This multi-voiced volume offers a deep dive into the history, sociology and politics of the oldest South African university press.

In 2022 Wits University Press marked its centenary, making it the oldest, most established university press in sub-Saharan Africa. While in part modelled on scholarly publishers from the global North, it has had to contend with the constraints of working under global South conditions: marginalisation within the university, budgetary limitations, small local markets, unequal access to international sales channels, and the privileging of English language publishing over indigenous languages. But there were also opportunities, and this volume explores what the Press has achieved, and what its modes of reinvention might look like. In widening and deepening our understanding of the Press as an example of a global South scholarly publisher, this volume asks how publishing can contribute to a broader understanding of Southern knowledge production.

This multi-voiced volume showcases the history of the Press’s publishing activities over 100 years: from documenting its evolution through book covers and giving credence to some of the leading black intellectuals and writers of the early 20th century and the success of those works in spite of their authors suffering significant racial marginalisation, to the role of women both in publishing and the spaces afforded to women’s writing on the Press’s list. The collection concludes with essays by contemporary authors who detail not only their experiences of working with southern publishers, but also the politics and influences governing their decisions to choose the Press over a Northern publisher.

The collection shows the strategies deployed by the Press to professionalise Southern knowledge making, in the process demonstrating how university presses in the global South support the scholarly missions of their universities for both local and global audiences.

Are you happy?

Are you fulfilled in your relationships?

Are you growing your business?

Are you inspired?

Are you passionate about your life?

Are you passionate about your business?

Are you radiating success?

Are you making a difference?

No? Then business coach, entrepreneur and motivator Jamal Sahib has the antidote.

In Start with the End in Mind, Jamal will lead you on a journey of self-discovery into you, the people around you, the mindset you bring to life and business, and how your preconceived ideas about leadership, fulfilment, expectation and responsibility can derail your dreams.

Using real-life coaching examples, coupled with the latest coaching techniques and insights, Start with the End in Mind will help you strip out imposed ways of thinking, enable you to crystallise your ambitions, deepen your understanding and appreciation of the people around you and guide you to a better, healthier, more fulfilling and impactful future.

This volume locates the international debates on competition and corporate power in the critical issue of inclusive growth. There is a particular focus on shaping regional energy markets, taking into account the implications of climate change as well as the challenges of extending access to affordable energy to low-income households and small businesses.

The volume critically assesses the efficacy of the competition and economic regulation framework, reviewing the impact of the regional (ie. southern African) competition authorities and surveying the impact of particular interventions in the competition and economic regulation arena. This book accomplishes two tasks that are still not adequately covered in the existing literature: first, the book examines in a single framework both competition and economic regulation and second, it takes a southern African view in examining these two topics. Competition and regulation are both distinct but crucial areas of knowledge for the development of the economies of the countries of southern Africa. The legal and policy framework for competition and regulation in the region is relatively new with a number of national institutions still in their infancy.

There is an emphasis on developing African case studies for both training and knowledge-sharing purposes.

A sequential guide that takes the entrepreneur from inception of an idea to success and all the way to exit. Lindile details the milestones of growing and evolving a business in a journey that is by no means linear.

This playbook reveals a path to the desired destination of every entrepreneur who uses it, where the entrepreneur can define his or her own formula of success, from the very first inkling of an idea and turning that into a reality. Lindile push-starts the entrepreneur using a strategy he calls Rapid Deployment to monetise ideas by turning them into reality. It is a model that can move an idea from zero to a hundred in a matter of days. Fast implementation allows the idea to go through an entire life cycle in a short space of time. Most importantly, it forces the budding entrepreneur to start.

This playbook outlines the importance of investing in oneself.

A successful exit is determined at the point of entry. The entrepreneur must take full control of how the journey ends or evolves. This guides the decisions that the entrepreneur makes as he or she starts and grows the business. Ultimately, entrepreneurship requires consistency, resilience, adaptability, mental strength and acute awareness. All of this must be rooted in mindfulness. Although mindfulness is not something taught in business schools, it is an essential element of success.

