The year is 1976, and South Africa is gripped by a terrible lockdown – apartheid. Nelson Mandela is in prison on Robben Island; South Africa is isolated from the rest of the world, and revolution is in the air.

Against this background, a young student at Johannesburg’s Wits University decides to try and take control of his life, and his destiny, and give himself a sense of purpose. He challenges himself to run South Africa’s most famous long-distance race, the grueling 90-kilometre Comrades Marathon. Little does he know that five years later he will win this most iconic of races and he will go on to be considered one of the greatest Comrades runners in the history of the race.

In Winged Messenger, Bruce shares this 1976/77 training diary so that raw novices and experienced runners alike can follow the journey he took to his first Comrades. Novices particularly will enjoy reading about how he took his first stumbling, rudimentary steps and how, as an ordinary runner, he began to understand the demands of the race. He documents his mistakes, his successes and his progress towards his date with destiny in May 1977. Using his own experiences, he guides others, but particularly novices, on their quests to become winged messengers.

This is a unique blend of both a training guide and a fascinating glimpse of the life of a young man in his quest to conquer both himself and South Africa’s greatest race.

The issue of land rights is an ongoing and complex topic of debate for South Africans. Rights to Land comes at a time when land redistribution by government is underway. This book seeks to understand the issues around land rights and distribution of land in South Africa and proposes that new policies and processes should be developed and adopted. It further provides an analysis of what went so wrong, and warns that a new phase of restitution may ignite conflicting ethnic claims and facilitate elite capture of land and rural resources.

While there are no quick fixes, the first phase of restitution should be completed and the policy then curtailed. The book argues that land ownership and administration is important to rural democracy and that this should not be placed under the control of traditionalist intermediaries. Land restitution, initiated in 1994, was an important response to the injustices of the apartheid era. But it was intended as a limited and short-term process – initially to be completed in five years.

It may continue for decades, creating uncertainty and undermining investment into agriculture.

All the numbers on South Africa’s crisis dashboard are blinking red. The economy is failing to grow and more and more young people find themselves on the outside looking in as education falters and jobs disappear. Energy and transport are in crisis. Governance is floundering as debt mounts and government runs out of money.

Better Choices is a collection by South Africa’s top thinkers on the political economy, providing an unflinching account of the myriad challenges the country faces. The picture that emerges is of a nation on the brink of a catastrophic slide into failure unless better, if tough, policy choices are made. As stark as these problems are, their solutions are tantalisingly close at hand. The chapters in this book outline exactly the solutions – those ‘better choices’– that need to be made by leadership to alter the country’s bleak trajectory.

South Africa cannot talk its way out of trouble. Key to success is removing the sources of friction – the red tape, over-regulation and rents – that slow down investment. This is only possible if a more effective, focused government acts decisively.

Compiled by The Brenthurst Foundation, Africa’s leading think tank on economic development, Better Choices is for those who want to build a positive, inclusive future for South Africa.

Hiking Beyond Cape Town opens a gateway to the myriad trails and tracks that await hikers – young and old, novice and experienced – beyond the confines of the city.

This collection of day trips outside of Cape Town features 40 trails, fanning out from the south coast to the west and covering a range of varied hikes in between. Ranging between 2 to 7 hours, the hikes are tailored for single-day trips, although a handful will require overnighting.

Each hike entry includes an accurate, up-to-date route description, a map of the trail, and directions for getting to the start. In each case, an upfront summary outlines the distance, duration, grade of difficulty, and elevation of the hike, as well as other details. Striking colour photographs and observations about the plant and animal life along the route add lively interest.

A brief introduction provides expert advice on gear, planning and preparation.

"I wanted to write this book before I forgot the finer details. As strange as that may sound, you can forget these things, and it is probably healthier to do so. You can visit the depths of hell – just don’t hang around there for too long." – Gérard Labuschagne

In this gripping – and sometimes terrifying – account, former South African Police Service (SAPS) head profiler Dr Gérard Labuschagne, successor to the legendary Micki Pistorius, recalls some of the 110 murder series and countless other bizarre crimes he analysed during his career. An expert on serial murder and rape cases, Labuschagne saw it all in his fourteen and a half years in the SAPS. He walks the reader through the first crime scene he ever attended, his arrest of the Muldersdrift serial rapist, his experience as the head of the task team mandated to catch the Quarry serial murderer, his involvement with the Brighton Beach axe murders, and more. Despite often being stymied by a lack of resources, office politics and political interference, Labuschagne and his team were always determined to get their man – or woman, as in the Womb Raider case.

The Profiler Diaries is a fascinating – and often hair-raising – glimpse into what it was like to be a profiler in the world’s busiest profiling unit.

