{"id":25428,"date":"2023-02-18T08:20:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T08:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market"},"modified":"2023-02-18T08:58:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T08:58:25","slug":"biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market","title":{"rendered":"Biometric identification: a coveted African market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span><\/a>In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digital and facial recognition. Pending the emergence of an African challenger. Dr.<\/p>\n

Joseph Atick, President of ID4Africa, welcomes the increase in participation at its fifth annual forum, which is being held from 18 to 20 June in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt our first forum in Dar es Salaam in 2015, we had 300 delegates, including 95 government representatives from 20 countries,\u201d says Atick. In Johannesburg, we will welcome 1,500 delegates, including 650 officials from 50 countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ID4Africa, which he has been piloting since its creation in 2014, bringing together companies, African governments and donors, promotes \u201clegal identity for all in Africa\u201d through modern recognition tools that use fingerprints, iris or facial features.<\/p>\n

According to a World Bank estimate, the continent alone accounts for half of the 1.1 billion people in the world unable to prove their identity, making it a major potential market for companies in the sector.<\/p>\n

On the continent, the market for biometric and digital identity documents alone is estimated at \u20ac1.4 billion by the specialist firm Acuity Market Intelligence.<\/p>\n

On a global scale, the mobile biometric recognition segment (using smartphones and tablets, particularly for payments) is set to become the driving force in this market, with global turnover expected to rise from \u20ac18 billion in 2018 to \u20ac44.7 billion in 2022, according to the same source.<\/p>\n

This revolution will inevitably affect the continent, already well versed in skipping technological milestones. The figures illustrate the size of the market, which emerged in the early 2000s before experiencing strong growth since the 2010s.<\/p>\n

In its 2018 activity report, the market leader Gemalto (3bn euros in revenue in 2018), acquired at the beginning of the year by the French technology giant Thales, indicates that the 11% growth of its \u201cIdentity, Internet of Things and Cybersecurity\u201d business is benefiting from the growing number of government programs relating to civil status registers and electoral records.<\/p>\n

This market has moreover been set as a priority by the Franco-Dutch firm in 2019, while the activity of the \u201csmart cards and issuing services\u201d segment is stagnating and that of its \u201cremovable SIM cards\u201d branch is in decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemand is currently driving the market,\u201d says Dr Atick.<\/p>\n

Regulatory requirements \u2013 such as those of ECOWAS \u2013 supported financially and technically by donors, have encouraged states on the continent to launch projects to modernize their civil registration services. But market players also insist on the political will of governments.<\/p>\n

Among the arguments that are hitting home, in addition to securing the recognition of people\u2019s identity for voting, travel or access to healthcare, is the strong economic impact of the implementation of these technologies on the activity of certain sectors, but also on public finances.<\/p>\n

In a year and a half, India has saved more money than the cost of its new biometric identification system for beneficiaries of its social welfare system. Its implementation has greatly reduced multiple identity fraud, an extremely costly phenomenon that also affects the African continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely because of this rapid return on investment, African countries don\u2019t need large amounts of financial support to set up biometric identification systems, but only seed money,\u201d says Dr Atick.<\/p>\n

The World Bank has thus lent 1.8 million euros to Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire for its new identity card programme; 4.4 million euros to Ecowas; and 5.3 million euros to Djibouti.<\/p>\n

In all, the Bretton Woods institution has accompanied many countries, with some 30 evaluations over the past five years, each of which may give rise to a loan or a grant from the institution, which then makes it possible to mobilize other financial partners.<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s Emergency Trust Fund is disbursing \u20ac25 million and \u20ac28 million for the modernisation of civil registers in Mali and With the issue of immigration, which has become a major theme in Western countries, led by Europe and the United States, some development agencies have increased their funding to improve the management of civil registers and border control in the continent\u2019s states,\u201d observes an executive from a specialist company in the sector.<\/p>\n

As a result of the enthusiasm of African states \u2013 and their financial support \u2013 for biometric identification projects, this market is attracting new companies.<\/p>\n

Thirty-eight companies responded in 2016 to the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s call for tenders to update the electoral register, won by Gemalto. But not all candidates have the same chance of winning these contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are only four or five of us competing on the global market, even if other companies may be able to compete locally for technical or political reasons,\u201d explains Ronny Depoortere, vice-president of Zetes\u2019 People ID division, which has revenues of \u20ac286 million in 2017 (including \u20ac54 million for its biometric identification division).<\/p>\n

The executive highlights his group\u2019s ability to organize large-scale deployments, consolidate data and integrate it with pre-existing systems. \u201cZetes has a decisive advantage over competitors who believe they can win contracts with technology alone, without deploying human resources in the field.<\/p>\n

\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnical criteria and the ability to deliver solutions on time are often equivalent to financial criteria in tenders on the continent,\u201d added Thierry Mesnard, Gemalto\u2019s Vice President Africa, in charge of digital security and identity activities.<\/p>\n

Another heavyweight, Idemia (\u20ac2.5 billion in revenues), born in 2017 from the merger of the biometric entities of Safran, Morpho and Oberthur Technologies. Present in 25 African countries, the group currently manages the largest biometric database on the continent, in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

