Saam met die sterwe van die ou Suid-Afrika het ook “Afrikaner Volkskapitalisme” gesneuwel, wat veral gekenmerk is deur die einde van die eens magtige Sanlam en sy eweknie in die Noorde, Volkskas, wat eers deel van Rembrandt en toe later deel van Barclays van Brittanje geword het. Hierdie twee organisasies het vir dekades die dinamo van Afrikaner-sake aan die gang gehou.

Terwyl Afrikaner-kapitalisme oor die laaste dekade of wat byna krampagtig gesoek het na nuwe suurstof om te kan oorleef, is daar stil-stil ’n nuwe grondslag gelê vir ’n nuwe geslag Afrikaner-kapitaliste. Nuwe mijardêrs is orals geskep deur aandele-pryse wat ten hemele gejaag is en in die proses het dit in die jongste tyd begin lyk of van hierdie bate-spirale op baie dun ys gebou is en dalk ook groot sarsies bedrog.

Hierdie boek bespreek die huidige ekonomiese klimaat op ‘n interessante en toeganklike manier.

Although South Africa’s informal sector is small compared to other developing countries, it nevertheless provides livelihoods, employment and income for millions of workers and business owners. Almost half of informal-sector workers work in firms with employees. The annual entry of new enterprises is quite high, as is the number of informal enterprises that grow their employment. There is no shortage of entrepreneurship and desire to grow.

However, obstacles and constraints cause hardship and failure, pointing to the need for well-designed policies to enable and support the sector, rather than suppress it. The same goes for formalisation. Recognising the informal sector as an integral part of the economy, rather than ignoring it, is a crucial first step towards instituting a ‘smart’ policy approach.

The South African Informal Sector is strongly evidence- and data-driven, with substantial quantitative contributions combined with qualitative findings – suitable for an era of increased pressure for evidence-based policy-making – and utilises several disciplinary perspectives.

GOOGLE Search: my job makes me...

- my job makes me miserable
- my job makes me depressed and anxious
- my job makes me cry
- my job makes me sick to my stomach
- my job makes me suicidal
- my job makes me feel worthless
- my job makes me angry
- my job makes me drink

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING?!!! This was the authors' immediate reaction when they saw these prompts from Google (so many people had previously searched all of these that Google assumed they were going to as well). Consider how many millions of people need to have typed in these particular statements relating to their jobs for this to occur?

Are you feeling uncomfortable as you read them? Either because you feel the same way, or because you lead, own or work in a business full of people and if you’re brutally honest with yourself you may realise that this is quite possibly exactly how they feel. Do you have any tangible or quantifiable measure for how much this may be enhancing or diminishing your business bottom line? Most importantly, do you know what to do to meaningfully impact this? To create that work doesn’t suck! (step 1) And even better, is AWESOME! (step 2).

Brad Shorkend and Andy Golding are the co-founders of Still Human. They help businesses around the world remain relevant by creating exceptional employee experiences and being innovation-ready always, ultimately becoming Companies Behaving Awesomely.

Are you feeling stuck and limited in your profession? Are you waiting for the next bonus, the next promotion, the next public holiday, the next best thing?

What if you:

• could become your own boss?
• had the freedom to choose when and where you work?
• could work towards your own dreams instead of someone else’s?
• could travel/spend time with your kids/tend to your garden at any time you damn well please?
• didn’t have to take leave to go to the dentist?

Peppered with pros and cons lists and personal anecdotes, the book presents relatable, honest and sometimes irreverent insights into the freelance world. It includes insights into, tips and ideas on how to: identify marketable skills; let go of excuses; set up a business structure; negotiate contracts and other legalities; pay the correct tax; set boundaries; manage your time; set pricing and much, much more.

If you want to start freelancing but don’t know where to start, this book is here to turn YOU into a home-office hotshot, starting TODAY.

Personal Financial Management provides an excellent and holistic structure for planning and managing your personal finances.

Everything you need to know in order to make informed decisions about any and every aspect of your finances is contained in the nine key personal financial planning areas: career, income tax, estate, investment, protection, credit, healthcare, retirement and emigration planning.

Ultimately, we all hope for financial independence after retirement, and how you plan and manage your finances in any one of these key areas can have far-reaching positive or negative implications for your future.

After state capture, South Africa is f*cked and not in a good place. The system is down so how do we reboot?

We aren’t the first country to find itself in a difficult spot so we can ask ourselves why have some countries been successful and others not so much? How can South Africa pick itself up to become a thriving state? Roy Havemann answers these questions in this engaging, accessible book and argues that right now we need to focus on six basics: Eskom, Education, the Environment, Exports, Equality and Ethics.

