After unknown saboteurs toppled a strategic pylon near Lethabo Power Station in the Free State in November 2021, almost causing the country to plunge into stage 6 load shedding, Eskom’s chief executive officer André de Ruyter declared: ‘This was clearly now an act of sabotage and I think we can call it as such.’ Who was behind this, and what is their ultimate goal?

Since his appointment in January 2020, De Ruyter has faced intense opposition from within the power utility as he attempts to clean up corruption and return the electricity company to a semblance of its former glory. He is not alone. Chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer and other trusted allies in Eskom have also come under intense fire. From forensic investigations and botched probes to accusations of racism, De Ruyter and Oberholzer have spent significant amounts of time fending off allegation after allegation. Amid this onslaught, it has become clear that their enemies will take any measures necessary to have them removed from office.

Based on exclusive interviews with De Ruyter, Oberholzer and other key figures, Sabotage is a story of conspiracy and subterfuge at South Africa’s ailing power utility, uncovering the power struggles that threaten the country’s very survival.

Capture, massive deception and devastating human consequences still felt today… Legal journalist Dianne Hawker delves deep to retell the full Aurora story.

In October 2009, Aurora Empowerment Systems – a black-owned, politically connected business – made a bid to rescue the liquidated Pamodzi Gold mines.

Former President Jacob Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, his lawyer Michael Hulley and former president Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa Mandela, were listed as directors of Aurora. On paper the company looked almost too good to be true – promising to turn the mines into a new business that would offer stellar benefits to workers, while also expanding into Africa. Soon after the acquisition, the first cracks appeared. More than 5 000 workers and suppliers, who depended on their employment to keep themselves and their families alive, went unpaid. Over the next few years, Aurora-managed mines were stripped of assets, as illicit payments went to the families of the “connected”, while workers starved.

Despite a litany of evidence of Aurora’s dishonesty, to this day little has been done to bring the perpetrators to book.

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.

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.

We're often told that we're living amidst a startup boom. Typically, we think of apps built by college kids and funded by venture capital firms, which remake fortunes and economies overnight. But in reality, most new businesses are things like restaurants or hair salons. Entrepreneurs aren't all millennials -- more often, it's their parents. And those small companies are the fabric of our economy. The Soul of an Entrepreneur is a business book of a different kind, exploring our work but also our passions and hopes. David Sax reports on the deeply personal questions of entrepreneurship: why an immigrant family risks everything to build a bakery; how a small farmer fights to manage his debt; and what it feels like to rise and fall with a business you built for yourself. This book is the real story of entrepreneurship. It confronts both success and failure, and shows how they can change a human life. It captures the inherent freedom that entrepreneurship brings, and why it matters.

Black tax is not so much about money as it is about boundaries: there is a mental and emotional price we pay when dealing with the complex issues relating to black tax and its effect on our relationships with our families and with money itself. Helping others is commendable, but where does one draw the line between healthy helping and standing in the way of the financial independence of those on the receiving end of black tax?

In ten relatable stories that range from absent fathers to siblings’ expectations, self-leadership coach Ndumi Hadebe explores the boundary issues that lead to financial and emotional burdens for those struggling with black tax, as well as the normalised behaviours, notions and societal constructs that will keep you spinning in the washing machine of black tax if you don’t explore solutions to it.

Drawing on particular themes in each story, Ndumi will show you how to tackle your black tax in a way that is peaceful and non-threatening to your relationships with loved ones. She also opens up about her own struggle with boundaries and reflects on the ways that this has impacted her life.

Handle Black Tax Like a Pro is a helpful guide that will provide you with a roadmap to stronger relatiovnships, better finances and overall well-being.

South Africa is in the eye of a slow-building economic storm: junk status, political upheaval, civil unrest, spiralling unemployment, state capture and the fallout from Covid-19. There is no better time to assess the impact of one of the biggest economic experiments in Africa that began a quarter of a century ago: black economic empowerment, or BEE, the legislation-backed effort to transfer wealth to black people and to facilitate their broader participation in the economy to redress the inequalities created by apartheid.

In The BEE Billionaires, Chris Bishop gets up close and personal with some of the biggest names in BEE: Sandile Zungu, Gaby Magomola, Sipho Nkosi, Richard Maponya, the Kunene Brothers, Gibson 'Mr Gautrain' Thula, Fred Robertson, Ipeleng Mkhari, Tshepo Mahloele, Tim Tebeila, Linda Mabhena-Olagunju and even President Cyril Ramaphosa. These are the people who made it, who carry the flag for black empowerment. By examining their struggles and the impact of BEE on their successes, Bishop seeks to uncover the ways in which BEE as an upliftment scheme has both succeeded and failed. Because, while BEE has made billionaires of some, it has ruined others and remains one of the most controversial policies born in those first heady days of democracy. There is also a debate over how long the BEE codes should remain.

