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How young filmmakers are protecting artistic freedom in Kenya

Feb 26, 2019

Artistic freedom was always tenuous in Kenya, but it’s become even less so since Uhuru Kenyatta became president in 2013. The political pendulum has swung against political dissenters, intellectuals and a handful of media institutions that still believed in objective journalism.

Progressive gains made under the previous administration of President Mwai Kibaki (2002-2013), such as the freedom of press and speech, have disintegrated

cultural landscape, have rolled back artistic freedom by banning films that attempted to expand identity or interpreted it differently. The most prominent example is Rafiki, a recent Kenyan film that was banned for “promoting lesbianism”.

Safa must level the playing field for women

Feb 26, 2019

It’s no secret that women’s football is the poor cousin in South Africa. It’s not looked after...

Ramaphosa’s new dawn in rands and cents

Feb 26, 2019

Mboweni’s budget speech brings some relief, but not near enough

The minister highlighted six fundamental prescripts on which the budget was built. They provide a framework on how the President and his executive plan to achieve a higher rate of economic growth, how they plan to increase tax collection, how they plan to reduce expenditure and reduce South Africa’s debt, how they plan to reconfigure state-owned enterprises and how they plan to manage the public sector wage bill.

Vangile Gantsho’s Riot

Feb 26, 2019

With her second collection Red Cotton, the enigmatic poet is raising new hairs

South African poetry has historically existed on the margins, often considered too radical to have a mainstream audience. But things are changing, there’s a generation of local poets dragging the artform back into the spotlight and one of those poets is Vangile Gantsho.In 2012, she stormed her way to poetic relevance with the publication of her poem I expect more from you, which is about the intimate cost of freedom and what those who had to pay it are holding out for. Gantsho captures the internal scars of dispossession so succinctly: