Primary freshwater crabs are keystone aquatic species, yet the potential impact of climate change on their distribution and conservation status remains unknown, particularly in biodiversity-rich areas such as South Africa. We employed maximum entropy and climatic niche modelling to evaluate the effects of climate change on the distribution of 17 Potamonautes species in South Africa and estimate protected area coverage for suitable habitats under both current and future climate projections of increased temperature, and the impact on the conservation of these species. Our results indicate that six of the 17 species are likely to experience a net loss of suitable habitat, and seven are projected to experience net habitat gains. Habitat changes for four of the 17 species are dependent on the climate scenario applied. Under predicted temperature increases, P. barbarai and P. isimangaliso are expected to experience significant habitat reduction, with P. isimangaliso being sensitive as a result of substantial predicted losses in both suitable and protected habitat. Conversely, P. depressus, P. flavusjo and P. warreni appear to be the least sensitive to climate change, gaining suitable habitat under both climate models. Unsurprisingly, we found precipitation to be a critical predictor of suitable habitat as these crabs are dependent on freshwater ecosystems. Our results underscore the importance of conservation strategies tailored to the unique predicted response of each species to climate change.

Review essay of two books on gender and the struggle against apartheid.

Does an increase in the number of shared identity traits between citizens and their public representatives increase the likelihood that they will agree on policy priorities? The identities of citizens and politicians are complex and multi-dimensional, but we know little about how the combination of multiple shared identity traits affects the convergence of attitudes on government policy. In this paper, we analyze two waves of original survey data on local government councillors in conjunction with several surveys of citizens in South Africa. We find that both within and across political parties, greater degrees of trait similarity between citizens and politicians – even beyond the one or two traits considered in most studies of descriptive representation – are associated with modest but consistent increases in alignment on policy priorities, especially when citizens and councillors share traits that reinforce a historically marginalized identity. We also show that trait similarity increases policy priority alignment to a greater degree when politicians have roles that require frequent contact with constituents, suggesting that communication channels may strengthen the substantive impact of descriptive representation.

This article interrogates the politics of global humanitarianism and its entanglement with racial oppression during Africa’s decolonization by examining the International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC) first prison visits to Apartheid South Africa in the 1960s. Using newly available archives from liberation movements, anti-Apartheid collections, the Apartheid state, and the ICRC itself, it shows how a global humanitarian organization was appropriated as a legitimating façade in the governance of a late colonial global order. Rather than scrutinizing Apartheid policies or safeguarding prisoners of colour, the ICRC’s prison visits reframed collaboration as humanitarian neutrality, thereby enabling White minority rule. Afro-Asian critics, however, articulated alternative legal and humanitarian visions that challenged the Red Cross’s claims to impartiality, neutrality, and universality. The article unsettles triumphalist accounts that portray Red Cross humanitarianism as neutral, leading, and/or inherently progressive, and instead emphasizes its structural incorporation into Apartheid’s political order. In doing so, it contributes to a global history of humanitarianism and international organizations that calls for a more critical reckoning with how international organizations instrumentalize and memorialize their pasts.

Despite its strategic role in African and Global South commercial networks, South Africa’s economy lags behind among its BRICS partners and most African peers. Statistics reveal that 44 per cent of foreign judgments are denied recognition in South Africa, primarily due to the rigorous requirements at the enforcement stage, resulting in expensive re-litigation or business discouragement. This article explores how the principle of comity, often used rhetorically by courts, could be transformed into a substantive tool to modernize South African common law. To address the misalignment between domestic rules and global trade, the paper proposes tailoring Canada’s “real and substantial connection” test to suit South Africa’s needs. Finally, to mitigate the risks of enforcing foreign default judgments with tenuous links to the forum, it proposes strengthening the natural justice defence by requiring sufficient notice and evidentiary grounding, as other common law systems have done.

This review essay considers the history of free and unfree Chinese labor through books on the Yunnan-Indochina Railway, Chinese indentured labor in the Dutch East Indies, Chinese American migration and community formation in the U.S. heartland, and the global politics of the gold rushes.