In Mede-wete,’n aangrypende nuwe digbundel deur Antjie Krog, word temas soos taal, geheue en gewete met ’n nuwe intensiteit en beleënheid hanteer. Dit is haar eerste digbundel in 8 jaar.

Dié gedigte laat blyk duidelik haar diep verknogtheid aan haar geboortegrond en haar volgehoue betrokkenheid by en passie vir die land se komplekse geskiedenis en samelewing. Terselfdertyd herdefinieer sy haar identiteit as Afrikaanse digter. Te midde van verse waaruit haar woede en afkeer ten opsigte van sosiale ongeregtighede spreek, is daar ook boeiende familieverse, verse oor die generasies vorentoe en terug waarin die stemme en gesprekke opklink wat ons elke dag hoor. Ook verse oor oudword en afskeid, waarvan die huldigingsvers vir Mandela ’n hoogtepunt is.

Maar dit is verál weens die ontwrigting van taal juis om nuwe betekenis te skep dat Antjie Krog ’n opwindende digbundel lewer.

First published in 1967, Ernest Cole’s House of Bondage has been lauded as one of the most significant photobooks of the twentieth century, revealing the horrors of apartheid to the world for the first time and influencing generations of photographers around the globe.

Reissued for contemporary audiences, this edition adds a chapter of unpublished work found in a recently resurfaced cache of negatives and recontextualizes this pivotal book for our time.

Cole, a Black South African man, photographed the underbelly of apartheid in the 1950s and ’60s, often at great personal risk. He methodically captured the myriad forms of violence embedded in everyday life for the Black majority under the apartheid system—picturing its miners, its police, its hospitals, its schools. In 1966, Cole fled South Africa and smuggled out his negatives; House of Bondage was published the following year with his writings and first-person account.

This edition retains the powerful story of the original while adding new perspectives on Cole’s life and the legacy of House of Bondage. It also features an added chapter—compiled and titled “Black Ingenuity” by Cole—of never-before-seen photographs of Black creative expression and cultural activity taking place under apartheid.

Made available again nearly fifty-five years later, House of Bondage remains a visually powerful and politically incisive document of the apartheid era.

Rebecca Davis has been described as one of the funniest writers in South Africa today. Her razor-sharp wit combines with her acute powers of observation to produce social and political commentary that will have you in stitches even as it informs and provokes you to think seriously about the topics she discusses.

In Best White And Other Anxious Delusions, Davis offers advice on life's tricky issues; discusses the perils of being a 'Best white'; laments the fact that society does not have a universally adopted form of greeting, such as the high-five; explores the intricacies of social media and internet dating; considers the future of reading and tackles a range of controversial topics in between.

Ek hoop jy's reg vir 'n lewe vol avontuur! Indien nie, moet jy asseblief nie hierdie boek koop nie.

Hierdie boek sal jou help om elke voel in Suider Afrika te identifiseer. Maklik!

Jy sal ook snaakse en interessante feite leer oor alles van sterre tot superhelde, plus so ietsie oor voels ook.

Leon Nell’s sixth book to explore another captivating part of South Africa reveals a bounty of treasures that give the West Coast, or Weskus as locals call it, its particular allure.

Beginning at Melkbosstrand just north of Cape Town, and ending where the Orange River meets the Atlantic Ocean, the book divides the coastal stretch into four discrete and easily explored regions. Coastal and inland towns are described, together with their main
attractions, offering glimpses into early human history, local culture and traditions, nature and wildlife, and modern-day economic pursuits.

• SOUTH encompasses the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve, various wildflower reserves, Darling, Evita se Perron and !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre
• CENTRAL covers Yzerfontein and the West Coast National Park, including Langebaan Lagoon, Eve’s Footprints, Postberg Flower Reserve and Saldanha
• NORTH explores the celebrated fishing industry at Velddrif, St Helena Bay and Elands Bay, and archaeological discoveries in the area
• DIAMOND COAST spans Doringbaai, Vredendal, Port Nolloth, Kleinzee and Alexander Bay.

These poems trace Nelson Mandela's journey to freedom.

The original French and Norman Strike's sensitive English translations are printed on opposite pages, interspersed with ink drawings by Nja Madhaoui.

As jobs disappear and wages flat-line, paid work is an increasingly fragile and unattainable basis for dignified life. This predicament, deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic, is sparking urgent debates about alternatives such as a Universal Basic Income (UBI). Highly topical and distinctive in its approach, In the Balance: The Case for a Universal Basic Income in South Africa and Beyond is the most grounded and up-to-date examination yet of the need and prospects for a UBI in a global South setting such as South Africa.

Hein Marais casts the debate about a UBI in the wider context of the dispossessing pressures of capitalism and the onrushing turmoil of global warming, pandemics and social upheaval. Marais surveys the meaning, history and appeal of a UBI before even-handedly weighing the case for and against such an intervention.

