South African broadcaster Redi Tlhabi has resurrected the story of a young woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape. In a book just published the author recounts the life of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, who was known only as “Khwezi” during the rape trial in 2006. Her story has been told before. But, as Shireen Hassim writes, Tlhabi speaks to a South Africa that’s changed in the past decade. One notable difference is that the pact of complicity surrounding Zuma has been broken.
Fears that Lake Chad - an important water and hydroelectricity source for many countries in West, Central and even North Africa - was drying up, prompted an ambitious move to replenish it with water from the River Congo. But 30 years later, internal politics and disagreements still threaten the full take off and success of the project, explains Adegboyega Adeniran.
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Supporters of President Jacob Zuma in full cry outside the court during his 2006 rape trial.
EPA
Shireen Hassim, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa has changed since Jacob Zuma's 2006 rape trial. In recent years, a new and assertive feminist movement has emerged and attacks on the president have become common cause.
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Environment + Energy
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Adegboyega Adeniran, Australian National University; Katherine Daniell, Australian National University
The transnational project conceived 30 years ago to replenish the drying waters of Lake Chad finally seems poised to take off. But first, internal politics within member states must be overcome.
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Politics + Society
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John de Gruchy, University of Cape Town
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is first and foremost, a spiritual leader, a man of deep prayer. This motivated his participation in supporting South Africa's liberation struggle.
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Education
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Fiona Horne, University of the Witwatersrand
French is no longer taught as a European language representative of "French" culture in South Africa. New modes of teaching, learning and research speak to an inclusive Africanist agenda.
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From our international editions
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Kurt Mills, University of Dundee
The UK foreign secretary has been talking up the merits of clearing away bodies to build a new Dubai on the Libyan Med.
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Xavier Conlan, Deakin University
The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to scientists who developed a way to study biological molecules under an electron microscope.
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Jason von Meding, University of Newcastle
The use of Agent Orange in Vietnam had deep impacts, including a poisoned water supply, birth defects and cancer. Despite decades of attempted litigation, justice for spraying victims seems unlikely.
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