Creator
Hugo ka Canham
Hugo ka Canham is a writer and professor of psychology. His book, Riotous Deathscapes, will be available from Duke University Press in 2023. He writes in his personal capacity.
Living in the darkness of a broken city – Johannesburg
We are at the mercy of ageing infrastructure, corrupt municipal workers and city officials who have lost control over Johannesburg
The slow massacre in SA’s mining belt
The zama zamas trapped in old mines will join the ghosts of 150 years of inhumane exploitation
Cannibalism haunts the ruins of capitalism
We can thread the genealogy through our long history, which is imbricated in ongoing racial capitalism that literally eats our bodies to feed wealth and deepen inequality
Contemplating South Africa’s great depression … in the dark
Is there anyone who is happy with their lives and with the social, economic and political life of the country?
Weep on the banks of Joburg’s Jukskei River
Worshippers use the river as a place of baptism but people drown in its water polluted by illegal dumping and poor service delivery
Recognition of heritage should come before celebration
It is both inward and outward-looking … showing we care for each other should carry more weight than wearing traditional clothing
South Africa – where hope dances with despair
With nothing to look forward to and no respect, how can we expect unemployed, beaten-down young people to behave as if they have a stake in the future?
Zama zamas and foreigners the perfect scapegoats as East and West Rand erupt in fiery rage
Zama zamas and foreigners have been made fall guys for the ills in our societies but ultimately politicians will have to take responsibility for their failings
Farewell to Azania’s everyman literary icon Don Mattera
The poet, writer, artist and activist, who made rubbish of race, left his mark on all aspects of our lives
In the black void of missing bodies
We cannot allow the mathematics of racial capital stop us from bearing ethical witness to the death of the marginalised majority
[From our archives] Spy boss Fraser brings out his wrecking ball
As J Edgar Hoover did during his long tenure as FBI boss, South Africa’s former spy chief has seemingly amassed potentially damaging information on leading figures in the ANC
OPINION | Outrage followed a white student peeing on a black student but government pees on people’s constitutional rights
It’s right to be angry about a white student peeing on a black student’s books, but what about poor people who have to live close to urine and faeces
OPINION| Wretched zones of the damned in South Africa
Durban and the eThekwini region was in decline – fuelled by corruption and political killings – before the deadly floods sank it
Afrophobia: The violence of the letter R
When the infrastructure breaks, the social fabric frays, rape escalates and taps run dry, we curse the foreigner, who is always from another African country