The book explores the vexing questions a UBI raises about the relationship of paid work to social rights, about prevailing notions of citizens’ entitlement and dependency, and the role of the state in contemporary capitalism. Along with cost estimates for different versions of a basic income in South Africa, it discusses financing options and lays out the social, economic and political implications. This incisive new book advances both our theoretical and practical understanding of the prospects for a UBI.

From 1 May 2011 company law in South Africa was dramatically altered: the 1973 Act which had governed companies for the life-times of most business people and lawyers in South Africa was replaced by the Companies Act of 2008, as amended in March 2011.

A new era of company law dawned, and with it a host of new concepts, rights, remedies, obligations, procedures and sanctions were introduced. These fundamentally affect the way that every business operates and the advice and practice of every lawyer, accountant or other professional adviser.

This title, the first to cover the new Act and the new regulations, provides the hand-holding, the insight, and the understanding that business and their advisers require in order not to be wrong-footed by the new regime.

Talia spandeer elke pouse in die skoolbiblioteek om vir die boelies weg te kruip, tot die nare nuwe biblioteekjuffrou haar skuilplek in ’n nagmerrie verander. Saam met Mario, nog ’n buitestander, maak sy ’n geheime biblioteek in ’n ou skuur en bied ’n toevlug vir al die kinders wat voel asof hulle nêrens hoort nie.

Maar gaan juffrou Grizzle hulle skuilplek kry, of gaan sy ’n geheim van haar eie ontbloot? Die Groot Storieboek Avontuur is vir elke kind wat al soos ’n buitestander gevoel het, maar ’n tuiste gekry het tussen die blaaie van ’n boek.

Die boek is ryk in diversiteit en bevat karakters met neurodiversiteit, verskillende rasse en orientasies. Die boek word ook gemaak met verskeie leesbaarheidstegnieke, soos disleksie-vriendelike lettertipes en papier, groot spasies en meer.

Champ is one of the happy residents of Clunky Bottom Camp. But trouble comes knocking in the form of Radomir Rat who wants to make everyone’s lives miserable.

And what will the Clunky cats do when their camp is uprooted? Will Champ be brave enough to save his friends and their home? Champ discovers his personal strength when he finally saves the day with the help of his hapless friends.

But it takes a Meow-ssion Impossible to stay alive.

What would you put on the line for what you believe in? For Chris Bertish, the answer is everything. ALL IN!

In 2017 Chris became the first person ever to stand-up paddleboard across any ocean. Defying all odds, he paddled 7500 kilometers solo, unassisted and unsupported, for 93 days across the Atlantic Ocean, from Morocco, Africa to Antigua in the Caribbean. During three months at sea he was targeted by a great white shark, towed by a giant sea squid, capsized multiple times and surfed down 10-meter waves as challenging as anything he had faced in any Mavericks Big Wave Surfing Championships.

Too many times he found himself hanging on the edge of his modified SUP for dear life. He also become one with the elements, and ultimately succeeded in doing something everyone said was simply impossible.

This is the story of his incredible journey.

In some parts of South Africa, more than one in three people are HIV positive. Love in the Time of AIDS explores transformations in notions of gender and intimacy to try to understand the roots of this virulent epidemic. By living in an informal settlement and collecting love letters, cell phone text messages, oral histories, and archival materials, Mark Hunter details the everyday social inequalities that have resulted in untimely deaths. Hunter shows how first apartheid and then chronic unemployment have become entangled with ideas about femininity, masculinity, love, and sex and have created an economy of exchange that perpetuates the transmission of HIV/AIDS. This sobering ethnography challenges conventional understandings of HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

The Thabo Mbeki I Know is a collection that celebrates one of South Africa’s most exceptional thought leaders. The contributors include those who first got to know Thabo Mbeki as a young man, in South Africa and in exile, and those who encountered him as a statesman and worked alongside him as an African leader.

In The Thabo Mbeki I Know, these friends, comrades, statesmen, politicians and business associates provide insights that challenge the prevailing academic narrative and present fresh perspectives on the former president’s time in office and on his legacy – a vital undertaking as we approach a decade since an embattled Thabo Mbeki left office. Edited by Miranda Strydom and Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu, The Thabo Mbeki I Know provides readers with an opportunity to reassess Thabo Mbeki’s contribution to post-apartheid South Africa – as both deputy president and president – to the African continent and diaspora – as a highly respected state leader – and to the international community as a whole.

The second edition of Corporate Governance In South Africa addresses the changes in the corporate governance landscape in South Africa brought about by the King IV Report on Governance for South Africa, 2016 and changes to several international codes.

