• Zinhle ka’Nobuhlaluse

In her new biography of South African writer Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell shows how the publishing industry historically excluded Black women, and how they wrote in spite of that.

• Jill E. Kelly

That South African political parties across the spectrum were quick to venerate the politician and Zulu prince Mangosutho Buthelezi, who died last week, demonstrates that the country is still attached to Bantustan ideology.

• Gopolang Botlhokwane

By questioning black masculinity in post-apartheid South Africa, Thando Mgqolozana became one of the most impactful writers of his time. But then he got accused of the same thing he opposed.

• Siyabulela Mama
• Antony Martel

The city of Gqeberha in South Africa is an example of how water is increasingly becoming a commodified resource, benefiting the powerful and depriving everyone else.

• Asher Gamedze

Asher Gamedze on his new single ‘Wynter Time,' and the struggle of oppressed peoples against dispossession, exploitation and alienation.

• Nkanyiso Ngqulunga

In their debut EP, the Johannesburg-based experimental jazz group iPhupho L’ka Biko offer a message of hope, resilience and solidarity while drawing from South Africa’s black jazz heritage.

• Nombuso Mathibela

During apartheid, literary magazine 'Staffrider' flourished from its ability to represent multiple social visions. However, it struggled to achieve the same in democratic South Africa.

• Wamuwi Mbao

Almost 30 years since South Africa’s first democratic elections, apartheid can sometimes seem like a distant past. However, three new films interrupt both the temptation to forget and to selectively remember.

• Khanya Mtshali

Noni Jabavu was one of South Africa’s most trailblazing writers. Her commitment to elite ambivalence makes it difficult to hail her as a black feminist icon.

• Paul S. Landau

Nelson Mandela is deified everywhere. But typically missing is an account of his early years, when he insisted that Marxism be responsive to South African conditions.

• Mehita Iqani
• Nicky Falkof

Andre De Ruyter, the former CEO of Eskom, has presented himself as a simple hero trying to save South Africa’s struggling power utility against corrupt forces. But this racially charged narrative is ultimately self-serving.

• Musawenkosi Cabe

South Africa’s apartheid flag has been declared hate speech by a top court. But while courts are important and their judgments matter, racism is a long and internationally entrenched social phenomenon that cannot be undone via judicial processes.

• William Shoki

Although the material basis for today’s non-alignment movement stems from the constraints imposed on the developing world by American economic primacy, counterbalancing Western encirclement need not mean a pivot East.

• Wamuwi Mbao

While there is much to mourn about the passing of legendary American singer and actor Harry Belafonte, we should hold a place for his bold statement-album against apartheid South Africa.

• Madosini

The South African musician known as Madosini passed away in 2022. She was one of the last of a generation who learnt to play traditional Xhosa instruments, in so doing sharing the spirituality, dignity, and joy of Xhosa culture through her inimitable song.

• Maya Schkolne

The struggle in Israel-Palestine lacks a sense of inclusivity, like in South Africa, that aims to take over and transform the state into a democracy for all its citizens.

• Khwezi Mabasa

Chris Hani’s legacy is often reduced to debates about his assassination in April 1993, but his significance goes beyond South Africa’s democratic transition.

• Zama Mthunzi

South Africa has had formal democracy for 30 years, but more of its citizens are tuned out of the democratic process.

• Barbara Boswell

While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.

• William Shoki

South African con-artists Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana are not good people. They’re also an outcome of a system that predisposes individuals to avarice, selfishness and deceit.