Black Prince
‘A Prince – our own black shining Prince!’ Today is the 54th anniversary of the assassination of the man born as Malcolm Little, known as Detroit Red during his period as a young hustler in Harlem, buried as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and popularly remembered as Malcolm X. People who acquire a variety of names […]
Mother of the Nation or Lady Macbeth?
There is no middle ground for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela write Vashna Jagarnath and Siphokazi Magadla There has been something of an online furore in response to Verashni Pillay’s Mail&Guardian column, Five times Winnie Mandela has let us down. In this vicious public condemnation of her character, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is rebuked for failing both as a political figure and […]
The Unremarkable Nat Nakasa
Nat Nakasa, as a writer who came up during the Drum era, was unremarkable. Sure, he could write some things. First for Drum magazine, then for a literary magazine he founded called The Classic. He was the first black columnist for the Rand Daily Mail (which later became the Mail & Guardian), and after […]
The New Black Panther Party and the PAC: A Brotherhood of Convenience
The New Black Panther Party was in South Africa recently. Kwanele Sosibo is still trying to figure out whether the movement can be anything more than divisive. The press release was unfortunate in its selection of quotes. It announced the New Black Panther Party’s tour of Soweto on the morning of March 22 – a […]