“FLUENT IN EVERYTHING BUT OURSELVES” – THE SILENT EXTINCTION OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES
Every year, hundreds of African languages move closer to extinction, not because they are forgotten, but because they are systematically erased. Across our continent, languages that once carried our wisdom, history, humour, and heritages are disappearing. They are being replaced — not by natural evolution, but by a system that rewards foreign tongues and punishes […]
INDIGENOUS MUSIC DESERVES MORE THAN A HERITAGE MONTH SPOTLIGHT
Every September, South Africa celebrates Heritage Month. It is during this time that indigenous music briefly takes centre stage: the Zulus’ maskandi, Bapedi’s tsa manyalo (Lekompo), Tsonga rhythms, and other traditional genres appear across radio, television, and newspapers. Artists are interviewed, their music played, and their stories showcased. Yet, once the month ends, the spotlight […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]