Herman Mashaba rose from humble beginnings to become one of South Africa’s wealthiest and best-known entrepreneurs, as well as Mayor of Johannesburg.

His remarkable story begins in a small village in Gauteng, where we meet the cocky youngster who refused to settle for a future that offered nothing. Forced to drop out of university, the determined young man fought to establish the first black-owned haircare company in South Africa. Mashaba struggled every day of his life – against apartheid, with its demeaning laws, and against his competitors to grab market share for his business. In the process, Mashaba learnt lessons that few business schools teach today.

This is a story of survival, and of determination in adversity. It is also a love story between Herman and Connie, his wife of 35 years, who embarked on this journey together. Mashaba shows the importance of having a vision, daring to dream it, and then making it happen. This inspiring book will leave you with the question: “If he did it, why can’t I?”

After hitting a brick wall in both his business and personal life in 2006, Pepe Marais discovered his purpose on which he rebuilt all aspects of his life over the course of the next fourteen years. The results of his purposeful approach to life have been nothing short of spectacular and in this, his second book, Pepe once again sets out to deliver on his personal purpose: to bring out the best in those around him.

The life lessons that Pepe provides in 20 Habits That Break Habits are based on Aristotle’s insight that we are what we repeatedly do, and that excellence therefore is not an act, but a habit. Through his own experience, Pepe has learnt that there are two kinds of habits: those that limit us and those that liberate us. And in order to eradicate a limiting habit, you simply have to replace it with a liberating one.

Throughout this book, Pepe shares some of his own most limiting habits that held him back over the course of his journey, and the liberating habits he replaced each of them with in order to create a significant breakthrough in his own life. From turning wine into water, to replacing television with the kitchen table, if a book could come with a warning sign, then this one should.

Because … it may just change your life!

At the opening of South Africa's first democratic parliament in 1994, newly elected president Nelson Mandela issued a clarion call to an unlikely group: white Afrikaans women, who during apartheid occupied the ambivalent position of being both oppressor and oppressed. He conjured the memory of poet Ingrid Jonker as `both an Afrikaner and an African' who `instructs that our endeavours must be about the liberation of the woman, the emancipation of the man and the liberty of the child'. More than two decades later, the question is: how have white Afrikaans-speaking women responded to the liberating possibilities of constitutional democracy?

With Afrikaner nationalism in disrepair, and official apartheid in demise, have they re-imagined themselves in opposition to colonial ideas of race, gender, sexuality and class?

Sitting Pretty explores this postapartheid identity through the concepts of ordentlikheid, as an ethnic form of respectability, and the volksmoeder, or mother of the nation, as enduring icon. Issues of intersectionality, space, emotion and masculinity are also investigated.

Influencers dominate social media. This book is not only a  personal journey filled with overcoming challenges, but also inspires anyone to go after their dreams, whether it's an entrepreneurial adventure or just to curate a lifestyle that excites you every morning.

A story that weaves biography and business tips through a journey from humble beginnings in Soweto and eventually finds Kefilwe visiting the fashion capital of the world, Milan!

Anger, hurt, loss, rejection … these feelings are familiar to the families who, in the early 1970s, were forced from their homes in Harfield Village in Cape Town’s southern suburbs. Siona O’Connell brings their stories to light. She examines the lost ways of life, the sense of home and belonging.

David Brown’s images show what life was like in Harfield before the removals, and his images are echoed by recent photos of the same former residents.

Are you ready to rise to the challenge of increasing the metabolic rate and success of your business? The Other End Of The Telescope is a high speed gallop through the absurdities and challenges of getting things done in large companies, and the inherent contradictions in leadership and organisational behaviours that prevent businesses from realising their potential and achieving greater success.

In this collection of thought provoking essays, Ian Russell draws on more than 25 years’ experience of leading and working in large organisations around the world to distil the key themes and challenges confronting big business today. The book tackles key topics such as organisational cholesterol, the loneliness of leadership, human capital strategy failures, performance destroying ‘head offices’ and the ‘myths’ of talent scarcity and the socalled Fourth Industrial Revolution, among others. Each essay pairs a deep understanding of the real world and lessons learned the hard way, with powerful and pragmatic insights on how big business can change the way in which it does things.

