This article tracks the life of the song ?Umshini Wami? (My Machine Gun) adopted by Jacob Zuma, the President of the African National Congress, since early 2005. It explores the wider implications of political song in the public sphere in South Africa and aims to show how ?Umshini Wami? helped Jacob Zuma to prominence and demonstrated a longing in the body politic...

This article tracks the entry of Julius Malema and his package of skills as a political persona into the South African public domain. It focuses on his use of song, particularly the Dubul’ ibhunu song/chant within the public space and links it to a long tradition of political song. It sets this within a wider context of the aesthetics of power in the postcolony and...

This article explores how the medium of radio through the genre of radio drama enables the exploration of issues of power and violence in a way that is both public and intensely private. It argues that through the airing of a topic as feared, as secret and yet as pervasively present ? or potentially so ? as the supernatural and the occult, radio drama can open up f...