The Misery Merchants is a hard-hitting exposé of G4S, the company running one of South Africa’s private prisons in Mangaung. Hopkins presents up-close encounters with the gangs who run the prisons, and a unique insight into the minds of the men on the torture squad, who doused inmates with water before electrocuting them, and in some cases, strapped down ‘unruly’ prisoners and forced anti-psychotic medicines into their systems.

In the Free State of Ace Magashule, both the gangs and the prison bosses competed to run Mangaung Prison, one of South Africa’s few private prisons. Torture and forced medication were the order of the day. Hopkins, a seasoned journalist, has interviewed over 100 prisoners and many prison warders in order to understand what makes this prison so dysfunctional. Her insights and revelations will astonish you.

This book follows several characters who were held in or worked at the prison. L. is a prison gang general and an advocate for prisoners’ rights. He smuggled information on assaults, injections and corruption out of the prison for the author. Dan is a prison guard and a shop steward for the union. He led the workforce during two strikes and paid for it with his job and union membership. Setlai is a Department of Correctional Services official who blew the whistle on the abuse at Mangaung Prison in 2009. His reports were ignored and he was punished for speaking out. He was criminally charged and moved to another DCS post. Shakes is a member of the Emergency Security Team (EST) also known as the Ninjas. He engaged in torture and abuse but now feels ‘what we did was wrong’.

G4S is the largest security company in the world, and has its claws deep in SA’s government and private companies. Drive down any street and you’ll find a G4S van collecting or delivering money.

For our world to survive, and thrive, we need people who can lead the way to a better future for everyone, be that in corporate, government, or society in general. What we need is great leadership – not mediocre leadership; and an attitude of ever-learning, growing and developing.

Business leaders have a financial and moral obligation to uplift the people of this country. A narrow focus on profit won’t achieve that, but a culture that puts people first can. We need ethical leaders, visionary leaders, empathic leaders, courageous leaders, forward-thinking leaders, transformational leaders, human-centric leaders, purposeful leaders, curious leaders. This book is the antidote to the lack of mentorship, and is the resource for the saying: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

Incorporating the collective leadership wisdom for both the leaders of tomorrow and for the leaders of today, The Book Every Leader Needs to Read is full of lessons, insights, pep talks, advice and direction for building your own style and approach to great leadership, and not shy away from the ecstasy (and sometimes agony) of becoming a significant leader. If you are striving for excellence as a leader, get your pen and notebook ready, start reading and make notes from the thousands of hours of lived experiences, and list what you can start doing, right now, to craft the art of leading.

In this multi-billion rand corruption memoir, former Bosasa C.O.O and whistleblower, Angelo Agrizzi rips open the can of worms, exposing two decades of untold greed, politicking, corruption, bribery and deep state capture.

Inside the Belly of The Beast is a detailed confession, exposing the intimate fraudulent workings of a company, under the cult-like leadership of Gavin Watson. Agrizzi is one of few people with a first-hand account of what really happened behind the closed doors of Bosasa.

After the runaway success of his Afrikaans memoir, Hoerkind, the contrarian journalist and writer Herman Lategan translated and updated his eventful life story to include material that did not appear in the original book.

Herman was conceived illegitimately one warm February night in 1964 in a boarding house in Cape Town. From an early age, he felt disposable, passed from one pair of unstable adult hands to the next, even ending up in an orphanage for a while.

At thirteen he was caught in the web of a cunning paedophile, a well-known Afrikaans newspaperman. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday, when his abuser had finished with him, Herman was unceremoniously dumped at the door of his alcoholic father. Conscription into the army and a dishonourable discharge followed.

During his teenage years, Herman befriended poets like Sheila Cussons, Tatamkhulu Afrika and Casper Schmidt, and later, in New York, he followed Andy Warhol in the street and partied with a ‘smorgasbord of social butterflies’.

Back in South Africa, Herman established himself as a journalist, but struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, and was homeless for a while. For many an employer, he became the nightmare they feared most.

Son of a Whore is a gripping account of loss, hardship and overcoming both; it will make you laugh and, at times, break your heart. You will despair at the cruelty of a world in which the marginalised are forsaken, but stand in awe at the extent of the goodness surrounding us, because, ultimately, people depend on each other.

Prim Reddy and Niranj Pather are South Africans of Indian origin who embrace the diverse culinary offering of cosmopolitan South Africa.

Temptations is a reflection of their philosophy, a cookbook encompassing various cultures and featuring heritage recipes passed down through generations, as well as dishes experienced on their travels. To these they have added their own flair and the resulting flavours are incredible. The array of recipes will transport you from local Indian cuisine and exotic offerings from the sub-continent, through local braaivleis (barbecue) and salads, to Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and African flavours.

