A few weeks ago, the woman who had falsely accused my father, Mavuso ­Msimang, of sexually harassing her almost two years ago withdrew her case against him. It was a hollow victory. The withdrawal per se was an anticlimax. As a family, we were hoping the case would go to court, so that we could get justice, in addition to peace.

"...The thing is, I am tired. I am tired because every day women's bodies are broken: thrown down stairs, set on fire, burnt with chemicals. I am tired because women's vaginas are considered dirty and those who like sex are treated with suspicion." In an open letter to President Thabo Mbeki, gender activist Sisonke Msimang pleads for an end to the denial of women's fundamental rights.

South Africans may complain often and loudly, but that is far better than Americans' paralysis, writes Sisonke Msimang.

The political climate in the Southern African Development Community has been balmy of late.

Anene Booysen's rape will happen again. She was raped and mutilated because she was a girl, and they wanted to destroy her, writes Sisonke Msimang.

The political climate in the Southern African Development Community has been balmy of late.

A few weeks ago, the woman who had falsely accused my father, Mavuso ­Msimang, of sexually harassing her almost two years ago withdrew her case against him. It was a hollow victory. The withdrawal per se was an anticlimax. As a family, we were hoping the case would go to court, so that we could get justice, in addition to peace.

"...The thing is, I am tired. I am tired because every day women's bodies are broken: thrown down stairs, set on fire, burnt with chemicals. I am tired because women's vaginas are considered dirty and those who like sex are treated with suspicion." In an open letter to President Thabo Mbeki, gender activist Sisonke Msimang pleads for an end to the denial of women's fundamental rights.