While the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is taking steps to protect women from domestic violence, its security forces are raining down baton blows on women activists, one female victim said this week. Grace Kwinjeh was one of four women in a group of opposition supporters who were badly beaten by Zimbabwean police on March 11.
Jennifer Khumalo stands meekly at an intersection on Jan Smuts Avenue in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Dumisani Moyo, her 21-year-old brother, holds her hand, being the eyes that guide her through the swerving traffic. Many Zimbabwean nationals such as Khumalo and Moyo have found a place on corners and intersections throughout the city. ”We have nothing at home,” Khumalo says,
Isabelle Wirimana was nine years old the last time she saw her family. All she remembers of fleeing their house in Kigali, Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide is the crowd of passers-by carrying her from the crumbling city, away from her parents and four siblings lost somewhere on the road.
The 26 finalists for the 2007 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year award were announced this week, with nine of them from South Africa, representing the print media, television and radio broadcasting spectrum. The South African finalists include five producers working with M-Net’s news and actuality show Carte Blanche.
While the developed world has not yet lived up to its commitment to give 1% of its GDP to the developing South, aid flows have increased since 2000, when the pledge was renewed at the <i>United Nations Millennium Summit. A Southern Africa Trust policy brief, Aid Effectiveness: Trends and Impacts of Shifting Financial Flows to Civil Society Organisations in Southern Africa</i>.
Even amid Zimbabwe’s increasing instability, life in suburban Harare has remained more or less predictable. Which is why Sunday morning shoppers at a suburban shopping mall, popular with young professionals and the well-heeled, stood stunned as they watched the store manager of a branch of one of the country’s largest retail chains being dragged out of his store by the back of his collar.
A regional chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), Thabo Thakalekola, was on Monday night released from jail in Maseru on R1 000 bail, following his arrest last Friday by the Lesotho mounted police on charges of treason. Thakalekola is a freelance journalist and radio presenter.
Zimbabwe’s opposition leaders returned to their supporters eager to report some progress after their first direct talks with the ruling Zanu-PF recently, but found fresh evidence of widespread concern that infighting in the ruling party poses a threat to dialogue. The first round of formal talks has been overshadowed by the story of how four travel agents planned a military coup to overthrow President Robert Mugabe.
Dalene du Preez, spokesperson for the Proudly South African brand, on Thursday said <i>Business Day</i> newspaper had got it "half wrong" when it reported that the brand was disowned by its chief sponsor, the Department of Trade and Industry. She said there has been a recent turnaround in the strategy around the brand.
In commemoration of World Refugee Day on Wednesday, the Johannesburg City Hall hosted numerous NGOs and civil society groups that came together to highlight the troubles faced by refugees, particularly children, living in South Africa. Some refugee children shared their stories with the crowd.