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Daily Maverick
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Why punish the children of 2025 for the apartheid sins of their parents?
Bidvest's recent handling of its bursary scheme deeply unsettles me. The company has a bursary programme for students from grades 4 to 12. The bursary covers school fees, stationery, school uniforms and assistance with extra classes. Full-time employees earning less than R15,300 per month before deductions may apply. However, the programme is only for black, coloured or Indian employees. White employees' children are explicitly excluded. It reminds me of the day I was chased out of the post office because the child in me was too naïve to see the 'whites only' notice. The door for coloured people was at the back. It also reminded me of the time when I had to wait for the train as a student at the University of the Western Cape, but couldn't sit on the bench that had the words 'for whites only' written on it. I vowed to myself that I would do everything in my power to prevent any child from being hurt like that again. If it hadn't been for a good Samaritan who took care of me when I was a poor student so that I could receive a bursary, I would not be in the position to write this article today. In its defence, Bidvest states that the trust was established in 2003 as part of a corporate social investment structure that formed part of a consortium for black economic empowerment. They further argue that in accordance with the principles and philosophy of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003, the trust was established with the sole purpose of uplifting historically disadvantaged individuals who are employees of the Bidvest Group. It has been in operation for 22 years and has been very successful in changing the lives of their employees and their families, states a release from the company's communications firm. With regards to the success of the programme, I will not argue, and I want to give Bidvest credit for the fact that 22 years ago it was indeed important to uplift historically disadvantaged black people. However, this is not what is being discussed here. On its website, the company states that they want to make a meaningful 'impact on society' in a way that is 'innovative' and that the company is 'influenced by the context within which it operates'. They want to do this in a 'unique and resilient' way within an adaptable structure. The board members of Bidvest will agree with me that the circumstances today look significantly different than 22 years ago. After 30 years of a democratic order, the playing field is completely different. Today you find poor children across a wide spectrum of South African society. It is no longer restricted to just black children. As vice-dean at the University of Stellenbosch's Faculty of Education, it was my task to administer bursaries. I am also involved in the Foundation for Empowerment through Afrikaans (Stigting vir Bemagtiging deur Afrikaans, SBA) Honours programme and Rapport's education bursary fund. Over the past 20 years I have seen how our financial landscape has changed. Poverty knows – unlike 22 years ago – no colour. Students who are dependent on bursaries have increased among all families. Therefore, no student should be disadvantaged. The only criterion should be whether the child qualifies for the bursary and whether or not their parents can afford their studies. Also, the context in which the company currently operates differs from when the bursary scheme was established. Today, all employees can progress to the boardroom. I would really like to know how Bidvest looks its staff in the eye knowing that the company has failed to help all the needy children. What impact does this have on healthy relationships in the boardroom when employees who earn the same do not receive equal treatment? I acknowledge the terms of the trust that was established 22 years ago, but surely a company that prides itself on being adaptable and innovative could have made a plan to start a new bursary scheme from which all its employees can benefit? Nelson Mandela once said: 'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.' These words of Madiba emphasise the transformative potential of education and highlight the critical role that education plays in promoting social, economic and political change. It is time for all of us – including Bidvest – to act on Madiba's words. Therefore, I could not remain silent when Bidvest ran a bursary programme 'only for black, coloured and Indian' children. It brings back all the pain and sorrow of the past. Children of 2025 had no part in South Africa's apartheid past. Why punish them for the sins of their forefathers? All children have dreams. All children are born in innocence. It is adults who raise children to be racists. After 30 years of democracy, it's time for us to banish words like whites, blacks, coloureds and Indians from our vocabulary. They do not belong in a democratic dispensation. According to their website, Bidvest deems all forms of discrimination based on race as illegal and they will not tolerate it. Furthermore, the company says: 'We do the right thing, even when no one else is looking.'
