Makhanda
latest news & developments
As one National Arts Festival ends, the next begins
As the curtains close on another successful National Arts Festival in Makhanda, outgoing CEO Monica Newton reflects on its enduring legacy, the challenges of sustainability, and…
They Didn't Wait for an Invitation. They Built the Table Themselves.
Sophie Joans and Mxolisi Masilela, both recipients of the Mail & Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans recognition, are theatre-makers who built their own spaces in the…
No freedom without water
Across South Africa, communities are marking Freedom Day under the weight of an escalating water crisis, where unreliable supply, contamination and ageing infrastructure continue…
Manana and the art of trusting the process
Fresh off his Standard Bank Young Artist win, Manana reflects on growth, collaboration and creating space for alternative sound in South Africa
How funding apartheid fails young library users
Lack of funds prevent provinces from carrying out their mandate to manage public library services
How 20 books make all the difference
Children growing up in homes with many books receive three years more schooling than children from bookless homes, a study shows
Preschoolers falling through the cracks
SA spends just 1.8% of its education budget on ECD: the damage shows
Give children high-quality books from Grades R-12: they will likely read them
Research shows that classroom libraries increase reading frequency by 70% compared with centralised libraries
How a broken city doubled South Africa’s literacy rate – without the government
Civil society cannot solve the country’s literacy crisis on its own, because the scale is too vast and the resources required too substantial
“R5 billion withheld: The EC school funding crisis
Since 2020, the Eastern Cape Department of Education has retained about R5 billion from the budgets of its poorest schools, ostensibly for “centralised procurement”. Some of that…
Girls’ movement calls on traditional isiXhosa practice of entangeni
The programme provides a safe space for teenage girls in Makhanda’s townships to discuss and learn about sexual and reproductive health
The risks of chaos when political rogues are on the loose
The global order of years of diplomacy and peacebuilding can be flipped over by the cynical or power-hungry
Makana is not ripe for anarchy
Instead of replacing state capacity with grassroots action, we need to strengthen state institutions to serve the poor
Makhanda the poster child for municipal collapse
The cause goes beyond corruption and incapacity to dysfunctional centralised, bureaucratic rule. The solution lies in decentralised, participatory and direct democratic forms of…
Clay Formes and the resurgence of African sculptural traditions
Olivia Barrell’s gallery and book reclaim clay’s place in art history, grounded in care and curation