Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
Lesego Chepape

Creator

Lesego Chepape

Lesego Chepape is a climate reporting fellow, funded by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa

At the centre of it all: Caterina Bollini, whose relationship with food is
deeply intertwined with family, history and community.

More than a restaurant, Tortellino d’Oro is a story about belonging

From fresh handmade pasta and honest Italian cooking to generations of family history, Tortellino d’Oro’s new Oaklands home proves that the best meals are the ones shared

Inspired: Sibo Mhlungu, Aline Media Group founder, wants to create an
experience at the event for people to remember. Photo: Supplied

The Ascots promises a world-class Durban July experience — but is it Worth the Price of Entry?

Other marquees at the Durban July offer premium packages at significantly lower price points. What does The Ascots offer that they don’t?

The cost of living does not reward breaks of any nature.

The cost of living does not reward breaks

It does not pause because you have given birth. It does not soften because you are tired. It demands that you keep moving, bruised and battered if necessary.

Cultural mix: Superstar mixes MetroBeatz RSA’s Tsonga and Xigaza
influences with Lowfeye’s inspired sound. Photo: Supplied

Gig Guide: MetroBeatz RSA drops Superstar, AMURA and ANTHM one-night-only dining experience and Disney On Ice returns to South Africa

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Intentional: Sbahle is building the soundtrack for romance. Photo: Supplied

Gig Guide: Sbahle releases Some More, Erin Elliot enters her “Unhinged” era and Rivoningo releases Xikwembu Xa Tintswalo

Sbahle calls in Afro-Soul royalty for ‘Some More’ Love is loud, dramatic and beautifully vulnerable on Sbahle’s new single Some More, a soulful collaboration featuring Afro-soul…

Nostalgia: The fair itself carried that familiar warmth, such as readers walking slowly between stalls. Photos: Supplied

In a world built for scrolling, can book fairs still survive?

A quiet conversation at the Kingsmead Book Fair became a reflection on shrinking attention spans, digital culture and the fragile future of reading

Nine Yards is not trying to reinvent Rosebank. If anything, it understands exactly what makes the area seductive.

Nine Yards is reimagining slow living in Joburg

A lush, all-in-one Rosebank precinct where food, art, fashion and green space come together to turn everyday city life into a slow, walkable experience

Loving memory: Maria McCloy was someone who made
Johannesburg feel possible. Someone who gathered people across
class, art, music, fashion and politics and convinced them that
beauty, style and radical care belonged together.

Maria McCloy made Johannesburg feel possible

Friends, creatives and a city in mourning gathered to celebrate the woman who helped shape how Johannesburg saw itself after 1994.

Reflection: At the Kingsmead Book Fair readers, writers, thinkers and
the curious gather around stories. Photo: Supplied

Kingsmead Book Fair returns with conversations SA needs right now

As the 14th annual Kingsmead Book Fair returns to Johannesburg, the beloved literary gathering once again creates space for difficult conversations, thoughtful reflection and the…

Encouraging debate: Artist and researcher, Buhle Ngaba continues to
push African storytelling boundaries on stage. Photo: Supplied

Gig Guide: Buhle Ngaba presents BLING! at The Market Theatre Laboratory, Venom & Shishiliza return with Saka Mama and Content Creator Awards entries are live

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At Teremana’s South African launch, additive-free tequila, oak-barrel ageing and slow sipping transformed an ordinary tasting into an education in craft and flavour

Teremana’s South African launch turns tequila tasting into a lesson in patience

At Teremana’s South African launch, additive-free tequila, oak-barrel ageing and slow sipping transformed an ordinary tasting into an education in craft and flavour

Emotionally contemporary: Actors Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and Anne Hathaway in a scene from The Devil Wears Prada 2. The original film explored the sacrifices attached to ambition. The sequel shifts the question entirely. Photo: Supplied

‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and the slow death of the newsroom

A stylish and emotionally resonant return to ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ universe, the film trades glamour for something far more urgent: a meditation on the collapse of media and…

Boemo Diale’s Sitting on a hammock.

Kumalo | Turpin opens its doors with warmth, multiplicity and a refusal of exclusivity

At Johannesburg’s new Kumalo | Turpin gallery, the inaugural exhibition ‘Gender/Genre’ signals a space committed to conversation, care and reimagining who contemporary art spaces…

Leading voice: Fresh off sold- out European dates, Bongeziwe  Mabandla now brings his magnetic stage presence home. Photo: Supplied

Gig Guide: Bongeziwe Mabandla to tour SA, Maria Callas – Prima Donna heads to Durban and Vimbs Mavimbs to release Late Bloomer

Bongeziwe Mabandla to tour SA South Africa’s own Bongeziwe Mabandla is back on the road this May and June with a string of live shows to celebrate his latest single Walila and…

Elevated but accessible: The idea that food can be both simple and intentional sits at the centre of Mmule
Setati’s storytelling. Photos: Supplied

Mmule Setati’s recipe for identity, healing and community

In a world of conflicting food narratives, Mmule Setati offers clarity through ‘Feed My Tribe’, centering simplicity, intention and emotional connection in every meal

Mother of the nation: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the mother who did what she could with what she had, became something more recognisable, a
stand-in for a generation of women who stayed behind.

Rewriting Winnie Madikizela-Mandela through the eyes of her grandchildren

Refusing neat conclusions, The Trials of Winnie Mandela invites viewers into an uncomfortable but necessary confrontation with history, legacy, and generational trauma

Performance: Expect a mix of township storytelling, struggle songs
and emotional gut-punches that linger. Photo: Supplied

Gig Guide: Lehlohonolo Shale presents Call of the Revolution’s Children, Dada Masilo’s Hamlet at the Market Theatre and Welcome to Wrexham is back on Disney+

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Rooted in Morocco: Laurence Leenaert and Ayoub Boualam, the
husband and wife team behind LRNCE. Photos: Supplied

LRNCE and the politics of making slowly

Named Decorex Designer of the Year, LRNCE embodies a broader movement redefining African design through slowness, imperfection, and deeply collaborative craft practices

National Team: Trevor Noah (left), is the captain of the SA National
Team of Comedy, Eugene Khoza (centre) the vice captain and Ntosh
Madlingozi the coach. Photo: Supplied

Gig Guide: Savanna presents Festival of Comedy, Dominica releases Your Presence and Santu Mofokeng at the Standard Bank Art Lab

Your essential dose of art and culture

Angst: ANC heavyweight Tokyo Sexwale visiting a township. For those who remain in the townships, freedom
is imagined as elsewhere but leaving does not automatically translate to being free. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

The sound of freedom is not silence

Leaving the township can change your surroundings but unlearning the fear it taught your body is where the real work of freedom begins