By examining those individuals who have been either shunned or burnt by BEE, as well as various deal facilitators and other key insiders - including the president of South Africa - Bishop hopes to answer one very complex question: Has BEE achieved what it was set up to do, or, in the long term, will it prove more of a hindrance than a help?

An expert guide to managing your time for a happier, more fulfilling existence.

The most precious commodity we own isn't money. It's time. We are allotted just twenty-four hours a day, and we live in a culture that keeps us feeling 'time poor' - like we never have enough. Since we can't add more hours to the day, how can we experience our lives more richly?

Based on Professor Cassie Holmes's wildly popular MBA class at UCLA, Happier Hour demonstrates how to immediately improve our lives by changing how we perceive and invest our time. Holmes provides empirically based insights and easy-to-implement tools that will allow you to:

• Spend your hours optimally and feel confident in your choices
• Side-step distractions
• Create and savour moments of joy
• Design your days and weeks with purpose
• Look back on your years without regret

Enlivened by Holmes's upbeat narrative and groundbreaking research, Happier Hour will teach you how small changes can have an enormous impact - helping you feel less overwhelmed, more present and more satisfied with your life overall - things that money can't buy. It all starts by transforming just one hour into a happier hour.

These are difficult times. The Covid-19 pandemic has proved to us that we cannot rely on tomorrow to be like today; there is no such thing as ‘business as usual’. The social and economic upheaval has been devastating, and its effects long-lasting, making these times even more uncertain. The antidote to this uncertainty is clarity.

Maanda Tshifularo has had the privilege of interacting with successful innovators, culture shifters, business leaders and thought leaders, and their ‘common success denominator’ is the ability to see, say, and do things, with purposeful clarity. He has identified ‘Super Clarity’ as the differentiator that helps leaders navigate the ambiguity and half-heartedness which have become the default state in many organisations, leading to plummeting employee morale and productivity.

Not only does a super-clear leader achieve and make a meaningful contribution, but they also experience remarkable joy and personal growth in the journey.

It has never been more crucial for leaders to provide clarity and, in this book, Maanda defines and explains the importance of Super Clarity, and how to translate purpose into our day-to-day activities to unlock exceptional results, job satisfaction, team cohesion and employee engagement.

He outlines in Lead with Super Clarity the critical steps that we can take, as business leaders or in our own lives, to foster clarity – and, in so doing, create an environment characterised by purpose, insight and alignment.

An expert on China's growing digital empire provides an urgent look at the battle to connect and control tomorrow's networks.

Its vast infrastructure projects now extend from the ocean floor to outer space, and from Africa's megacities into rural America. China is wiring the world, and, in doing so, rewriting the global order.

As things stand, the rest of the world still has a choice. But the battle for tomorrow will require America and its allies to take daring risks in uncertain political terrain. Unchecked, China will reshape global flows of data to reflect its own interests - and the lives of countless individuals enmeshed in its systems.

Taking readers on a global tour of these emerging battlefields, Jonathan E. Hillman reveals what China's digital footprint looks like on the ground, and explores the dangers of a world in which all routers lead to Beijing.

As Samsung Africa’s former President and CEO, Sung Yoon was a first-hand witness to the company’s journey to becoming a global brand. Despite challenges, he turned Samsung’s Africa business into a success over four years.

In a career spanning more decades, he contributed in numerous capacities, heading up sales not only in Africa but in three different overseas assignments.

Yoon offers insights that shed light on the challenges of making business decisions and taking calculated risks.

Empty shelves, petrol station queues and energy shortages: crises more familiar to those who lived through the 1960s and 1970s have now become a reality for many as global shipping times are squeezed, containers lie unopened at docks and supply shortages push up inflation, increasing the cost of consumer goods from milk to cars to building materials. In Sold Out, James Rickards explains why the shelves are empty, who broke the supply chain and why shortages will persist.

He breaks down the history and structure of business around the world to offer readers a behind-the-scenes look at what's really going on, and what they can do to mitigate the worst of what's to come.

Drawing on his financial expertise, he explains that consumers and investors need to be nimble to come through this unprecedented turn of events in good shape. Luckily, Rickards is on hand to provide the tools readers need to look ahead, monitor key trends and insulate against risks.

South Africa is facing an extraordinary ‘polycrisis’. The dimensions of this crisis include an energy collapse; a failing rail network; weak education outcomes; an interrupted water supply; and the effects of decades of endemic corruption that have brought much of government to a halt.

