Arts and culture
Rumours: an extract from Mongane Wally Serote’s latest novel
Prolific and acclaimed South African poet and writer Mongane Wally Serote, one of only two African writers (the other being Leopold Sedar Senghor) to be honoured with the Golden Wreath Award for a lifetime achievement in poetry, focuses his attention on 21st century South Africa in his latest novel, Rumours.
Mongane Wally Serote
News | 12 March 2014
Connecting youth through music
Kinky Disco brought together youth from in and around Cape Town and hosted a one-of-a-kind electronic dance music party in Langa Township.
Zethu Gqola
News | 11 March 2014
Protest at Cape Town Pride
Not everyone in Cape Town celebrated Gay Pride in the same spirit.
Pharie Sefali
News | 10 March 2014
Kwaito duo Ruffest keep innovating
Starting off in 2004 as Kasi Vibes, kwaito duo Sello Mangwana (29) and Andile “Max” Stemela (31) reinvented themselves as Ruffest in 2007. It was the beginning of the rise of two musicians from Nyanga.
Dumisane Dabadini
News | 10 March 2014
The Khoi blues: Interview with Colin Meyer
“I am not a Coloured, I am Khoi,” says Colin Meyer. “The apartheid era imposed the identity of being Coloured on us, but that is an invention.”
Fergus Turner
News | 7 March 2014
Categories of Persons: Rethinking Ourselves and Others
This slim volume, containing nine essays, is at once ambitious and humble. In their introduction, editors Megan Jones and Jacob Dlamini explain that they tried to capture a variety of deeply personal lived experiences.
Joshua Maserow
News | 5 March 2014
Ugandans in South Africa unhappy with anti-gay law
Uganda’s brutal new anti-gay law puts Dembe Ainebyona (not her real name) in a difficult situation because she may never see her country of birth again.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 4 March 2014
Where is Reason?
After dropping Audio 3D in June 2012, ‘boom bap’ rapper Sizwe ‘Reason’ Moeketsi simply disappeared from the game.
Zethu Gqola
News | 28 February 2014
Is Cape Town Pride serious about gay rights?
Cape Town Pride 2014 (CTP) takes place from 21 February to 1 March. The annual festival aims to celebrate gay rights in South Africa. This year’s theme is “uniting cultures in Cape Town”. However, people from communities around Cape Town have said that they feel CTP excludes them and the serious issues affecting them as gay people.
Jonathan Dockney and GroundUp Staff
News | 27 February 2014