Category: English

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Gudani Goodman Mukoma, Lecturer, University of Venda

Noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and cancers account for about 75% of deaths globally. Early detection is key to managing the scale of the problem. But that’s not always possible in rural communities, where there are often shortages of healthcare workers, long travel distances and financial barriers. Fragmented referral systems can also delay diagnosis and follow-up.

This gap in prevention and early detection is one we see often in rural South Africa. As a health researcher and biokineticist working in the country’s public sector, I’m interested in whether biokineticists could play a greater role in closing this gap.

Biokineticists are regulated health professionals who use exercise scientifically to promote health, prevent disease and support people living with chronic conditions. South Africa has an estimated 1,831 registered biokineticists, mostly in the private sector. They are scarce in public primary healthcare, particularly in rural communities.

In our recent research, my co-authors and I wanted to understand what biokineticists thought about their role in preventing diseases and identifying health risks early. We also wanted to explore what was preventing them from contributing more effectively to rural primary healthcare.

To this end, we conducted in-depth interviews with 10 biokineticists. All had experience in rural outreach or public-sector healthcare, including community wellness screening. But most were based in or around cities. Six worked in the public sector and four in private practice.

We were not trying to represent the views of all biokineticists in South Africa or test a particular intervention. Instead, we wanted to understand the experiences of these professionals.

We found a referral vacuum: a point where a disease risk had been identified, but the public healthcare system did not provide a dependable bridge to further assessment, treatment and follow-up.

Identifying disease risk

All participants reported routinely conducting physiological screenings. These included measuring people’s blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, body mass index and waist circumference. These measures are important because they can indicate major risk factors for diseases. The signs can be hypertension, abnormal blood glucose, dyslipidaemia (abnormal or unbalanced levels of fats in your blood) and excess or central body fat. They help to identify people who may need further assessment, prevention or referral. Community and rural outreach are particularly valuable as they are an opportunity to identify disease risk among people who can’t easily get routine preventive healthcare.

Several participants had also developed simple ways of communicating the risk to patients. Some used a traffic-light approach. It classifies screening results as green, yellow or red. This helped patients understand their results and recognise when a finding might need further attention or referral.

But identifying a problem was only the first step.

Participants described different experiences of follow-up depending on the setting. Within the South African Military Health Service, they said there were more structured and multidisciplinary referral systems. In contrast, during community and rural outreach, screening could identify potential problems, but there was no consistent mechanism for follow-up, especially where public health services were far from where patients lived.

One participant put it simply:

We give them a report, but there’s no guarantee they’ll go to the clinic.

Rural barriers

For people living in rural communities, the journey from screening to care can involve long distances and transport costs. Participants told us that some people could not afford the taxi fare to the nearest clinic. Others stopped attending exercise or health programmes because the services were too far away.

Telling people to exercise more or visit a clinic is not always enough. Prevention has to take account of the environment people live in.

Participants also identified cultural barriers. One explained that traditional dress could make some women uncomfortable during exercise sessions. Participants acknowledged that cultural and religious considerations were not always incorporated into the programmes they delivered.

This was important. A technically sound intervention can still fail if it does not fit people’s everyday lives and social context.

The main challenge was not a lack of professional capacity among biokineticists. It was the limited integration of their services into the public primary healthcare system. Biokineticists were already identifying disease risk factors and providing exercise-based prevention. But fragmented referral pathways, limited public-sector posts and financial and geographic barriers made it difficult to connect early risk identification with ongoing care.

What needs to change?

South Africa’s National Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2022–2027 prioritises prevention, early detection and integrated chronic disease management. The country’s National Health Insurance (NHI) framework also aims to improve equitable access to comprehensive healthcare.

Our findings suggest that prevention-oriented allied health professionals should be part of this conversation. Biokineticists could join primary healthcare teams, particularly in underserved communities.

This could include:

• publicly funded posts

• formal referral pathways between clinics and biokineticists

• collaboration with community health workers

• sustainable financing for preventive services under the NHI.

The lesson extends beyond biokinetics. Having trained health professionals available does not automatically strengthen a health system. Their skills must be connected to financing, referral pathways, transport, community structures and other health professionals. This would help build a health system that can identify risks earlier and has the structures in place to act.

– Biokineticists fight disease using exercise science: how to bring their skills to rural patients
– https://theconversation.com/biokineticists-fight-disease-using-exercise-science-how-to-bring-their-skills-to-rural-patients-291173

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Busani Ngcaweni, Director: Center for Public Policy and African Studies, University of Johannesburg

South Africa has been on a decades-long journey of reforming its public service. But serious problems persist.

In September 2026 the urgency for change was again underscored during the Madlanga Commission of inquiry into corruption in the police and security forces. In his testimony, the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Somadoda Fikeni, lamented the state of governance and accountability. He said it sustained a culture of impunity in which officials directly benefited from the inconvenience suffered by members of the public. He called it the “political economy of inefficiency”.

