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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Crime & criminology > General
For nearly eighty years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed “overmined” and abandoned, American journalist Matthew Gavin Frank sets out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade that supplies a global market. Immediately, he became intrigued by the ingenious methods used in facilitating smuggling particularly, the illegal act of sneaking carrier pigeons onto mine property, affixing diamonds to their feet, and sending them into the air. Entering Die Sperrgebiet (“The Forbidden Zone”) is like entering an eerie ghost town, but Frank is surprised by the number of people willing—even eager—to talk with him. Soon he meets Msizi, a young diamond digger, and his pigeon, Bartholomew, who helps him steal diamonds. It’s a deadly game: pigeons are shot on sight by mine security, and Msizi knows of smugglers who have disappeared because of their crimes. For this, Msizi blames “Mr. Lester,” an evil tall-tale figure of mythic proportions. From the mining towns of Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth, through the “halfway” desert, to Kleinzee’s shores littered with shipwrecks, Frank investigates a long overlooked story. Weaving interviews with local diamond miners who raise pigeons in secret with harrowing anecdotes from former heads of security, environmental managers, and vigilante pigeon hunters, Frank reveals how these feathered bandits became outlaws in every mining town. Interwoven throughout this obsessive quest are epic legends in which pigeons and diamonds intersect, such as that of Krishna’s famed diamond Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, and that of the Cherokee serpent Uktena. In these strange connections, where truth forever tangles with the lore of centuries past, Frank is able to contextualize the personal grief that sent him, with his wife Louisa in the passenger seat, on this enlightening journey across parched lands. Blending elements of reportage, memoir, and incantation, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers is a rare and remarkable portrait of exploitation and greed in one of the most dangerous areas of coastal South Africa.
Hulle lieg, bedrieg, gee voor. Hulle verdraai, verdoesel, verduister, verwoes. Geleidelik palm hulle jou vertroue in. Dan, eensklaps, is jy jou geld, status en reputasie kwyt. Só oortuigend doen hulle dit dat selfs die slimste, mees ingeligte mense ’n rat voor die oë gedraai word en eers besef wat hulle getref het nadat grootskaalse skade aangerig is en die gladdebek soos mis voor die son verdwyn het. Maar selfs swendelaars kom hulle moses teë... Boereverneukers vertel die stories van Afrikaanses wat van ons land se grootste skelmstreke gepleeg het. Van die karakters is minder bekend by die publiek, maar ander het byna mitiese status in die Afrikaanse psige verwerf, soos die kubuskoning Adriaan Nieuwoudt, die pynmasjienman Gervan Lubbe, die kamma-pediater André Esterhuizen, die Hertzogville-profeet David Francis en die Trustbank-rowers Derek Whitehead en Antonie van der Merwe. Dalk het jý ook deurgeloop, maar praat tot vandag toe nie graag daaroor nie.
Stellenbosch staan internasionaal bekend as 'n dorp van weelde en wyn, 'n plek van pragtige natuurskoon en mooi mense. Dit is die tuiste van Suid-Afrika se sake-adel, geleerde professore en studente bestem vir groot dinge. Maar die idilliese beeld wat in reisbrosjures en op sosiale media voorgehou word, versluier 'n skadukant. Tussen die ou eikebome, blou berge en geskiedkundige wynplase broei dieselfde boosheid wat Suid-Afrika een van die lande met die hoogste moordsyfer in die wêreld maak. Oor die afgelope twee dekades het verskeie opspraakwekkende moordsake in dié dorp koerantvoorblaaie gehaal. Inge Lotz, Hannah Cornelius, Susan Rohde, die Van Breda-gesin... Maar hierdie boek gaan ook oor Stellenbosch se minder bekende slagoffers soos dié van die plaaswerker Felicity Cilliers - 'n vrou van wie die wêreld vergeet het. 'n Uiteenlopende verskeidenheid slagoffers en moordenaars tree in die blaaie van dié boek na vore en wys dat nie eens Stellenbosch die oersondes kan vryspring nie.
