

A scientist from the University of Pretoria (UP) has found that commercial, off-the-shelf hand sanitisers used by the public in Gauteng and Tshwane do not contain the recommended alcohol content, and are mostly incorrectly labelled according to local and international standards.

Talking Point

How changes to South Africa’s value-added tax affect compliance among small firms

As the quote from US president Franklin D Roosevelt in 1936 suggests, governments across the world need to collect tax revenue to be able to provide public goods and services to their citizens. There are a number of forms of taxes. The most common taxes are personal income tax, corporate income tax, and value-added tax (VAT).

Talking Point

The hunt for coronavirus variants: how the new one was found and what we know so far

Since early in the COVID pandemic, the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa has been monitoring changes in SARS-CoV-2. This was a valuable tool to understand better how the virus spread. In late 2020, the network detected a new virus lineage, 501Y.V2, which later became known as the beta variant. Now a new SARS-CoV-2 variant has been identified – B.1.1.529. The World Health...

Lecture

'Implications of a Green Economic Recovery for South Africa'

South Africa faces the challenge of promoting short-term economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, while ensuring long-term, environmentally sustainable prosperity. The research described here explores the tensions and opportunities presented by this challenge from two different modelling exercises. The results reveal that economic recovery, without strong green policies, will...

Talking Point

Zakes Mda on his latest novel, set in Lesotho’s musical gang wars

Zakes Mda is one of South Africa’s best-loved novelists – though he is also a celebrated playwright, children’s book author and an increasingly visible painter. His latest novel, Wayfarers’ Hymns, is at once full of drama and mirth, set in Lesotho and playing out in the bloody world of famo musicians. At a launch of the book at the University of Pretoria, Dr Nokuthula Mazibuko-Msimang...