South Africa

Violence against sex workers surges in South Africa as they move to the internet for work
Violence against sex workers surges in South Africa as they move to the internet for work 31 March 2023 Colleta Dewa for GenderIT.org

Sex workers in South Africa moved to the internet to seek clients as the offline opportunities dwindled due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. But they face previously unknown challenges with the prevalent online gender-based violence in the country.

Sol Luca de Tena
Sol Luca de Tena 11 November 2022

Sol Luca de Tena has spent her life living and working between South Africa and Spain, and calls both countries home. She has over a decade of experience in strategic project management within technology development, capacity building, social impact and policy – with a focus on utilising technologies to address environmental and social challenges. She develops collaboration networks between often diverse interests, including communities, academia, industry and administration, and shapes...

Anriette Esterhuysen
Anriette Esterhuysen 19 September 2022

Anriette Esterhuysen was the executive director of APC until March 2017. Prior to joining APC, Anriette was executive director of SANGONeT, an internet service provider and training institution for civil society, labour and community organisations. She was active in the struggle against Apartheid from 1980 onwards. From 1987 to 1992 she did information and communication work in development and ...

African internet resilience: What about complementary access models?
African internet resilience: What about complementary access models? 31 August 2020 Marta Kopp

The fifth session of the African Internet Resilience webinar series took place on 30 July. The focus of the session was to foster a deeper understanding of complementary networks and address the need for internet services in rural and underserved areas across the continent.

REG4COVID: Community network responses to the pandemic
REG4COVID: Community network responses to the pandemic 04 August 2020 Marta Kopp

As a part of the ITU's pandemic response, the platform REG4COVID was launched, providing a space for regulators and civil society to share their own initiatives. APC asked their community network partners to contribute to the platform, given the general absence of civil society input.

Questions for white liberals
Questions for white liberals 22 June 2020 Kharnita Mohamed for GenderIT.org

White allies rarely explain why particular racist actions might have occurred. White liberal intellectuals frequently learn anti-racist discourse and mimic it back at us with little trenchant thought given to their own experiences of whiteness.

Privacy and the pandemic: An African response
Privacy and the pandemic: An African response 21 June 2020 Gabriella Razzano

COVID-19 has led to a surge of efforts by both state and private actors to manage the pandemic itself, and the consequences of it, with the aid of technology. Yet privacy has immediately been cast as a required trade-off in the efforts to combat the disease.

"Language revolt": This activist tweets against erasure of first languages in South Africa
"Language revolt": This activist tweets against erasure of first languages in South Africa 16 June 2020 Denver Toroxa Breda for Global Voices

This invisibility in the South African national narrative can also be seen by the language’s absence on the internet.

Can the social contract theory justify data rights violations? A review of South Africa's contact tracing regulations
Can the social contract theory justify data rights violations? A review of South Africa's contact tracing regulations 13 June 2020 Rumbidzai Matamba and Chenai Chair

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a need for solutions to “flatten the curve”. This essay by Rumbidzai Matamba and Chenai Chair employs the use of the South African government’s contact tracing initiatives to assess whether the social contract theory can be employed as a tool to justify privacy violations for public health.

Open letter to President Ramaphosa on South African copyright laws
Open letter to President Ramaphosa on South African copyright laws 11 May 2020 Association for Progressive Communications and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

Open letter from APC and the IFLA to President Cyril Ramaphosa concerning the Copyright Bill that currently awaits his signature, following its approval by the South African Parliament.

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