16 years went into the making of the feature film Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, a biopic based on Mandela's bestselling autobiography. Danny Schechter, who has spent 40 years getting to know Mandela, was asked to make a non-fiction documentary about the biopic and this book is his companion to the feature, the documentary, and Mandela's life itself.

In Schechter's words:
"What do we see when we see Nelson Mandela? Many of those who adore him projected on to him a god-like persona as political superman. Others projected on to him the qualities they wanted or feared. For many years, his government silenced him as a faceless terrorist and communist. Others saw him as a savior who single-handedly won freedom for South Africa. Many of us only saw the political mission, not the man behind it, and, when we did, what man was that? Was it the victim turned victor, prisoner turned President, the lone hero and political magician or the wise leader of a liberation movement? He was courted by kings and queens, the biggest names in show business and world leaders--who appealed to his often unseen vanity--but despite some compromises and co-optation, he largely stayed true to the values that shaped and guided him becoming, as he aged, even more reflective and self-aware."

Seven years since his death (2013), Nelson Mandela still occupies an extraordinary place in the global imagination. Internationally, Mandela's renown seems intact and invulnerable. In South Africa, however, his legacy and his place in the country's history have become matters of contention and dispute, especially among younger black South Africans.

These essays analyse aspects of Mandela's life in the context of South Africa's national history, and make an important contribution to the historiography of the anti-apartheid political struggle. They reassess: the political context of his youth; his changing political beliefs and connections with the left; his role in the African National Congress and the turn to armed struggle; and his marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and their political relationship.

By providing new context, they explore Mandela as an actor in broader social processes such as the rise of the ANC and the making of South Africa's post-apartheid constitution. The detailed essays are linked in a substantial introduction by Colin Bundy and current debates are addressed in a concluding essay by Elleke Boehmer. This book provides a scholarly counterweight both to uncritical celebration of Mandela and also to a simplistic attribution of post-apartheid shortcomings to the person of Mandela.

In spite of Cyril Ramaphosa's "new dawn", there are powerful forces in the ruling party that risk losing everything if corruption and state capture finally do come to an end. At the centre of the old guard's fightback efforts is Ace Magashule, a man viewed by some as South Africa's most dangerous politician.

In this explosive book, investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh ventures deeper than ever before into Magashule's murky dealings, from his time as a struggle activist in the 1980s to his powerful rule as premier of the Free State province for nearly a decade, and his rise to one of the ANC's most influential positions. Sifting through heaps of records, documents and exclusive source interviews, Myburgh explores Magashule's relationship with the notorious Gupta family and other tender moguls; investigates government projects costing billions that enriched his friends and family but failed the poor; reveals how he was about to be arrested by the Scorpions before their disbandment in the late 2000s; and exposes the methods used to keep him in power in the Free State and to secure him the post of ANC secretary-general.

Most tellingly, Myburgh pieces together a pack of leaked emails and documents to reveal shocking new details on a massive Free State government contract and Magashule's dealings with a businessman who was gunned down in Sandton in 2017. These files seem to lay bare the methods of a man who usually operated without leaving a trace.

Gangster State is an unflinching examination of the ANC's top leadership in the post-Jacob Zuma era, one that should lead readers to a disconcerting conclusion: When it comes to the forces of capture, South Africa is still far from safe.

In 1932, Afrikaans literary icon CJ Langenhoven died suddenly. He surprised the Afrikaner establishment by naming a young Jewish woman, the fiery redhead Sarah Eva Goldblatt, executrix of his literary legacy. Since childhood, Dominique Malherbe had been intrigued by the mystery surrounding her great-aunt and Langenhoven. She finally set out to discover Sarah’s story, reclaim her for posterity, and find Sarah's son. In this biography-cum-memoir she uncovers a fascinating literary love story.

Dan Moyane was 10 years old when he lay on his back on a patch of grass at his parents’ home in White City Jabavu, Soweto, looking at the moon and thinking, ‘I don’t want to die unknown.’

The year was 1969, and Neil Armstrong and his team had recently achieved immortality by completing the first moon landing. It was the knowledge that the astronauts would be remembered as long as the world turned that made Dan realise that he, too, would like to be remembered by people outside of his immediate community; just as he would like to find out more about what lay beyond his horizon. Dan’s insatiable curiosity and love of learning have ensured that his name has, indeed, become known throughout South Africa.

This is the story of how he achieved his goal – from his days as a student at the apex of South Africa’s political turmoil, to his years in exile in Mozambique and his first job in media, and the trajectory of a career that would see him become one of South Africa’s most highly regarded and influential broadcasters. It is a career that led Dan to interview prominent leaders in Mozambique and South Africa and become acquainted with the likes of Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel, and saw him cover the country’s birth into democracy, and help shape South Africans’ understanding of the changed world around them.

I Don’t Want To Die Unknown delves into these experiences, giving a glimpse into the inquisitiveness and desire to know more, do more and be more that has driven Dan Moyane. It offers a rare insight into the man behind the microphone – his ambitions, trials, and motivations.

Part memoir, part legacy, this book bears testimony to the fact that far from dying unknown, Dan is one of South Africa’s most important, high profile media players and his story provides the framework for his next significant question: How best to use his public profile to benefit his countrymen.