Emily Nkanga, Unyọñ Ufọk
South Africa has, again, approached the International Court of Justice and instructed Israel not to attack Rafah and its 1,5 million Palestinian inhabitants. The significance of South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice extends even beyond the court's clear and urgent judgment to moderate the acts of war and come to the aid of Gaza's residents with medication and food supplies. With this legal intervention, South Africa reclaimed the authority of international law, of...
South Africa has, again, approached the International Court of Justice and instructed Israel not to attack Rafah and its 1,5 million Palestinian inhabitants. The significance of South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice extends even beyond the court's clear and...
Hage Gottfried Geingob served as the third persident of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia’s first prime minister from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Geingob was born on 3 August 1941. He joined the ranks of the national liberation movement South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo) during its formation in 1960. As the official statement declared: “The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished servant of the people, a...
Hage Gottfried Geingob served as the third persident of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia’s first prime minister from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Geingob was born on 3 August 1941. He joined the ranks of the...
African investigative journalists call out misrule on continent The Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors, NAIRE, has issued a New Year’s statement that is simultaneously a call to action by democratic forces, both on the African continent and globally, to support its efforts to expose regimes consisting of “kleptocrats who sell out resources, promote incompetence and nepotism, and oppress civil society.” Noting that these same regimes harass, imprison, and even kill credible...
African investigative journalists call out misrule on continent The Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors, NAIRE, has issued a New Year’s statement that is simultaneously a call to action by democratic forces, both on the African continent and globally, to support...
It is time to celebrate the elders of African literature. Time to exchange memories of our first reading experiences. To take a look at our bookshelves or at those in public libraries: where can we find those orange coloured, cheap paperbacks of the African Writers Series? Which book was it again that impressed me most? Write to us. On this site of the ZAM Boekenclub van lezers en schrijvers (ZAM Bookclub of readers and writers) and during live events we will pitch our favorites from the series....
It is time to celebrate the elders of African literature. Time to exchange memories of our first reading experiences. To take a look at our bookshelves or at those in public libraries: where can we find those orange coloured, cheap paperbacks of the African Writers Series? Which...
On 31 January, the same day that the Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors called out Africa’s oppressive kleptocrat regimes , Malawian investigative editor Gregory Gondwe received note that the Military Police in that country were looking for him. The reason why the security forces had set out to take him in ‘for a chat’ at military barracks, he heard, was an article he had published two days before, on January 29th. The article had published documents showing that the military...
On 31 January, the same day that the Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors called out Africa’s oppressive kleptocrat regimes , Malawian investigative editor Gregory Gondwe received note that the Military Police in that country were looking for him. The reason why...
Was het toeval dat Nelson Mandela de Nederlandse regering niet bedankte voor de solidariteit met de strijd tegen apartheid bij zijn eerste bezoek aan Amsterdam in juni 1990? "Toen ik opgroeide in Deventer, vond ik het vaak verrassend dat er beperkt bewustzijn was van de historische verbinding tussen Zuid-Afrika en Nederland. Mijn doel met de podcast was om deze kloof te overbruggen en te benadrukken wat voor significante invloed beide landen hebben gehad op mijn kijk op politiek, identiteit en...
Was het toeval dat Nelson Mandela de Nederlandse regering niet bedankte voor de solidariteit met de strijd tegen apartheid bij zijn eerste bezoek aan Amsterdam in juni 1990? "Toen ik opgroeide in Deventer, vond ik het vaak verrassend dat er beperkt bewustzijn was van de historische...
Stevenson Amsterdam hosts an exhibition ‘as a gesture of protest.’ Rooted in South Africa, the organising gallery is ‘particularly familiar’ with rising ‘nativist and xenophobic’ tendencies. On 22 November, a political party that compares the Quran to Mein Kampf, and would like to ban the construction of mosques, won the Dutch elections. They propose to strip people with dual citizenship of their Dutch nationality if convicted of a crime, and, using vulgar slurs, have floated a tax on the wearing...
Stevenson Amsterdam hosts an exhibition ‘as a gesture of protest.’ Rooted in South Africa, the organising gallery is ‘particularly familiar’ with rising ‘nativist and xenophobic’ tendencies. On 22 November, a political party that compares the Quran to Mein Kampf, and would like to...
The singer and guitarist grew up in the Eastern Cape of South Africa but later moved to Johannesburg to pursue his career. Despite this change, he continued to sing and write in Xhosa, his mother tongue. He has since released three albums and has won multiple South African Music Awards (SAMAs). With his refreshing approach to African music, Bongeziwe Mabandla is now heard worldwide and has also appeared on the latest single ‘Apho’ by Alfa Mist. Last year, Mabandla drew huge audiences to Dutch music...