Contributions from other notable thought leaders Valter Adão, Richard Mulholland, Happy Ntshingila and Rapelang Rabana add unique voices and insights to Ian’s vibrant and straightforward views. Together they are exactly what is needed to jolt businesses and their leaders into doing things more successfully and thoughtfully. The lightness of Ian’s style makes this a highly readable book, but it does not dilute the impact of his incisive observations and insights.

Passionate, irreverent and challenging, The Other End Of The Telescope will make you think deeply about your business and your career – and your role in both.

In October 2015, the Gupta brothers offered Mcebisi Jonas the position of minister of finance in exchange for R600 million. Then deputy minister of finance, Jonas turned down the bribe and a period of deep introspection followed for him. How did we reach this point, and what did the future hold for South Africa’s democracy and the economy?

In After Dawn, Mcebisi Jonas analyses the crisis at the heart of our current system, which places politics at the centre of policymaking and implementation at the expense of growth. In this important and authoritative book, Jonas first unpacks and analyses the current badlands of the South African economic and political landscape. In the second half, Jonas proposes a series of workable and practical solutions for transitioning South Africa into a growing, job-creating country including:

• Putting inclusive growth at the centre of economic policy;
• rapidly expanding new technological capacities and knowledge to transition to a twenty-first-century economy;
• expanding human capabilities at scale;
• path-changing trade-offs to catalyse the next phase of South Africa’s development;
• nurturing a corruption-free, high-performance state built on meritocracy and innovation; and
• changing the nature of politics.

Time is of the essence and the window of opportunity is narrowing for all South Africans to work together towards the South Africa we all imagined was possible in 1994.

We are all on the journey. The hero’s journey is for everyone, and we are the hero in our own story.

Being on the journey is the most human thing we can do – humanity will cease to grow or evolve if we follow the status quo. We live in a world of social media, hyper-connectedness, and convenience, but we are becoming less human the further down the path we go. Stepping into our own journey and finding the guidance and lessons to grow as a person is our destiny. Along the path, we find our mentors and face our trials. We are distracted, and we fail – we are human, after all. In the chaos, we eventually find the balance required to grow. This is a book about facing demons and meeting mages.

The Shepherd and the Beast is about the universal truth that binds us; we are all the same, just on different parts of the same mythological journey.

Tramayne Monaghan went on a journey of heroic proportions, learning how to be a leader from the best and learning lessons from the trials of beasts. Being thrust into leadership positions at a young age, these are the real-life lessons learnt and the steps the reader can take to absorb them.

This is the story of a man trying to find meaning in leading others. This is a story of becoming a leader while discovering the shepherd and the beast …

It is well known that the African National Congress was formed in 1912 and is considered the oldest political organisation on the African continent. What is often not widely known is that the person who founded it was one Pixley ka Isaka Seme, a thirty-year-old black South African from Inanda outside the city of Durban.

What is remarkable about Seme’s achievement in founding the ANC is not only that he succeeded where most had failed at forging black political unity. It is also the speed at which he did it. He had just returned to South Africa from the United Kingdom and the United States of America, where he had been a student since he was a teenager. In slightly over a year the founding conference of the ANC was convened and he was at its helm as the main organiser.

Seme also established a national newspaper, became one of the pioneering black lawyers in South Africa, bought land from white farmers for black settlement right at the time when opposition to it was gaining momentum, became a sought-after adviser and confidant to African royalty, and was considered a leading visionary for black economic empowerment. And yet, when he became president general of the ANC in the 1930s, he brought it to its knees through sheer ineptitude and an authoritarian style of leadership. On more than one occasion he was found guilty for breaching the law, which partly led to him being struck off the roll of attorneys.

This book discusses in detail Seme’s extraordinary life, from his humble beginnings at Inanda Mission to his triumphs and disappointments across the continents, in his public and private life. When Seme died in 1951 he was bankrupt and his political standing had suffered greatly. And yet he was praised as one of the greatest South Africans ever to have lived. For all this, he has largely been forgotten. This biography brings the remarkable life of this extraordinary South African back to public consciousness.