His testimony coincided with the signing of the Public Service Commission Act into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The hope is that this will close gaps in accountability.

The new legislation completes a trio of public sector reforms. The other two pieces are the Public Service Amendment Act 9 of 2025 and the Public Administration Management Amendment Act 7 of 2025.

I am a researcher who also served as head the National School of Government, where I led the development of a national framework for the professionalisation of the public sector.

How significant is this moment for governance?

The three laws make important changes to the rules governing South Africa’s public administration system. These include:

• who exercises administrative authority

• how senior administrators are held accountable

• how public servants are developed.

They also set out how to manage conflicts of interest and how to protect the constitutional values governing public administration.

New laws do not, by themselves, produce a capable and developmental state. South Africa has enough experience to know the distance that can exist between law and practice.

The real test is whether these changes alter how authority is exercised, how appointments are made, how public servants are developed and how breaches of constitutional standards are dealt with.

The foundation

The foundation for the new laws is section 195 of the country’s constitution.

It requires the promotion and maintenance of “a high standard of professional ethics”, and that public resources be used efficiently, economically and effectively. It says public administration must be development-oriented and people’s needs must be addressed.

It also requires accountability, transparency, fair and impartial service, good human resource management and a public administration broadly representative of the South African people.

Section 196 gives the Public Service Commission the power to promote the section 195 values and principles throughout the public service. They apply to all organs of state, not just public administration (national and provincial departments).

This is where the work of the late Stan Sangweni becomes relevant to the new laws. He chaired the Public Service Commission from 1999 to 2009.

The history

Much of what the new legislation does responds to the work of the commission under Sangweni’s leadership. The commission was concerned with how to protect merit in appointments, hold senior administrators accountable, manage the boundary between political authority and administration, make ethical conduct routine and ensure public administration was answerable to citizens.

There was no legal certainty on its mandate in these areas until now, however.

This I appreciated in 2020 when I was asked to develop the framework to make the civil service professional.

Going back through the Public Service Commission archives, I found evidence that many of the questions confronting the drafting team had been examined during Sangweni’s tenure. This reinforced the fact that institutional memory is a form of state capability. A state that keeps starting again condemns each generation of public servants to rediscover problems that others have already studied.

There is a longer history connecting this work of Sangweni to the present reforms. The National Development Plan: Vision 2030 chapter on building a capable and developmental state called for a professional public service, stronger technical and specialist skills, and clearer delegation, accountability and oversight.

The Professionalisation Framework, published in 2022, also addressed how:

• people enter the public sector

• senior appointments should become more merit-based and technically rigorous

• public servants should be inducted, developed, assessed and supported throughout their careers.

The framework set the policy basis for the legislative process. The result is the three laws that have now been passed.

What’s been put in place

The Public Service Amendment Act changes the balance of authority inside departments. Heads of department will now have some powers that used to belong to ministers, including power to make appointments.

Political executives are still responsible for political leadership, policy and strategic direction. Heads of department have clearer administrative responsibilities.

This raises the stakes around who becomes a head of department. If they have more authority, there must be greater confidence in the integrity and professional rigour of their appointment.

The Public Administration Management Amendment Act addresses another part of the problem. It strengthens the statutory position of the National School of Government and the basis for education, training, assessment and professional development across public administration.

The new law also strengthens integrity provisions, like restrictions on employees doing business with the state.

The Public Service Commission Act strengthens the commission itself, through a secretariat. It also extends its mandate to municipalities and public entities. This is closer to the idea of a single public administration system.

Seen as a whole

The significance of these reforms becomes clearer when they are considered together.

Administrative authority is being moved closer to those who must account for what departments do. Senior appointments are to be more professional. The machinery for professional education and development is being strengthened. Integrity provisions are being tightened. Most importantly, the constitutional institution charged with promoting the values of section 195 is being strengthened and given wider reach.

South Africa will hold local government elections on 4 November. The South African Local Government Association, the National School of Government, provincial governments and other institutions preparing the induction of incoming councillors and municipal executives will have to incorporate the new legal framework into those programmes.

– South Africa’s public service: new laws aim to put competent people in charge and hold them to account
– https://theconversation.com/south-africas-public-service-new-laws-aim-to-put-competent-people-in-charge-and-hold-them-to-account-292376

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Researcher, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of Technology

Following the mass abduction of 46 pupils and teachers in Oyo State, south-west Nigeria in 2026, the authorities attributed the attack to the Ansaru terrorist group. Key suspects were prosecuted and handed prison terms. But this was not the first time terrorist groups had engaged in mass abduction of school pupils in Nigeria. Peace and security researcher Saheed Babajide Owonikoko explains what factors could have motivated the Ansaru terror group to stage that attack and what lessons Nigeria should take away from the incident, which lasted 56 days.

What can Nigeria learn from the mass kidnap of school children in Oyo State?