Corporate Governance In South Africa covers the following areas: the corporate governance framework in South Africa, comparisons with various international corporate governance frameworks, and contemporary governance issues. The book also offers a corporate governance implementation guide.

Examples of failed corporate governance practices, both local and international, are provided throughout the book, seeking to illustrate the importance of effective corporate governance practices by companies.

Food and memory are inextricably linked; flavours and dishes evoke emotion, rooted in nostalgia or specific experiences. The Hungry Table embodies this idea. For Fatima Saib, food exists as a backdrop to her childhood memories, intertwined with her precious relationship with her late father. Derived from this culinary inspiration, the book expertly weaves story and memory through a journey of over 90 contemporary recipes, most with a nod to the author’s South African-Indian heritage.

With this in mind, the book is divided into five chapters, each one tapping into a feeling. The Basics offers an array of chutneys, sauces, pickles and flavour-enhancers to round off any dish. Togetherness is an ode to food that is best shared among friends and family, like hot honey fried chicken and fragrantly layered biryanis. Comfort covers those recipes that warm the body and soul from the inside out, like dhal and rasmalai. From Fast, expect deliciously quick-and-easy dishes like chilli crunch toasted cheese or yoghurt and cardamom potato curry. And for those slower days, when time is best used to explore and enjoy, look to Relaxed, for dishes like parathas, sticky BBQ lamb ribs or creamy cabbage and corn bake.

The Hungry Table ignites the senses, telling a story of time and place, reminding readers to slow down and enjoy food and the way it makes us feel. It is an invitation into the kitchen, to enjoy the catharsis of cooking and the dishes that result, and, perhaps most importantly, to be nourished by the memories created in the process.

Dogtag Memories is a raw, darkly humorous memoir that follows Jon Goetzsche’s chaotic journey through South Africa’s military machine.

Drafted into the Defence Force in 1977as a carefree seventeen-year-old, Jon’s tranquil schooldays are abruptly replaced by the brutal regimentation of army life. What begins as naive indifference soon spirals into a struggle against authority, misfortune and the absurdities of war.

After surviving the gruelling training to become a Parabat, Jon is court-martialled for assaulting a fellow soldier and sent to Detention Barracks. Reassigned to an ordinary infantry battalion, he completes five months of training and is sent to the border for the rest of his two years’ national service, followed by several camps. Through the laughable rules, harsh punishment, grinding boredom, fatal mishaps and clashes with enemy guerrillas, he endures with wit, irony and a stubborn refusal to surrender his humanity.

Told with unflinching honesty and biting humour, Dogtag Memories transcends the typical border war narrative. Decades later, Jon reflects on how those formative years shaped him, offering a poignant, irreverent and deeply human account of camaraderie, hardship and resilience.

It’s the summer holidays and Liwa Nile and her sister Nomfie are looking forward to having fun without worrying about school work. Although they enjoy playing with their horses Sky and Blue on the farm, they hope that their father Moya has fun plans for the family.

When the girls learn they are going to the beach for the holidays, Nomfie is excited to play on the sand, but Liwa is scared of the sharks and jellyfish in the water. They make friends on the beach, but it stops being fun when other kids start bullying them.

Will they be able to stand against the bullies so they can continue chasing sunsets on the beach?

After a string of police botches, Captain Ben "Bliksem" Booysen was assigned the Krugersdorp Killers' case in 2016.

Eleven people had already been brutally murdered by a group calling themselves Electus Per Deus. Booysen made headlines when he arrested the mastermind Cecilia Steyn, and her accomplices.

South Africa's own "Chuck Norris" takes the reader behind the scenes of the satanic killings, divulging new and shocking details of the crimes that have kept the nation on edge for almost a decade.

Sebastian Salt is an undecided atheist – four times married, four times divorced, four times widowed, four times prostituted, and four times arrested. Love is his biographical voyage.

Blending crime, romance, and speculative fiction, this novel scrutinises the beautiful and often malignant dimensions of love. Love plumbs the murkiest depths of the human soul to ask whether salvation lies at the altar of the divine, in overcoming the weaknesses of our lesser selves or in our brief moments of romantic ecstasy.

This new speculative novel is Nthikeng Mohlele’s most exploratory and conceptually rich work yet.

Liwa Nile is a 6-year-old girl who lives an idyllic life on the farm with her parents, Thandi and Moya, as well as her older sister Nomfie. She enjoys playing with her horse, Sky and loves the red apples that her mom always buys when she goes to the market.

Liwa is uncomfortable when Uncle Siphiwe comes to visit. Although he smiles with the family and brings more red apples from the market, Liwa stops eating them. She becomes silent and sad because of Uncle Siphiwe’s actions.

Will she be able to let her parents know why she doesn’t want Uncle Siphiwe’s red apples?