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Histology-based health assessment and estrogenic effect on Labeobarbus natalensis in the uMgeni River system.
(2024) Nkala, Mandlenkosi.; Lebepe, Jeffrey.; Vosloo, Dalene.; Luus-Powell, Wilmien.
The uMgeni River is home to more than 40 fish species and is highly polluted due to anthropogenic activities. The study aimed to assess the overall health and oestrogenic effect on Labeobarbus natalensis in the uMgeni River system and information will benefit the community located along uMgeni River catchment area. The physical parameters of water were measured at Nagle and Inanda dams, and the tributaries feeding the uMgeni River (i.e., uMsunduzi, uMngcweni, and eSikelekehleni rivers) before it empties into the Inanda Dam. Water and sediment samples were also collected for chemical analyses in conjunction with physical parameters. Fish were sampled at the Nagle and Inanda dams riverine using an electro-shocker, and indices such as condition factor, organosomatic, and health assessment index were used to assess the health of fish. Moreover, a histopathologic assessment was done on the liver and gills, and organ indices were calculated. The oestrogenic effect was assessed by measuring vitellogenin concentration in the liver of male Labeobarbus natalensis. A high alkaline pH level was recorded at Inanda Dam and uMsunduzi River with a neutral pH recorded at other sites. Nutrients showed significant differences between sites with Inanda Dam showing significantly higher concentrations for most nutrients. Higher sulphate concentration was recorded in the uMsunduzi River with higher phosphate concentration recorded in the uMngcweni River. Inanda Dam showed significant differences for most metals in the water and sediment with lower concentrations being recorded for Nagle Dam. Coinciding with water quality parameters, the health of fish was generally better at Nagle Dam compared to Inanda Dam. However, negative allometric growth was observed for both Inanda Dam and Nagle Dam populations. The health assessment index and gonadosomatic index (female population) were significantly different between the Inanda and Nagle dams, with the Inanda Dam population exhibiting higher indices than the Nagle Dam population. Histopathologic alterations showed a higher prevalence in the gill and liver for the Inanda Dam population compared to the Nagle Dam population. Gill histopathologies such as necrosis, deposits, oedema, architectural and structural alterations, nuclear alterations, hypertrophy, and hyperplasia were the most common pathologies at Inanda Dam. In the liver, architectural and structural alterations, necrosis, nuclear alterations, vacuolar degeneration, and hypertrophy were the most prevalent pathologies at Inanda Dam. Similarly, organ indices were higher for the Inanda Dam population. However, both populations exhibited gill and liver indices >40, denoting, severe alterations. Nevertheless, no significant difference was observed for vitellogenin (VTG) levels between the Inanda and Nagle dams (p>0.05). However, some individuals showed increased VTG level at Inanda Dam. Generally, the poor water quality from tributaries seems to have impacted the water quality in the Inanda Dam. Although the overall fish health seemed to be in an acceptable state, it is evident that these fish populations are living in stressful conditions, with Inanda Dam showing to be rapidly deviating from normal conditions. There is a need to urgently address the water pollution issue in this river system for the sustainability of Labeobarbus natalensis and possibly other sensitive species.
Evaluation of good governance, corporate governance and consequence management in KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Administrations of South Africa.
(2025) Radebe, Motlalepula Ethel.; Dubihlela, Jobo.
