THE WORLD IS A LIBRARY: LEARNING TO READ LIFE’S PAGES
She said it lightly, as though commenting on the weather. We were standing in the doorway, hugging and kissing goodbyes and time pressing forward, when her eyes lit with that old fire that comes from a life fully lived. Her words slipped between the goodbyes like a bookmark placed at just the right place in […]
THE STRUGGLE AND THE SPIRIT WORLD: ANCESTORS APPARITIONS, AND THE AFTERLIFE OF RESISTANCE
Beyond the Physical Battle While the liberation struggle in South Africa is often narrated through guns, chants, marches, and negotiations, another dimension operated in tandem, one largely unspoken, sometimes mocked, and yet profoundly real to many who participated. The spiritual dimension. The realm of ancestors. The invisible world of rituals, dreams, and prophecies. For many, […]
SPIRITUAL MATHEMATICS: THE UNSPOKEN LOGIC OF AFRICA’S SACRED SCIENCE
There is a mathematics that cannot be taught in any classroom. A precise arithmetic of the soul, the body, the past, and the future. One I have witnessed unfold countless times in the fireside shadows of our homesteads, in the subtle gestures of old women in rural villages, and in the haunting, rhythmic chants of […]
JUNE 16, 1976: THE DAY THE CHILDREN ROARED
“History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.” Each year, as June 16 approaches, our nation stirs with memory, pain, and a yearning to understand. The date, etched in blood and fire, is more than a memorial. It is a mirror—of what was, what is, and what still must […]
THE USNESS OF US: A TRIBUTE TO SOUTH AFRICA’S FOREMOST STRUGGLE POETS
There are verses that do more than speak. They breathe. They march. They bleed. They return across generations like incantations passed from mouth to ear, from prison cell to refugee camp, from jazz club to the guerrilla front. For those of us who came of age in exile, navigating the uncertainties of borders, belonging, and […]
LUXURY, LAMENT, AND THE LITURGY OF POWER: THE CHURCHES AND THE POLITICS OF POST-LIBERATION SA
When the Pulpit Echoed the Trenches During the liberation struggle, the Church, in many of its denominations, was more than a sanctuary. It was a site of resistance, a haven for activists, a platform where sermons were steeped in justice. Reverends, priests, and preachers defied the apartheid regime not just with words but with active […]
DEMYSTIFYING THE MYTH OF THE LEMBA PEOPLE: MEMORY, DNA, AND THE BURDEN OF BELONGING
In the Dust of Forgotten Villages In the hills of Venda, across Limpopo and into Zimbabwe, live a people shrouded in both reverence and obscurity, the Lemba. Oral tradition hails them as descendants of ancient Jewish traders. Anthropologists once dismissed them as mythmakers. Geneticists have complicated the story, revealing a lineage that echoes across deserts […]
ZAMA-ZAMAS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE
An exploration of memory, myth, and the posthumous mining of liberation credentials Gold from the Grave These days, it seems that to die in South Africa is to finally receive your liberation stripes. A friend sent me a link to a social media tribute the other day. The dearly departed was someone we had all […]
MILES DAVIS AT 99: THE LEGACY OF THE MAESTRO
On May 26, 2025, the world would have marked the 99th birthday of Miles Dewey Davis III. A man who redefined the very structure and soul of modern music. Born in Alton, Illinois in 1926 and raised in East St. Louis, Davis was far more than a jazz trumpeter. He was a cultural icon, sonic […]
WHEN REVOLUTION BECAME PROCUREMENT: COMRADES & CONTRADICTIONS
They stood shoulder to shoulder once, in boots and khakis, in underground cells and faraway capitals. They crossed borders at night, memorised ciphers, and whispered code names in the dark. They were comrades. Now they meet awkwardly at business-class lounges or government banquets, offering half-smiles and evasive eyes. They sign off on tenders and patronage. […]
THE DAY THE STRUGGLE WENT CORPORATE
There was no drumroll. No grand announcement. No whisper even. But it happened — quietly, suddenly, and irrevocably. Somewhere between the last exile’s return and the first BEE deal signed, the South African liberation struggle changed outfits. It swapped khaki fatigues and wood-handled AKs for navy-blue suits, Montblanc pens, and private equity portfolios. That day, […]
250 ON CEDAR: A CULTURAL BEACON FORGED BY VISION
Yesterday, I stepped into a space I had long been reluctant to visit, 250 on Cedar. My hesitation now feels almost misplaced, for what I encountered was a sanctuary of culture, imagination, and creative brilliance. The venue is the brainchild of Tshepo Riba, a young visionary whose dedication over just four years has given rise […]