After centuries of relative isolation, the Karoo – South Africa’s parched heartland – is a latecomer to the tourist industry. What was once viewed as a harsh and desolate place of limited attraction is rapidly gaining popularity with visitors who now make the Karoo their destination, keen to partake of its legendary charm, its extraordinary flora and the resurgence of wildlife that once again populates its plains.

Wild Karoo documents Mitch Reardon’s 4,000-kilometre journey of discovery through the region. The book focuses on:

• local nature conservation in all its facets
• the game, large and small – some recently reintroduced – plus birds, reptiles and invertebrates
• the unique, arid-adapted flora
• the landscape and geology
• the history and lifestyle of the people who have made a home here
• plans to combine public and private protected land to create wildlife corridors between isolated parks, re-establishing old migration routes and so reversing some of the effects of human settlement

Beautifully written, and illustrated with evocative photographs, this book is a must read for anyone interested in travel, wildlife and the environment.

Tales of Two Countries is Ray Dearlove’s third book. He takes the reader through his childhood in apartheid-era South Africa and the turbulent years before Nelson Mandela assumed the presidency in 1994.

Living in Australia for more than thirty years brought its own share of interesting people, events and opportunities. There are many stories about the raw challenges of moving countries. It has some very moving and some very humorous moments, all told in Ray’s discerning and direct style.

Forewords by Tony Park, Jean-Claude van Damme and Andrian Gardner.

Thando Manana was the third black African player to don a Springbok jersey after unification in 1992, when he made his debut in 2000 in a tour game against Argentina A.

His route to the top of the game was unpredictable and unusual. From his humble beginnings in the township of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, Thando grew to become one of the grittiest loose-forwards of South African rugby, despite only starting the game at the age of 16. His rise through rugby ranks, while earning a reputation as a tough-tackling lock and later openside flanker, was astonishingly rapid, especially for a player of colour at the time. Within two years of picking up a rugby ball, he represented Eastern Province at Craven Week, and by 2000 he was a Springbok. But it isn’t solely Thando’s rugby journey that makes Being A Black Springbok a remarkable sports biography. It’s learning how he has negotiated life’s perils and pitfalls, which threatened to derail both his sporting ambitions and the course of his life.

He had to negotiate an unlikely, but fateful, kinship with a known Port Elizabeth drug-lord, who took Thando under his wing when he was a young, gullible up-and-comer at Spring Rose. Rejected by his father early in his life, Thando had to deal with a sense of abandonment and a missing protective figure and find, along the way, people to lean on.

Thando tells his story with the refreshing candour he has become synonymous with as a rugby commentator, pundit and member of the infamous Room Dividers team on Metro FM. He has arguably become rugby’s strongest advocate for the advancement of black people’s interests in the sport, and his personal journey reveals why.

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.

Nataniël vier 20 jaar as Kaalkop-rubriekskrywer met hierdie nuwe versameling van sy gewilde SARIE-rubrieke: 107 Kaalkoppe geskryf vanaf 2012 tot 2021.

Eerlik, persoonlik, nugter, inspirerend, melankolies, hartseer, opgewonde, driftig, simpatiek, verbaas, dwars, reguit en vasbeslote mik hy na elke moontlike emosie.

Met die wêreld op sy kop was daar nog nooit ’n beter tyd vir ’n boek soos dié nie.

Huiskos is Herman Lensing se sesde kookboek en volg op die uiters suksesvolle Dit Proe Soos Huis, wat in 2019 verskyn het en in 2020 benoem is deur die SA Boekpryse vir beste niefiksieboek.

Huiskos vertel – in sy eie woorde – die storie van Herman se 34 jaar op hierdie aarde. Anders as in sy ander boeke deel hy hierdie keer ook resepte wat hy by sy vriende leer ken het en by mense op vele reise deur Suid-Afrika.

Huiskos bevat meer as 80 resepte, van ontbyt tot hoofgeregte, van bykosse tot vleisgeregte, van koeke, koekies en beskuit tot nageregte (soos trifle, roomys en selfs basaarpoeding). Elke hoofstuk weerspieël Herman se liefde vir kos en vir mense, met staaltjies waarin jy jou kan verkneukel. Dis alles pretensielose resepte met bestanddele wat jy van Pretoria tot in Pofadder kan kry.

