The University Council has announced that Chancellor College, the main constituent college of the University of Malawi, at the centre of a protracted academic freedom wrangle, will be finally re-opened 14 November. Zomba-based Chancellor College has been in a lock-down since 16 February when lecturers started protesting Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito's summoning of associate political science professor Blessings Chinsinga on 12 February, to quiz him over a classroom example he gave his public policy class. The youthful lecturer had reportedly likened the insurrections that toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt to Malawi's current fuel and foreign exchange reserves shortages.

South Africa’s Justice Minister has called for an investigation into reports that the country’s priority crimes unit and the police are involved in an illegal ‘renditions’ deal with Zimbabwe. Minister Jeff Radebe is reportedly on a 'collision course' with his colleague, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, after demanding answers over the report. Radebe told South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper that the rendition claims were 'very worrying', especially considering the allegations 'were levelled not only against organs of state, but one that is responsible for law enforcement and security.'

Poverty, abuse and cultural practices are preventing a third of Zimbabwean girls from attending primary school and 67 per cent from attending secondary school, denying them a basic education, according to a recent study which found alarming dropout rates for girls. 'Sexual harassment and abuse by even school teachers and parents, cultural issues, lack of school fees, early marriage, parental commitments and early pregnancies are some of the contributing factors to the dropout by the girl child,' said the authors of 'Because I am a Girl' by Plan International, a nonprofit organisation that works to alleviate child poverty.

The West African economic and political grouping Ecowas has described as 'unfortunate' the decision by Liberia’s main opposition to boycott the 8 November presidential runoff and urged Liberians to go to the polls. In a statement, the Economic Community of West Africa States cautioned the country's political leaders against inciting their supporters to violence and vowed to endorse any result that would emanate from a poll that would be certified by international observers.

The new school year began at the end of October in Côte d’Ivoire but is getting off to slow start as students struggle to return to study after post-election violence disrupted education in many schools for months. In the west of the country along the Liberian border, schools between the villages Blolequin and Toulepleu are still closed, and many children have still not returned home after fleeing to Liberia or other parts of Côte d’Ivoire with their families, said Paul Yao-Yao, coordinator of Save the Children’s education programme in Abidjan.

Using homosexuality as a focus, Dr. Tamale will on 21 November discuss how political and religious leaders in both Africa and the West instrumentalise sexuality to achieve their political ends, and provide an analysis of the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

18 November sees a discussion on the intersections between sex, power, masculinity, and femininity with human rights activists and scholar, Dr. Sylvia Tamale, as she signs her new book. This groundbreaking volume 'African Sexualities: A Reader', the first of its kind written by African activists themselves, aims to inspire a new generation of students and teachers to study, reflect and gain fresh and critical insights into the complex issues of gender and sexuality. It opens a space - particularly for young people – to think about African sexualities in different ways.

The Department for Continuing Education and the Faculty of Law at Oxford University are very pleased to announce that admissions are now open for five scholarships for candidates from African Commonwealth countries to study for the part-time Masters in International Human Rights Law at the
University of Oxford, starting September 2012. The course website can be found at and details about the scholarships, including eligibility criteria and how to apply, can be found on the Fees and Funding pages at

As concerns deepen about the quality of education in Zimbabwe, parents can expect an indefinite extension of subsidising teacher salaries as the cash- strapped government struggles to meet the bloated civil service wage bill. Teacher incentives - a stipulated amount of usually between two to five dollars, which is paid by parents directly to teachers on a monthly basis - were introduced two years ago by the government to supplement teacher salaries. But many parents say the situation has become untenable and that they can no longer afford to contribute to teachers' salaries.

Zambia's newly elected President Michael Sata has outlined plans to review the higher education sector as well as establish three new universities, to fulfil his election manifesto. Job creation for higher education graduates would also be prioritised. Sata, who came to power last month after defeating former president Rupiah Banda, said he also had plans for the establishment of universities and technical colleges in each of the country's nine provinces and intended rehabilitating existing institutions. Staff recruitment would be scaled up to meet demand in these institutions.

