GUEST Melanie Nel – Marketing Director at the SA Guide-Dogs 

A bright new voice in theatre, Campbell Meas has been announced as the winner of the 2025 National Playwright Competition with her play Vakavigwa (Burials/They were buried).

Guest: Campbell Meas is an actress, writer, director, facilitator, experimental film enthusiast and theatre maker.

For WORD Domination this week, our guest…has been named the winner of the 2025 National Playwright Competition for her play Vakavigwa (Burials/They Were Buried), a groundbreaking work that explores innovative storytelling in contemporary theatre. Meas, who resides in Johannesburg, initially submitted the play under the title The Mechanics of Play but refined it during her creative process. Her winning script will premiere at the 2025 National Arts Festival in Makhanda from June 26 to July 6. The play’s bold use of multimedia integration and multi-plane storytelling has been hailed as a thrilling evolution in theatre.

The recent wave of global VFX studio closures and the resulting job losses shaking the film industry.

Guest: Alastair Orr, CEO of The Refinery

Artificial intelligence is not the Terminator lurking in the projector room, here to kick VFX artists into the unemployment line while a machine wins the Oscar. As someone who’s lived inside edit suites, dailies rooms, and post facilities long enough to see both the romance and the rot of the industry, our next guest says that AI isn’t here to replace the artists. It’s here to give them their lives back. It’s here to let them make better art and maybe, just maybe, go home in time to see their kids before they pass out from exhaustion. 

Guest: Tiisetso Makhubedu is a young sangoma who is passionate about issues of youth and spirituality. For cultural activist Makhubedu  anyone should be able to practise their spiritual or cultural traditions freely after the dawn of democracy.

In a world where the phrase “soft life” has become a popular aspiration, conversations about money are shifting from pure finance to intention, mindset, and spirituality. More people are exploring how beliefs, energy, and emotional patterns shape their ability to attract and manage wealth. The idea of “manifesting” abundance suggests that money is not just a material resource but also a reflection of inner alignment, purpose, and self-worth. 

Guest: Kunle Ayo -Nigeruan born South African artist 

In 2025, Africa Month will see a continued surge in the growth of music and cultural work driven by factors like increasing streaming popularity, a revival of traditional genres, and a rise in global collaboration and independent artists. The continent's digital music market is projected to reach $500 million and the creative industries are expected to generate billions in revenue and millions of jobs. We wanted to take a moment to speak with artists from three countries that are shaping the sound of the continent. 

Guest: Ash Mueller  - property broker (082 574 6747)

Our next guest has penned an article on the role of women in architecture, spatial planning and building public spaces. She outlines the important contributions of women as property developers, brokers, chief executives, and chief financial officers of publicly listed real estate investment trusts.

GUEST 1: Kunle Ayo -Nigeruan born South African artist 

GUEST 2: Maya Molo - Musician from Kenya

In 2025, Africa Month will see a continued surge in the growth of music and cultural work driven by factors like increasing streaming popularity, a revival of traditional genres, and a rise in global collaboration and independent artists. The continent's digital music market is projected to reach $500 million and the creative industries are expected to generate billions in revenue and millions of jobs. We wanted to take a moment to speak with artists from three countries that are shaping the sound of the continent.