This study investigates the state of good governance, corporate governance, and consequence management within the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Administration (KZNPA) in South Africa (SA), motivated by ongoing governance failures, audit findings, and weak accountability structures. The study sought to: assess current levels of governance and consequence management in the KZNPA; analyse their relationship; test how consequence management affects governance practices; review existing governance strategies; and propose a multi-stakeholder framework to enhance governance and accountability. To achieve these objectives, a convergent parallel mixed-methods research design, grounded in the pragmatism philosophy, was employed using both exploratory and descriptive approaches. Quantitative data were collected through a structured survey questionnaire, administered to 182 respondents of a targeted 250 professionals from Provincial Treasury shared services, departments of Education, Transport, and Community Safety and Liaison accounting, legal and ICT officers, auditors, forensic investigators, and other technical staff. For the qualitative strand, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 senior officials purposively and conveniently selected to include Heads of Departments and Provincial Audit and Risk Committee members. The literature and primary data revealed that although formal governance frameworks exist, their implementation is uneven and often compromised by political interference, selective accountability, and inadequate capacity. Good governance practices are strongly and positively related to effective consequence management, whereas corporate governance structures—though widely established—had limited impact on enforcement outcomes. Both quantitative and qualitative results revealed inconsistent consequence management, specifically protecting senior officials from disciplinary action, with existing governance systems functioning more symbolic than substantive, and shallow and compliance-driven stakeholder engagement lacking mechanisms for meaningful participation and accountability. The study concludes bridging the gap between policy and practice is crucial, proposing an Integrated Multi-Stakeholder Governance and Consequence Management Framework (IMGCF-KZN) that addresses institutional weaknesses, embeds ethical leadership, promotes stakeholder participation, and institutionalises fair and transparent consequence management. Key recommendations include establishing an independent Provincial Internal Auditor General (PIAG), revising the PFMA to integrate stronger governance provisions, and developing digital monitoring systems. The framework and its associated tools offer a practical and theoretical contribution to enhance public sector governance, with potential applicability across other provincial administrations in South Africa and beyond.
Development and validation of a Children’s Visual Function Quality of Life (CVF-QoL) instrument for rural school-going children with visual impairment within a South African context.
(2025) Magakwe, Tshubelela Sello Simon.; Hansraj Singh, Rekha.; Xulu-Kasaba, Zamadonda Nokuthula Queen.
Background: Vision problems that arise early in life can significantly impact children's performance in school, sports and recreation, and social interactions. Evaluating visual function and quality of life in children with visual impairments is crucial for understanding the effects on their lives and assessing interventions' effectiveness. Although several tools exist to measure these aspects in children, they have been compiled largely within developed countries, resulting in a lack of similar instruments specifically designed for rural school-going children, particularly in middle- to low-income countries. Purpose: This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument measuring Children's Visual Function Quality of Life (CVF-QoL) for rural school-going children aged 6 to 17 in South Africa with uncorrected refractive errors, visual impairments and blindness. Methods: The development of the CVF-QoL instrument involved several steps. First, items were generated through a literature review. Next, focus group discussions were conducted to explore the role of vision in children's lives, involving experts and the children themselves. The readability of the instrument was assessed, leading to the creation of two versions of the CVF-QoL instrument, one for 6-9-year-olds and the other for 10-17-year-olds. The content of both versions underwent validation by experts, and pretesting with children was carried out for each version. Each version was administered to 40 learners, after which internal consistency was evaluated using the Cronbach alpha test. Additional questionnaires were taken home for completion 10 days later, and the results were compared to assess the stability of the versions. The validated English versions of the CVF-QoL instruments were then translated into Sepedi using a forward-backwards translation method. Further validation was achieved by comparing the original English versions with the Sepedi versions of the CVF-QoL instrument. Results: 769 items were identified from the literature review, while 477 statements were generated from the focus group discussions and converted into items. After merging similar items and eliminating duplicates, 91 items were retained and classified into eight domains based on the literature. These items were divided into two versions of the CVF-QoL: Version 1.1 for ages 10-17 years and Version 2.1 for ages 6-9 years. Both versions demonstrated clarity, coherence, and relevance, with item content validity indices (I-CVI) of 0.85 for Version 1.1 and 0.86 for Version 2.1. Following pretesting, the version for ages 10-17 years contained 89 items, while the version for ages 6-9 years included 63 items. After administering the two versions, the overall Cronbach score was 0.946 for Version 1.1 and 0.777 for Version 2.1. Test-retest results indicated stability for both versions, with Cronbach alpha scores of 0.940 for Version 1.1 and 0.800 for Version 2.1. The Sepedi versions of the CVF-QoL were also found to be valid, with internal consistency scores of 0.930 for Sepedi Version 1.1 and 0.762 for Sepedi Version 2.1. The English versions of the CVF-QoL were compatible with the translated Sepedi versions. Conclusion: The CVF-QoL instruments are valid for assessing the quality of life-related to visual function in rural school-going children with visual impairments within the South African context.
Accurate kidney tumor semantic segmentation.
(2024) Abdelrahman, Abubaker Mohamed Ahmed.; Viriri, Serestina.
