Image: Parliament of South Africa      (Source: www.gov.za) WHY THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES MUST FOLLOW PARLIAMENT By Thami akaMbongo Manzana |  The Creative Passport For many practitioners and organisations within South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries, Parliament often feels distant — a place of politics rather than practice. Yet decisions taken in Parliament shape the very conditions under which artists create, organisations operate, and institutions survive. To work in the cultural sector without understanding who represents your interests in Parliament is to operate without knowing where power, accountability, and opportunity truly lie. This article reflects on why it is important for practitioners to know their representatives, monitor their work, and actively engage the parliamentary processes that directly affect arts, culture, and the creative economy. REPRESENTATION IS NOT ABSTRACT —...

Reflections on Writing, Memory and Why Arts Coverage Still Matters By Thami akaMbongo Manzana | The Creative Passport There was a time when writing about the arts in South Africa felt intentional. It felt rooted. It carried weight beyond promotion or publicity. Arts journalism was not trying to impress — it was trying to understand. In those days, you could open a newspaper or tune into a radio programme and find voices that knew the sector intimately. Writers who had sat in dark theatres, dusty community halls, rehearsal rooms and galleries. Critics who were not removed observers, but cultural witnesses. They wrote because they believed that what artists were doing mattered to the country. WRITING AS PRESENCE, NOT NOISE Arts journalism once functioned as a form of presence. It was not always loud, but it was consistent. It followed artists over time. It traced ideas, movements, failures, breakthroughs, and shifts in cultural thinking. Importantly, it treated artists as thinkers — not ...

  SUBSCRIBE TO THE CREATIVE PASSPORT (FREE) By Thami akaMbongo Manzana |  The Creative Passport The Creative Passport is an independent online media platform covering Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries in South Africa. Subscribe for free by entering your email address in the sidebar to receive new articles, interviews and podcast updates directly in your inbox. The Creative Passport is an independent platform focused on Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries. Readers are encouraged to follow, comment and engage constructively. HOW TO FOLLOW THE CREATIVE PASSPORT RECEIVE POSTS BY EMAILS  

                           Image: NAC Logo      (Source: NAC)  INVITING THE CREATIVE SECTOR INTO A NECESSARY CONVERSATION By Thami akaMbongo Manzana | The Creative Passport The Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP 6) was introduced as a critical intervention to support artists, practitioners, and cultural workers across South Africa. For many in the Cultural and Creative Industries, it represented not just temporary relief, but recognition of the sector’s economic and social contribution. However, months after implementation,  serious concerns remain unresolved , particularly around: Delayed or incomplete payments The appeal process Lack of clear, consistent communication from the National Arts Council (NAC) Most concerning for many practitioners is the  perceived silence  from the NAC regarding the  PESP 6 appeal process  — an issue that continues to affect liv...

  By Thami akaMbongo Manzana | The Creative Passport A collective Christmas and New Year reflection from South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries — honouring the artists we lost in 2025, reflecting on a year that broke many of us, and expressing gratitude to those who stood with us when survival became the work. A BLACK CHRISTMAS WE DID NOT CHOOSE This Christmas does not arrive wrapped in lights and laughter for all of us. For many within the Cultural and Creative Industries, it arrives heavy, quiet, and uncertain. A Black Christmas — not by choice, but by circumstance. A season where joy feels borrowed, where celebration feels distant, and where survival itself becomes the unspoken task. 2025 has been a brutal year for South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries. Brutal in ways that budgets, reports, and policy statements will never fully capture. It has broken spirits, exhausted savings, delayed dreams, and forced many of us to question our worth in a country that cele...

                          Image: SAST Logo      (Source: South African State Theatre) By Thami akaMbongo Manzana | The Creative Passport .JOBS OPPORTUNITIES Please press above it will direct you to the South African State Theatre page.                          Image: SAST Logo (Source: South African State Theatre) The Creative Passport is an independent platform focused on Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries. Readers are encouraged to follow, comment and engage constructively. HOW TO FOLLOW THE CREATIVE PASSPORT RECEIVE POSTS BY EMAILS