LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

May

19

2026

From the studio to the stage of nation-building: Zakes Bantwini’s foundation is a gift to South Africa’s future

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THERE is a particular kind of greatness that does not rest at the summit. It turns around, looks down the mountain, and extends a hand. That is the image conjured by the official launch of the Zakes Bantwini Foundation - an event held last weekend at the Saxon Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, that was years in the making but felt, in the moment, both urgent and overdue. Zakes Bantwini - Grammy Award-winning artist, producer, entrepreneur, and one of the defining architects of South African Amapiano and Afro-House on the global stage - has done something remarkable. He has chosen, at…

May

14

2026

By Mpho Rantao

The song of Maria McCloy

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IF there is a name associated with a city, it's Maria McCloy. Maria didn't just love Johannesburg, she breathed it; she was part of the heartbeat of the city. A child of Africa, growing up in Maseru, Lesotho, and Maputo, Mozambique, she wanted to create and curate a space of stories told from an African perspective. She did just that. If you needed information for a cultural event, wanted details on an artist, or a story about the city's latest cultural growth, Maria was the answer. As someone just over half her age, I saw McCloy as a gatekeeper of sorts…

May

14

2026

By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The last curtain call: A nation weeps for Alexx Ekubo

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE news did not creep in; it crashed. Like a furious harmattan wind sweeping through the market stalls of Lagos, the whisper turned into a wail on Tuesday, May 13, 2026. Alexx Ekubo, the dazzling light of Nollywood, had taken his final bow at just 40 years old. For a man who had been silent - his last Instagram post a ghost from December 2024, a relic from a time before his world quietly unravelled - the silence was now deafening. He had slipped away after an undisclosed illness, a battle fought in the shadows that the gossip pages never…

May

12

2026

By KENNETH NSAH MALA

Cameroon’s sacred and royal animals: could literature and futures thinking help save them?

LITERATURE

IN the grasslands and highlands of western Cameroon, some animals are believed to be sacred. Within the region’s indigenous kingdoms (fondoms), many of these animals are also considered to be royal. They include wild cats (like cheetahs, leopards, lions), buffaloes, elephants, porcupines, cowries (sea snails), and a brightly coloured bird called the Bannerman’s turaco. These species carry deep cultural and spiritual significance. They are, for example, often used to decorate royals (kings, queens, and queen mothers) or to award royal distinctions to deserving individuals. Their body parts can be used to make crowns, bedding, footstools, bangles, or necklaces for royalty.…

May

09

2026

By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

All aboard the Gautrain Couture Express

BEAUTY AND FASHION

NOBODY told the commuter at Park Station that Thursday morning that he would become an accidental front-row guest at one of the most unexpected fashion moments in South African history. He was just trying to get to Sandton. He had a nine o'clock. He had a cortado in one hand and mild existential dread in the other. What he did not have - what none of us had - was adequate preparation for what David Tlale had planned for the Gautrain. Because on 6 May 2026, South Africa's sleekest, most reliable, most WiFi-having public transit system became something it had…

May

07

2026

By NIKITA HEAVEN, BIRD STORY AGENCY

A new rhythm for Kigali as rap takes the stage

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ANGELL Mutoni, known by her stage name as Angell, stands before a wall-length mirror in a rehearsal studio in Nyamirambo, running through the final lines of her performance. She looks confident and professional. Chin lifted, shoulders squared, eyes locked straight ahead. The verses spoken out loud land flawlessly. "I've been told that I look like I'm not nervous," she says. "But deep inside I am," she said, taking a break from the intense delivery. Nyamirambo is where Kigali generates its creative energy. The neighbourhood has produced some of Rwanda's sharpest rap talent, and Mutoni knows every corner of it. This…

May

06

2026

By MEL HERVE, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Lens Queen Breaking Barriers

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE roar inside the stadium rises and collapses in waves. On the sidelines, photographers adjust their positions as the ball moves fast across the pitch, their shutters clicking in bursts to keep up with the speed of the game. In the stands, young men are singing, blowing whistles, and dancing, their energy levels rising and falling with every attack and counterattack, turning the match into a dynamic wall of sound and colour. Among the photographers tracking the action from the edge of the pitch is Béatrice-Nicole Kouadio. Camera raised, body angled slightly forward, eyes moving before the play fully unfolds,…

May

05

2026

By JOSHUA KUMBANI and MARGARITA DÍAZ-ANDREU

Rock art, dance and ritual: what we learned from paintings in Zimbabwe

CULTURE

ROCK paintings are found throughout Zimbabwe. They were made during the last 10,000 years by hunter-gatherer groups and later by farming communities. These came to the attention of the ERC Artsoundscapes project, based in Spain, in 2021. The project brings together experts in archaeology, ethnography, psychology, and acoustic engineering to explore how humans understood sound in prehistoric times. Our team has studied some of the rock art of South Africa in which dance scenes are depicted, and we have begun work on documenting and analysing similar rock art in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s rock paintings are concentrated in the country’s eastern provinces,…

May

05

2026

By TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU

Uganda’s Bobi Wine on the books (and songs) that shape his politics

LIFESTYLE

ROBERT Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, is a Ugandan music star and political leader currently in exile. Framing his movement as a “people power” struggle by young Ugandans for democratic transition, he is a vocal critic of the regime. After a disputed election in January won by long-time ruler Yoweri Museveni, his home was besieged by soldiers, and he managed to escape with the help of his supporters. He fled to the US. Before politics, Bobi Wine was known as a musician. He is one of East Africa’s major artists, having built a huge fan base with his…

Apr

27

2026

By The African Mirror

The king never left the stage

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

LET us begin with a confession. When Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba - the man the world knew simply as Papa Wemba - collapsed on the stage of the Festival des Musiques Urbaines d'Anoumabo in Abidjan on the evening of 24 April 2016, many in the crowd initially assumed it was part of the show. Because with Papa Wemba, you never quite knew. He was that good. He was that theatrical. He was, in the fullest and most literal sense of the word, extra. Ten years later, the Head of State of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, made…