A YEAR OF TRUTH, ACCOUNTABILITY AND ACTION IN THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Published as we cross into 2026 — your reflections help shape the year ahead As we step into 2026, it would be intellectually dishonest for  The Creative Passport  to offer a generic New Year greeting without confronting the realities that continue to shape — and in many ways suffocate — the Cultural and Creative Industries in South Africa and across the continent. Celebration without reflection becomes denial. Optimism without accountability becomes theatre. This platform was founded to document, question, analyse and amplify the lived experiences of practitioners operating in a sector rich in creativity and heritage, yet persistently undermined by weak regulation, delayed policy implementation, political opportunism and a culture that often punishes truth-tellers instead of protecting them. If 2026 is to mean anything, it must be a year where we move beyond statements and symbolism into...

  WEDNESDAY EDITION | OPINION/ ANALYSIS  HOW FUNDING BENEFICIARIES ARE COMPLICIT IN THE COLLAPSE OF ETHICAL PRACTICE IN SOUTH AFRICA’S CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES By Thami akaMbongo Manzana | The Creative Passport WHY THIS CONVERSATION CANNOT BE AVOIDED This article is a direct follow-up to  When Adjudication Becomes Extortion . It is written without fear or favour — deliberately so.  Accountability in the Cultural and Creative Industries cannot end with adjudication panels, councils, departments, or public entities alone.  To stop there would be convenient, but dishonest. Public funding does not collapse ethics on its own. People do. And the moment funding reflects in a personal or organisational bank account, the beneficiary ceases to be a victim of the system and becomes a custodian of public trust. Image: NLC Logo  (Source: NLC) ACCESSING FUNDING IS LABOUR — ETHICAL PRACTICE IS A DUTY Securing public funding is not easy. Applications are techn...

TUESDAY EDITION | PROFILE/ INTERVIEW  As The Creative Passport launches its Profiles & Interviews segment, we begin by turning the lens inward — not in self-promotion, but in transparency. This conversation introduces the Founding Editor, his journey within South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries, and the thinking behind the establishment of this platform. C an you tell us about your journey within South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries, and how it has shaped your perspective as a practitioner and writer? My journey in the Cultural and Creative Industries began in the early 1990s at a community level. I was part of a dance crew,  NWA , in Mbekweni, Paarl, under the leadership of Tilili Godlo. Through this work, I was introduced to  Sons and Daughters Dramatic Organisation (SADDRO) , led by the late Michael Mahlubandile Ndlovu — may his soul continue to rest in peace. Working within communities at that time gave me an early understanding that the ...