John Matshikiza was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up in Lusaka and London, where he trained in drama and worked as an actor, writer and director. He returned to South Africa in 1991, and has since been writing and working in theatre, film and television. A joint collection of columns written by his father, Todd Matshikiza, and himself, With the Lid Off, was published in 2000. John is an openDemocracy columnist.

Recent articles

Africa needs a radically different vision of its future from that on offer from the developed world. It should look to the Songhai Centre, where Godfrey Nzamujo has built that most realisable utopia, a sustainable African village.

In the contrast between Benin’s roaring capital and the mysteries hanging round the town of Ouidah you catch the double profile of Africa today.

Between the Atlantic and the Sahara, the teeming capital of Senegal, second home to our African columnist. A recent visit provokes thoughts of the city’s transformation, the unfinished legacy of slavery, and, inevitably, of war.

The ears of our South African columnist are buzzing with talk of ‘black elites’ and ‘black empowerment’. But to his clear eyes, racial and social inequalities still dominate the lives of the country’s black majority.

Ugly, formless gold rush city requires great dreamer to shape its rainbow future.