Dear Mayor Ma’am, I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Mpho Matsitle, a resident – tenant – at Antoinette building on Cromwell Street. This letter is co-signed by Morena Moabi, also a tenant at Mimosa Court on Short Street. We – him and I – consider ourselves neighbours, amongst other things. And…
Category: Non-Fiction
Short Note on Mondy & Jesus
Mondy my nigga! I am listening here to Zim’s “Usizi Emnqamlezweni”, making plans for the Easter Weekend, and I am hit by this beauty of a man! Y’know; the one thing that got me about the movie Kalushi is the banality of it all – especially the time they spent in the refugee camp. Life…
Hagara
“HAGARA! HAGARA!” My Zdena disturbed my peace this morning. For no reason at all but to do just that. She achieved as much too – not out of any skill of her own (in reality she doesn’t have much in her arsenal for such a feat); but because of her structural positionality. Which of course I built…
#ArtLivesHere
It all starts with an inquisitive child, eyes wide open, head tilted forward, right on the edge of the frame. The problem with children – or at least mine own biggest problem with them – is that they always ask the difficult questions. It is no surprise that in some of our cultures children are…
Black Sunday
There are people in balaclavas. Men in balaclavas. They’re all over the place. Restless. Maybe they can’t breathe? We all can’t breathe – or so Fanon said. And Fanon has all the answers. But we are here. I think we are beautiful. I believe we are. For sure Jess is beautiful. She sings like an…
Ode for Oddz, Ballad for Boho
The thespians. The incorrigible critics. And cretins too. Poets, posers and provocateurs. Painters of words and writers of pictures. The emo, the ego, the cold, the misconstrued, recluse, melodramatic, the comedic. Troubadours, dancers, griots, minstrels and raconteurs. Fashionistas. Modern and pre-modern who dare don their grandma’s bloomers. Colour blockers and Goths. And the two tone…
Peter Nthwane and The Struggle for Authenticity
“It pleases me to think that the art of [Jazz] came into the world as the echo of God’s laughter.” ~ Milan Kundera. Thursday, 17 November 2016, the Sand du Plessis theatre housed hundreds for the memorial service of Free State’s finest vessel of God’s laughter Peter Nthwane. His life was celebrated with plenty of…