Reclaiming Agency: Embracing Discomfort and the Path to Decolonisation
By Zanele Maphosa-Makombe
I find myself at a crossroads. In academic spaces, I write protest; in activist spaces, I write in academic jargon. I was asked to reflect on decolonisation in philanthropy and solidarity—not in theory, but in a way that speaks to lived struggles. The challenge isn’t just simplifying language; it’s making these ideas real, urgent, and transformative.
To do this, I will draw heavily from my Masters research “Expression of Solidarity and Decolonisation of Philanthropy in Southern Africa”, and a book recommended by a comrade, Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira. These works offer different but complementary perspectives, one grounded in the realities of philanthropy in Southern Africa, the other challenging us to sit with the discomfort of systems in decline. Together, they push us to move beyond rhetoric and towards action, to reimagine not just how philanthropy operates, but whether parts of it should continue to exist at all.