It’s time to stop raking over the coals of who is to blame for our problems and focus on the future, looking at how other countries have overcome challenges similar to ours and how we can practically implement a set of policies that will get South Africa back on track.

Wandile Sihlobo and Johann Kirsten chose to write The Uncomfortable Truth about South Africa’s Agriculture in a candid, direct and unfiltered tone, not out of disregard, but with the hope of stirring South African agricultural stakeholders from inertia that may have taken hold over time.

One clear example of inertia is the endless policy discussions. When the government proposes policy positions – either good or bad – time is spent discussing these policies instead of anything substantive being done. The divisions amongst South African farmer organisations is the core issue behind the interminable conversations and this results in a ‘performance of productivity’ among participants in these meetings, creating an impression of progress simply because discussions are taking place.

While politicians and farmer representatives debate, farmers suffer, the unemployed languish, and small towns crumble. Poor roads and rising costs choke market access, while collapsing municipalities pile pressure on agribusinesses.

Things don’t have to be this way, and the South African agricultural sector still has great potential to grow, increase employment, and revitalise the rural economy. This book will empower the reader with a clearer understanding of the agricultural constraints and how to overcome them and mobilise the much-needed sectorial focus to implementation.

While the contents may be uncomfortable for some, this book is intended to ignite an urgent call for decisive policy and programme implementation and to demand stronger collaboration among social partners.

Business tycoon Patrice Motsepe is never shy to shake up the status quo. He has always followed his instincts to stay ahead of the curve. An icon of corporate South Africa, he is as much known for his leadership in the world of football as for his philanthropy.

He was a top lawyer when he followed his dream of being an entrepreneur, making a deal with Anglo American in the late 1990s that marked the beginning of a series of unique relationships which today define his African Rainbow Minerals empire. As the owner of Mamelodi Sundowns, he led it to becoming one of the most accomplished clubs in Africa. Then came the powerful seats of president at the Confederation of African Football and vice-president of FIFA, football’s global governing body, in 2021. Yet questions linger about his political ambitions because of his close links to the ANC and particularly his brothers-in-law, Cyril Ramaphosa and Jeff Radebe.

In this unauthorised biography, best-selling author and journalist Janet Smith mines public archives, academic papers and international media to find what lies behind this hugely successful, intensely private man, and what may lie ahead.

What does it take to be an effective leader in today’s business world?

Mike Teke, the CEO of Seriti and well-known entrepreneur, has more experience than most as a leader. His opinion is heeded and followed by many. In The Future of Leadership is Collegiality, Mike shares some of his insights on leadership and the approaches that have made him successful. Indeed, it is a book that belongs on the desks of every existing and aspiring entrepreneur, CEO and manager.

Mike believes that ‘young leaders emulate and mimic experienced leaders – whether the habits they are copying are right or not so right. This happens because young leaders search for ways and means to be recognised, advance in their careers, or be seen as impressive leaders.’

He discusses concepts such as collegiality, fraternisation, ingratiation and self-respect, and illustrates his ideas with examples of South African and world leaders. On his own journey towards becoming a powerful leader, it was inculcated in him that one had to be ‘tough and ruthless’ in their approach to leading. However, times have moved on and the game has changed!

To be effective and deliver consistently in business, Mike has realised that collegiality is the way of the future. ‘There is no need to scream at others, bang tables or use foul language!’ He believes that collegiality works everywhere – as long as one is willing to lead effectively.

For our world to survive, and thrive, we need people who can lead the way to a better future for everyone, be that in corporate, government, or society in general. What we need is great leadership – not mediocre leadership; and an attitude of ever-learning, growing and developing.

Business leaders have a financial and moral obligation to uplift the people of this country. A narrow focus on profit won’t achieve that, but a culture that puts people first can. We need ethical leaders, visionary leaders, empathic leaders, courageous leaders, forward-thinking leaders, transformational leaders, human-centric leaders, purposeful leaders, curious leaders. This book is the antidote to the lack of mentorship, and is the resource for the saying: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

Incorporating the collective leadership wisdom for both the leaders of tomorrow and for the leaders of today, The Book Every Leader Needs to Read is full of lessons, insights, pep talks, advice and direction for building your own style and approach to great leadership, and not shy away from the ecstasy (and sometimes agony) of becoming a significant leader. If you are striving for excellence as a leader, get your pen and notebook ready, start reading and make notes from the thousands of hours of lived experiences, and list what you can start doing, right now, to craft the art of leading.

