At the The New York Times we used the Freedom Charter, the bedrock of our constitution and the ideals South African Freedom Fighters used to imagine a free society. Here’s our story, using the freedom charter, to ask, has South Africa defeated apartheid.

My favourite 'typical-South African' 27 April 1994 story:

South Africans in New Zealand were the first to vote. And, Dr Nomaza Paintin-Mandela was the first South African to vote.
She claimed to be Nelson's niece.

She was neither a doctor, a Mandela, or even South African.

Excellent presentation on where South Africa is now, 30 years after apartheid crumbled with the nation’s first all-race elections. The anecdotes, backed by statistics, are moving. H/t to friends Lynsey Chutel⁩ and Joao Silva. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

In today’s instalment of Jo’burg surprises: I live next door to a guinea fowl. I don’t know how it got here to central Jo’burg.
I look out if my window everyday and am pleasantly surprised to see that my feathery neighbour has survived the neighbourhood cats and Hillbrow.

'Outsized focus on Russia misunderstands the scale and scope of Moscow's presence. More importantly, it ignores longstanding patterns of governance and denies the role of Africans in emerging pro-sovereignty movements and political blocs.'

responsiblestatecraft.org/us-niger-russi… John Lechner (@johnalechner.bsky.social)

I will never get used to seeing my own mug online. Thanks for the lovely spread News24 🇿🇦
Tessa Dooms and I will be at the Kingsmead Book Fair.
The fair will feature all your favs, fiction and non-fiction, politics to romance. Come! news24.com/life/books/a-l…

World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books & reading. All over the world books are recognized as a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. (UNESCO). This book did it! This is why we read

Janine! Thank you! For a writer, I have no words. Thank you!

#Coloured has entered its FOURTH reprint, and doubled its original print run.
As a writer sitting in my littler corner at 3am, or listening to motivational voice notes from co-author ⁦Tessa Dooms & agent ⁦Sibongile Machika⁩, sales like this were a faraway dream.
Thank you!

K Sello Duiker would've turned 50 today. He gave us Thirteen Cents and The Quiet Violence of Dreams before his passing on 19 January 2005. His third novel, The Hidden Star, was published posthumously in 2006. RIP scribe.

#SouthAfrica

'Like former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, the Republican front-runner in the coming American election, Mr. Zuma has spun his legal battles into a tale of political persecution that his supporters have lapped up.'

nytimes.com/2024/04/10/wor… Lynsey Chutel

I try not to post (explicitly) about any music releases, but the power outage notification app ESP releasing a single, Push Masekinners, is the meeting point of some important developments in music that I've been thinking too deeply about for me not to share my thoughts.

Eight-year-old Lauryn Siako is the sole survivor of a bus crash that killed 45 people: ‘No One Can Explain This Miracle’ - by John Eligon and Yvonne Mooka. nytimes.com/2024/03/29/wor…

This is where the most South Africans are registered to vote overseas:

London 19518
The Hague 5572
Canberra 2609
Dubai 2574
Dublin 2341
Wellington 1666
Abu Dhabi 1415
New York 1379
Washington 1228
Berlin 1188

101 other locations: 19312

On the last day of the presidential vote, many in Russia appeared to be heeding a call by the opposition to express frustration by showing up en masse at midday. “We don’t have any other options,” said one woman. nyti.ms/43hwZ8p

A rich discussion on gender and identity with Zibu Sithole, Barbara Boswell, Tessa Dooms , and Lynsey Chutel at the Time of the Writer Festival moderated by Rose Francis.