At its very core, The Young Entrepreneur’s Playbook is for anyone with an idea to bring to life, something of value to provide, challenge to move past, aspiration to chase after and willingness to do something about it. This is a playbook of how to get it done, all the while embracing failure as an important part of the process but ultimately a useful tool to expedite the very outcome that you seek.

Co-operatives in post-apartheid South Africa have featured in the Reconstruction and Development Programme, legislation, vertical and horizontal state policy and various discourses from Black Economic Empowerment, `two economies' and `radical economic transformation'. In practice, the big push by government through quantitative growth, seed capital and top-down movement building has not yielded viable, member-driven and values-centred co-operatives leading systemic change.

Government looks to the experience of Afrikaner nationalism for keys to success, while some co-operative development programmes are breaking new ground in co-operative banking and community public works programmes. Yet, government co-operative pathways are facing serious limits. At the same time, solidarity economy practitioners have been fostering pathways from below, both actual and potential, within various co-operative experiences. Solidarity economy practice is not seeking government validation nor demanding recognition through adoption. Instead, solidarity economy forces are seeking to work with, against and beyond the state to build institutionalised and decolonised solidarity relations in a society increasingly grounded in market values of individualism, competition and greed.

This volume builds on a previous collection, The Solidarity Economy Alternative: Emerging Theory and Practice (2014), and inaugurates a debate between leading government co-operative development practitioners and its critics, many of whom are working to advance bottom-up solidarity economy pathways.

The story of one of the leading trade unions in South Africa, the National Union of Mineworkers, and its role in the struggle against white minority rule.

Organise or Die? Democracy and Leadership in South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is the first in-depth study of one of the leading trade unions in the country. Founded in 1982, the trade union played a key role in the struggle against white minority rule, before turning into a central protagonist of the ruling Tripartite Alliance after apartheid. Deftly navigating through workerist, social movement and political terrains that shape the South African labour landscape, this book sheds light on the path that led to the unprecedented 2012 Marikana massacre, the dissolution of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) federation and to fractures within the African National Congress (ANC) itself.

Working with the notions of organisational agency and strategic bureaucratisation, Raphaël Botiveau shows how the founding leadership of NUM built their union's structures with a view to mirror those of the multinational mining companies NUM faced. Good leadership proved key to the union's success in recruiting and uniting mineworkers and NUM became an impressive school for union and political cadres, producing a number of South Africa's top post-apartheid leaders. An incisive analysis of leadership styles and strategies shows how the fragile balance between an increasingly distant leadership and an increasingly militant membership gradually broke down.

Botiveau provides a compelling narrative of NUM's powerful history and the legacy of its leadership. It will appeal to a broad readership - including journalists, students and social sciences scholars - interested in South Africa's contemporary politics and labour history.

Money is the most important human invention after language. It provides tokens for the faith we have in each other and society – but that trust has been violated repeatedly throughout history by the middlemen and authorities we rely upon in order to transact with each other.

Now a new kind of money promises to rescue us from these tyrants and return us to the roots of money, without relying on third-parties. Instead of putting our faith in banks and governments, we can trust math.

Simon Dingle has been working with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies since 2011, designing products that make it easier to engage with this new world of money. He is also a broadcaster, writer and speaker who makes complex subjects simple for his audiences. Having led the product team at one of the world’s first Bitcoin exchanges and on other popular fintech products, Simon continues to design and invest in projects that make money more fair, this in addition to his weekly radio show on 5FM that helps people with technology more generally.

In his first book Simon looks at the evolution of human trust that not only explains how cryptocurrencies work and the origins of Bitcoin, but how you can use these networks to take control of your own financial universe. A highly readable account of a complex subject, In Math We Trust is all you need to find out about the future of money.

The stock market is the golden goose that the rich rely on to stay rich. That’s why so many people believe that the stock market is an exclusive club, or that only professionals understand it well enough to succeed. But those days are long gone, and investing is more accessible than ever, as The Wise Investor proves.

In this book, bestselling author Moroka Modiba demystifies and simplifies investing in the stock market, lifting the curtain to reveal how straightforward it can be. The secret is already out there: buy low and sell high. The big questions are what to buy and when to buy. This book provides those answers and many more, using ordinary language to teach you to make informed investments that will enrich your life and those of your loved ones.