The singer and guitarist grew up in the Eastern Cape of South Africa but later moved to Johannesburg to pursue his career. Despite this change, he continued to sing and write in Xhosa, his mother tongue. He has since released three albums and has won multiple South African Music...
30 record sleeves by Fela Kuti’s cover designer have been brought together in a spectacular catalogue. The King of Covers is the concluding part of the month long Lemi Ghariokwu exhibition that ran at the Amsterdam Rush Hour store between 1 and 28 November, 2023. The exhibition was an initiative by Afrodelic in collaboration with ZAM. The 30 sleeves that were at display are now nicely bundled into this full colour 70 page booklet. Each sleeve comes with a story by Saffa Khalil, who analysed the...
30 record sleeves by Fela Kuti’s cover designer have been brought together in a spectacular catalogue. The King of Covers is the concluding part of the month long Lemi Ghariokwu exhibition that ran at the Amsterdam Rush Hour store between 1 and 28 November, 2023. The exhibition was...
In response to a public outcry New York auction house Guernsey had suspended the sale of 70 personal items belonging to South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero. His identity book and prison letters, his famous Madiba shirts, his walking stick and gifts from US President Barack Obama are some of Nelson Mandela’s personal items that were set to be auctioned om 22 February, 2024. But Guernsey has now suspended the sale without an explanation. In an interview with South Africa’s online platform Daily...
In response to a public outcry New York auction house Guernsey had suspended the sale of 70 personal items belonging to South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero. His identity book and prison letters, his famous Madiba shirts, his walking stick and gifts from US President Barack Obama are...
Narnia Bohler-Muller, an international law and human rights law expert, says the South African legal team argued soundly that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocidal, and tells us who is who in the team. John Dugard Professor John Dugard is an internationally renowned expert in international law and has been cited by academics, practitioners and courts alike nationally and internationally. His experience of sitting on the bench of the ICJ as an acting judge and as a member of a Rapporteur of the...
Narnia Bohler-Muller, an international law and human rights law expert, says the South African legal team argued soundly that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocidal, and tells us who is who in the team. John Dugard Professor John Dugard is an internationally renowned expert in...
Where Kinkerstraat 96 Amsterdam Artists Martin Toloku & Ayomide Tejuoso (Plantation) Curator Musoke Nalwoga A STATE OF GRACE? seeks to use the exhibition as a space for transformative ritual where it will locate itself in the past, the now and actively rejecting any projection into any future. It draws inspiration from witches, cults, occultism, voodoo, and other marginalized spiritual sciences from various communities in the diaspora. Dissociations like instances of trance, speaking in tongues,...
Where Kinkerstraat 96 Amsterdam Artists Martin Toloku & Ayomide Tejuoso (Plantation) Curator Musoke Nalwoga A STATE OF GRACE? seeks to use the exhibition as a space for transformative ritual where it will locate itself in the past, the now and actively rejecting any projection into...
A tribute to the late Kenyan poet, playwright and activist. I remember that morning with Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo. It was in the corridors of the New Department of Literature at Nairobi University, which was born out of the abolition of the English Department. We lamented the fact that Jomo Kenyatta, the erstwhile hero of the Independence struggle, had surrounded himself with anglophiles and colonial loyalists like Charles Njonjo. Dedan Kĩmathi and the heroes and heroines of Kenya Land and Freedom were...
A tribute to the late Kenyan poet, playwright and activist. I remember that morning with Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo. It was in the corridors of the New Department of Literature at Nairobi University, which was born out of the abolition of the English Department. We lamented the fact that...
How dedicated officials help the public from within corrupted systems In many countries in Africa, public services are inadequate or dysfunctional. Yet some public servants manage to provide effective healthcare, public transport, emergency assistance, or necessary paperwork, despite corrupt or mismanaged systems. But why are these practices ignored, or sometimes even deliberately side-lined, rather than used as examples for emulation, by the authorities? Why do good civil servants so often seem to...
How dedicated officials help the public from within corrupted systems In many countries in Africa, public services are inadequate or dysfunctional. Yet some public servants manage to provide effective healthcare, public transport, emergency assistance, or necessary paperwork,...
This year ZAM Magazine would like to give you – our readers, followers, fans and new friends – something in return for your support: the chance to buy a striking artwork! All the work at this exhibition has been donated by prominent artists including Clifford Charles, Nat Mokgosi, Ignacio Gumucio, Anton Corbijn & Berend Strik, Patricia Kaersenhout and Ruan Hoffman. We also have some surprises planned for the opening with the unveiling of significant new work and a special donation just recently...
