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The first time I saw Pretty Yende perform was in 2016 in Johannesburg. By then the South African soprano was already an international star, back in the country for the first time in years to perform for one night only. As a lover of urban African culture, I wasn’t exactly brimming with enthusiasm, but I went along. When Yende opened her mouth, I did a double take, and then closed my eyes. I sat there with goosebumps, wondering how such absorptive beauty was even possible with just a voice, and let her carry me along. I’m still not a fan of opera, but I am of Pretty Yende. Being the first African to perform at the coronation of a British monarch - this week it was announced she’s singing at
Westminster Abbey for King Charles III - is just one in a string of firsts for Yende. And each one delights her. As African opera researcher Wayne Muller explains, Yende is as much activist as she is artist and it’s crucial to her to embody spaces that once excluded black people.
Though South Africans have become glumly, reluctantly used to scheduled power cuts, things feel more dire than ever: power utility Eskom has warned us that things are only going to get worse. That, coupled with outgoing Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter’s explosive allegations about corruption and theft at the utility, has left me in a darker mood. Luckily, MJ (Thinus) Booysen and Arnold Rix’s article cut through the gloom to offer simple, useful tips for those of us
able to consider alternative options.
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Charl Blignaut
Arts, Culture and Society Editor
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Wayne Muller, Stellenbosch University
Performing at the coronation of King Charles III will be just one of many firsts for the activist soprano.
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MJ (Thinus) Booysen, Stellenbosch University; Arnold Rix, Stellenbosch University
Deciding on the best system isn’t a simple matter. There’s a bewildering array of jargon to sift through and many elements to consider.
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Arts, Culture + Society
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Franz Krüger, University of the Witwatersrand
The explosive viral spread of the grainy but dramatic footage shows the limits of mainstream media ethics.
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Leah Davina Junck, University of Cape Town
Confident chatbots could undermine trust and romance - but probably won’t. They may even enhance online dating.
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Asher Lubotzky, Indiana University
Gan Siyabonga is unique in Israel. It highlights a group that was both anti-apartheid and pro-Zionist.
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Business + Economy
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Roy Havemann, Stellenbosch University
South Africa’s minister of finance should have used the bailout of Eskom to fast-track its split and introduce the private sector into the electricity sector.
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Environment + Energy
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Natasha Joseph, The Conversation
Tropical cyclones are becoming more frequent in the Indian Ocean. Here’s why and what that means.
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Olumuyiwa Adegun, Federal University of Technology, Akure
Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, has a chief heat officer, the first in Africa. She has her work cut out for her.
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Science + Technology
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Sam Challis, University of the Witwatersrand; Brent Sinclair-Thomson, University of the Witwatersrand
Changes in southern African rock art reflect the mixing of groups of people after they came into contact with each other.
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Health + Medicine
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Husna Ismail, National Institute for Communicable Diseases; Olga Perovic, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
In hospitals, infection prevention and control cannot be met without a hygienically clean, and safe environment that has an adequate supply of clean running water.
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Festival Godwin Boateng, Columbia University; Jacqueline M Klopp, Columbia University
Vehicle import restrictions on their own are unlikely to yield meaningful, sustained public health and environmental gains in Africa.
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Keymanthri Moodley, Stellenbosch University; Stuart Rennie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Early adopters have started using ChatGPT to assist with mundane tasks like writing sick certificates and patient letters.
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Politics
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Helga Dickow, University of Freiburg
Chad fulfils all conditions to be affected by Islamist terrorism. But the threat so far comes from its neighbours, not from the inside.
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TC Afrique
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Anthony Guyon, Université Paul Valéry – Montpellier III
Au lendemain de la Première Guerre Mondiale, alors que l’armée française a subi des pertes terribles, les soldats originaires des colonies prennent une place importante au sein des troupes coloniales.
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Docteur Ousmane Ba, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
La lutte traditionnelle touche directement le patrimoine culturel de la société sénégalaise. C'est un facteur d’éducation et d’intégration sociale qui forge et forme l’individu.
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3 March 2023
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Johannesburg
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3 March 2023
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Stellenbosch
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6 - 10 March 2023
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Pretoria
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16 - 17 March 2023
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Johannesburg
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