Koketso Sylvia Milosevic runs a global business, travels the world managing her property empire, and hosts international TV shows about investing in property. How didan ordinary girl from the township of Ga-Rankuwa achieve all this, amassing considerable wealth in the process?

In Winning the Property Game, Koketso reveals how she built her property portfolio, turning it into a multi-million-rand business.

In this multi-billion rand corruption memoir, former Bosasa C.O.O and whistleblower, Angelo Agrizzi rips open the can of worms, exposing two decades of untold greed, politicking, corruption, bribery and deep state capture.

Inside the Belly of The Beast is a detailed confession, exposing the intimate fraudulent workings of a company, under the cult-like leadership of Gavin Watson. Agrizzi is one of few people with a first-hand account of what really happened behind the closed doors of Bosasa.

“We make a big mistake to consider Bain simply another foreign company that extracted economic rents. I believe its involvement in bringing South Africa to its knees through state capture was much more insidious.”

When Bain & Company partner Athol Williams reported his employer in October 2019 for withholding information on their complicity in state capture, he had no idea how far-reaching Bain’s collusion had been. Who would have suspected a prestigious global management consulting firm of misusing its business expertise and lending its reputation to the most profound attack on South Africa’s democracy?

Drawing on his testimony before the Zondo Commission, Williams here reveals the full extent of what Bain did not want the public to know. Not only did Bain withhold information and witnesses from the authorities; they also attempted to buy Williams’s silence and block his Zondo testimony.

Deep Collusion uncovers the inner workings of state capture design. Williams takes the reader into the evidence that reveals the after-hours, behind-closed-doors planning meetings that took place at Zuma’s residences – who was present and what was discussed. While this book exposes greed and corporate corruption and lifts the lid on foreign profiteering and the weakening of South Africa’s public institutions, it also highlights the lonely burden of the whistleblower and the great personal cost of telling the truth in the face of overwhelming pressure.

Dismissal remains the most thorough and comprehensive work available on a problem that confronts employers, lawyers, judges and arbitrators every working day – when is it fair to terminate the relationship with employees, for whatever reason this regrettable step may be deemed necessary?

This work deals with all the circumstances in which dismissals arise and are challenged – from dismissals for misconduct and incapacity, through retrenchments, automatically unfair dismissals, dismissals of protected and unprotected strikers, to the procedures required before such dismissals can lawfully be effected and challenged. Written in the clear and readable style for which the author has become acclaimed, the exposition of each principle is illustrated with examples drawn from the case law. This fourth edition adds many judgments handed down since the third edition was published five years ago, and incorporates judgments law and statutory amendments that have been handed down or enacted since then.

Dismissal forms a volume in a quartet by the author, and should where necessary be read with its companion volumes – Employment Rights, Collective Labour Law and Labour Litigation and Dispute Resolution

The Steinhoff crash wiped more than R200bn off the JSE, erased half the wealth of tycoon Christo Wiese and knocked the pension funds of millions of people.

When it was exposed as a house of cards, tales of fraudulent accounting, lavish spending and ructions in the ‘Stellenbosch mafia’ made the headlines. As regulators tally up the cost, Financial Mail editor Rob Rose reveals the real inside story behind Steinhoff. Based on interviews with key players in South Africa, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands – and documents not yet public – Steinheist reveals:

• How Bruno Steinhoff formed the company in the Communist bloc and apartheid South Africa;
• How the ‘Markus myth’ grew thanks to a ‘bit of luck’ in a 1998 takeover;
• How Jooste insiders shifted nasty liabilities off Steinhoff’s balance sheet to present a false picture of the profits;
• How Wiese was lucky to lose only R59bn and; and
• What happened behind closed boardroom doors in the frantic week before Jooste resigned.

Zibusiso Mkhwanazi’s entrepreneurial journey has taken him from being a digital advertising prodigy to founding South Africa’s largest black-owned advertising agency group. His experiences have led him to believe that anyone has the potential to become a leader.

In this book, Business By Grace – How I Built a World-Changing Advertising Business with R2 000, Zibusiso shares the lessons he’s learned along the way, highlighting that the road to success is never easy. From his early struggles and business breakdowns to his current status as a revered entrepreneur, Zibusiso’s account demonstrates how resilience, tenacity, and his faith have helped him overcome challenges. His story is both inspiring and informative, offering valuable insights for entrepreneurs and business leaders alike.