This is a book that readers of all ages will have wished they’d read earlier. With the wisdom provided in its pages, they’ll be able to invest with confidence and practise the patience required to get the best returns, knowing that it’s not about timing the market, but time in the market, that leads to investment success. The Wise Investor is essential reading for financial novices of any age who need a trustworthy and accessible guide to the stock market.

Multi-award-winning Sylvester Chauke is a self-confessed Madonna-crazy, entrepreneur and founder of DNA Brand Architects. After an illustrious career as the national marketing manager for Nando’s South Africa, Sylvester joined broadcasting giant MTV Networks Africa as its director of marketing and communication. In 2012, Sylvester established DNA Brand Architects, a marketing and brand consultancy that works with some of the most revered brands on the continent including Vodacom, Pernod Ricard, SABMiller, Boardmans and Steers.

Being a change leader, Chauke has a unique approach, ‘stand against bland’, which has allowed him to stand out as a powerful creative and marketing force. His track record is undeniable and his reign as the country’s number one marketing maverick keeps teaching the rest of us why we must choose to Stand Against Bland.

This book illustrates the colourful career of a man often referred to as ‘the dancing CEO’ – due to his tradition of bringing dancing into the office – and also takes readers inside the mind of a man who has stood out, brilliantly and consistently, from the rest.

Whitey Basson, een van SA se mees suksesvolle sakeleiers, word deur sy eweknieë beskryf as “geniaal”. Whitey het ’n legende geword toe hy, in SA se beroemdste oorname, die sukkelende OK Bazaars vir een rand gekoop het. In dié gemagtigde biografie vertel die bekroonde sakejoernalis Niel Joubert die volle storie van Whitey se opkoms en fabelagtige sukses.

Van ’n paar klein winkeltjies, gewaardeer teen R1 miljoen, het hy Shoprite in Afrika se grootste kleinhandelaar omskep – en die 35ste grootste kleinhandelaar in die wêreld. Ná jare se navorsing, en baie ure in gesprek met Whitey self, herskep Joubert Whitey se kleurryke lewe, van sy seunsdae op die plaas buite Porterville via Pep Stores tot Shoprite.

Nadat hy Grand Bazaars, Checkers en OK Bazaars oorneem, bereik Whitey uiteindelik sy groot mikpunt: om Pick n Pay verby te steek. In die proses het hy SA se grootste private werkgewer geword en welvaart geskep vir tallose Suid-Afrikaners. ’n Hoogs leesbare en inspirerende sakestorie.

In the past few years, so many scandals have rocked corporate South Africa that crises seem to be the norm rather than the exception. In the glare of the public eye, with cameras, microphones and cellphones in their face, many leaders who excel in organisations suddenly become scared, confused and can even appear shady.

When Crisis Strikes looks at a variety of crises in the age of social media in South Africa and abroad, with examples of who got it right, who got it wrong and how they could have done better. The organisations range from schools to local companies to multinationals caught up in state capture claims and giants such as Boeing and BP.

The book provides ten simple and effective rules to help manage crisis situations. The practical advice in each rule is backed up by academic research that draws from public relations, marketing, management, leadership and psychology. It combines insights from a seasoned journalist and an accomplished academic to give you the advice and tools to ward off a crisis before it strikes and, if it’s too late, to resolve a situation quickly and with integrity.

The past two decades were among the most prosperous in history, with over a billion people lifted out of extreme poverty. Then 2020 hit, and, along with it, the coronavirus pandemic. The effect on economies will be extreme. What can small businesses do to survive the Covid-19 crisis? Business coach and author Douglas Kruger provides actionable answers, with a list of 50 practical ways your business can survive – and even thrive – during this time of uncertainty.

Business survival entails a simple formula. You must achieve and maintain profits over costs. There are a remarkable number of creative things you can do to stay on the right side of this equation, provided you don’t lose your head. Do these things well and you’ll be able to keep your staff employed, continue to serve your customers, grow awareness of your brand, and even come out of this difficult period positioned for growth.

Right now, owners of small businesses need every smart-cut they can find. Virus-proof Your Small Business provides no fewer than 50, including how to manage and safeguard your cash flow; get your head around the size of the challenge and begin thinking in productive ways; cut costs without cutting employment; use different channels to deliver the same offering; ensure that those who supply you, and those you serve, stay open too.

