INTRODUCING ISSUE #192
About this issue
15 years. 192 editions. Still going strong
The Big Issue South Africa is celebrating 15 years of fighting poverty, creating jobs, and restoring dignity and independence to unemployed, homeless and marginalised adults with a special birthday edition.
The edition carries a cheeky, fun cover produced in partnership with ZA News and featuring three of South Africa’s key figures: Nelson Mandela, Jacob Zuma and Helen Zille. “There’s also a fourth surprise guest, who readers will only discover once they buy and open the magazine,” said Melany Bendix, editor. “I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but I can reveal that readers will see a lot more of a certain suspended youth leader than they ever imagined they would, even in their wildest dreams.”
Cheeky cover aside, the 15th birthday edition is a poignant, fascinating and at times quirky look at The Big Issue’s place in South African history.
Notable South Africans — everyone from Helen Zille to the Parlotones, Jack Parow and Nic Rabinowitz, to name but a few — also sent The Big Issue their birthday wishes. And the public is being encouraged to join them by signing the online birthday card on www.bigissue.org.za, tweeting wishes to @BigIssueSA or posting their message on the Facebook wall: The Big Issue South Africa.
“The Big Issue has been providing a quality read for 15 years and this edition’s no different,” said Trudy Vlok, managing director. “Our birthday wish is that Capetonians will celebrate this milestone with us and support their nearest vendor by buying a copy of this special edition.”
Back to the beginning of our dream
The Big Issue South Africa has come a long way since a group of determined pioneers first plotted its launch over a kitchen table and then set up shop in a ramshackle building in a seedy part of town with a single computer. Raymond Joseph, a former editor who still serves on The Big Issue’s board of directors, tells how it all came about
Earning with dignity: a second chance in life
Hundreds of unemployed, homeless and marginalised people have walked through The Big Issue’s doors over the past 15 years in need of a second chance in life. Many use selling the magazine as a springboard into permanent employment, a few become permanent vendors. We spoke to four long-time vendors about their journey with The Big Issue over the years
From pumps to bumps – how we celebrate the big day
South Africans tend to associate birthdays with cakes and candles, but to others across the globe celebrating another year can come with anything from street sweeping to flour bombs and getting bumped on the noggin for every year you’ve lived, writes Rebekah Kendal
Street vendors around the globe on birthdays
The Big Issue SA is one of 118 street papers in 40 countries which are members of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP). Although far flung, we’re a close-knit family, so we invited vendors from all corners of the globe — from Japan to Slovenia — to share what birthdays meant to them
15 years, 15 iconic covers: Our time in history
The Big Issue’s kept going strong through wars, economic crises, rolling blackouts, three and a half presidents, political turmoil and natural disasters. We take a glance at just a few of the big headlines and
history-making moments in South Africa and around the world as we kept on publishing over the past decade and a half
Party People get SA Hip-hop scene popping
“Music is most honest when performed live,” said jazz great Miles Davis. Twenty years after the emergence of South African Hip-hop, his words vibrate through a monthly live event in Cape Town called Party People.
From humble beginnings in 2006, Party People has gone from a little known club-night to a nationally recognised Hip-hop event. Daluxolo Moloantoa spoke to founder and local music industry shaker DJ Kenzhero about the event’s origins and the state of Hip-hop in South Africa
FROM OUR TWEEPLE
Competition
Win 1 of 2 tickets to RAMfest at The Cape Town Ostrich Ranch on the 11th of March.
Winners to be announced on Wednesday 29th February and will be notified in person.
To enter, participants need to provide their full name, telephone number and email address.
Where is RAMfest being held?
What do you think?
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