IOL News
a day ago
- Science
- IOL News
Exploring Paarl-Kaaps: a linguistic study on extraposition and identity
Lawren Hayley Smith Image: UWC A groundbreaking study by Lawren Hayley Smith from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) for her Master's thesis sheds light on the under-documented linguistic system of Paarl-Kaaps, a colloquial variety of Kaaps spoken primarily by coloured communities in the Western Cape. The research, titled Extraposition and Optionality: An Investigation of Information Packaging in Paarl-Kaaps, explores the syntactic phenomenon of extraposition - which involves the displacement of constituents from the middle to the end of the clause - and its role in shaping social identity. Paarl-Kaaps is a West Germanic language with unique grammatical features. Despite its historical roots in Cape Dutch, Kaaps has evolved independently within marginalised communities, distinguishing itself from the standardised languages promoted in formal education and media.. Smith's study highlights how extraposition, a common feature in West Germanic languages, operates in Paarl-Kaaps, offering insights into its grammatical flexibility and sociolinguistic functions. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Director of the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR) and Professor of Linguistics in the Linguistics Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Quentin Williams, said Kaaps, also known as Afrikaaps, is, and remains, a historically marginalised language. 'It has become that, or forged into that, because of colonialism, apartheid nationalism in the past, but also linguistic knowledge that has been formed within colonial history and apartheid, which has sustained the marginalisation," said Prof Williams. He stated that colonial and apartheid linguists significantly contributed to the stigmatisation of Afrikaaps through the knowledge they produced for the apartheid state and the colonial franchise governing the Cape. 'Today, linguists challenge us to create new forms of knowledge. Not only in terms of who the speakers are, but in terms of their bilingualism and multilingualism, especially when we describe the language practice of Afrikaaps speakers,' said Prof Williams. He added that Afrikaaps speakers use language in a very creative and intelligent way in which they practise their form of bilingualism and multilingualism, and this gives meaning to their identities, emphasising that these speakers were not a homogeneous group. Smith's study reveals that extraposition in Paarl-Kaaps is not random, but influenced by grammatical, pragmatic and social factors. Key findings include: Extraposition frequently involves adverbial modifiers, particularly prepositional phrases such as *in die verkeerde straat* → "in the wrong street". Surprisingly, direct objects, which typically resist extraposition in other West Germanic languages, also show displacement in Paarl-Kaaps, albeit less frequently. Extraposition often highlights new or focused information, aligning with principles of "end-weight" and "end-focus," where heavier or more salient constituents appear at the end of clauses for clarity. The study suggests that speakers use extraposition variably to construct identity, adapting their speech based on interlocutors. For instance, younger speakers may restructure their grammar more dynamically than older generations. Smith's research analysed 760 clauses from spoken conversations among four Paarl-Kaaps speakers, divided by age (18–25 and 60+) and language background (Afrikaans-dominant vs bilingual). The corpus revealed that 13.03% of clauses exhibited extraposition, with higher rates in main clauses (12.52%) than in dependent clauses (14.59%). The study underscores how linguistic variation reflects social dynamics. Older speakers with Afrikaans-only backgrounds exhibited different extraposition patterns compared to younger, bilingual speakers. A significant finding of her thesis was that speakers adjusted their use of extraposition based on their conversation partners, suggesting a performative aspect to syntactic choices. Smith acknowledged limitations, such as the small sample size and the need for broader comparative studies with other Kaaps varieties. Future research could explore how extraposition interacts with other linguistic features, such as negation or verb-particle constructions, to paint a fuller picture of Paarl-Kaaps grammar. Prof Williams said Smith's thesis is extremely important because it adds to the growing body of knowledge, which has in recent years increased significantly, in terms of general linguistic theory and broadening the grammatical study of Kaaps. 'In the sense of Paarl-Kaaps, we get to understand that Kaaps is not a phenomenon only isolated to the Cape Flats; in fact, there are Kaaps speakers in Paarl, and in Swartland, Boland. There are Kaaps speakers in Ceres. There are Kaaps speakers all the way to Namibia, Pretoria and Joburg and across South Africa,' said Prof Williams. He said if the study of Kaaps as a linguistic system was taken seriously, then scholars would have a better understanding of how speakers organised meanings, words, sounds and thoughts.