Huiskos is nes jy Herman se kombuis ken: kos wat almal kan saamkook.

Suid-Afrika is groot genoeg vir ’n leeftyd se reise. In Voetspore in Suid-Afrika 2 kry die Voetsporespan weer die geleentheid om ons land se natuurskoon en gasvryheid te beleef.

Hulle drie maande lange reis begin in Pafuri, in die noordoostelike hoek van Suid-Afrika. Van daar af is dit verby Klaserie, Dullstroom, die Waterberge, die suid-Vrystaat, die Groot-Karoo, die Sederberge, die Weskus, oor die Hottentots-Hollandberge en tot aan die suidpunt van Suid-Afrika: Agulhas. Vrystaatse vlaktes, grootste Drakensberge, Bosveld, Kaapse strande – noem maar op – daar is ’n oorvloed om te geniet. Die langpad in Suid-Afrika roep …

Benewens pragtige foto’s van die mooiste dele van ons land bevat hierdie reisgids ook:

• Name en telefoonnommers van gidse in elke streek
• Akkommodasiebesonderhede
• ’n Paklys
• Afstande tussen dorpe
• Inligting oor beskikbaarheid van vulstasies en gesondheidsorg
• Wetenswaardighede

It is September 1987. The Angolan Army – with the support of Cuban troops and Soviet advisors – has built up a massive force on the Lomba River near Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola. Their goal? To capture Jamba, the headquarters of the rebel group Unita, supported by the South African Defence Force (SADF) in the so-called Border War.

In the battles that followed, and shortly thereafter centred around the small town of Cuito Cuanavale, 3 000 SADF soldiers and 8 000 Unita fighters were up against a much bigger Angolan and Cuban force of over 50 000 men.

Thousands of soldiers died in the vicious fighting that is described in vivid detail in this book. Bridgland pieced together this account through scores of interviews with SADF men who were on the front line. This dramatic retelling takes the reader to the heart of the action.

Tucked away in the southwestern corner of the Eastern Cape lies a narrow valley, flanked by the Baviaanskloof and Kouga mountain ranges. Named after the chacma baboons that long ago made this 200-km-long kloof their home, the Baviaanskloof is part of the Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site.

It is a meeting point of several different ecosystems, with almost all of South Africa’s eight biomes represented, making for an exceptional diversity of species, including many endemics. Plants of the Baviaanskloof describes well over 1,000 plant species.

It includes:

• Succinct descriptions of each plant species with full-colour photographs
• Brief family and genus descriptions, and species counts for the area
• An introduction covering the geology, climate and vegetation types of the region

Compiled over two decades, Plants of the Baviaanskloof is sure to become an enduring record of the diversity of plant life found here. The only botanical guide for this area, it is a must-have for botanists, gardeners, road-trippers, hikers, travellers and all who have a deep interest in plants.

Sol Kerzner, the controversial and charismatic business tycoon, once dominated the Southern African tourism landscape. He left an indelible mark by developing dream destinations like Sun City, The Palace, and the Atlantis developments in the Bahamas and Dubai.

In this riveting memoir, Venison – Sol’s longtime associate, confidante, and eventual adversary – offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the life of Kerzner whose legacy has long been shrouded in mystery, with no comprehensive biography until now. Venison fills in the gaps with vivid personal anecdotes and exclusive details, including the little-known relationship between Kerzner and Mandela, which played a crucial role in South Africa’s political transition in the early 1990s.

This tour de force unveils the true Kerzner – the brilliant, magnetic, chain-smoking, whiskey-drinking workaholic – who transcended borders and became a key player in the international hospitality industry and South Africa’s own Sun King.

The discovery of the modern-day coelacanth will forever be linked with the name of JLB Smith. An intense, irascible, eccentric man, JLB (as he was widely known) and his long-suffering wife Margaret were both remarkable South African scientists who changed the course of the biological sciences.

Best known for their research on the coelacanth, they also contributed in many other ways to the scientific study of fishes (ichthyology) and related fields.

• The first comprehensive biography about JLB and Margaret Smith.
• Traces their formative years and serendipitous meeting, leading up to the discovery of the coelacanth, and the tumultuous years that followed.
• Details their punitive work ethic, eccentric and rugged lifestyle, and their astonishingly productive lives.
• A story awash with adventure, travel, discovery, risk-taking, near-death experiences – and their extraordinary contribution to science.