A public call for proposals is underway to encourage individuals and organisations to apply for grants that provide innovative and critical analysis of South Africa’s foreign policy behaviour and impact. OSF-SA wishes to award grants to suitably qualified organisations and individuals that undertake empirically focused research projects on South Africa’s global role as it relates to the following issues:
- Deliberating South Africa’s 2nd year on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
- Understanding South Africa’s Role in Development Cooperation and the Implementation of
the Development Partnership Agency
- South Africa’s identity in IBSA and BRICS
- Comparing South Africa’s corporate footprint in Africa with BRIC partners:
Complementarities and Competition
- South Africa’s Foreign Policy after 2014: Continuity and/or Change?

Ugandan human rights activists are concerned that President Yoweri Museveni's proposal to do away with bail for people suspected of committing certain crimes could swell the country's already overcrowded prison system and exacerbate severe problems in delivering health services to inmates. Museveni announced the move to amend the Constitution and the Penal Code in May following 'Walk to Work' protests over high food and fuel prices. The proposed law would allow judges to deny bail for at least six months to people arrested for treason, terrorism, rape, economic sabotage and rioting.

Lecturers at Chancellor College, the main constituent college of the University of Malawi, were meeting Tuesday to decide whether the directive and assurances given by President Bingu wa Mutharika met their conditions in the eight-month academic freedom stand-off. In a surprise statement by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Mutharika said he was guaranteeing academic freedom within the conditions of service of the lecturers and ordered that four lecturers that were sacked at the peak of the wrangle be reinstated without any conditions.

Cameroon's President Paul Biya promised more jobs for young people and said he would set Cameroon on the path to being an emerging nation in a speech after he was declared winner of this month's presidential election. Cameroon's supreme court said 78-year-old Biya was re-elected by a widely expected landslide in a vote that US and French authorities have said was marred by irregularities.

On 19 October, Chimurenga - a pan African literary & political magazine - released 'The Chronic', a once-off edition of an imaginary newspaper for the week of 18-24 May 2008, a time when xenophobic violence tore through South Africa. According to Chimurenga founding editor Ntone Edjabe, the newspaper issue seeks to 'travel back in time to stage an intervention in the past so as to reimagine the present'.

NGOs in Uganda continue to heavily depend on donations from foreign sources, says this report on NGO sustainability on the website of the Uganda National NGO Forum. 'Grants and donations to NGOs are still the primary source of income to at least 90% of NGOs. In 2010, there was a reduction in foreign grants inflow in Uganda owing to the global economic downturn and financial crisis and changes in development policies in previously major funding countries like Netherlands. Some traditionally financially sound NGOs were forced to scale-down significantly due to funding cuts.'

Senior officials of the Hawks and the South African Police Services are conducting an illegal 'rendition' with their Zimbabwean counterparts, the Sunday Times has reported. The newspaper reported that the government agencies arrest 'suspects' and illegally send them across the Beit Bridge border to be murdered. Rendition is the illegal kidnapping and transfer of prisoner from one country to another.

A small number of photographers and poets in Kenya have started the second phase of a creative project called ‘Koroga’. Photographers create stunning, ‘alternative’ images of Kenya and poets add short text to create slides, the ‘Koroga’, that say something imaginative, something new. All of the very accessible and diverse slides are ‘free to view’ online.

The Democratic Left Front (DLF) has called for the immediate release of Simphiwe Zwane, the Operation Khanyisa Movement (OKM) councillor in the Johannesburg City Council. On Friday 21 October 2011 Zwane was arrested at her home in Thembelihle – the shack settlement in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, where there have been sustained community protests for services, housing and unemployment. She is being held at the Lenasia Police Station cells. 'Zwane’s arrest confirms that the repressive organs of the state are directed at people and workers engaged in protest action.'

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC) is calling for Southern African Development Community (SADC) governments to put in place policies that recognise the rights of migrants and to join forces with regional humanitarian organisations to eliminate problems faced by migrants in the region. IFRC Southern Africa representative Ken Odur said migrant 'needs' must be addressed irrespective of their legal status in a host country. IFRC and its member National Red Cross Societies in the Southern Africa region have launched a long-term and intra-region initiative that seeks to address migration-related humanitarian challenges while promoting respect for diversity and social inclusion in Southern Africa.