Human rights photography in Africa

This photo by Lungi Mbulwana is a finalist in the 'Human Rights Photography in Africa' category of the German Development Media Awards. 87-year-old Nikiwe Masango (pictured above) from South Africa woke up one night with a man on top of her. "He must have burned incense for me to sleep like that. He raped me all night. He asked me to cover my eyes, so that I wouldn't identify him," she said.

The driver of an okada motorcycle taxi pleads with policemen after stripping naked to protest his arrest in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2012, the Lagos state government banned okadas from the major roads in the capital. Police have been accused of deploying excessive force and violence to enforce compliance with the new traffic law. (Photo: Olufemi Ajasa)

These school children are about to paddle home in Makoko, a slum built on stilts over Lagos Lagoon. Education has been described as the greatest weapon to fight poverty. But in this floating slum, the poorest settlement in Nigeria, many children have little hope of going to school. These here are the lucky ones. (Photo: Oluyinka Ezekiel Adeparusi)

A boy jumps playfully on a row of toilets in Khayelitsha, near Cape Town, South Africa. For the people living in informal settlements around Cape Town, going to the toilet can be a nightmare. These facilities are overused, poorly maintained and unhygenic. Due to the high crime rate, people at night often use buckets in their shacks instead. (Photo: David Harrison)

This South African man spent more than 20 years in jail. Every tattoo on his face is a symbol of his gang status and rank. The portrait shows there is beauty within all of us despite the circumstances we face in life. (Photo: Theodore Afrika)

Zeituni proudly shows off her healthy newborn, delivered in a small hospital just a few meters from her hut. The hospital, located in the village of Diff on the Kenyan-Somali border, has a maternity ward, the first of its kind in the area. (Photo: Abraham Ali)

A man is dragged through the streets of a Cape Town township after being beaten by an angry mob who suspected him of stealing a cellphone. The man was later taken to hospital by police but no one was arrested. The right to a fair trial is a human right. (Photo: Lulama Zenzile)

Security officials carry away Kenyan activist Boniface "Bonnie" Mwangi after he shouted "Traitor! Traitor!" during a speech by a trade union official. Mwangi was subsequently beaten and locked in a police cell for making use of his right to freedom of expression. (Photo: Evans Habil Kweyu)

These people from Jatokrom village in northern Ghana have walked for miles to fetch water from a dam. The stream near their farming community has dried up. The dam is also used by stock, which means the water is unfit for human use. Millions of people in Ghana still lack access to safe drinking water. (Photo: Geoffrey Buta)

A mother of seven weeps on the street. She and her family have been forcibly evicted from their home in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, to make room for a new luxury hotel. More than 670 people were evicted, their homes razed. No one, including this woman, were given compensation or alternative housing. Photo: Salma Khalil Alio.

Somali journalists protest the detention and killing of journalists. The photo was taken by Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, after the arrest of a reporter who interviewed a woman raped by government forces. The winners of the German Development Media Awards will be announced on Wednesday August 14, 2013. The prize is sponsored by DW and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.