The Big Issue

High quality, varied and entertaining content for readers across age, culture, religion, gender and other demographics. Stories include reporting on local and international happenings with a ‘bigger issue’ about an individual, and unusual news or events that impact us all. The Big Issue shares in-depth interviews with local and international celebrities, artists, change-makers and thought leaders. It also focuses on local people or organisations committed to making positive changes in society – intent on finding innovative ways to effect change.

The Big Issue SA

This issue … • The price of The Big Issue has changed to R30 per issue. Your purchase directly supports our vendors. Thank you for your business!

A GOOD START TO 2023 • Our vendors operate as self-made entrepreneurs; their sole earnings are profit made from each magazine they sell. We appeal to you to donate to our vendors’ wish lists below, enabling them to further their opportunities. If you can make a dream come true, please reach out to us. The Big Issue is a social enterprise, creating opportunities to end poverty and exclusion.

OUR VENDORS REACH OUT • Imagine a family member standing in the rain, cold or heat selling magazines on the roadside to earn a living. This is a brief job description of a Big Issue vendor. We pay homage to our vendors, all of whom admit to having learnt something special and valuable on the job.

Our Poisoned Land • The book Malema does not want you to read - a raw and explosive expose available in English, though to be fair, should be available in all 11 official languages to reach the entire population.

FRIENDS IN THE WILD • Safari operators have the best stories. A 4×4 named ‘Biscuit’, the hunter of hot water bottles, sleepwalking rhinos and booteating hyenas will have you paging through Memoirs of a Safari Guide, absorbing one incredible (and often humorous) bite-sized tale after another.

A dignified voice • Street papers are “giving a lifeline and dignity back to people who have lost everything, sending a powerful message to homeless people that they are visible,” says Thomson Reuters Foundation Chief Antonio Zappulla.

16 Days of Activism How SA's TV news gets it wrong • During the UN’s annual international 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence [GBV] campaign, the country’s news media coverage of violence against women and children increases. As well-intentioned as this may be, studies have exposed several shortcomings in the coverage, noting that these undermine what the campaign aims to achieve.

Glittering minstrels are back • Cape Town’s Athlone Stadium is ready for the Klopse competitions after a successful Hollywoodbets Cape Town Street Parade.

ATTEND THE COMPETITION FINALS

WHAT MAKES A GOOD FRIEND? • young minds matter

What kind of friend are you?

What do good friends do? • Put a tick ✔ or a cross ✖ on the star on each picture. A tick means good friendship. A cross means bad friendship.

What is that sound? Yintoni eso sandi?

A helping hand • Women can live an empowered life in many ways. These GBV survivors are making the most of their new lives thanks to POWA.

What needs to be said • Rape in South Africa is systemic and endemic Prof Amanda Gouws writes that the ANC government keeps missing the mark. The country’s annual police crime statistics confirm this: there were 42 289 rape incidents reported in 2019/2020, as well as 7 749 sexual assaults. This translates into about 115 [reported] incidents of rape a day.

A pledge to Cape Town • 30 things the city has done to clean up Cape Town’s vleis, rivers and wetlands. All water quality test results are now available to the public online.

A mobile freezer has transformed a community • Clearing a Garden Route lake of an alien...