• Josef K.

The South African government’s rush to clear visa applications has led to mass rejections, bureaucratic chaos, and an overloaded appeals system—leaving thousands in limbo.

• Tara Nair van Ryneveld
• Malik Chiconela Santana

The massacre of artisanal miners in Stilfontein exposes the South African state’s violent allegiance to corporate interests and a long legacy of extraction and dispossession.

• William Shoki

Musk’s outrage over land reform in South Africa isn’t about fairness—it’s about fueling right-wing paranoia and preserving economic privilege.

• Herman Wasserman

The US president’s executive order on South Africa isn’t about fairness—it’s a cynical ploy to stoke racial paranoia and shore up his right-wing base.

• Andile Zulu

As economic crises deepen, right-wing fearmongering and racial scapegoating thrive—masking the real struggle for economic justice.

• Steven Friedman

Musk’s embrace of far-right politics and Zionism reveals the fractures in Western liberal democracy, where whiteness trumps equality and justice.

• Samuel Anim

The former president’s abiding presence in South African politics reveals the undercurrent of cultural populism and what can happen when local beliefs cut against the grain of liberal democracy.

• Jan Bornman

In South Africa, a spate of food poisoning incidents has ignited another round of xenophobic scaremongering.

• Niall Reddy
• William Shoki

Once a beacon of hope for militant trade unionism, Numsa’s descent into corruption and political entanglement reflects the broader struggles facing South Africa’s labor movement.

• Atiyyah Khan

Rashid Vally, the visionary behind South Africa’s iconic jazz label As-Shams, forged a legacy of revolutionary jazz that defied apartheid and continues to inspire new generations of musicians, activists, and music lovers.

• Khanya Mtshali

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.

• Sa’eed Husaini

Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.

• Tshiamo Ramela

Tyla’s rise as a global pop star highlights the complexities of race, identity, and cultural representation, challenging how Blackness is perceived across the diaspora.

• Open Secrets

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

• William Shoki

2024 has been the ultimate election year. Just Us Under A Tree rejoins the Africa Is a Country Podcast to reflect on South Africa’s May poll and what it reveals about contemporary democratic politics.

• Khanya Mtshali

Nicknamed the “Candace Owens of South Africa,” Siphesihle Nxokwana is an anti-feminist influencer playing to crowds already on her side.

• Bárbara Rousseaux

South African photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa returns to places of pain and beauty to reinterpret the landscape and, in turn, discover something new about himself.

• Jabulile Dlamini-Qwesha

Samthing Soweto and DJ Maphorisa’s clash over a song credit raises the question of whether numbers trump respect in the Amapiano music scene.

• Efthimios Karayiannides

While it might be cathartic to compare Elon Musk’s tech firms to apartheid-era mines, the connection between ex-South Africans and American capitalism is complicated.

• Brian Kamanzi

South Africa’s pivot to electricity markets will be socially regressive, whether green or not.