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Science
- Daily Maverick
How harnessing AI could transform SA's food systems for sustainable growth and reduced waste
Reducing waste, adding nutrients to food staples, or even coming up with new recipes — computer scientists share some of the AI-powered innovations already taking shape in the Global South that could benefit African food systems. Artificial intelligence has come into the spotlight over the past decade and even more in the past five years with people getting more access to generative chatbot AI platforms such as ChatGPT. Researchers said there were different kinds of AI being used by countries in the Global South to help make their farming practices more efficient, from reducing food waste in the food system to fleet efficiency and making sense of food labels for consumers. The seventh annual Food Indaba explored topics under the theme 'Artificial Intelligence and the Food System'. The Indaba ran from 7 to 20 July. Looking at how AI technologies are shaping African food systems, the director of the eResearch Office at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Dr Clement Nyirenda, and research scientist and science communicator Frederic Isingizwe presented some of the top applications driven by AI that are being used in the food system. Their presentation was part of multiple discussions and panels hosted at Makers Landing, Cape Town, on Friday, 18 July 2025. In their predictive analysis, Nyirenda said AI would be used for 'forecasting yields, market demand, improved planning, reduced waste and supply chain optimisation'. Their presentation stated that the technology could also assist with tracing and managing inventory, optimising transport routes and food safety monitoring. Nyirenda explained that AI could help implement 'real-time monitoring of food quality and safety standards; climate resilience and climate modelling to adapt farming practices to changing weather patterns'. AI in food systems A number of AI innovations aimed at improving food systems are already being used to achieve sustainable and accessible food, especially for lower-income households. In Malawi, Tanzania and Rwanda there is Sanku's Project Healthy Children, an AI tool for nutrient-rich food processing. It works with small-scale flour mills and aims to combat malnutrition by fortifying flour with essential nutrients. Nyirenda found that the key challenges are 'equipment failures and calibration issues resulting in variable food quality'. He said AI could help 'auto-adjust micronutrient mixes during milling' while 'cloud-based AI analytics track dosing accuracy and machine performance and predictive maintenance alerts that will enable timely servicing and reduce waste'. In East Africa, Ghana, the Caribbean and South East Asia, AgUnity aims to help smallholder farmers with record keeping, coordination to have more organised harvesting, storage and distribution. This could help reduce 'significant food spoilage and waste in rural farming systems', said Nyirenda. 'AgUninty is a low-cost smartphone that uses a blockchain-powered transaction platform built to digitally empower remote farmers and address financial and reduce digital exclusion,' Nyirenda said to delegates. Koko is mainstreaming liquid bioethanol cooking fuel as a fast, safe and affordable alternative to dirty cooking fuels such as charcoal. They partner with the downstream fuels industry to 'drop in' this new fuel, and offer a suite of distribution, dispensing and end-use technologies that ensure customers can safely access clean fuel at prices that undercut dirty fuels. It has software-integrated bioethanol cookers that measure carbon impact. Nyirenda said he was surprised at some of the innovations already taking shape in the Global South. 'I chose these specifically because they are used in countries with a similar socioeconomic state to South Africa,' he said. He added that despite his tech science background, he had found himself roped into the work of food security and food systems through interdisciplinary collaboration with his colleagues at UWC's the Centre for Excellence in Food Security. 'AI can prevent the big food losses that happen in the food system. It can also help with quality control and other things such as helping to create recipes and new menus. People are coming up with cool ideas using these tools,' says Nyirenda. Obstacles to implementation Isingizwe shared the hindrances to rapid development of these technologies in the South African context, such as a distrust of the technology, especially in rural and farming communities. 'Obstacles in South Africa's agricultural sector can be a lack of reliable data for training AI models that are locally relevant, high costs associated with adopting AI technologies, particularly for smallholder farmers, a lack of training and expertise in AI among farmers and agricultural workers, and inadequate technological infrastructure in rural farming areas may limit access to technology and internet connectivity,' said Isingizwe. He pointed out that not having clear policies or frameworks governing AI for integrating it in food systems was a challenge and showed a resistance to change. 