Every recipe has a story. Best of all, these are meals that are quick and easy but that will make a home chef feel like a million bucks. They exude laughter and happiness, sharing and celebration.

Niranj and Prim’s motto is that food isn’t just about sustenance; it’s about the experience, irrespective of how simple the offering may be.

Decolonising the Human examines the ongoing project of constituting ‘the human’ in light of the durability of coloniality and the persistence of multiple oppressions

The ‘human’ emerges as a deeply political category, historically constructed as a scarce existential resource. Once weaponised, it allows for the social, political and economic elevation of those who are centred within its magic circle, and the degradation, marginalisation and immiseration of those excluded as the different and inferior Other, the less than human.

Speaking from Africa, a key site where the category of the human has been used throughout European modernity to control, exclude and deny equality of being, the contributors use decoloniality as a potent theoretical and philosophical tool, gesturing towards a liberated, pluriversal world where human difference will be recognised as a gift, not used to police the boundaries of the human. Here is a transdisciplinary critical exploration of a wide range of subjects, including history, politics, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and decolonial studies.

“We make a big mistake to consider Bain simply another foreign company that extracted economic rents. I believe its involvement in bringing South Africa to its knees through state capture was much more insidious.”

When Bain & Company partner Athol Williams reported his employer in October 2019 for withholding information on their complicity in state capture, he had no idea how far-reaching Bain’s collusion had been. Who would have suspected a prestigious global management consulting firm of misusing its business expertise and lending its reputation to the most profound attack on South Africa’s democracy?

Drawing on his testimony before the Zondo Commission, Williams here reveals the full extent of what Bain did not want the public to know. Not only did Bain withhold information and witnesses from the authorities; they also attempted to buy Williams’s silence and block his Zondo testimony.

Deep Collusion uncovers the inner workings of state capture design. Williams takes the reader into the evidence that reveals the after-hours, behind-closed-doors planning meetings that took place at Zuma’s residences – who was present and what was discussed. While this book exposes greed and corporate corruption and lifts the lid on foreign profiteering and the weakening of South Africa’s public institutions, it also highlights the lonely burden of the whistleblower and the great personal cost of telling the truth in the face of overwhelming pressure.

"John, I’m exhausted. I barely have energy to change my socks, never mind reimagine a new life for me or my family. I’ve been working around the clock – for less money – to keep my job . . . Everyone wants something from me, and you know what, pal, I’m depleted. I have nothing left to give."

This is what John Sanei has been hearing over the past year as we come to terms with our bewildering, ever-shifting post-Covid world. In Who Do We Become?, John maps out our strange, new world and lays down a path to reframe our thinking, to recognise our discomfort, to survive and thrive.

Infused with empathy and personal anecdote, the book is divided into three sections. In Part 1: ANGUISH, John explores how to courageously mourn the loss of our ‘normal’ preCovid world. Part 2: ABNORMAL, shows us how to understand this new environment and recognise that uncertainty is the new normal. And in Part 3: ADVENTURE, John provides a toolkit for us to forge out into the new world, to succeed and recognise the signs of rebirth and renewal.

Born in the old Transvaal town of Schweizer Reneke, Essop Pahad started on a path of political activism from his parents' flat in Becker Street, Ferreirastown, where an all-welcome policy prevailed and visionaries of the Congress alliance, such as Yusuf Dadoo, Walter Sisulu, O.R.Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada were regular visitors. His parents instilled in the family strong anti-racist principles and a genuine concern for all human beings regardless of race, class or religion.

A graduate of the 'Congress School' in Johannesburg, Essop's growing commitment to social justice was nurtured by teachers who were among the struggle's most eminent leaders. An executive member of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, Essop was banned in 1964 and went into exile in the UK where he was recruited into the South African Communist Party (SACP). In 1973 he studied at the Lenin Party School in Moscow and then worked in Prague representing the SACP on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review for a decade.

During this time he was sent by the ANC for military training with Umkhonto we Sizwe in Angola, which he was unable to complete as he contracted malaria. Essop returned to South Africa in 1990, where he played a central role in shaping our new democracy.

A Life Committed is the memoir of a revolutionary whose diverse experiences with other progressive people and movements, local and international, enabled him to deepen his understanding of how to better face the challenges confronting South Africa, Africa and the world. The book is spiced with anecdotes from his impressive memory archive and lightened by his mischievous sense of humour. Profiles of his mentors and friends from liberation movements and workers' parties provide insight into the extent of the fierce integrity,compassion and humanity of the author.