An absolutely essential read for any small business owner in this challenging time.

Wegelin presents an introduction to everyday building construction as practiced in southern Africa, from drawing practice, contours and stormwater, materials science and properties, energy conscious construction, masonry house construction, foundations, construction in reinforced concrete, steel and timber, roofs, joinery and external elements. Topics are introduced with a historical review and are lavishly illustrated with photos, maps and drawings. This book introduces the relationship between construction technology and design, essential knowledge for architects, building designers, builders and even building clients.

In 2009, Canadian entrepreneur Mike Quinn packed his backpack and moved to Lusaka, Zambia on a mission to find African entrepreneurs building scalable, high-impact businesses. There he stumbled across two South African brothers who had founded a business to help unbanked smallholder farmers receive mobile payments in a market where cash was king. After convincing his retired parents to mortgage their house and lend him $100,000, Mike joined as a co-founder of Zoona and became CEO for nine of the next ten years.

With his partners, Mike built a network of more than 3,000 entrepreneur agents across Zambia and Malawi that enabled millions of unbanked consumers to send and receive $2.5-billion in money transfers and remittances. Headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, Zoona raised over $35-million of venture investment and operated on the leading edge of Africa’s emerging fintech ecosystem.

Mike’s remarkable story gives a rare and honest glimpse into the workings of a pioneering African startup through the lens of a purpose-driven entrepreneur who went “all in”. Zoona faced tremendous adversity along the way: currency crises, investment round collapses, ruthless pushback from the major mobile network operators, and a continuous internal struggle to discover and execute a growth strategy that matched the company’s billion-dollar ambition.

It was by failing to win that Mike learned what entrepreneurship – specifically entrepreneurship in Africa – is all about, and it was what motivated him to double down and try again.

We live in a world in which financial markets have become completely decoupled from the real economy…

The world’s four largest banks now all reside in one nation: China…

Lines of code are considered more trustworthy than central banks…

In this broad-ranging, deeply researched review of modern banking and financial systems, analysts David Buckham, Robyn Wilkinson and Christiaan Straeuli unpick in parallel the ongoing erosion of trust in capitalist free markets and Western democratic institutions, and the directly related, unprecedented growth of the Chinese banking system. The former is a decades-long tale of intermittent market manipulation, inadequately regulated hubris and outright criminality, which produced the Global Financial Crisis, the most devastating financial meltdown since the Great Depression. The latter, which in various ways mirrors the conditions that led to the Crisis, may well prove worse.

In detailing the unheeded lessons of financial history, the authors reveal how the inconsistently managed tension between free markets and government regulation has led us from depression and regulation to deregulation and crisis. And with incursions into string theory, the mathematics of cryptocurrency and the intricacies of money supply, we discover what happens when an authoritarian command economy fills the moral and ideological vacuum left behind.

In a post-Covid world – in which we are witnessing booming stock markets entirely disconnected from real-world economic hardship, and communist billionaires propagating just as global inequality skyrockets – public trust in the international banking system has never been lower. This is an unprecedented survey of a fraught and complex landscape that has never been more urgent.

"I wrote this book because I believe the road to financial freedom is a journey everyone can embark on. I wrote this book with you in mind. You, who perhaps have never been taught anything about how money works. You, who have been too intimidated to pick up and read a book about personal finance because you were too scared of the jargon. You, who want to #getyourmoneyright. I had you in mind when I wrote this book." – Mapalo Makhu

If you are a millennial who is trying to figure out how money works, this book is for you. With simple, relatable and sometimes amusing stories about how to manage money on a day-to-day basis, you will learn how to change your mindset about money, get out of debt and stay debt-free, invest your money and, ultimately, live your best life.

You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich will help you, the young professional, to think differently about money, while covering pertinent topics like black tax, savings, budgeting, emergency funds and financial scams, as well as estate and retirement planning (and why you should care right now!). It is the best class you never attended… in a book!

A practical and theoretical manual for real estate practitioners.