How to Steal a City is an insider account of this intervention, which lays bare how the administration was entirely captured and bled dry by a criminal syndicate, how factional politics within the ruling party abetted that corruption, and how a comprehensive clean-up was eventually conducted. It is written as a gripping real-life thriller, taking the reader deeper and deeper into the rotten heart of the city. As a former senior government official and local government “fixer”, Crispian Olver was no stranger to dealing with dodgy politicians and broken organisations. Yet what he found was graft that went far beyond the dodgy contracts, blatant conflicts of interest and garden-variety kickbacks he had seen before. It had evolved into a web far more sophisticated and deep rooted than he had ever imagined, involving mazes of shell companies, assassinations, criminal syndicates, and compromised local politicians. The metro was effectively controlled by a criminal network, closely allied to a dominant local ANC faction. What he found was complete state capture—a microcosm of what has been happening in South Africa’s national government. But there was a personal price to pay. Intense political pressure and threats to his personal safety took a toll on his mental and physical health. He had to have a full-time bodyguard, and never maintained a regular routine. He eventually lost much of his political cover. Olver ultimately had to flee the city as the forces stacked against him started to wreak their revenge. This is his story.
Unafraid to challenge the status quo, CR Snyman's Criminal Law takes a challenging look at criminal law in South Africa.
In 2012, retired South African major general Johan Jooste was parachuted into the seemingly unwinnable war against rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park. With poaching spiralling out of control, Jooste was given the mandate to ‘go military’, to convert Kruger’s ranger corps into a paramilitary force capable of taking the fight to the poachers. Aged 60, white, and a veteran of his country’s apartheid-era wars, Jooste’s controversial appointment was immediately met with resentment and outright hostility by elements of South African National Parks, the police, and even the military with which he had served. With the media, government, conservationists, human-rights activists and the people of South Africa looking over his shoulder, Jooste had to battle opponents within and without to carry out his strategy for turning the tide of rhino poaching. Rhino War tells how Jooste, facing an unprecedented assault on a national park and a single species, turned a force of demoralised men and women into arguably the finest anti-poaching unit on the African continent. Told through his eyes, these stories of the courage and grit of rangers who risked their lives to protect wildlife in the face of a wily and determined foe are an account of heroism, sacrifice and determination. Humbly, honestly and decisively, Jooste tells of the successes and failures of his bold strategy, and shares his vision for the future.
About 50km outside of Cape Town lies the beautiful town of Stellenbosch, nestled against vineyards and blue mountains that stretch to the sky. Here reside some of South Africa’s wealthiest individuals: all male, all Afrikaans – and all stinking rich. Johann Rupert, Jannie Mouton, Markus Jooste and Christo Weise, to name a few. Julius Malema refers to them scathingly as ‘The Stellenbosch Mafia’, the very worst example of white monopoly capital. But who really are these mega-wealthy individuals, and what influence do they exert not only on Stellenbosch but more broadly on South African society? Author Pieter du Toit begins by exploring the roots of Stellenbosch, one of the wealthiest towns in South Africa and arguably the cradle of Afrikanerdom. This is the birthplace of apartheid leaders, intellectuals, newspaper empires and more. He then closely examines this ‘club’ of billionaires. Who are they and, crucially, how are they connected? What network of boardroom membership, alliances and family connections exist? Who are the ‘old guard’ and who are the ‘inkommers’, and what about the youngsters desperate to make their mark? He looks at the collapse of Steinhoff: what went wrong, and whether there are other companies at risk of a similar fate. He examines the control these men have over cultural life, including pulling the strings in South Africa rugby.
When Love Kills is the tale of hip hop star, AKA. whose life unravelled when he embarked on a relationship with 21 year-old Anele Tembe. When she "fell" to her death from the 10th storey of the Pepper Club in April, 2021, after a long night of heated arguing, details would emerge that they'd been caught up in a whirlwind of toxic obsession, alleged substance abuse and violence. Less then two years later AKA was assassinated in what looked like a hit to avenge her death. This is their tragic story.