It was against this giant that Belgium\u2019s Semlex, another major player, won the huge market in Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire in April for the national register of natural persons and the supply of identity cards, estimated at 703 million euros.<\/p>\n

For its part, Germany\u2019s Veridos (167 million euros in revenues in 2017) is active in Uganda, Zambia and Morocco. Finally, the French public company IN Groupe (\u20ac283.2 million in revenues in 2017) and the German company Mu\u0308hlbauer, present in Mozambique (\u20ac266.4 million in 2017), also continue to bid for contracts in Africa.<\/p>\n

Whereas a few years ago it was common to see several of these companies collaborating on the same project (as was the case with Gemalto and Zetes in Gabon in 2009, or Gemalto and Veridos in Zambia in 2017), today each of these giants is most often working alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cStates now prefer to deal with a single company, usually a major international player with references, which is more reassuring.<\/p>\n

As a result, large groups, including Gemalto, have organized themselves to be able to respond alone to complete end-to-end solution tenders,\u201d says Thierry Mesnard.<\/p>\n

This has included a series of mergers and acquisitions to ensure they are present across the entire value chain, while at the same time being able, through partnerships, to offer their customers a choice between different technology solutions provided by independent partners.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Gemalto took over Cogent, 3M\u2019s Identity Management business, bringing back a range of solutions for civil identification or border control. Semlex, meanwhile, purchased its own printing facility in 2014 to move away from reliance on service providers.<\/p>\n

Market concentration continues: one year before the birth of Idemia in 2017 and the takeover of Gemalto by Thales, Zetes was acquired by Panasonic. \u201cThis gives us the opportunity to integrate many of the cutting-edge technologies in which the parent company excels, such as facial recognition, into our offerings,\u201d says Ronny Depoortere.<\/p>\n

Behind these leaders, who are determined to take the biggest slice of the biometric recognition market pie, smaller African groups are struggling to win over.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s Waymark was successful in 2010 in managing Guinea\u2019s electoral register, but has been criticised for its lack of experience in the field. However, several companies are gradually making a place for themselves, especially as subcontractors to larger and more internationalized groups.<\/p>\n

Among them are South Africa\u2019s BioRugged, Secure ID and Ideco, Nigeria\u2019s Seamfix, and Ghana\u2019s Margins Group, which provide services ranging from supplying equipment to organising biometric enrolments.<\/p>\n

But we are still waiting for the emergence of an African challenger that can compete with the international giants currently dominating the sector. According to the specialist firm Acuity, nearly 139 million biometric and digital identity papers were manufactured in 2019 in Africa and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

A record for the zone, even if, according to the same source, this figure should start to decrease from 2020 (119 million documents in 2021) with the end of the transition to this mode of identification in most countries.<\/p>\n

While three out of four Nigerians had no official documents in the early 2000s, the smart biometric identity card programme, launched in 2014 by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), is ambitious: the new card is to be used first as a travel document and payment card, and then as a driver\u2019s licence, social insurance document and voter\u2019s card.<\/p>\n

As of January 2019, only 33.7 million Nigerians \u2013 out of a total population of 190 million \u2013 had received a unique identity number. The main partners in the project are Idemia and Tru\u0308b (a Gemalto subsidiary), as well as MasterCard for the payment part.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll over Africa, banking associations are telling me that we will not be able to improve access to credit for individuals until we make the identity of customers seeking financial support more secure,\u201d says Joseph Atick, who chairs the ID4Africa movement.<\/p>\n

According to Atick, several African central banks are currently investigating the possibility of implementing systems based on biometric technologies to prevent identity theft and over-indebtedness.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digital and facial recognition. Pending the emergence of an African challenger. Dr. Joseph Atick, President of ID4Africa, welcomes the increase in participation at its fifth annual forum, which is being held from 18 to 20 June in Johannesburg. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[233,246,314,245],"class_list":["post-25428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-african","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nBiometric identification: a coveted African market - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digit ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biometric identification: a coveted African market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digit ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-18T08:20:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-18T08:58:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Biometric identification: a coveted African market\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-18T08:20:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-18T08:58:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market\"},\"wordCount\":1563,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"African\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market\",\"name\":\"Biometric identification: a coveted African market - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-18T08:20:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-18T08:58:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digit ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":370,\"caption\":\"Biometric identification: a coveted African market\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Biometric identification: a coveted African market\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Biometric identification: a coveted African market - Lesotho","description":"In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digit ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Biometric identification: a coveted African market","og_description":"In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digit ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-02-18T08:20:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-18T08:58:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Biometric identification: a coveted African market","datePublished":"2023-02-18T08:20:27+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-18T08:58:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market"},"wordCount":1563,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","African","Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","files"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market","name":"Biometric identification: a coveted African market - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-18T08:20:27+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-18T08:58:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"In a booming sector, international giants are winning most of the contracts related to digit ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676695998.41.jpg","width":680,"height":370,"caption":"Biometric identification: a coveted African market"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/biometric-identification-a-coveted-african-market#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Biometric identification: a coveted African market"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}