According to the findings of a recent survey by local rights NGOs, women were treated better during the Saddam Hussein era — and their rights were more respected — than they are now. According to a recent survey, women’s basic rights under the Hussein regime were guaranteed in the Constitution and — more importantly — respected.
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Three more men were brought in on Wednesday to testify about their associations with Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser, but she claims not to know them. One man said she had sex with him, the other said they were a couple at a theological college, and the third said she got into the bath with him.
The turmoil in the city of Cape Town administration could endanger major investments planned ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool warned on Wednesday. He was speaking after the African National Congress appealed for provincial intervention to end what it called the ”chaos” in the city.
”The only South African representation at the Soccer World Cup will be the street-football team in the [Streetfootball] World Cup,” said Klemens Hubert, South African director of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). An invitation to participate in the first-ever Streetfootball World Cup was extended to the Gauteng North Sport Council (GNSC) last month, in collaboration with GTZ.
A defiant Iran vowed on Wednesday that nothing could halt its controversial nuclear programme, in a direct challenge to the United Nations Security Council that could risk international sanctions. With the country basking in national pride after scientists successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel, officials pledged to move rapidly to industrial-scale work.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will oppose a high court bid to overturn her decision on alleged sex-pest ambassador Norman Mashabane, her spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said. He was responding to the Public Servants’ Association (PSA), which said it had received notice from the state attorney that both the minister and Mashabane were withdrawing their opposition.
Protesters were shot at with rubber bullets and arrested at South Africa’s Matsamo border with Swaziland on Wednesday in demonstrations against the kingdom’s leadership, Mpumalanga police said. Initially the marchers were peaceful but then they started to blockade the roads, said Superintendent Mtsholi Bhembe. Police told them their march certificate only entitled them to picket and they cleared the road.
Obscured by the tragi-salacious detail of the Jacob Zuma rape trial are deeper reasons as to why this story is powerful far beyond the accused as potential president. The event reflects an underlying narrative about the contemporary conduct of South African politics and it also speaks to us about much broader sex and power issues.