At its core, the book is a tribute to the South African spirit. It tells the story of a young boy who sold sweets at school and grew up to become one of the country’s most successful business icons.

Business By Grace is a compelling and engaging book, a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration and guidance on their own entrepreneurial path.

Lincoln Mali spent his youth as a student activist fighting the apartheid system. After spending many nights in jail and detention, he reached a turning point and decided to use his knowledge and skills more proactively. He enrolled at Rhodes University to study law. After realising that law wasn’t working for him and neither was his time in Mandela’s government, he decided to go the corporate route and joined Standard Bank. And here was where he thrived.

Most of Mali’s business and leadership lessons were learnt while working for Standard Bank around Africa. He had to overcome imposter syndrome, toxic work environments, transformation issues and learn how to motivate, inspire and lead. And with Mali’s guidance, you can do all that too.

So, are you ready to be inspired?

“Comrade president, Stellenbosch is ’n groot probleem. Ons weet jy is na aan Stellenbosch … ons het Stellenbosch nie tot die parlement verkies nie. Ons het nie die Ruperts verkies nie.” – Die EFF-leier Julius Malema aan President Cyril Ramaphosa

Daar word bitsig na hulle as die “Stellenbosch-Mafia” verwys en baie reken die klub van miljardêrs wat in en om dié Bolandse dorp woon, is die ergste voorbeeld van witmonopoliekapitaal. Hul kritici kla oor hul invloed op die staat en die ekonomie, maar wie is hierdie groep ongelooflike ryk Afrikaanssprekende individue en hoeveel mag het hulle werklik?

Die skrywer en joernalis Pieter du Toit het ondersoek gaan instel op Stellenbosch, een van die welvarendste dorpe in die land, wat deur talle as ’n hoeksteen van die Afrikanerdom beskryf word. Hierdie dorp is immers die geboorteplek van talle Afrikanerintellektuele, politeke leiers, asook vele sakemanne en hul sakeryke.

Du Toit kyk krites na hierdie klub van miljardêrs: Wie is hulle en belangriker nog, hoe is hulle onderling verbind? Watter netwerke het ontstaan danksy gedeelde direksies, alliansies en familieverbintenisse? Hy bied ’n intieme blik op Johann Rupert se sakeryk en beskryf ook die opkoms van Markus Jooste en die impak wat die Steinhoff-skandaal op Stellenbosch gehad het.

Leaders of the African liberation movements proclaimed ambitious objectives and promised swift dismantling of colonial policies and practices. It was believed that poverty and underdevelopment were consequences of the exploitative policies of the colonial masters, who
had no interest in improving living conditions for local communities.

Independence and freedom were anticipated to eradicate poverty, ignorance and disease, and the new leadership would accelerate economic development and prosperity.

However, after more than 50 years of independence, most African countries are still poor and underdeveloped and this poses a few questions:

• Have African leaders abandoned their ambitions?
• Are African challenges more complex than in other regions?
• Has the political leadership failed to rise to the challenge?

As Forbes magazine heads towards its centenary in 2017, this is a timely look at how the work of entrepreneurs can influence lives in Africa and create the jobs that empty state coffers can no longer afford. Written by the founder of Forbes Africa, this is a masterclass on how the brightest and most successful entrepreneurs across Africa made their billions.

Chris Bishop gets up close and personal with the biggest names in business on the continent: Aliko Dangote, Patrice Motsepe, Nicky Oppenheimer, Christo Wiese and Stephen Saad, among others. These are the stories of how they not only survived, but thrived, in the fast and furious world of African business: the penniless priest who became a steel baron; the barefoot apple-seller who turned into a mining millionaire; the ‘knocksman’ who went from running dice games and dealing drugs to running a city.

This is a rich tapestry of stories about the super-wealthy and the qualities that make them successful, in arguably the most challenging economic arena in the world.

What is Public Administration? How does Public Management operate? Who are the key role-players? What are the principles, and how are these applied practically in the developmental context of South Africa? Addressing the broad topics that form the foundations of Public Administration and Management in South Africa, this text introduces and critically explores all foundational and functional aspects of the development, theories, principles, concepts, approaches and structure of public administration. Key topic areas are accessed in dedicated chapters to provide a solid grounding in the discipline. Students are orientated in the theoretical foundations of public administration and the practical implementation of public management in developmental South Africa, across local, provincial and national government spheres. Covering the role and function of core aspects of public administration and management, topics addressed include: public decision-making; service delivery and policy implementation; leadership and control; human resources management; public financial management; and ethics in the public sector. An expertly designed pedagogical framework supports and develops important academic skills such as critical thinking, practical application and data interpretation. Presented in a real, applied and visual manner, this engaging text is the essential introduction for all students of BAdmin, BA, BSocSci or BCom degrees in public administration and public management.