The lessons can be deduced from the differences between the incident and others that have taken place in Nigeria.

The first striking difference is that northern Nigeria was previously the centre of kidnapping incidents in Nigeria. As of 1 June 2026, there had been 31 mass school kidnapping incidents involving over 2,530 people in Nigeria since the 2014 Chibok incidents.

Terrorists had struck before in south-western Nigeria. Also, criminal kidnappings on the highway had taken place, but not a mass school kidnapping. The Oyo State school kidnapping is the first in the southern parts of Nigeria. The lesson is that terrorism is expanding beyond the traditional areas known for activities of terrorist groups.

Another difference is that the victims included children as young as two years. Most previous Nigerian mass school abductions targeted older students.

The third is that it involved multiple schools. My contact in Ogbomosho said three schools were attacked.

This suggests the vulnerability of civilian populations and institutions in areas previously regarded as less exposed to terrorist kidnapping. The targeting of particular groups, especially schoolchildren and other populations whose abduction is likely to generate public pressure, also provides terrorists with a strategic advantage. Such attacks will be easy to execute by the group and can trigger public outrage, protests and demands for government action. They could put pressure on authorities to negotiate or make concessions.

Victims have now been “released” or “rescued”, most probably without concession to any of their demands, and some people linked to the incidents have been put on trial. But the ease with which the group carried out the attack exposes the vulnerability of the south-west and other non-traditional theatres of terrorist kidnapping to sudden attacks, particularly where security presence and response capacity remain limited.

Concentrating security in volatile areas may not be the solution, as terrorist groups will always take advantage of vulnerable areas.

What factors motivated this kidnap?

Criminal bandits and terrorists are responsible for most of the high-profile kidnapping incidents in Nigeria. However, while bandits kidnap mostly for money, terrorists mostly kidnap for more strategic reasons.

The 15 May 2026 armed attack against schools in Oriire Local Government of Oyo State, leading to the abduction of over 40 people, most of whom were pupils and teachers, was carried out by The Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa, popularly known as Ansaru. Since its breakaway from Boko Haram in 2013, Ansaru has acquired the trademark of being involved in high-profile kidnapping and hostage-taking, sometimes with the support of bandits.

Ansaru’s involvement in the Oyo State kidnapping was confirmed by the group’s demands. The group listed its demands as follows:

• 1 billion naira to be paid to one account in the Benin Republic

• the Oyo state government should release their members from prison

• Toyota Hiluxes

• concession of some Oyo state laws in favour of the bandits (land and sharia law).

The second item is particularly informative. In August 2025, Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s national security adviser, announced the arrest of two key Ansaru leaders – Mahmud Muhammad Usman, the amir (leader) and Mahmud al-Nigeri, the deputy and chief of staff.

They are currently standing trial on terrorism charges. For a long time, Ansaru remained silent due to the leadership vacuum left as a result. Their strategic importance made the group stage the Oyo kidnapping incidents.

In one of my previous articles, I warned that, given the importance of these two leaders, they might attempt to secure their release through a prison break or resort to a high-profile kidnapping or hostage-taking operation, either in retaliation for their detention or as leverage to demand their release.

What makes the south-west vulnerable to these kinds of attacks?

The choice of Oyo State and the kidnapping of pupils are also strategic. Oyo State is vulnerable because of its proximity to the North Central and North East through savannah woodlands, wildlife reserves and riparian vegetation.

Movement from North Central and North West to the south may also be caused by low security expectations and reduced military pressure there.

A reduction in expertise due to the arrest of Mahmud Muhammad Usman and Mahmud al-Nigeri also affected Ansaru’s operational effectiveness in high-intensity security terrain, making the south more attractive.

Ansaru usually targets high-value civilians, including expatriates, well-to-do individuals and humanitarian workers. They kidnapped schoolchildren because of their vulnerability and also because it can spark public outrage that may force the government to give concessions.

Does this incident have any implications for the ongoing debate on state policing in Nigeria?

According to the government account, the rescue of the schoolchildren and their teachers was achieved through a prolonged, intelligence-led, multi-agency operation. Although the outcome shows state security institutions can mount a coordinated response, it raises questions about whether such resource-intensive operations can be sustained and replicated in similar incidents.

More fundamentally, the operation illustrates the reactive character of the response. Security agencies mobilised resources after the abduction rather than preventing the attack or detecting the threat earlier. This is where the debate over the state police is very important. One of the major problems with Nigeria’s security landscape is the centralisation of the security apparatus, leaving the federating units at the mercy of the federal government to deploy security forces.

To reduce the vulnerability of civilians everywhere in Nigeria, the police institution should be federalised. This will ensure that a minimum level of protection exists for everyone, wherever they live in Nigeria.

– Nigeria’s school kidnapping threat is changing: 4 lessons from the 56-day Oyo attack
– https://theconversation.com/nigerias-school-kidnapping-threat-is-changing-4-lessons-from-the-56-day-oyo-attack-289363