This year ZAM Magazine would like to give you – our readers, followers, fans and new friends – something in return for your support: the chance to buy a striking artwork! All the work at this exhibition has been donated by prominent artists including Clifford Charles, Nat Mokgosi,...
Ten years after Nelson Mandela’s passing, the Amsterdam Bijlmerbios, in collaboration with ZAM, features the amazing reconstruction of the 1963/1964 trial that convicted Nelson Mandela and his comrades to life imprisonment. In 1964, Nelson Mandela and his co-defendants barely escaped the death penalty. This reconstruction of the ‘Rivonia Trial’ tells a story more relevant than ever. Judge De Wet considered the accusation of high treason to be proven, but ultimately decided not to impose the highest...
Ten years after Nelson Mandela’s passing, the Amsterdam Bijlmerbios, in collaboration with ZAM, features the amazing reconstruction of the 1963/1964 trial that convicted Nelson Mandela and his comrades to life imprisonment. In 1964, Nelson Mandela and his co-defendants barely...
This event is no longer the domain of older white men. Seated in the lounge of the All-Africa Protoport (AAP), visitors have a view of lush green landscapes and futuristic transport systems and buildings. Brightly coloured models display the work of the African Conservation Effort (ACE), set up to repair the damage done to the continent’s ecoregions by former colonial powers. This fascinating installation was created by the artist Olalekan Jeyifous (Ibadan, Nigeria), who received the Silver Lion...
This event is no longer the domain of older white men. Seated in the lounge of the All-Africa Protoport (AAP), visitors have a view of lush green landscapes and futuristic transport systems and buildings. Brightly coloured models display the work of the African Conservation Effort...
[Text in English below] In aanwezigheid van tientallen vrienden en supporters nam Bart Luirink op 22 november afscheid als co-ordinator van ZAM. In het Amsterdamse No Man’s Art Restaurant & Gallery werd Luirink gehuldigd voor de ontwikkeling van het platform tot een toonaangevende showcase van Afrikaans talent op het gebied van onderzoeksjournalistiek, kunst, fotografie en opinie. Luirink vormde het destijds door het Nederlands instituut voor Zuidelijk Afrika uitgegeven tijdschrift in 2007 om tot...
[Text in English below] In aanwezigheid van tientallen vrienden en supporters nam Bart Luirink op 22 november afscheid als co-ordinator van ZAM. In het Amsterdamse No Man’s Art Restaurant & Gallery werd Luirink gehuldigd voor de ontwikkeling van het platform tot een toonaangevende...
“It feels good to take back some of the resources”, Trevor Noah, the youngest winner of the award ever, said in his words of thanks at the ceremony in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam on Tuesday, 28 November, 2023. The Prize, launched 65 years ago with Charlie Chaplin as its first recipient, comes with an amount of 150 000 euros. This years theme – In Praise of Folly, the title of Dutch humanist and philosopher Desiderius Erasmus’ (1466 – 1536) most famous book – was ‘made for Noah’. The South...
“It feels good to take back some of the resources”, Trevor Noah, the youngest winner of the award ever, said in his words of thanks at the ceremony in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam on Tuesday, 28 November, 2023. The Prize, launched 65 years ago with Charlie Chaplin as its first...
Henry Kissinger, who sexed up the art of diplomacy in the eight years between 1969 and 1977, will turn 100 in May this year. Given his age, and his long influence on global affairs, several “anticipatory obituaries” have been written. Some laud Kissinger’s role in the shaping of East-West relations while he was in office as US Secretary of State. And many in their commentary on the decades beyond continue to call him a “statesman” . Radical critics have pointed to Kissinger’s ruthless methods –...
Henry Kissinger, who sexed up the art of diplomacy in the eight years between 1969 and 1977, will turn 100 in May this year. Given his age, and his long influence on global affairs, several “anticipatory obituaries” have been written. Some laud Kissinger’s role in the shaping of...
A new ZAM transnational investigation into migration from five African countries shows that, in many cases, the urge to leave is so desperate that migrants consciously risk extortion by smugglers, abuse, exploitative labour, and even death. In the vast majority of cases, awareness campaigns about these risks, financed by the EU and the UK, do not convince people to stay at home. A majority of interviewees in Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria told ZAM team members that they would leave...
A new ZAM transnational investigation into migration from five African countries shows that, in many cases, the urge to leave is so desperate that migrants consciously risk extortion by smugglers, abuse, exploitative labour, and even death. In the vast majority of cases, awareness...