Illustrated with black-and-white images of the Smiths’ fascinating lives, as well as a 16-page colour section, Mike Bruton’s lively account fills a scientific and biographical niche and will become a classic of the South African scene.

Without much fanfare Ahmed Kathrada worked alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other giants in the struggle to end racial discrimination in South Africa. He faced house arrest and many court trials related to his activism until, finally, a trial for sabotage saw him sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Mandela and six others.

Conversations with a Gentle Soul has its origins in a series of discussions between Kathrada and Sahm Venter about his opinions, encounters and experiences. Throughout his life, Kathrada has refused to hang on to negative emotions such as hatred and bitterness. Instead, he radiates contentment and the openness of a man at peace with himself. His wisdom is packaged within layers of optimism, mischievousness and humour, and he provides insights that are of value to all South Africans.

When John Kgoana Nkadimeng travelled from Sekhukhuneland to the Witwatersrand in 1944, he was one of thousands of migrants seeking work in town. But his encounters with racial injustice and contact with activists drew him down a very different path, one which was dedicated to the struggle.

Mokgomana tells the story of Nkadimeng, from his origins in the rural village of Manganeng, in an area with a long history of resistance to colonial rule, through his growing involvement in trade unions, the Communist Party and the ANC. He spearheaded rural opposition to Bantu Authorities, helped take new MK recruits out of the country, and played a crucial role in re-establishing the ANC underground after the state smashed resistance networks. In 1976 he fled South Africa for the perilous terrain of building MK organisations in Swaziland and Mozambique. In 1982 he settled in Lusaka and played a pivotal part in the leadership of the ANC, Communist Party and SACTU during that decisive decade.

Mokgomana represents a new focus on an under-acknowledged leader and offers fresh perspectives on over four decades of struggle history. It is also the story of the family which supported him, enduring harassment and separation, and their own splintered trajectories through exile and homecoming.

In the wake of her beloved grandfather’s death, Lou and her family gather at their coastal family home for a long-awaited family reunion.

The windswept and wild surroundings remind Lou of who she was before being a mother, a wife, and a professional failure. They bring back memories of Michael, her toxic first love and, according to the family, her ‘bad luck penny’. Then a shocking crisis in the country disrupts the funeral arrangements and forces the family together for longer than planned.

As secrets rise to the surface, the threads of Lou’s life unravel and she faces a difficult choice – after all, it’s only a bad luck penny if you pick it up.

Destructive forces have been eroding the University of Cape Town, Africa’s leading university. This book tells the sad, true tale of what has been transpiring. It is a saga of lunacy, criminality, pandering, and identity politics. The mad and the bad – the deranged, deluded, the depraved – have been granted endless latitude in bullying and abusing others.

The decline began in 2015 with the Rhodes Must Fall protest that resulted in the offending statue’s removal within a month, and which spawned similar protests abroad. Emboldened by their local success, the protestors issued new and ever-increasing demands later that year and then again in 2016 and 2017. Their methods also became criminal – including intimidation, assault, and arson. The university leadership capitulated to this behaviour, and this fostered a broader and now pervasive toxic environment within the institution.

These developments offer important lessons for universities around the world that are yielding to the forces of a faux “progressivism”.

Upon encountering Historian, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s quote “Well behaved women seldom make history” – Malebo knew that she was tired of everyone else but herself having a say on who and what she should be. Appropriating this quote, Malebo boldly renounces societal expectations placed on her as a Black woman and shares her journey towards misbehaviour. According to Malebo, it is a norm for a Black woman to live through a society that will prescribe what it means to be a well behaved woman. Acting like this prescribed woman equals good behaviour. But what happens when a black woman decides to live her own life and becomes her own form of who she wants to be? She is often seen as misbehaving.

Miss Behave challenges society’s deep-seated beliefs about what it means to be a well behaved woman. In this book, Malebo tracks her journey on a path towards achieving total autonomy and self-determinism. Miss Behave will challenge, rattle and occasionally cause you to reflect on your own life – asking yourself the question – are you truly living life the way you want to?