“Mandela was not the only head of state taken in by Koagne. Le king kept snapshots of himself with many a man of power, among them Mobutu Sese Seko and Denis Sassou Nguesso […] He took Mobutu for 15 million dollars. Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso lost 40 million to him. Sassou, Etienne Eyadéma of Togo, several high officials of Gabon, Tanzania and Kenya, a member of the Spanish government and an ex-operative of the Israeli Mossad were bamboozled as well.” – Dominique Malaquais (Blood Money: A Douala Chronicle).
Bantu Serenade by Ntone Edjabe (featuring Nah-ee-lah) (read excerpt)
Santu Mofokeng: Trajectory of a street photographer (part1) (read excerpt)
Binyavanga Wainaina: Hell In Bed With Mrs Peprah (read excerpt)
Dominique Malaquais: Lindela (the winnie suite) (read excerpt)
Boubacar Boris Diop: Myriem (read excerpt)
Cover:
Neo Muyanga
Barnabas Ticha Muvuthi was the first recipient of the ARAK Collection Art Writing Residency Fellowship, May-November 2023. He researched five artists from five different SADC countries: Rudolf Seibeb (Namibia), Nelly Guambe (Mozambique), Thebe Phetogo (Botswana), Victor Mutale Kalinosi Chishimba (Zambia) and Lutanda Zemba Luzamba (Democratic Republic of Congo).
Barnabas Ticha Muvuthi is Deputy Vice Chancellor of Open Window University for the Creative Arts in Lusaka, Zambia, and is the resident art critic at The Post Newspapers. He was awarded the 2012 CNN African Journalist of the Year for Art and Culture and a Media Institute of Southern Africa award in 2015 for his work in arts journalism