The Digital Freedom exposition has highlighted the relationship between education and a culture of digital freedom. The South African government spoke of the policy decisions which favour an approach that includes Open Source Software, and attempts to harness the digital revolution. A number of the keynote speakers highlighted areas that digital freedom could enable progress, but there was a resounding agreement that education stands to benefit enormously from digital freedom.

Schoolgirls across the country are sexually abused and harassed almost daily by teachers and schoolboys. This was according to a Human Rights Watch report in 2001 - and in 2007 the situation remains the same. According to a presentation by Danaline Franzman of the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), on behalf of Judith Cohen, teenage girls in different provinces and townships have similar experiences at school.

For the first time South Africa's top 40 listed companies, which includes Telkom and MTN, have been asked to make available information on their greenhouse gas emissions and their responses to environment-related business trends by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the secretariat for a grouping of more than 250 institutional investors from around the world with $41-trillion under management.

The South African government has a dilemma: it is constitutionally and morally compelled to redress the past injustices of land ownership, but, by its own determination, its agrarian reform programme will fail if it does not also achieve economic success. For that reason, agrarian reform in SA was more than the transfer of land, Deputy Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Dirk du Toit told a media briefing at the start of a tour of land-reform projects near Bloemfontein at the weekend. “We have to ask: Did we contribute to poverty reduction?” he said.

The Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa (CEGAA) and the International Budget Project (IBP), kindly sponsored by the FORD Foundation, are offering a two-week training to civil society organizations (NGOs)/ research agencies in: “Monitoring of budgets and tracking expenditure for health and HIV/AIDS” The training is to take place from the 18th to the 30th June 2007, venue still to be confirmed. For further information please contact: [email][email protected]

This course is designed to equip you with the practical skills and tools for successfully asserting yourself in all areas of your job function, from meetings, negotiations and conflict resolution to negotiating the minefield of corporate politics. A Practical, 2-Day Management Development Course For Women to be held
June 11 - 12, 2007 in Glen Hove Conferencing, Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa.

South African ambassador to China Ndumiso Ndima Ntshinga has said that South Africa hopes Chinese companies could invest in the country's infrastructure construction. South Africa welcomes investment from Chinese companies and hopes to expand economic and trade ties with China, Ntshinga told reporters before a reception held to celebrate the 13th Freedom Day of South Africa.

SchoolNet, South Africa's annual conference is to be held in Bloemfontein from 4 -6 July 2007.

A vacancy exists at the Electoral Institute for Southern Africa (EISA) for the position of Manager, Elections and Balloting Services (BES). The position is based in Johannesburg. Qualified South African nationals are encouraged to apply. EISA offers a competitive remuneration package based on qualifications and experience. Closing date for submission of applications is Friday, 20 May 2007.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/303/1in9_41281.jpgJohanna Kehler assesses the social impact of the Jacob Zuma rape trial for women in South Africa.

On 8 May 2006, a highly politicised, publicised and, in many ways, unjust trial came officially to an end, when judgement in the Zuma rape trial was handed down.

Many will remember this day, as the ’Zuma judgement’. It sparked a wide range of responses. Anger, shock and disappointment were as much part of these responses. Once again, the justice system failed to protect a victim/survivor of rape – ‘Khwezi’, a gender and HIV/Aids activist, who had the courage to speak out, claim her rights and demand justice.

The trial raised many questions about the adequacy of the criminal justice system in ensuring equal access to justice and facilitating a fair and just trial.

It especially highlighted the inadequacy of the sexual offences legislation, which is meant to protect and not victimise a rape victim or survivor.

Moreover, the trial, while causing theoretical debates about the admissibility of a complainant’s prior sexual history into evidence, clearly showed how the introduction of a complainant’s prior sexual history, and in this particular case sexual orientation, taints the proceedings.

A year later, as many of these debates continue, HIV/Aids and women’s rights activists are still dealing with the impact of the trial. In addition to the many legal and political implications of the trial proceedings and subsequent judgement, the social impact on communities and societal perceptions continues to influence and shape the work of activists.

One of the many issues raised was that of HIV prevention, including the argument about a shower as a means of preventing HIV infection.

While this may have raised reactions from laughter to disgust, especially considering that the statement came from ‘an expert’, the former chairperson of SANAC, the long-term impact of this statement on communities and societal perceptions raises serious concerns.

The statement, as ridiculous as it may seem, is nothing less than an insult; especially viewed against an estimated 1500 new HIV infection per day.

Already challenged by the seemingly inadequacy of many of the HIV prevention efforts, activists are now engaging with communities in shower debates.

Moreover, the concepts of risk behaviour and individual responsibility, as crucial aspects of prevention, have been seriously tainted by the trial. Zuma will be mentioned as proof that it is ‘okay’ and ‘not risky at all’ to engage in unprotected sex, even though the HIV positive status of the sex partner may be known.

Similarly, the trial re-emphasised notions that a woman’s clothing is an indication of her preparedness and willingness to engage in sex; and that a woman’s prior sexual history is of relevance in determining whether or not the alleged rape did occur.

While these outcomes not only fundamentally threatens a woman’s right to personal autonomy, freedom and dignity, they also perpetuate societal beliefs that victims/survivors of rape ‘asked for it’, by virtue of ‘inappropriate’ clothing and prior ‘promiscuous’ behaviour.

