Michelle Mandela

1n 1998, on his 80th birthday, Nelson Mandela married former first lady of Mozambique, Graca Machel.

10 years later, we look at how Mozambicans view Graca today (2008). There are gender issues at play: from a patriarchal standpoint - where the widow of the hero is supposed to keep the memory of the nation - how do they feel? What is the feminist view? What is the history of crossborder matrimonial exchange between South Africa and Mozambique (i.e. rumours of Samora and Miriam Makeba)...What irreverent Mozambican writer or gender activist is bold enough to write such a story?

Not down in any map; true places never are

As for Melville in the 19th century, so it is now.

Blighted Joburg (town/inner-city) is on something of an upswing - in the popular imaginary at least. There's Hotel Yeoville, a lyrical document of loves and lives in ex-bohemia; there 's Yeoville Studio at Wits, an architecture/urban-planning experiment that, among other things, has produced this guide to eating a whole continent without leaving town.

The Yeoville eating guide is a map of the future: it's a map of potential delight for those who dare. Meanwhile, what of those who are? Right here in Joburg, there are maps of Ethiopia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh and more; maps of the present; carried and communicated and explained and rearranged every single day.

Famine and the GM Debate

Amid the efforts to cope with a famine threatening 30 million people, a row is raging over genetically modified (GM) food aid. Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa refused GM food aid calling it "poison". Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi are concerned that letting in food aid containing genetically modified material will lead to the planting of seeds and the contamination of domestic crops. Angola, Lesotho and Swaziland have not adopted positions on GM but have not refused aid containing genetically modified food.

Special focus on Toilets 2008 is the ‘International Year of Sanitation’!!!

Feliciano dos Santos

Dubbed the ‘Elton John of Mozambique’, 44-year-old Feliciano dos Santos is a rock star who sings about toilets and clean water. One of Massukos’ most popular songs is called ‘Wash your Hands’.


Film: El Baño del Papa (The Pope’s Toilet) Directed by Enrique Fernandez and Cesar Charlone - A toilet for the Pope's visit to Brazil Apparently tens – and maybe even hundreds – of thousands of visitors will come from Brazil to see His Holiness. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – everyone who can plans to set up a stall to sell food or drink to the pilgrims. Beto, though, thinks he’s got a better idea – he’ll build a toilet in his front yard, and charge for its use.

Great stinks, sewers, kicking the bucket, innovative systems