You’ll excuse our South African focus today here and on Twitter. A burger chain writes in braille; author JM Coetzee writes about cricket; “a gym member tells of racist insults”; “Minister of Arts and Culture supports boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel”; and here cartoon artist Mdu Ntuli wraps up the first month of the new year on his Izikohko Show taking a jab at Trevor Noah and the DA’s Benetton campaign. A laugh helps, sometimes.

Further Reading

The Mogadishu analogy

In Gaza and Haiti, the specter of another Mogadishu is being raised to alert on-lookers and policymakers of unfolding tragedies. But we have to be careful when making comparisons.

Kwame Nkrumah today

New documents looking at British and American involvement in overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah give us pause to reflect on his legacy, and its resonances today.

Goodbye, Piassa

The demolition of an historic district in Addis Ababa shows a central contradiction of modernization: the desire to improve the country while devaluing its people and culture.