LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Oct

13

2020

Anxiety in Johannesburg: new views on a global south city

LITERATURE

NICKY FALKOF, Associate professor, University of the Witwatersrand COBUS VAN STADEN, Senior Researcher: China-Africa: South African Institute of International Affairs, University of the Witwatersrand WITHIN the media and popular culture of the global north, cities like Johannesburg, South Africa, are often presented as a site of trouble. They’re the source of the immigrants, drugs, violence, poverty, disease and environmental crisis that worry nervous citizens of more “developed” cities. Even when they take centre stage in international media production, global south cities like Johannesburg are laden with fear or fantasy. Think of the films District 9 with its slavering Nigerian gangsters,…

Oct

11

2020

By The African Mirror

PRISCILLA JANA: 1943 – 2020

LITERATURE

In honour of Priscilla Jana, the legendary human rights lawyer, who passed away, The African Mirror publishes an excerpt from her book, “Fighting for Mandela”. PRISCILLA JANA IF the breadwinner was imprisoned. I would organise help as much as I could, and all the time I knew it was the right thing to do, just as using every possible angle of the law to fight cases and win acquittals was the right thing to do. This was giving me confidence in the work I took on. So when the exceptional case of Solomon Mahlangu landed on my desk, and in…

Oct

10

2020

By The African Mirror

Cut from the same cloth, Nigerian waste fabric becomes art

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

NNEKA CHILE MARCELLINA Akpojotor weaves past thumping sewing machines and leaves a Lagos shop with a bag brimming with discarded fabric. The colourful pieces, which would typically be burned or thrown into the Nigerian city's lagoon as waste, find a second life in the hands of the artist. Akpojotor, 31, creates portraits using discarded pieces of Ankara, a brightly coloured African fabric that is ubiquitous from the slums of Lagos to high-powered meetings in the capital, Abuja. She says the meaning of the cloth helped fuel her work. "I was so inspired by those materials," she said. "In this part…

Oct

09

2020

By The African Mirror

Kelly Rowland reveals that she’s expecting baby no. 2

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO FORMER Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland has surprised fans with the reveal of her cover of Women’s Health’s October issue in the United States, but the singer was trending on the tongues of social media users this week for a totally different reason. The 39 year-old singer posed on the beach for the cover shot by Djeneba Aduayom, wearing an orange dress and displaying her baby bump. She made the reveal when she posted her cover image on Instagram. The singer is married to businessman Tim Weatherspoon, and the couple have a son named Titan. The couple had…

Oct

09

2020

By The African Mirror

The Bitch Is Still In Heat

LITERATURE

VUSI MAVIMBELA Vusi Mavimbela SOME time towards the end of November 1990, I received a phone call on my landline of my bachelor flat. I had just woken up and I was still in bed watching the news on TV. I picked up the receiver and heard a booming voice: ‘Kunjani (how are you) Maphepha? I was silent for a moment. I was trying to identify the voice. ‘Who is calling?’ I asked. The voice responded: ‘No man, I thought perhaps we could have a chat for old time’s sake.’ I still could not place the voice. I did not…

Oct

09

2020

By The African Mirror

American “family” poet Louise Glück wins Nobel Prize for Literature

LITERATURE

ANNA RINGSTROM and SIMON JOHNSON AMERICAN poet Louise Glück won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature for works exploring family and childhood in an "unmistakable...voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal", the Swedish Academy said on Thursday. Academy Permanent Secretary Mats Malm said that Glück, 77, also a multiple winner of U.S. literary awards, was "surprised and happy" at the news when it came in the early morning hours U.S. time. She gave no immediate comment to journalists gathered outside her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A professor of English at Yale University, Glück first rose to critical acclaim…

Oct

07

2020

By The African Mirror

South African DJ becomes CEO of international alcohol brand

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH African entertainer DJ Zinhle Jiyane is in a bubbly mood as the new chief executive of international sparkling wine beverage Boulevard Nectar Rose. The Forbes Africa Entertainer of the Year and businesswoman has become the first South African entertainer to obtain equity in an international brand. Jiyane made the announcement on her Instagram page, stating that she had managed to acquire equity in the sparkling wine brand and was officially the brand’s new CEO. https://www.instagram.com/p/CF_rm3gDRKC/ “I actually don’t know what to say, we’ve been working on this for over a year now and at the beginning…

Oct

07

2020

By The African Mirror

Rihanna and Savage x Fenty under fire for using Islamic Hadith

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO RIHANNA and her lingerie brand have come under fire on social media by Muslims for her use of a sacred Islamic text in music which was featured in her recent Savage x Fenty fashion show. The Bajan singer recently held the show on October 2 with the new release of her Savage x Fenty collection, which was hailed for continuing to be inclusive with their featured plus size, racially diverse and LGBT+ representation. However, while many were celebrating and hailing the singer’s brand, others - mainly Muslim fans and social media users - called out the singer for…

Nov

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Beyoncè on 2020 her year of joy: “This is the most relaxed I’ve felt in my career”

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO R&B sensation Beyoncé made headlines as the cover model for Vogue UK’s December edition, creating three different covers for next month’s edition of the magazine. Shot by British Vogue’s youngest photographer Kennedi Carter, and interviewed by the magazine’s editor, Edward Enninful, Beyoncé details her life post-her Homecoming performance and post-Black Is King, the visual film that was a tribute to her Lion King: The Gift album. Enninful described the singer as a perfectionist to the core, a Virgo in the true sense, adding that the singer wanted her Vogue moment to be, “filled with positivity as this trickiest…

Nov

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Cardi B apologises for disrespecting Hindu Goddess Durga

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO NEW York rapper Cardi B has apologised for offending millions of Hindus across the world by making use of the image of a Goddess Durga in a recent photoshoot. In the offensive image, Cardi B is depicted as the Hindi Goddess Durga, posing with some footwear from her new ‘Club C’ collection with Reebok, set to be released on November 13. The cover by Footwear News. Picture: Instagram/footwearnews The ‘Bodak Yellow’ singer took part in the shoot for her cover spread for Footwear News, where she spoke about her latest collaboration, her life under lockdown and her music. …