South African branch of the WPSA report for the Secretaries meeting, Toronto, 14 July 2026
We wish the North American branches and the WPSA a successful conference and apologise for the low attendance of South Africans. We are disappointed many of us could not attend due to problems obtaining visas. I was hoping to be present at this meeting but am still awaiting approval for my visa unfortunately.
The South African branch held our 42nd Scientific Symposium in March this year. We had nearly 500 registrations, including many from Africa such as Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Ghana. We had a staggering 25 sponsors of our event, including support from the main branch via the Speakers Bureau, for which we are truly grateful. There were some hiccups with flights being cancelled or rerouted with the Middle East conflict breaking out over the week of our symposium and some of our international speakers were late or couldn’t make it. Nevertheless, we shuffled the programme and had a great meeting. We included a poster session with prizes to encourage student participation as well as a Youth Programme before the event for 6 students from Universities around South Africa. They visited poultry farms and related industries and ended the programme at the symposium
The main branch has indicated the need to develop more branches in Africa and the SA branch has agreed to help branches in Kenya and eSwatini become established.
We are finalising the programme for our symposium in 2027. We offer concurrent membership registration with discounts for members, which has kept our membership at around 300.
Nicky Tyler
Secretary, South African branch