The Botsotso literary journal started in 1996 as a monthly 4 page insert in the New Nation, an independent anti-apartheid South African weekly and reached over 80,000 people at a time – largely politisized black workers and youth – with a selection of poems, short stories and short essays that reflected the deep changes taking place in the country at that time. Since the closure of the New Nation in 1999, the journal has evolved into a stand-alone compilation featuring the same mix of genres, and with the addition of photo essays and reviews. The Botsotso editorial policy remains committed to creating a mix of voices which highlight the diverse spectrum of South African identities and languages, particularly those that are dedicated to radical expression and examinations of South Africa's complex society.Botsotso 19: Fiction. True, False and Fantastical includes thirty-one pieces by a wide range of southern African writers accompanied with photographs by Moshe Sekete Potswana. The edition focuses on fiction that covers a wide range of themes and situations: Thabisani Ndlovu’s “Making a Woman” is about patriarchy and rising feminism in a Zimbabwean village, Mpumelelo Cilibe’s “Keep the Ship Moving!” is set during the emergence of the first trade union at a Ford motor plant in the late 1970’s in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and Muthal Naidoo’s anthropomorphic satire “Stone Walls” is about exploitative friendships. Botsotso 19 displays the art of storytelling in many forms and styles and moves the reader through a wide range of emotions.