Fear that this would negatively impact on the gains made towards promoting women’s rights and challenging societal beliefs which justify the continuous violation of women was confirmed in the aftermath of the trial.

Years of raising awareness and promoting human rights are seemingly lost as women’s rights activists are engaging with communities, yet once again, in debates about ‘dress codes’ and ‘promiscuity’ as reasons for rape.

Not only did the trial seem to have divided communities, it has also reinforced existing prejudices about sexual violence and about the risks of HIV infection.

Subsequently, the Zuma trial and judgement, appears to have not only helped perpetuate the status quo and justification for high incidences of sexual violence, rape, and rising HIV infection rates.

While the judgement may have found Zuma ‘not guilty of rape’, the question seems to remain as to his ‘guilt’ of ‘promoting and justifying’ rape and ‘risky sexual behaviour’ in a societal context, in which sexual violence and HIV/Aids have reached pandemic proportions.

And while the experiences in the aftermath of the Zuma trial may have raised many new questions about women’s rights, women’s realities have remained unchanged.

High incidences of sexual violence and abuse; high HIV prevalence rates and the persistent feminisation of the HIV/Aids pandemics; as well as the prevailing disrespect for, and violation of, fundamental human rights and freedoms are but some of the indicators of women’s realities.

These are further exacerbated by the lack of adequate sexual offences legislation, creating a judicial and societal context, which fails to facilitate access to justice for victims/survivors of sexual violence, and deters many victims/survivors of sexual violence from speaking out and claiming their rights.

Subsequently, perceptions such as ‘there is no justice, so why bother reporting a rape’, are likely to be further entrenched. Statistics indicate that only one in nine cases of rape are reported (MRC, 2002). These are unlikely to improve in the current judicial and societal context.

For many activists, the trial is not over yet. For many years to come we will have to respond to the seemingly everlasting impact of a trial, which not only questioned access to justice for victims and survivors of sexual violence, but also re-emphasised detrimental societal perceptions and beliefs about sexual abuse and the risks of HIV infection.

After a year of mourning after the event, it seems to be high time to remember that these are the very same societal perceptions and beliefs that continuously not only limit the impact of HIV/Aids and sexual violence prevention efforts, but also fuel both pandemics.

* Johanna Kehler, AIDS Legal Network (ALN), on behalf of the One In Nine Campaign (www.oneinnine.org.za)

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Fazel Khan, a sociology lecturer at the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN)has been fired by the university after a 7 month disciplinary process.

When it comes to environmental sustainability, South Africa talks green but opts for dirty coal, according to Mathabo le Roux of Business Day. As concerns about climate change grow, the global trend is to diversify away from finite fossil fuels towards renewable energy in an effort to mitigate the impact on the environment.

Esselen Street Clinic, in Johannesburg's edgy, bustling inner-city suburb of Hillbrow, houses the only health centre in Johannesburg offering medical care aimed at sex workers. Business is brisk: at 8am the first clients are waiting outside the door of nurse Tryphina Matsena, who dispenses treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Following the successful run of its first ever gender and media literacy course that took place in June-August 2006, Gender Links will be conducting another Media Literacy Training Course from 3 May - 2 August 2007. The course material has been developed by Gender Links (GL), a southern African NGO that specialises in gender, governance and communication.

While there are now roughly equal numbers of women and men in South African newsrooms, women, and especially black women, are still scarce in senior and top management echelons, as well as in the hard news beats. On average, women earn 20 per cent less than men in newsrooms; and black women earn 25 per cent less than white men.

The petrol price has sky-rocketed; food prices are expected to increase by 30 per cent by the end of the year. With workers spending at least half of their wages on food, this means that the 12 per cent wage demand of the public sector workers must be regarded as an absolute minimum. In fact it is already too low. The reality is that workers wages are going to drop this year; there will be greater starvation. This is the contention of South Africa's Workers' international Vanguard League.

According to the National Working Group on Sexual Offences, a group of 25 organisations including Childline, the Teddy Bear Clinic, People Opposing Women Abuse and the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, rape survivors are not getting the health care they need. To make matters worse, teenage girls who are raped are often scolded or branded liars by health workers attending to them, while men, gays and lesbians and sex workers who have been raped are also discriminated against.

As activists focused on the challenges facing workers this May Day - 1 May 2007, Martha Moside, in an interview, called for attention to be paid to the situation of female subsistence farmers in South Africa. Many encounter difficulties gaining access to markets, securing bank loans and retaining reliable workers to assist them.

In sub-Saharan Africa, young women are at high risk of HIV infection, with a prevalence of 21 per cent among 21 year-olds recently reported from South Africa. Now, the same team of US and South African scientists report that this prevalence occurs in young women with few lifetime partners, suggesting a much higher rate of male-to-female transmission than previously reported. The researchers report their findings in the 23 April edition of AIDS.

This is the first time that the World Environmental Education Congress comes to Africa. As researchers, practitioners and policy makers we need to ensure that we contribute to the values and goals of sustainability as found in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the UN Development Millennium Goals; Education for All and many other international directives. Standard registration booking deadline: 15 May 2007. Standard registration payment deadline: 2 June 2007.