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Caroline Nyoni with her wares. Photo by Lesego Chepape

June 23 National Arts Festival diary: Local artists have their say

The festival is underway in Makhanda and local artists are using the opportunity to teach visitors about their culture and showcase their work

Koleka Putuma in ‘Hullo, Bu-bye, Koko, Come In’. Photos: Paul Botes & Nurith Wagner-Strauss

Art imitates life at the National Arts Festival

This year’s National Arts Festival in Makhanda – the first live one since the pandemic – tackles unemployment, the Marikana Massacre and the manner in which black women in…

Winners of the 2013 International Opera Awards “Chorus of the Year”, the Cape Town Opera Chorus will perform a new one-hour showcase of African and African American spirituals. (Getty)

Top 10 must see events at Makhanda Festival

For the first time in two years, The National Arts Festival is back with an in-person star-studded list of artists and performers

(John McCann/M&G)

The Great Tax(i) Uprising in the Eastern Cape

The unfolding of events at recent protest in Makhanda ended up scoring cheap political points for a select few, while ignoring the real grievances

(John McCann/M&G)

The Makhanda disaster cannot be ignored

The municipality turned a deaf ear to residents’ cries — until they united and took it to court

(John McCann/M&G)

We need to ask awkward questions about our schools

Ignore the language used in brochures and on open days and be vigilant about the details

A protest by members the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) outside the Makhanda high court last month, when the case asking for the Makana municipality to be dissolved was being heard. (Graham Pote)

Makana municipal mess up has lessons for local government

Citizen action, where diverse groups work together, offers hope that municipalities can be forced to do their job properly

A protest by members the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) outside the Makhanda high court last month, when the case asking for the Makana municipality to be dissolved was being heard. (Graham Pote)

Judgment day for corrupt municipality

Court is set to rule on the Makana council’s failure to fulfil its constitutional duties to town’s citizens

Jazzed-up: The Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz, trumpet player Mandla Mlangeni. (Rafs Mayet)

Makhanda: No more lullabies

The National Arts Festival offers space for reflection about our fractious global moment

In the run-up to the 2021 local government elections, the Makana Citizens Front challenged corruption and dysfunction in  the municipality rather than try to collapse state institutions. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G

Water dept under fire as Gift of the Givers withdraws from drought-hit Makhanda

After being promised reimbursement for financial assistance, Gift of the Givers has been left high and dry by the water and sanitation department

Forebears: A Thomas Baines painting (above) shows ‘GT XXX’ etched on a milestone, meaning that the Xhosas depicted were 30 miles from Grahamstown.

Makhanda’s prophecy must be fulfilled

It’s 200 years since the Xhosa were driven from their land and it has not yet been restored to them

Tshezi Soxujwa. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Slice of life: I was inspired to be an activist

‘Here in Joza we are treated as children of a lesser god. I won’t leave because if I leave who is going to take care of the youth?’

White South Africans protested against changing the name of Pretoria, so called after Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius, to Tshwane, the meaning of which is not certain but may have been after a chief’s son. (Lisa Hnatowicz/Gallo Images/Foto24)

Change the names to rid SA of its colonial, apartheid past

The pace of renaming places to rid them of their colonial and apartheid past is too slow

Montsho

A pink dystopia of delusions and frills speaks to SA’s canon of protest theatre

Buhle Ngaba and Klara van Wyk kneel at our feet as a crowd of mostly learners is ushered into Graeme College’s theatre to watch La Chair de Ma Chair

‘The heavy fog of industrialised commercial cities is exchanged for a slower pace at the toll gates that welcome us to Vaal

The wheels of the bus to Mpuma-Koloni and the National Arts Festival

Zaza Hlalethwa details her journey from Bosman station to Rhini

The festival’s structural design, seemingly complacent with its mimicking of apartheid geography, was an eyesore to a beginner such as myself.

Sizzling shows, tepid turnout

No beer at the Village Green and no hassles finding parking. Is the National Arts Festival on the wane?

A scene from Black.

On political memory, hidden histories, and living remains

What constitutes a political song, or a song of political value?

Scene from What remans to be Seen.

Disruption all around us and we still haven’t learnt

The National Arts Festival theme of disruption is evident in What Remains as well as Neo Muyanga’s struggle-songs set

Vocalist and trombonist Siya Makuzeni is this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for jazz.

The not-to-be-missed performances and exhibitions at this year’s National Arts Festival

It’s that time of year again and you can’t see it all, but here’s the pick of the best at this year’s fest.

Menstruation conversation moved forward by community theatre and sewing in the Eastern Cape

Menstruation conversation moved forward by community theatre and sewing in the Eastern Cape

The Siyahluma Project Group, formed in Grahamstown, creates their own re-usable pads and works to tackle stigmas surrounding menstruation.