Back in 2010, a handful of audacious Stellenbosch students started running gutsy online columns under the banner of the VryeMatie. This quickly grew into a fully-fledged, open community. The resulting VryeStudent — with the slogan "oopkop, krities, roekeloos" (open-minded, critical, reckless) — became the go-to publishing platform for grassroots thought leadership in Stellenbosch. In 2012, VryeStudent became Bonfiire and expanded to UCT, UWC, and CPUT.
After a good run of five years, which saw rigorous debates on race, language, institutional culture, residence placement policies, and religion, Bonfiire has come to an end.
Thanks for being part of the conversation! It's been good.