More Than A Story

For nearly two centuries after her death, Saartjie Baartman did not rest.
Taken from South Africa in 1810 and exhibited in Europe as a spectacle, she died in Paris at just twenty-five. But death did not end her captivity. Her body was dissected, preserved, displayed in a museum, and legally claimed by the French state. For 187 years, she remained far from home - not as a person, but as an object.
This episode traces the long and often uncomfortable journey to bring her back to South Africa. It explores the science that justified her dissection, the laws that kept her in Paris, the poetry that stirred political will, and the deeper question that lingers even after her burial: What does it really mean to bring someone home?
This is not just a story about colonial spectacle. It’s a story about memory, power, and the unfinished work of dignity.
A big thanks to SergePavkinMusic for providing the soundtrack. You can access his music library here:
https://www.youtube.com/@SergePavkinMusic/featured
To get in touch, see references and access additional media and content - visit:
https://www.morethanastory.co.za
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Kruger National Park didn’t begin as a sanctuary. It began as a warning. In the late 1800s, South Africa’s wildlife was collapsing under relentless hunting, war, and the belief that nature was limitless. From the first, fragile proclamation of the Sabi Game Reserve in 1898 to the lonely patrols of its first warden, James Stevenson-Hamilton, this story traces how a wounded landscape slowly began to recover. Elephants returned where none had walked for decades. Lions reclaimed silent valleys. And against poaching, politics, and deep public scepticism, the idea of protecting wilderness took hold.
But Kruger’s story is not one of simple triumph. It is shaped by contradiction, by communities removed in the name of preservation, by changing ideas about predators as “vermin,” by scientific control and hard lessons learned through fire, flood, and loss. From colonial conquest to apartheid, from poaching wars to land restitution and transfrontier conservation, Kruger reflects South Africa’s own turbulent history. This episode explores how the park was made, what it cost, and why its greatest legacy is not perfection, but resilience - the ongoing choice to protect something wild, complicated, and deeply human.
A big thanks to SergePavkinMusic for providing the soundtrack. You can access his music library here:
https://www.youtube.com/@SergePavkinMusic/featured
To get in touch, see references and access additional media and content - visit:
https://www.morethanastory.co.za
Support the show

In November 2025, Johannesburg will host the first G20 Summit ever held on African soil. This episode traces the remarkable story behind that moment. From South Africa’s long journey out of apartheid isolation to Africa’s decades-long struggle for global representation, we follow the arc that led the world’s most powerful economies to gather in the heart of Gauteng.
We explore how the G20 was born out of crisis, how it evolved into a central forum of global governance, and why its future now depends on the rising influence of the Global South. As global tensions reshape international politics, Johannesburg becomes more than a venue, it becomes a symbol of a world undergoing profound change.
This is the story of power, history, and the shifting balance of global influence. And it begins before the motorcades arrive.
Also a big thanks to SergePavkinMusic for providing the soundtrack. You can access his music library here:
https://www.youtube.com/@SergePavkinMusic/featured
To get in touch, see references and access additional media and content - visit:
https://www.morethanastory.co.za

Support the show

A small Boer commando led by Jan Smuts plunges into the Cape Colony, surviving ambush, starvation, and a brutal mountain storm before seizing a British camp in one of the war’s most daring raids. Through the eyes of Deneys Reitz, this episode reveals the grit, tragedy, and unexpected humanity that shaped the guerrilla war.
Also a big thanks to SergePavkinMusic for providing the soundtrack. You can access his music library here:
https://www.youtube.com/@SergePavkinMusic/featured
To get in touch, see references and access additional media and content - visit:
https://www.morethanastory.co.za
Support the show

In 1960, Patrice Lumumba rose to power as the first Prime Minister of Congo, a nation newly independent from brutal Belgian colonial rule. His impassioned speech defying the King of Belgium on independence day marked him as a fearless leader, but also made him a target. As Lumumba fought for a truly unified and independent Congo, he faced immediate challenges: a mutiny in the army, the secession of the resource-rich Katanga province backed by Belgian interests, and the looming shadow of the Cold War. His desperate appeal to the Soviet Union for aid solidified Western fears, leading to a calculated conspiracy involving foreign powers and domestic rivals to remove him.
Dragged through the streets, isolated, and ultimately betrayed, Lumumba was brutally assassinated in January 1961, at just 35 years old. His death was a deliberate act to crush the dream of a truly free Africa and to ensure continued access to Congo's vast mineral wealth. Yet, the attempt to erase him failed. Lumumba's legacy grew louder in his absence, becoming a potent symbol of resilience, dignity, and the enduring struggle against imperial influence. This is more than a historical account; it's a gripping tale of power, betrayal, and a dream that refused to die. 
Also a big thanks to SergePavkinMusic for providing the soundtrack. You can access his music library here:
https://www.youtube.com/@SergePavkinMusic/featured
To get in touch, see references and access additional media and content - visit:
https://www.morethanastory.co.za
Support the show