Category: Africa Right Now

In South Africa, the word “now” means several things. “Just now” means in an indeterminate time in the future; “now now” means in a while, maybe never. “Right now” is as close as you’ll get to urgent. So – what’s happening in Africa right now?

Why news about Africa is worth following

I do different kinds of work for different clients – but every day starts the same, with a part-time online news shift for the allAfrica.com website.

It’s not my best-paying gig, but that doesn’t matter. I do it because I love it: I love news, I love the breakneck speed of online journalism, I love working with people in that kind of environment. It’s an addiction, really.

This morning as I was sending a story about Somalia into the world, I realised that another addiction of mine was at play: my deep and abiding love of soap operas.
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Thoughts on what it means to be a white South African

In the past few weeks, every United States email newsletter that I subscribe to has sent me some version of this: “We know about George Floyd, appalled, saddened. We promise to do better.”

I’ve read them, wondering if every single one of them is sincere, filtering them through my usual scepticism. I have also read them though a South African filter. And after thinking about it a lot, I have decided to try to express what I’ve been feeling. And what all this could mean for my fellow white “Saffers”. Continue reading