Almost fired for insubordination, detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido find themselves demoted, exiled from the elite Hawks unit and dispatched to the leafy streets of Stellenbosch. Working a missing persons report on student Callie de Bruin is not the level of work they are used to, but it's all they get. And soon, it takes a dangerous, deeply disturbing turn.

Stellenbosch is beautiful, but its economy has been ruined by one man. Jasper Boonstra and his gigantic corporate fraud have crashed the local property market, just when estate agent Sandra Steenberg desperately needs a big sale. Bringing up twins and supporting her academic husband, she is facing disaster. Then she gets a call. From Jasper Boonstra, fraudster, sexual predator and owner of a superb property worth millions, even now.

For Sandra, the stakes are high and about to get way higher. For Benny Griessel, clinging to sobriety and the relationship that saved his life, the truth about Callie can only lead to more trouble.

In the past decade, hundreds of thousands of women from poorer countries have braved treacherous journeys to richer countries to work as poorly paid domestic workers. In From servants to workers, Shireen Ally asks whether the low wages and poor working conditions so characteristic of migrant domestic work can truly be resolved by means of the extension of citizenship rights. Following South Africa's 'miraculous' transition to democracy, more than a million poor black women who had endured a despotic organization of paid domestic work under apartheid became the beneficiaries of one of the world's most impressive and extensive efforts to formalize and modernise paid domestic work through state regulation. Ally explores the political implications of paid domestic work as an intimate form of labour. From Servants to workers integrates sociological insights with the often-heartbreaking life histories of female domestic workers in South Africa and provides rich detail of the streets, homes, and churches of Johannesburg where these women work, live, and socialise.

My reis, eers as pleegma en later as aanneemma, was nie een waarop iemand my kon voorberei nie. Rooiletterkind is my poging om hierdie reis so eerlik as moontlik te ondersoek, vanaf die vertrekpunt een oggend voor ’n kerkdiens tot by ’n handgemaakte Moedersdagkaartjie meer as vyf jaar later.

Wat maak jy met ’n kind wat aanhou om teen jou liefde te baklei? Hoe help jy haar deur die slaggate van die lewe as jyself nooit daardeur is nie?

Dit is maar net twee van die vele vrae wat ek myself onophoudelik moes vra terwyl ek verbete vasklou aan ’n rooiletterdatum, ’n halsstarrige kind en ’n hart wat gereeld uit my borskas geruk word.

Saam met ons eie verhaal was daar egter ook ander stories wat vertel moes word — stories van ons kind se herkoms, van gebrokenheid en straatmense en kriminele en ’n drughuis sonder reëls of taboes.

After 31 years, Madam & Eve are still going strong and are back with more hilarious cartoons looking back at another year of the crazy rollercoaster that is daily life and politics in South Africa.

Madam & Eve is South Africa’s best reminder that we need to laugh at ourselves as a society.

The perfect gift for anyone wanting to understand South African politics.

Coloured as an ethnicity and racial demographic is intertwined in the creation of the South Africa we have today. Yet often, Coloured communities are disdained as people with no clear heritage or culture — ‘not being black enough or white enough.’

Coloured challenges this notion and presents a different angle to that narrative.

It delves into the history of Coloured people as descendants of indigenous Africans and a people whose identity was shaped by colonisation, slavery, and the racial political hierarchy it created. Although rooted in a difficult history, this book is also about the culture that Coloured communities have created for themselves through food, music, and shared lived experiences in communities such as Eldorado Park, Eersterus, and Wentworth. Coloured culture is an act of defiance and resilience.

Coloured is a reflection on, and celebration of Coloured identities as lived experiences. It is a call to Coloured communities to reclaim their identity and an invitation to understand the history and place of Coloured people in the making of South Africa’s future

Mervyn King has transformed the global business landscape. King advocated reporting on society and the environment, not only on profit. His legacy transcends borders and continues to guide companies worldwide. His journey was enriched by his experience as a commercial lawyer; by his work as an advocate and a judge; and by his stellar career as a businessman, chair and director of many organisations.

DAVID WILLIAMS recounts his story.

In her debut cookbook, Cupcakes and Couscous, Teresa Ulyate spoils us with a treasury of tempting, nourishing recipes.

The book is dedicated to working parents, foodies and home cooks, and is exactly what we all need at the end of a busy day – quick, tasty, nutritious food that is easy to prepare and that bursts with flavour. The photography in Cupcakes and Couscous is a feast for the eyes, and showcases Teresa’s love for cooking and baking for her family – from preparing breakfast-on-the-go and lunchbox ideas, to midday bites, celebration food and braais. There’s also a chapter on hosting an event at home, with sample menus and helpful planning tips.