During many years in practice, the author has identified the most common problems and known pitfalls associated with the industry, which are highlighted in this text. Thorough knowledge of the contents of this book will enable the practitioner to handle calculations related to the time value of money with confidence.

The manual will be equally useful to students of real estate and financial theory.

South Africa is a rapidly urbanising society. Over 60% of the population lives in urban areas and this will rise to more than 70% by 2030. However, it is also a society with a long history of labour migration, rural home-making and urban economic and residential insecurity. Thus, while the formal institutional systems of migrant labour and the hated pass laws were dismantled after apartheid, a large portion of the South African population remains double-rooted in the sense that they have an urban place of residence and access to a rural homestead to which they periodically return and often eventually retire. This reality, which continues to have profound impacts on social cohesion, family life, gender relations, household investment, settlement dynamic and political identity formation, is the main focus of this book.

Migrant Labour after Apartheid focuses on internal migrants and migration, rather than cross border migration into South Africa. It cautions against a linear narrative of change and urban transition.

The book is divided into two parts. The first half investigates urbanisation processes from the perspective of internal migration. Several of the chapters make use of recently available survey data collected in a national longitudinal study to describe patterns and trends in labour migration, the economic returns to migration, and the links between the migration of adults and the often-ignored migration of children. The last three chapters of this section shine a spotlight on conditions of migrant workers in destination areas by focusing on Marikana and mining on the platinum belt. The second half of the book explores the double rootedness of migrants through the lens of the rural hinterland from which migration often occurs. The chapters here focus on the Eastern Cape as a case study of a region from which (particularly longer-distance) labour migration has been very common.

The contributions describe the limited opportunities for livelihood strategies in the countryside, which encourage outmigration, but also note the accelerated rates of household investment, especially in the built environment in the former homelands.

An essential guide that offers in-depth analysis on how intrapreneurship powers some of the world’s leading innovative businesses. When they maximise the entrepreneurial potential of employees and enable them to think and behave like start-ups, businesses see the continuous delivery of innovative products, services and processes.

The Intrapreneur’s Journey: Empowering Employees to Drive Growth is a must-read for any entrepreneur, innovator, manager or senior executive who wants to successfully compete in today’s fast-changing world. Based on the observation that the most under-utilised assets in most organisations are the ideas in their employees’ heads, the authors offer first-hand experience and in-depth analysis on how intrapreneurship powers some of the world’s leading innovative businesses and other types of organisations. The proposition is simple: established organisations see continuous delivery of innovative products, services and processes when they enable teams of entrepreneurial employees to think and behave like start-ups.

This new edition adds up-to-date discussions and references on the theory and practice of intrapreneurship and innovation, making this an ideal book for students, researchers and professionals in the field. It includes informative examples and case studies ranging from large multinational corporations to small and medium-size enterprises in a primarily pan-African, but globally relevant context. Written in an accessible, easy to read style, this book features a series of assessments and tools to help implement the book’s Intrapreneurship Empowerment Model in any organisation. This book will be a leading practical guide on how to establish a culture of innovation.

The Tyranny Of Growth is a modern epic that exposes the lie of economic growth.

It provocatively recounts how the 2008 global financial meltdown and COVID-19 pandemic have become the leading cause of governments' and multilateral institutions' global spectacular failure. It brilliantly explains how a single number - GDP - came to have such bewildering power over our lives, despite its ruinous consequences.

But ultimately the book strives to illuminate a new way of imagining the world. 

This book will let the reader into the world of migrant workers and how they have used their culture and heritage to reimagine and create a new socio-economic order through the production of cultural goods and services.

This is the story of Kwa Mai Mai; an economic trade zone that has captured the imagination of people who dared to dream. Kwa Mai Mai is the beginning of everything Johannesburg is meant to be, the City of Gold, a place where dreams deferred become true. The book tells a story of a people’s culture, wrapped in beautiful memories of life in villages left behind but collectively remembered by those who refuse to forget, lest they lose themselves in the concrete jungle that knows no mercy.

This is a story of how cultural memory, sacredly preserved and transported to new geographies, can serve both as cultural weapon that can be used to resist subjugation, while unleashing it as an economic weapon to turn those priceless traditions into tradeable commodities. The book narrates a story of how those who are the keepers of cultural memory can wield it as a weapon of survival and use its power to petition the entrepreneurial and creative spirits buried deep down in the souls of their true being.