Syphatineria (Africanoxys) cepapi Hugot, 1981, a pinworm in the family Oxyuridae, has been described from Smith’s bush squirrel, Paraxerus cepapi Smith, 1836, in South Africa. The current taxonomic description is based on a few specimens from a single squirrel individual and a single locality. To substantiate the species description, additional morphological data derived from 70 male and 70 female St. cepapi specimens were obtained from 79 P. cepapi host individuals, and these originated from 7 South African localities. Ten St. cepapi individuals were also sequenced for the mtDNA Cytochrome Oxidase I gene to provide molecular barcode information for the species and an additional phylogenetic context; 2 individuals were also sequenced for the 18S rRNA gene fragment. In total, 11 112 St. cepapi individuals were recorded and the prevalence per locality ranged between 50 and 100%. Female nematodes (62%) were more common than males (38%). All defining morphological features were measured and provided more insights into the original description of St. cepapi and other Syphatineria Chabaud and Biocca, 1955 species that are associated with African squirrels. Several key features in males – 2 mamelons, a simple spicule and an elongated gubernaculum with an accessory hook with 2 laterally situated horns, were present. Females were characterized by a long, slender shape, a protruding vulva and eggs with a flattened side and small operculum. Phylogenetic analyses placed St. cepapi monophyletic and well separated from other potentially closely related species. The additional morphological and molecular data strengthen the species diagnosis and support its taxonomic distinctness.

Echinococcosis is a global zoonotic infection caused by larval stages of Echinococcus species. In sub-Saharan Africa, cystic echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus is prevalent, but comprehensive data are limited. This study investigates the role of lions (Panthera leo) as potential hosts for Echinococcus species, particularly E. equinus and E. felidis, in Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa. Four lion intestinal samples were macroscopically examined. High burdens of Echinococcus spp. worms were observed in 2 lions, a low-level infestation was detected in 1 lion and no parasites were identified in the fourth lion due to advanced decomposition of the sample. PCR analysis identified E. equinus in 2 samples and E. felidis in 1. Morphological and scanning electron microscopy studies provided detailed descriptions of the adult form, confirming the presence of these parasites. The findings underscore the importance of lions in the sylvatic cycle of echinococcosis and suggest potential implications for the epidemiology of the disease in African wildlife ecosystems. This study contributes to the understanding of the transmission dynamics of Echinococcus species in southern Africa.

Since the 1980s, many African countries began to adopt competition laws alongside structural adjustment and trade liberalization measures, selectively borrowing from existing EU and U.S. regimes. Today, in response to global consolidation in digital markets, African governments are embracing sectoral regulatory schemes that have pro-competitive aims but go beyond traditional competition law. The structure and goals of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) are now being reflected in national and regional African frameworks such as the AfCFTA Competition Protocol, South Africa’s Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry, and Kenya’s Competition Amendment Bill. The proliferation of these pro-competitive regimes in the African region even in the face of emerging trade pressure leads to two principal lessons. First, there seems to be an important alignment of interests between the EU and African jurisdictions vis-à-vis tech (U.S.) giants. Second, despite the many limits of African competition authorities’ enforcement capabilities, pro-competitive regimes illustrate a hopeful appetite for an enforcement approach to tech markets that is not antithetic to traditional economic development rationales and yet leaves space for local and regional African values. Even with a regulatory regime formally on the books, however, adding substance to it requires significant implementation work.

The link between climate change and gender is intricate, particularly in developing countries, where women are disproportionately affected due to lower adaptive capacity and economic opportunities. This study investigates the gendered economic impacts of climate change in South Africa using a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model. Results reveal that climate-induced shocks reduce productivity, labour demand and economic growth, leading to higher prices and reduced purchasing power. Female-headed households face greater poverty impacts than their male counterparts. These findings highlight the need for gender-responsive social protection policies that support women in vulnerable sectors such as agriculture and tourism. Targeted interventions such as combining compensatory transfers with investments in education, skills development and access to resilient livelihoods are essential to mitigate gender inequality and strengthen women’s economic resilience in the face of climate change.

Methods for extracting archaeological information from large, digital databases of cultural resource management (development-led archaeology) records are frequently quantitative or aggregative. This approach can struggle to capture the details of how archaeological knowledge is produced socially. Here, the authors draw on archival science to describe ‘project biography’ as a means to understand how archaeological records—and their silences—are produced through decisions weighing the risks of development. This approach is illustrated using examples from South Africa’s digital heritage records database (SAHRIS), while also considering ethical entailments and the need to better understand the social worlds of cultural resource management.