KIPPIE MOEKETSI AT 100: THE SPIRIT OF SOUTH AFRICAN JAZZ LIVES ON
On the 27th of July 2025, South Africa commemorates the centenary of one of its most compelling cultural figures. Kippie Moeketsi. Affectionately known as “South Africa’s Charlie Parker.” Yet Kippie was far more than a local imitation of an American great. He was a revolution in tone, mood, and being. He was the soul of […]
DEPUTY PRESIDENT MASHATILE’S ADDRESS AT THE G20 INTERNATIONAL ROUNDTABLE
“It is an honour to be here today after I have just returned from a very successful Working Visit to the Russian Federation, where our delegation was warmly welcomed and engaged in an intense programme aimed at deepening bilateral trade and economic ties between South Africa and Russia. As you all know, Russia has a […]
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 […]
DEPUTY PRESIDENT MASHATILE’S PUBLIC LECTURE AT RUSSIA’S ST PETERSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY
“To begin, allow me to take this opportunity to convey warm greetings from President Cyril Ramaphosa and the people of South Africa to the entire academic community and the people of the Russian Federation. It is a great honour for me to address you at this prestigious institution, the St. Petersburg State University, a beacon […]
FREEDOM PARK TO HOLD A SYMPOSIUM ON YOUTH ACTIVISM TO COMPARE AND REFLECT ON DIFFERENT EPOCHS
Freedom Park, in collaboration with Keeloz Global Entertainment, will on Saturday June 21 hold a symposium to focus on the role of youth activism through different political eras, before and after the advent of democracy in 1994. The main theme of the day for the engaging intergenerational dialogue will be titled: Youth Activism: Then and […]
REFLECTIONS ON YOUTH DAY 2025 – THE POWER OF OUR HISTORY AND IDENTITY
This year’s Youth Day commemorates 49 years since the June 16 Student Uprisings (also known as the Soweto Massacres), a crucial turning point in the liberation struggle of South Africa. In 1976, Soweto, the unbridled bravery of tens-of-thousands of schoolchildren ignited a countrywide rebellion, setting in motion a transformation that would define the future. The merciless killing of […]
BURKINA FASO’S TRAORE SIGNALS THE RETURN OF REVOLUTIONARY LEADERSHIP IN AFRICA
In Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, a structure has risen that embodies more than just memory: it symbolizes vision, renewal, and resistance. It is the Thomas Sankara Mausoleum. The Thomas Sankara Mausoleum, designed by the internationally acclaimed Pritzker Prize-winning Kéré Architecture, is not merely a tribute to a distinctly revolutionary icon. It is a […]
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 […]
FROM THE EDGES OF EXILE TO THE HEART OF HOME: A COLLECTIVE MEMORY REKINDLED
We didn’t plan it this way. None of us imagined a WhatsApp group could become a movement, but here we are, grown children of exile, of scholarship, of struggle, slowly circling back to one another after decades scattered across time zones, continents, and causes. What began as a gentle check-in from Vuyo Ntshona, “Are you […]