A powerful, eye-opening account of how social welfare, distributed in the form of cash transfers, shapes inequality in contemporary South Africa.

In a narrative style, following individual stories, Erin Torkelson challenges the widely held belief that simply giving money to the poor can solve poverty. Cash transfers are often presented as a straightforward, humane solution embraced across the political spectrum, from global development agencies to progressive academics, to alleviate poverty. But this deeply researched and compelling book reveals a far more complicated and troubling reality.

Drawing on seven years of immersive fieldwork in South Africa — from grant payment queues and grocery stores to Parliament and the Constitutional Court — Torkelson shows how a flagship antipoverty programme became entangled with predatory finance. Instead of offering relief, cash transfers are often leveraged bylenders as collateral, pulling recipients, especially Black women, into cycles of debt. The very survival strategies people are pushed into are later framed as personal failings rather than the result of long-standing structural inequality. In the process, individuals are racialised as inadequate managers of money and marked as risky financial subjects.

The book also traces how civil society campaigns forced the state in 2018 to reclaim control of the payment system from private companies. Yet even this victory revealed new challenges: austerity, weak infrastructure and ongoing financial pressures continued to expose recipients to hardship in new forms.

Blending sharp analysis with vivid storytelling, Predatory Welfare offers a bold rethinking of welfare, development and racial inequality. It argues that social grants cannot be understood as neutral or purely benevolent and that economic justice requires far more than cash alone. A timely and urgent intervention, Predatory Welfare asks readers to reconsider what real economic justice looks like — and what it will take to achieve it.

Are you ready to scale your business but not entirely sure how? Then Jason Goldberg’s book, The Art of Scale, is what you need.

Tailored for scale-ups in the tricky 10 to 200 headcount zone, and catering for the important differences faced by emerging market businesses, this comprehensive guide demystifies the obstacles to scale, the path to scale, the science of scale, and the art of scale, giving you the practical toolkit you need. The Art of Scale distils vast amounts of collective scale-up expertise from a network of seasoned scale-up leaders and coaches, and the top 120 business growth books. It skips the theory and cuts straight to proven principles, leadership models, and actionable tools that successful scale-up leaders use every day.

The book is divided into six parts: Part 1 covers the science of scaling a business; Parts 2 to 6 are playbooks for the five critical disciplines in the ‘Art of Scale’ – Strategy, People, Execution, Money and Scale-Up Leadership. Each chapter offers essential principles, ready-to-use downloadable tools, and handpicked reading recommendations for those craving deeper mastery. With real-world stories woven throughout, this book is an engaging, practical guide that invites you to dive in and immediately start applying what you learn.

Coupled with over 50 free tools and 150 book summaries available online, this scale-up guide is what you need to grow with confidence and clarity, armed with the proven principles and tools you need to turn your vision into reality.

Why do these large financial institutions with hundreds of billions on their books fail out of the blue? What role do central banks play in these dramatic failures? How can the global financial system be reformed to be more resilient, and what path should South Africa take?

In a world where banks are perceived as unshakeable fortresses, there is a worrying truth that lies just beneath the surface: banks are far more fragile and fail more frequently than we choose to believe.

In the US alone, more than 560 banks have failed since the turn of the century. In South Africa, the collapse of Saambou in 2002 sparked the A2 Banking Crisis, which saw half the country’s banks deregistered in the aftermath. In 2023, the high-profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, Signature Bank and Credit Suisse dominated global headlines and set off waves of panic across the international banking landscape.

Recession, inflation, interest rates, income tax, exchange rates, junk bonds ... We are bombarded with these terms every day, but what do they actually mean? And how do they affect you?

In this updated edition of Everyone's Guide to the South African Economy, all these issues - and more - are addressed. The book clearly explains and evaluates a wide range of economic occur rences - from the budget and the rand/dollar exchange rate to the balance of payments and the role of the South African Reserve Bank.

The book investigates the impact of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis and the COVID pandemic, assesses the state of the sub-Saharan African economy, and explores human development issues in South Africa and their implications for policy-making.

If you are baffled by the specialised jargon of economists and bankers and want to know more about the economic forces that subtly dictate your day-to-day existence, Everyone's Guide to the South African Economy will put you in the picture. This is essential reading for every South African consumer and taxpayer. Economics, after all, is too important to be left to economists.