When Johan Booysen hears that the new Provincial Police Chief takes backhanders from a Durban businessman, he decides to give her the benefit of the doubt. But the evidence becomes impossible to ignore and he soon gets dragged down the corridors of power and politics into a web of intrigue, deceit and betrayal that, at times, he has trouble making sense of. Only when he is arrested, handcuffed and tossed into a cell does Booysen realise just how ruthless those opposed to him are – an opposition he comes to call the ‘cabal’ – and whom he believes have more blood on their hands than the so-called Cato Manor Death Squad with which he is closely associated. Blood On Their Hands traces Johan Booysen’s life and career – from patrolling the streets of Amanzimtoti in the 1970s to his rise in 2010 to major general and head of KZN’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation unit, the Hawks. But his tenure is short-lived. When Booysen decides to take on those so determined to be rid of him, each legal battle he wins is met by hostility and further efforts to shut him out of the of the criminal justice system. But capitulating is not in his DNA…
‘If you made me angry, to me, for that anger to go away I have to get
hold of you . . . For that anger to go away, I have to do something to
you.’
In November 1993, ANC activist and development worker Clare Stewart’s body was found in a shallow ditch in rural KwaZulu-Natal as the province sat on the brink of civil war. Amid the ensuing chaos and euphoria of South Africa’s ‘new dawn’, the details of Clare's killing would stay hidden beneath the surface. This gripping, moving account of Clare’s life and the mystery surrounding her death touches on the fragility of memory, family loss, apartheid’s evils, and the fault lines in our democracy.
Are farm killings political? Criminal? Is there really a white genocide under a black majority government? Farm murders have occupied a central role in South Africa’s narratives for over 200 years. At the same time, the definition of a 'farmer' is highly contested. Media reports and activism groups typically acknowledge white farmers, frequently excluding the large number of people of colour.
Through exclusive interviews with zama zamas, syndicate insiders, intelligence operatives, and law enforcement officials, Zama Zama sheds light on the hidden mechanics of this shadow economy. The book delves into the violent and treacherous underworld where gang wars, brutal enforcement tactics, and corruption are rampant. It reveals how illicit gold is smuggled and laundered through a labyrinth of private refineries and fraudulent mining permits, leveraging loopholes in South Africa's regulatory framework to facilitate an intricate VAT scam that reintroduces 'dirty gold' into the legitimate global market. Beyond the borders of South Africa, the book explores how the illicit gold trade fuels international money laundering operations, linking underground mining to organized crime syndicates, terrorism financing, and global corruption networks.
Cape Town is two cities. One is beautiful beyond imagining, known since its beginning as the 'fairest cape' in the world. Here tourists come to lounge on beaches, scale misty peaks and dine in fine restaurants. The other is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, where police need bullet-proof vests and sometimes army backup. Here gangs of young men rule the night with heavy calibre handguns, dispensing heroin, cocaine, crystal meth and fear. This is a story of the second city... In Gang Town, investigative journalist and criminologist Don Pinnock draws on more than thirty years of research to provide a nuanced and definitive portrait of youngsters caught up in violent crime.
’n Blik op die binnekring van die Krugersdorp-kultus “Daar was bloedspatsels oor die koffietafel, die banke en die banke se kussings. Peter en Joan was oortrek van steekwonde in hul rûe, nekke en agterkoppe. Nicholas het sy pa en ma gesigte na onder in ’n bloedbad op die mat in die sitkamer gekry. Hulle het hul hek en huis vir hul moordenaars oopgemaak, want hulle het ’n afspraak met hulle gehad.” Elf wrede moorde oor ’n tydperk van vier jaar ruk die gemeenskap van Krugersdorp en haal landwyd nuusopskrifte. Eindelik word al hierdie moorde verbind met Cecilia Steyn en haar kultusgroep, Electus per Deus (uitverkies deur God). Lede van die groep aanbid die grond waarop Cecilia loop en sal selfs vir haar moord pleeg. Die moordenaars is slim, gewone mense – ’n onderwyseres, ’n finansiële makelaar, ’n kind wat tussen die moorde deur steeds ses onderskeidings in matriek behaal en boonop keuring kry om medies te gaan studeer. Hul slagoffers het bloot ’n sake- afspraak nagekom, min wetend dat dít ’n afspraak met die dood was. Wie is Cecilia Steyn? Hoe kan een mens vyf ander manipuleer om moord te pleeg en namens haar in die hof te lieg? Watter rol het Satanisme gespeel? Hoe ontduik onervare misdadigers die polisie vir so lank? Jana Marx beantwoord dié en ander vrae in ’n waremisdaad-verhaal wat gelei het tot een van die opspraakwekkendste moordsake in die land se geskiedenis. Met behulp van onderhoude uit diegene in die binnekring, hofgetuienis en polisiedossiere oor ’n tydperk van vier jaar poog Marx om die publiek se vrae te antwoord en ’n blik te gee op die binnewerkinge van só ’n kultus.
