Rutendo Nyaku

Rutendo Nyaku is a Machel-Mandela fellow. She is currently completing an MPhil in Justice and Transformation at the University of Cape Town (UCT). During this time, Rutendo has also completed a semester abroad the University of Copenhagen (KU) in Denmark where she honed her research interests in political representation, digital governance, post-transition and post-conflict justice and development. Rutendo also holds a BSocSci (Hons) in Justice and Transformation (UCT) and a BSocSci in French, Media & Writing, and Politics & Governance.

Prior to the Brenthurst foundation, Rutendo served in various roles across different organisations. Most recently, she served as an intern for the Chief Digital Office Transformation Pillar at UNDP. Rutendo also managed communications and coordinated programmes for various UCT research and community engagement projects such as the multi-stake holder Global Media Index 4 Africa (GMI4A) project with Africa No Filter and the Africa Centre as well as the African Transitional Research Network (ATJRN) where she hosted interviews with transitional justice practitioners across the continent.

Rutendo is a published scholar, notably for the policy brief “A Call to Integrate the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP) Within the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Regional Policies on Politics, Defence and Security.” She was also a selected presenter at the London School of Economics Media Futures Conference for her work titled “Subverting Subversion: Strategies taken by Authoritarian Governments to Undermine Public Participation on New Media Platforms”.