Africa’s only internet cable repair ship keeps the continent online

As the Léon Thévenin eased into Cape Town port last month, Shuru Arendse was ready to rush home to his family. He had a month off and a laundry list of to-do’s: fix a leaky tap, patch a hole in the roof, take his two children to the trampoline park. 

But halfway through Arendse’s leave, there was a phone call: An undersea internet cable off Angola was malfunctioning. The Thévenin, the only cable repair ship permanently stationed in Africa, was heading off to fix it, and Arendse was…