Mzuzephi Mathebula, also known as Jan Note and later as Nongoloza, founded the Umkhosi Wezi-ntaba (Regiment of the Hills), forerunner of the notorious "28" gang. He became known as the King of Nineveh, a man who sought social justice, paradoxically, through antisocial means. Nongoloza's story is also the story of South Africa's violent and racially accentuated past and, to an extent, provides clarification for the criminality that afflicts the present-day society. Nongoloza Mathebula’s life is a poignant illustration of how political circumstances affect lives and how those lives encourage myths, setting in motion a spiral of events that eventually neither politics nor people have any control over. Van Onselen’s insightful biography tells the story of how a young man became a hardened criminal as the result of a minor incident. Nongoloza Mathebula’s life is a poignant illustration of how political circumstances affect lives and how those lives encourage myths, setting in motion a spiral of events that eventually neither politics nor people have any control over.
SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'If you think the UK isn't corrupt, you haven't looked hard enough ... This terrifying book follows a global current of dirty money, and the murders and kidnappings required to sustain it' GEORGE MONBIOT, GUARDIAN AN ECONOMIST AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 'When you pick this book up, you won't be able to put it down' MISHA GLENNY, author of MCMAFIA 'Gripping, disturbing and deeply reported' BEN RHODES, bestselling author of THE WORLD AS IT IS In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis reveals a terrifying global web of kleptocracy and corruption. Kleptopia follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, enriching oligarchs and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, London to the Trump White House, it shows how the thieves are uniting - and the terrible human cost. A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London - the world's piggy bank for blood money. Riveting, horrifying and written like fiction, this book shows that while we are looking the other way, all that we hold most dear is being stolen.
As a medical detective of the modern world, forensic pathologist Ryan Blumenthal’s chief goal is to bring perpetrators to justice. He has performed thousands of autopsies, which have helped bring numerous criminals to book. In Autopsy he covers the hard lessons learnt as a rookie pathologist, as well as some of the most unusual cases he’s encountered. During his career, for example, he has dealt with high-profile deaths, mass disasters, death by lightning and people killed by African wildlife. Blumenthal takes the reader behind the scenes at the mortuary, describing a typical autopsy and the instruments of the trade. He also shares a few trade secrets, like how to establish when a suicide is more likely to be a homicide. Even though they cannot speak, the dead have a lot to say – and Blumenthal is there to listen.
The South African Law of Evidence is the authoritative and comprehensive guide to the law of evidence in South Africa, combining the received wisdom of the past with the imperatives of the 1996 Constitution, and includes more in-depth discussion of such topics as hearsay, admissions and confessions, and privilege. Constitutional jurisprudence and extensive use of comparative international case-law and literature broaden your understanding of the theory underpinning the nature and problem of proof plus this 3rd edition is more up-to-date and comprehensive.
The Basic Guide to Criminal Procedure explains the law of criminal procedure in understandable language and with reference to the rights in the Constitution of South Africa. Useful discussions of relevant cases are included throughout the book. The important forms used in criminal procedure are also provided as annexures at the back of the book.
Contents Include:
As ’n eietydse mediese speurder het die forensiese patoloog Ryan Blumenthal al derduisende outopsies uitgevoer wat tot die arrestasie van ’n groot aantal misdadigers gelei het. Dit is sy groot doel en strewe om oortreders aan die pen te help ry. In Outopsietafel beskryf hy van die moeilike lesse wat hy as ’n jong patoloog moes leer en hy vertel van die ongewone en dikwels grusame sterfgevalle wat hy al teëgekom het. Hy het gedurende sy loopbaan byvoorbeeld al etlike hoëprofielsterftes hanteer, sterftes weens natuurrampe en ook mense wat deur weerlig of wilde diere gedood is. Blumenthal bied ’n fassinerende blik op alles wat agter die skerms gebeur by die lykshuis. Al kan die dooies nie praat nie, het hulle nogtans baie om te sê – en Blumenthal is daar om te luister.
