Date:
29 August 2025
Localisation:
Johannesburg, South Africa
Wits Arts Museum, Chr Jorissen and Bertha St,
5th Floor, Es’kia Mphahlele Building (Wits University
RSVP:
Najibha.Deshmuk@wits.ac.za
Literary, Politics of SADC Governance
Together, let’s invent a substantive democracy, and impact in East Africa!
The year 2024 saw seven countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region hold elections. These were Comoros, Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa. While each experienced various outcomes due to specific national contexts, they highlighted the major political and social shifts occurring in the region. In South Africa, for example, the elections revealed the persistent issue of ethnic nationalism that now dominates the country’s public discourse. This was particularly evident in the lead-up, with political parties mobilising along ethnic lines, creating the ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups, with illegal migrants and ‘foreigners’ portrayed as a creeping threat to the country’s peace and security. The loud and popular calls of ‘Mabahambe’ signalled a growing desire to redraw the lines that once divided us, to erect borders, to re-mark colonial boundaries, and to return to apart-hood. In Botswana, voters removed the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which had been in power since 1966. Ushering in a new era for a country with a relatively peaceful democracy. In Namibia, the first woman head of state in the region was elected, perhaps setting a tone for others to follow. Despite our imagined differences, some similarities form the glue that binds us together. South Africa has previously participated in “peacekeeping in regional conflicts” while the Mozambican, Botswana and Namibian elections were marred by alleged interference from Zimbabwe. These democratic imaginaries emerging from the southern tip of the continent invite us to discuss anew post-colonial temporalities and human foldedness throughout the various political and social orders this region has witnessed.
This seminar engages with these developments. Through literature, it reflects on the legacies of colonial borders and migrations in the region, and how these continue to influence socio-political structures. The three literary luminaries, Dr Barbara Boswell, Dr Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, and Rémy Ngamije, will be in conversation with Zukiswa Wanner on these themes.
Themes
➢ To reflect on SADC political governance and the persistence of colonial violence.
➢ To explore Southern Africa’s complex histories of migration and borders throughout the changing political landscapes.
➢ To reflect on intergenerational conflicts, identity, and coming of age for Black migrants in South Africa and Namibia.
➢ To observe the layered storytelling that explores the complexity of relationships, both intimate and political. And how this weaves together personal and political struggles.
➢ To reflect on the collusion of colonialism, patriarchy, and capitalism in creating and normalising a certain kind of womanhood.
List of participants
• Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, The Creation of a Half-Broken People
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean writer, scholar and filmmaker. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning novels, The Theory of Flight (2018), The History of Man (2020) and The Quality of Mercy (2022) published in southern Africa by Penguin Random House and in North America by Catalyst Press. Her fourth novel, The Creation of Half-Broken People, was published in southern Africa by Picador Africa and in North America by House of Anansi in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Ndlovu holds a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. She has an MA in African Studies and an MFA in Film from Ohio University. Her short film, Graffiti, won several awards, including the Silver Dhow at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. She received her BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College. She is a 2018 Morland Scholar and a 2022 recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize.
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean writer, scholar and filmmaker. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning novels, The Theory of Flight (2018), The History of Man (2020) and The Quality of Mercy (2022) published in southern Africa by Penguin Random House and in North America by Catalyst Press. Her fourth novel, The Creation of Half-Broken People, was published in southern Africa by Picador Africa and in North America by House of Anansi in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Ndlovu holds a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. She has an MA in African Studies and an MFA in Film from Ohio University. Her short film, Graffiti, won several awards, including the Silver Dhow at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. She received her BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College. She is a 2018 Morland Scholar and a 2022 recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize.
• Remy Ngamije, The Eternal Audience of One
Rémy Ngamije is a Rwandan-born Namibian writer and the author of The Eternal Audience OfOne, his award-winning debut novel, and Only Stars Know The Meaning Of Space, his collection of award-winning fiction. In 2021, Rémy won the Africa Regional Prize of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing in 2021 and 2020. He was longlisted and shortlisted for the 2020 and 2021 AfritondoShort Story Prizes, respectively. Rémy is the founder and chairperson of Doek, an independent arts organisation in Namibia supporting the literary arts and the editor-in-chief of Doek! Literary Magazine, the country’s first and only literary magazine. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in The Johannesburg Review of Books, Lolwe, American Chordata, LitHub, Granta, One Story, and Best American Essays 2024, among many others. More of his writing and complete publishing history can be read on his website: remythequill.com
Rémy Ngamije is a Rwandan-born Namibian writer and the author of The Eternal Audience OfOne, his award-winning debut novel, and Only Stars Know The Meaning Of Space, his collection of award-winning fiction. In 2021, Rémy won the Africa Regional Prize of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing in 2021 and 2020. He was longlisted and shortlisted for the 2020 and 2021 AfritondoShort Story Prizes, respectively. Rémy is the founder and chairperson of Doek, an independent arts organisation in Namibia supporting the literary arts and the editor-in-chief of Doek! Literary Magazine, the country’s first and only literary magazine. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in The Johannesburg Review of Books, Lolwe, American Chordata, LitHub, Granta, One Story, and Best American Essays 2024, among many others. More of his writing and complete publishing history can be read on his website: remythequill.com
• Barbara Boswell Comrade’s Wife
Dr Barbara Boswell is a novelist and Associate Professor of English Literary Studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her first work of fiction, Grace: A Novel (Modjaji Books 2017), was published to critical acclaim and won the University of Johannesburg Debut Creative Writing Prize in 2018. Her second novel, The Comrade’s Wife (Jacana 2024), was named one of the literary journal Brittle Papers’ best 100 African books of 2024 and was a finalist for the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Award for fiction. Both works examine the intersections of political and personal power in a rapidly changing society. Barbara’s works of scholarship include: And Wrote My Story Anway: Black South African Women’s Novels as Feminism (Wits University Press 2020) and Lauretta Ngcobo: Writing as the Practice of Freedom (HSRC Press 2022), a hybrid biography of feminist activist and writer Lauretta Ngcobo (1931 – 2015), written in collaboration with Mrs Ngcobo’s family.
