THE government of Lesotho has committed millions of maloti in flights and hotel accommodation to support the candidacy of Joshua Phoho Setipa for the position of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. That investment has raised serious questions among Basotho. Why would the government invest so much to secure the employment of one individual when there are …
Insight
Mention last week of my production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame in Nigeria brings to mind another theatrical event I organised in Lesotho. Before the NUL introduced a BA programme in Theatre we had a course under Literature that introduced students to the art of playwriting.
Last Saturday I had the privilege of attending a poignant event in Roma where I was honoured to speak on behalf of friends at the unveiling of the tombstone of the late Tembo Johannes Chianga. As I stood before the gathering, I was struck by the weight of heritage and tradition that surrounded me. For …
After a gap during which I wanted to discuss other matters, I’m returning now, over the next few weeks, to my experiences in making theatre. The idea is to give readers who haven’t experienced this what it is like doing theatre from the inside (especially when things go wrong). I’ll concentrate on Africa, but first …
It’s not often that I have the opportunity to report a feel-good story from Cameroon, a story that lifts the heart and allows hope for the future of one of Africa’s most troubled countries. This story has to do with the courage of young poets who are contesting the dictatorship of Paul Biya.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been looking at recent and forthcoming elections in the UK, France, South Africa and the United States. I want now to place all of that in perspective by quoting a newly published mini-pamphlet being distributed in churches in the UK and titled The Cross that Counts. Its authors are …
Over the last few weeks I have discussed recent elections in the UK, South Africa and France, and this week I turn to the upcoming Presidential election in the United States, which will take place on November 5th. Events have been moving at a pace I can hardly keep up with, culminating in the decision …
Last week I started to discuss the wave of elections that have been taking place or that are imminent, mostly in the global north (or as it used to be called, less precisely, the west). These are elections in which right-wing parties have been vocal, in two cases at least threatening to take power: parties …
Members of the gangs of the men in blankets often flaunt and brag on Facebook and TikTok about the large sums of money that they earn through illegal mining in South Africa. The money is often displayed in bundles of tens or even hundreds of thousands of new R200 and R100 notes.
A change of plan in a time of change. This week I intended to write about the great South African poet Antjie Krog. But, with the approval of my long-suffering editor, I’m going to discuss instead recent and forthcoming elections in the UK, South Africa, France and the United States.
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