Timely and accurate detection of kidney tumors is crucial for improving clinical outcomes, as early diagnosis significantly reduces the risk of progression to advanced stages. Kidney tumors, particularly malignant ones, can be life-threatening if not identified early. Developing a robust, efficient, and automated framework for detecting and classifying kidney tumors from CT images is imperative to enable early intervention and improve survival rates. This study addresses critical challenges in kidney tumor detection, such as variability in tumor characteristics, limited availability of medical experts, and the timeintensive nature of the manual diagnosis. It explores advanced deep learning models to automate and enhance the accuracy and speed of tumor segmentation, offering a solution to bridge the gap in current diagnostic approaches. The research evaluates the performance of multiple architectures, including the EfficientNet family, SE-ResNet models with Feature Pyramid Network (FPN), and DenseNet integrated with LinkNet. These models were assessed based on key metrics like Intersection over Union (IoU), Dice similarity coefficients, and computational efficiency. EfficientNet-B4 demonstrated exceptional tumor segmentation capabilities, achieving a Tumor Dice score of 0.984 and Mean Dice of 0.990, while EfficientNet-B7 excelled in kidney segmentation with IoU and Dice scores of 0.977 and 0.988, respectively. SE-ResNet50 emerged as the top-performing model in overall segmentation, achieving a Tumor Dice score of 0.992 and a Mean IoU of 0.988. DenseNet121 with LinkNet offered a balance of precision and computational efficiency, achieving Tumor IoU and Dice scores of 0.954 and 0.976, respectively. This study highlights the potential of integrating scalable deep learning architectures into clinical workflows. EfficientNet models stand out for their resource-constrained adaptability, while SE-ResNet50 demonstrates superior precision, particularly in contexts requiring detailed segmentation. DenseNet121 combines stability and efficiency, offering a versatile solution for varying clinical requirements. The findings underscore the importance of leveraging advanced architectures to enhance kidney cancer diagnostics, paving the way for further optimization and broader real-world deployment. This contribution establishes benchmarks in automated tumor detection and segmentation, providing a foundation for future research aimed at improving diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes in resourceconstrained and high-performance clinical environments.
Reckless credit lending: the credit provider’s duty to ascertain the true financial position of the consumer.
(2025) Pillay, Tahlia Lee.; Woker, Tanya Ann.
The National Credit Act 34 of 2005 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the NCA’) was promulgated with one of its primary aims: that consumers are treated fairly and, by extension, not subjected to over-indebtedness by eager credit providers. When the NCA was introduced, credit providers were given latitude to devise their own pre-agreement assessments that would be used to ascertain whether credit should be granted to prospective consumers. Several inherent flaws in the credit-lending legislation were brought to light over the years, with judicial bodies having to determine whether reckless credit lending had occurred. Numerous National Consumer Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as ‘Tribunal’ or ‘NCT’) judgments pointed out instances where credit providers such as banks and retailers had taken advantage of consumers by granting credit, which led to their over-indebtedness. This is when the Department of Trade and Industry (hereinafter referred to as ‘the DTI’) realised that there was a need for a regulatory addition to the NCA to curb reckless credit lending further. As a result, the Affordability Assessment under Regulation 23A came into operation. The Regulation called for all pre-lending assessments to follow a set of compulsory practices. The objective of the Affordability Assessment Regulation was to create strict parameters for credit providers to fall within so as to avoid granting credit to consumers who could not afford another debt. Credit providers are also given the discretion to grant credit when consumers fall below the threshold in the minimum expenses table when exceptional circumstances justify such deviation. No indication has been given as to what constitutes exceptional circumstances in relation to the Affordability Assessment. Recent case law dealing with the Affordability Assessment Regulation has concluded that an investigation needs to be conducted by credit providers if consumers make a disclosure relating to their financial status. However, these decisions have yet to set out the parameters of such investigation and when the investigation should be prompted. This leaves the question of whether it is at the discretion of credit providers based on what information consumers have disclosed. Alternatively, should there be a list of categories that will determine which disclosures should be investigated? Currently, the Affordability Assessment Regulation and literature remain silent on these issues, and recent case law needs to be analysed in order to answer these questions. The purpose of this mini-dissertation is, therefore, to investigate the credit provider’s duty to ascertain the consumer’s true financial position.