Dr Barbara Boswell is a novelist and Associate Professor of English Literary Studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her first work of fiction, Grace: A Novel (Modjaji Books 2017), was published to critical acclaim and won the University of Johannesburg Debut Creative Writing Prize in 2018. Her second novel, The Comrade’s Wife (Jacana 2024), was named one of the literary journal Brittle Papers’ best 100 African books of 2024 and was a finalist for the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Award for fiction. Both works examine the intersections of political and personal power in a rapidly changing society. Barbara’s works of scholarship include: And Wrote My Story Anway: Black South African Women’s Novels as Feminism (Wits University Press 2020) and Lauretta Ngcobo: Writing as the Practice of Freedom (HSRC Press 2022), a hybrid biography of feminist activist and writer Lauretta Ngcobo (1931 – 2015), written in collaboration with Mrs Ngcobo’s family.
• Zukiswa Wanner, Love Marry Kill
Zukiswa Wanner’s debut novel The Madams (Oshun, 2006) was shortlisted for the K. SelloDuiker Memorial Award; her third novel, Men of the South (Kwela, 2010) was shortlisted for Commonwealth Best Book, her fourth novel London Cape Town Joburg (Kwela, 2014) won the K. Sello Duiker Award and her latest novel, Love Marry Kill (Masobe, Kwela, Jahazi 2024) has recently been longlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Award. Wanner has also written for children: Jama Loves Bananas (Jacana, 2011); the contemporary African retelling of Rapunzel, Refilwe (Jacana, 2014); Africa: A True Book (Scholastica, 2019) and Black Pimpernel: Nelson Mandela on the Run (Pushkin Press, 2021). Her nonfiction work include the travel memoir Hardly Working: A Travel Memoir of Sorts (Black Letter Media, 2018), her satirical nonfiction Maid in SA: 30 Ways to Leave Your Madam (Jacana, 2013) which is a hilarious take on the relationship between domestic workers and their women bosses, and long-form essay on Palestine, Vignettes of a People in an Apartheid State (Periferias 2023). As an editor, she worked on the 2023 East African anthology The Heart is Bastard (translated into kiSwahili as Moyo niMwanaharamu), the 2019 YA African Anthology Water Birds on the Lakeshore, which was translated into Kiswahili and French, and with Indian writer Rohini Chowdhury co-edited Behind the Shadows in 2012.
Zukiswa Wanner’s debut novel The Madams (Oshun, 2006) was shortlisted for the K. SelloDuiker Memorial Award; her third novel, Men of the South (Kwela, 2010) was shortlisted for Commonwealth Best Book, her fourth novel London Cape Town Joburg (Kwela, 2014) won the K. Sello Duiker Award and her latest novel, Love Marry Kill (Masobe, Kwela, Jahazi 2024) has recently been longlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Award. Wanner has also written for children: Jama Loves Bananas (Jacana, 2011); the contemporary African retelling of Rapunzel, Refilwe (Jacana, 2014); Africa: A True Book (Scholastica, 2019) and Black Pimpernel: Nelson Mandela on the Run (Pushkin Press, 2021). Her nonfiction work include the travel memoir Hardly Working: A Travel Memoir of Sorts (Black Letter Media, 2018), her satirical nonfiction Maid in SA: 30 Ways to Leave Your Madam (Jacana, 2013) which is a hilarious take on the relationship between domestic workers and their women bosses, and long-form essay on Palestine, Vignettes of a People in an Apartheid State (Periferias 2023). As an editor, she worked on the 2023 East African anthology The Heart is Bastard (translated into kiSwahili as Moyo niMwanaharamu), the 2019 YA African Anthology Water Birds on the Lakeshore, which was translated into Kiswahili and French, and with Indian writer Rohini Chowdhury co-edited Behind the Shadows in 2012.
As a publisher, she counts among her authors Angolan author Yara Monteiro whose Portuguese novel Essa Dama Bate Bue became Loose Ties in English; Mukoma wa Ngugi’s We, The Scarred, Daughters of Nandi by Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang and a children’s anthology edited by Maimouna Jallow, Story Story Story Come, which was translated into Kiswahili, Shona and isiXhosa. Wanner has been a columnist for publications True Love and Mail & Guardian (South Africa); The Star and Nation (Kenya), New African (United Kingdom), and has written for other publications like The New York Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung and The Guardian. The South African Secularist of the Year for 2024 counts among her other accolades and achievements being one of The Continent magazine’s Africans of the Year for 2024, being a 2022 Moi University African Cluster Centre Fellow, 2018 Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study Fellow and 2016 Danish International Visiting Artist (DIVA). Wanner founded and curated the virtual literary festival, Afrolit Sans Frontieres, which morphed to Virtually Yours and Artistic Encounters, which has taken place in Nairobi, Kenya; Johannesburg, South Africa and Zurich, Switzerland.