Foreword by topselling author, Gerard Labuschagne. A criminal's fate is often sealed by what is found on the autopsy table and Dr Hestelle van Staden has been crucial in the conviction of numerous criminals. As one of South Africa’s leading forensic pathologists, she has conducted over 7 000 autopsies. She has seen the worst South Africa has to offer and has been a voice to numerous murder victims. In Blood Has a Voice, she walks us through nine of her most compelling cases, cases that stand out from among the many autopsies she has conducted. There is the tragic story of baby Letitia Meyer, whose mother alleged she fell from her pram; the unexplained death of a young mother during labour; and the case of the musician Lucky Dube, who was shot and killed . . . Blood Has a Voice gives a rare glimpse into the investigation of death and the quiet heroism behind the unsung work of forensic pathologists.
Johannesburg was - and is - the Frontier of Money. Within months of its founding, the mining camp was host to organised crime: the African ‘Regiment of the Hills’ and ‘Irish Brigade’ bandits. Bars, brothels, boarding houses and hotels oozed testosterone and violence, and the use of fists and guns was commonplace. Beyond the chaos were clear signs of another struggle, one to maintain control, honour and order within the emerging male and mining dominated culture. In the underworld, the dictum of ‘honour among thieves’, as well as a hatred of informers, testified to attempts at self-regulation. A ‘real man’ did not take advantage of an opponent by employing underhand tactics. It had to be a ‘fair fight’ if a man was to be respected. This was the world that ‘One-armed Jack’ McLoughlin - brigand, soldier, sailor, mercenary, burglar, highwayman and safe-cracker – entered in the early 1890s to become Johannesburg’s most infamous ‘Irish’ anti-hero and social bandit. McLoughlin’s infatuation with George Stevenson prompted him to recruit the young Englishman into his gang of safe-crackers but ‘Stevo’ was a man with a past and primed for personal and professional betrayal. It was a deadly mixture. Honour could only be retrieved through a Showdown at the Red Lion.
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue by one of the most decorated journalists of our time. Patrick Radden Keefe’s work has been recognized by prizes including the Orwell Prize and the Baillie Gifford for his meticulously reported and engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from the New Yorker. As Keefe observes in his preface: ‘They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies'. Keefe explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines; examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a liar; spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain; chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black-market arms merchant; and profiles a passionate death-penalty attorney who represents the ‘worst of the worst’, among other works of literary journalism. The appearance of his byline in the New Yorker is always an event; collected here for the first time readers can see how his work forms an always enthralling yet also deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up to them.
English A summary of the facts and important issues precedes each case excerpt. The excerpts are followed by a critical note evaluating and explaining the relevance and importance of the judgment. The method employed by the authors in their selection of cases reflects a principled approach to the subject. All introductory and explanatory notes are in English and Afrikaans, and Afrikaans judgments are followed by an English translation. This book will be of invaluable assistance in the study of the dynamic field of criminal procedure. It can be used as a companion to the Criminal Procedure Handbook twelfth ed by Joubert (editor) et al.
Afrikaans Elke uittreksel word voorafgegaan deur ‘n opsomming (in Engels en Afrikaans) van die feite en belangrike kwessies. Die uittreksels word gevolg deur ‘n kritiese aantekening (weereens in Engels en Afrikaans) waarin die belang van die uitspraak oorweeg en verduidelik word. Uitsprake in Afrikaans word gevolg deur ‘n Engelse vertaling. Die skrywers se keuse van uitsprake weerspieël ‘n beginselmatige benadering tot die onderwerp. Die boek sal nuttig wees by die bestudering van die dinamiese gebied van die strafprosesreg. Dit kan saam met die Strafprosesreghandboek twaalfde uitgawe deur Joubert (redakteur) et al gebruik word. |
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