'Traditional farming practices may hinder the adoption of innovative technologies,' said Isingizwe. In his research he predicted that AI could help reduce post-harvest losses by 70%; increase farmer income by 20-40%; while retailer networks could reach more informal vendors with fewer vehicles. One of the delegates, a small-scale farmer from Langa, said he was not aware there was so much use of AI-powered technologies in agriculture already. 'I am older so I feel like this AI stuff has already left me. We are still dealing with simple issues like accessing markets and pulling together as smallholder farmers in the community.' Kurt Ackermann, the CEO of the South African Urban Food and Farming Trust, said that 'as the focus shifts toward the role of cities, and city planning, in addressing food security, AI could play a significant role in how the cities of the future — and by extension the food systems of the future — might better serve the needs of human beings. 'Conventional thinking about AI puts the technology at the centre of the discussion, whereas the creation of a more humane world — and how AI could help — is at the heart of Food Indaba 2025.' Ackerman also noted that although the discussion of the day was about the practical implementation of the technology, he wanted the discussion to keep in mind the question: How do we get food on people's tables? The South African Urban Food and Farming Trust has done immense work to help realise food security in urban spaces and has collaborated with multiple organisations for more than a decade, and even across South Africa's borders. DM
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Daily Maverick
Cybercrime's double target — seniors and Gen Z in the firing line
Cybercriminals are zeroing in on society's most vulnerable – the elderly and the young – using age as a weapon. The scale and brutality of these attacks are staggering, with millions lost and lives destroyed. At least two recent studies reveal the alarming trend towards exploitation of both young and old targets, leaving them open to sexual and financial exploitation. The May 2025 Interpol Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report exposes how sophisticated local and international networks use advanced deception techniques to exploit human vulnerabilities across the age board. Meanwhile, the Cybercrime Against Senior Citizens study, co-authored by Suleman Lazarus, a sociologist at the University of the Western Cape, reveals that cybercriminals deliberately target older adults, with ageism serving as a weapon. 'Older adults often have higher levels of trust in societal institutions and individuals, which cybercriminals exploit by portraying themselves as trustworthy,' the study read. Elderly prey Older adults face physiological challenges such as cognitive decline, psychological factors such as elevated fear of cybercrime, familial risks including insider fraud, and sociocultural issues like isolation. These vulnerabilities are compounded by harmful stereotypes portraying seniors as trusting and less tech-savvy. 'We are seeing serious attacks in terms of investment scams, crypto scams and quick money-making scams against the elderly,' Danny Myburgh, managing director at Cynare Digital Forensic Lab, told Daily Maverick, citing a disturbing case in which an elderly family fell victim to a R16-million cryptocurrency scam after being lured by fake quick-win promises on social media platforms. The Cybercrime Against Senior Citizens' findings on this issue are telling: for seniors, it's often 'socioeconomic cybercrime' – think romance scams, fake investments and phishing – that exploit their social isolation and limited digital know-how. As the research puts it: 'Cybercriminals don't just stumble upon older victims – they often target them on purpose.' Young, connected – and exposed While the elderly fall prey to scams exploiting trust and isolation, the young face a different kind of threat – one rooted in their always-online lifestyles and the blurred boundaries between personal and professional digital worlds. This troubling reality was echoed by Myburgh. Young people often had a 'wide-eyed trust' in online content, 'yet they don't know enough about the ugly stuff'. One common scam Myburgh revealed involves catfishing, where perpetrators – often posing as young girls online – target boys between the ages of 14 and 17 to extort explicit images, while girls and elderly women face threats like sex extortion and revenge porn. Deadly reality The severity of this issue is starkly illustrated by the latest Interpol Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report. According to the report, South African authorities have documented a disturbing