But the country also has incredible assets: a wealth of sought-after minerals; an enviable Constitution that protects rights and advocates social inclusion; an advanced financial and services sector; thriving agricultural and auto industries that compete with the best in the world; a prosecution service that is rapidly rebuilding; and, most of all, strong-willed people determined to make life better through hard work, entrepreneurship and hustling.

The choice is stark: we either build on the positives and take the country forward or we will be overwhelmed by the negatives and end up as another Zimbabwe or Venezuela. We have the people, the policies and the resources. What is missing is the political will to make the difficult choices that will save South Africa from disaster.

This book takes you on a journey that ends with one of three possible future scenarios: the Good, the Bad or the Ugly. Compiled by The Brenthurst Foundation and In Transformation Initiative, and workshopped with high-powered leaders in business and politics, the scenarios have stimulated intense public interest as the country grapples with its mounting problems.

The good news is that there is a clear road towards a positive future. It will take courageous leadership and smart thinking to get there, but the ‘Good’ scenario is tantalisingly within grasp.

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.

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.

Granting Justice takes issue with the characterisation of the South African state as “developmental”. The crucial aspect of care is missing from the practice for this to be the case. Thus, while the grants address the immediate survival needs of many South Africans, social justice requires quite a different approach, an approach of care that would grant agency and dignity to recipients.

Tessa Hochfeld adopts a highly personal narrative style of writing that reflects the ethical standpoint that she took during her research. Telling a story is what makes her writing so strong and distinguishes it in the development literature.

The book falls into the fields of development studies, and social welfare and social development. The following are possible keywords: social justice; gender justice; care; social development; poverty; social protection; southern welfare; family strengthening; developmental social work.

Alex Holt, Global Head of Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) at KPMG, combines his years as an industry leader and advisor to the biggest names in tech to decode and share the blueprint to achieve breakthrough success in the digital era.

Over the past decade a small number of companies have changed every aspect of how we live, work and play. These Outpacers have become enormous global businesses with companies like Google, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, Meta, Tesla and Apple all totally redefining what a successful organization looks and feels like.

Each chapter in Outpacer focusses on an Outpacer characteristic required for organisational greatness and features examples of what it is and how to achieve it, including; how to structure your company's mission and vision, foster the right entrepreneurial culture, innovate, collaborate and utilise agile technology and data driven insights to drive continuous progress, deliver an exceptional customer experience and achieve outstanding results.

Each Outpacer characteristic is illustrated by fascinating profiles of business leaders from companies such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Tesla who have driven phenomenal success, alongside profiles of the stars of film, tv, music and sport who share the same winning characteristic such as Reese Witherspoon, Jay Z and Sir Lewis Hamilton. The combination of business leaders and popular icons illustrate and inspire the reader helping them to learn how they too can lead an Outpacer business.

This is not business as usual.

Out of Paypal's ranks have come three billionaires and dozens of multi-millionaires, including household names like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman.

Paypal's alumni have built, funded and advised almost all of the billion-dollar-plus companies to emerge from Silicon Valley in the past two decades. Today, every online video you watch and every internet purchase you make bears PayPal's fingerprints -- its inventions made the modern internet possible and are embedded in our social networks, our banks and our intelligence agencies. This book tells the gripping story of how a scrappy start-up became one of the most successful businesses of all time, worth over $70 billion today.

Full of fascinating characters and anecdotes about Silicon Valley's biggest titans, The Founders also shows how the so-called PayPal Mafia continue to shape our future today.

Most people are afraid of what others might think or say if they showed up as their true authentic selves. Especially in a business or professional context. That's why too many of us are terrified of sharing our story authentically in public and struggle to make a lasting impact when introducing ourselves.

But what if you could make a connection instantly, effortlessly engaging your audience every time you introduced yourself and the work that you do, be it on stage, at work or on a podcast? And more importantly, what if you could get people to care about and pay attention to what you had to say, share or sell?

Turns out, learning how to find the courage to craft and communicate your story in a clear and compelling way can help you do just that. CEO and Founder of Ministry of Purpose©, public speaker and award-winning host of The Unconventionalists© podcast Mark Leruste (@markleruste) has found a simple 3-step structure that anyone can follow to turn your myriad of life experiences into a memorable and magnetic origin story people will remember and share with others on your behalf.

From helping you land bigger media opportunities, generate more leads for your business or attract top talent, Glow in the Dark is a refreshingly practical and thought provoking book on why everyone has a powerful story worth telling, and how owning and sharing your story can have a transformative impact on your life and business beyond your wildest imagination.

The methods in this book will get you out of the shadows and help you raise your profile by becoming the spotlight in your industry.