John Matshikiza, a South African voice of reality, has died. In tribute we publish a sharp 2003 column

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.

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.

A decade after his return from exile, and eight years on from the country’s first free election, our South Africa-based columnist looks back in wonder and forward in hope.