“Three generations of white South African men were bound together at that table. Vermuelen was the first generation. He defined Africa, made it safe for Basson to defile. I was the last generation, the last to grow up in segregated neighborhoods. Between us was the silent photograph of Wouter Basson. Like a distant father, Basson was absent at the dining table.” – Henk Rossouw (Hole in the White ‘Hood). Also Mahmood Mamdani on Bantu Education at UCT, Gael Reagon on sisterhood, Binyavanga Wainaina on dis-covering Kenya, Gaston Zossou on African intellectuals and more…
Cover:
Strange Fruit by Lewis Allen
Slave by Teamhw SbonguJesu (Deep South, 2023)
The poems in SbonguJesu's second collection, Slave, continue to be driven by simple and accessible language and images. They bring into light many of the social and psychological struggles experienced by young black rural people in South Africa - poverty, addictions, feeling stagnant, depression, human relationships spiritual contradictions, and failed politics.