The book raises an argument built on an assumption that if cultural memory can be stored and retrieved through artefacts, sites, ceremonies, myths and rituals, including texts, then Kwa Mai Mai assembles and converges these into one place and space of worship and celebration. This is a place where the hypervisibility of its bearers is always in a constant fight against being eclipsed by those who would rather pretend it did not exist – the City that created it.

The book combines both the author’s observation and interpretation gathered from ethnographic work of over four years, as well as the voices of those who reluctantly remained in this City when no other alternative presented itself, short of returning to the villages in absolute defeat.

This book is for anyone who earns a living without holding down a full-time job contract. The Toolbox focusses on the human element of not holding down a job: what can you expect, what should you prepare for, how do you deal with being a self-starter every single day?

This is not a business advice handbook or pocket MBA. It is designed to help anyone who works for themselves or owns their own business, deal with the very real emotional and psychological challenges that come with being a self-starter in a business world dominated by huge corporates.

Basil O’Hagan’s latest book is a treasure trove of 175 tips on how to deliver the best customer service, whatever your industry. Deliver sensational service! Build loyalty! Grow Profits!

Basil shares his decades of experience in this critical discipline in one easy-to-read volume. Learn to plan and implementworld-class customer service, how to build a service culture, the importance of atmosphere and how to deliver customer service on social media.

Real, practical advice from the best in the game.

Ongoing disruptive innovation has become the key competitive edge in staying ahead of the game in the inimitable, compelling, memorable experience-based economy. The 21st century organisation will be an ideas/imagination business. Within this business, people have moved centre stage in being the only true value unlockers and wealth creators as the source of imagination, creativity, innovation, and invention.

Given people’s centrality to the continued viability of organisational performance and success in the present and future, knowing the state of their People Excellence is critical for every organisation. If there is on top of this criticality a global war for top talent, then ‘critical’ turns into mission-critical. It becomes the stark choice between either merely surviving because of a shortage of talent; or thriving because of creating the conditions under which people become the best they can, and want to, be. They flourish and thrive.

People excellence sits at the confluence of thriving employees, delighted stakeholders, and a viable organisation. When organisations become excellent at helping their people to flourish, they in turn unlock real, amazing value and create worthy, lasting results to the delight of stakeholders, ensuring the organisation’s viability. This is why knowing the state of an organisation’s people excellence, as well as becoming smarter at people excellence, has become mission-critical for every organisation.

The People Excellence Star offers you the opportunity to perform an integrated, strategic stress test of the overall people-worthiness of your organisation. You’ll be guided on how to apply the five critical dimensions of People Excellence: Identity, Capacity, Delivery, Outcomes, and Relationships – along with their 20 Excellence elements.

You’ll discover the best thought-leadership, latest research, and cutting-edge practices regarding People Excellence to help you unleash the synergistic fusion of lasting People Excellence within your own organisation through the appropriate interventions.

Licence To Loot is a fast-paced, hard-hitting investigation into parastatal looting, written by journalist Stephan Hofstatter. At the centre of the story is Eskom, the largest power utility in Africa, which could determine the success or failure of South Africa’s economy.

Hofstatter’s story begins in 2016, with the Guptas’ controversial purchase of Optimum coal mine and Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe’s key role in the deal. From there it takes the reader on a journey from secret meetings in London hotel rooms to a clandestinely purchased bolthole on a Dubai golf estate, uncovering the corrupt acquisition of a private jet along the way. From the diary entries of a Saxonwold security guard to first-hand accounts of backroom dealmaking, it traces the origins of a shadowy network between the Guptas and Eskom that ultimately allowed the family to extract billions of rands from the parastatal.

Licence To Loot reveals the complicated deals and machinations underpinning state capture and the subsequent ministerial and board appointments that ceded the control of the country’s parastatals, including Eskom, Transnet, SAA and Denel, to Gupta-linked moneymen.

The book is particularly relevant in the current political climate as it focuses on the impact of state capture, not just its origins, and takes the story beyond the Zuma presidency.