rise in teenage victims of digital sextortion. Its findings are tragically underscored by the case of an adult victim in the country who died by suicide following a sextortion incident. What this means for you Protecting yourself online requires more than awareness – it demands good cyber-hygiene and deliberate practices to safeguard your digital life and assets. For parents and guardians it is essential to actively guide young and older people in understanding these risks and taking ownership of their digital security early, before ambition turns into vulnerability. The book How Not to Mess up Online – a teenager's guide by digital law expert Emma Sadleir and Rorke Wilson is a good place to start. Scams in disguise The most prevalent tactics are: Phishing disguised as giveaways and scholarships: Fake bursary ads and competitions on Instagram, TikTok, X and WhatsApp groups harvest personal and banking details; Fake job offers: Scam recruiters exploit job desperation by demanding fees or identity documents for positions that don't exist; SIM swap and mobile money fraud: Criminals accessing mobile-linked accounts intercept one-time passwords (OTPs), draining wallets in seconds. It's no surprise that South Africa's mobile-centric internet landscape – where more than 95% of internet users access the web via smartphones – provides a vast attack surface for cyber threats. 'Youth form the bulk of this demographic, and this always-online behaviour creates exposure at scale,' said Doros Hadjizenonos, regional director of southern Africa at Fortinet. DM
The Herald
6 days ago
- General
- The Herald
Smile or fruit, beware of the emoji you send — especially at work
Red heart, banana and peach emojis may look innocent — and they are. But in what context and sequence are you using them? That's what could be problematic with the emojis you love sending. Dr Zakeera Docrat, the University of the Western Cape's forensic and legal linguist, has warned people to think about the messages they send with emojis, especially in the workplace. Speaking at a webinar under the theme: 'Beyond the smile: Emojis, communication and misinterpretation in the modern workplace', Docrat said one should be careful of the emojis they send. She urged companies to develop policies that regulate communication in the workplace. 'It would be dependent on what you want to control within the specific workplace but you can never have one policy that would be applied and adopted across various spaces, that would never work. It needs to be a policy that is specific to your needs and as a forensic and legal linguist, it's always good to consult us and to say, these are the issues that we have. 'We need to formulate a policy that controls the behaviour and communication practices. It has to be something that's updated quite frequently,' Docrat said. What do we deem as appropriate workplace communication? 'A lot of the emojis are open to interpretation, it's based on context, the nature of the relationship between you and the recipient ... If there is a power dynamic between you and another colleague, is it appropriate for you to be sending them an emoji? Is it an appropriate response to send an emoji? Why are you doing it? 'The role of gender is also important and for me it influences the power dynamic, especially if it is a senior male colleague. If a male colleague sends me a red heart emoji, and I don't have that type of relationship where I know them very well and I get sent a heart, I would immediately be offended.' So, do you know what the emojis you love sending mean and are they appropriate to send to your colleagues? 'What are you communicating with your emoji? Take for an example the tongue out emojis. Are you joking or are you being insulting?' Docrat, who testified in the Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing into sexual harassment against Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge, said emojis mean different things to different people. Andiswa Mengo has accused Mbenenge of sexually harassing her over eight months in 2021 and 2022. She has testified that not only did he send her unwanted sexually explicit WhatsApp messages, but had attempted to solicit oral sex from her in his chambers and sent her a photo of his penis. Said Docrat: 'When we talk about the analysis or interpretation of emojis, we can't be divorced in a sense from the culture and the language in which the emojis are being used. It is very important for an expert, and I don't want to say [expert should] be from that culture or know that language but [the expert] has to have an association [with the culture or language it is being used]. 'You have to be able to read the context. Understanding the language that is being used in a written text, understanding the culture is extremely important.' Emojis with sexual connotations included a peach and eggplant with water droplets used in sequence; an eggplant, banana, lips, lip biting, also used in sequence.