This book is sure to become a reliable kitchen companion that inspires and spreads the foodie love.

News of the sensational priosn escape of the murderer and 'Facebook rapist' Thabo Bester, assisted by his lover, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, shocked South Africa.

In this book, Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn, the Ground Up journalists who first exposed the scam, tell the full story, from Thabo and Nandipha's life stories and their unlikely love affair, all the way to his faked death and their eventual arrest, though in disguise, in Tanzania.

VELD Birds of Southern Africa: The complete photographic guide incorporates the latest photographs of, and research and atlas information on, all species of birds recorded in southern Africa to date.

This comprehensive field guide contains almost 2 000 beautiful colour photographs, as well as:

• the latest information on all 991 bird species in southern Africa
• concise entries focusing on identification, behaviour, possible confusion and habitat, along with differences in sex, age, colour morphs and subspecies
• at-a-glance information on each species’ size, food, status and sociality
• brand-new, colour-coded distribution maps reflecting each bird’s status and abundance
• full-length and quick indexes
• an app providing bird calls and additional photographs of plumage variations.

An essential companion, whether you’re out in the field or on the couch at home.

There is a lot that they don’t (and probably can’t) teach you in school. It feels like we spend a lot of time learning about plant cells and different types of rocks and too little time learning about budgeting, being healthy, human rights, sexual health, surviving heartbreak, and financial freedom.

The truth is that sometimes (often!) it is hard to be an adult. It involves making decisions all the time. It’s expensive. You have to navigate mostly dodgy expectations and stories about work and relationships and sex and your finances. And sometimes you want to scream – WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THIS?

Join Jen Thorpe as she tells you about all the things you wish you knew as an adult. Thorpe covers your health, relationships, sex, work and money. She also discusses the government, media and social media, crime and climate change. This book is about how to survive in the real world, filled with helpful advice and practical tips, it has everything you need to know.

Lienke en Dezi beleef die vakansie van hulle lewe in Kalkbaai.

By die hotel ontmoet hulle Danroy, 'n kelner wat vakansiewerk doen, wat hulle na al die mooiste plekke in die baai vat. Hulle leer ken Danroy se "skwad" en sy geliefde Uncle Kaz. Dan is daar 'n tragedie op see wat Danroy en sy ma se lewe omkeer.

Soos Uncle Kaz altyd sê: "Mens het net drie goete nodig om gelukkig te wees: iemand om lief te hê, iets om jou hande mee besig te hou, en iets om na uit te sien."

Darlings of Durban follows the stories of four friends and how their lives intersect and influence each other.

Natasha owns a successful beauty company and is in a serious long-term relationship with the charming Sizwe. Natasha worries that his family will never truly accept her because of her mixed heritage. Does she even believe in marriage? Natasha often seeks the advice of her friend Sofia who's happily married with children. Sofia is the glue that holds the darlings together. The cousins, Farhana and Razia, both have their own complicated marriages. Farhana tries her best to support her husband in his harebrained schemes - even when it's to the detriment of her friendships. While Razia, the only darling in Johannesburg, feels stuck in her role as subservient wife to a husband whose attention is elsewhere.

All four women are navigating the complexities of love and life. But whatever life throws their way, the darlings always have each other.

Excellentia is g’n gewone skool nie. Die plek is vol geheime en tradisies wat Quinn se hare laat rys. Maar sy is nie daar om te integreer nie – sy is daar om te leer. Ongelukkig is die lewe nie so voorspelbaar soos ’n chemie-eksperiment nie. En soms maak dit nie saak wat jy doen nie, die moeilikheid kom soek jou.

Many people want to lose weight and are looking for the easiest way to do so. When it comes to weight-loss programmes, one of the excuses most frequently heard by dieticians is ‘I don’t know how to prepare the right meals’. This book provides a solution to that.

In A Slimmer You Cookbook, the author presents recipes for 1000 kJ meals to suit individual preferences, family circumstances and budgets. It demonstrates that by monitoring your portions, you can cook for a family, eat healthily, and enjoy a variety of foods, all while achieving your goal of losing weight. But eating correctly is not just about following a recipe or meal plan; we need to understand how what we eat affects our health. The introduction includes topics such as BMI and cholesterol, how to balance daily food intake with physical activity levels, the role of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in our diet, making the most of ‘free’ vegetables, and tips on how to interpret food labels.

Contents: Introduction; Breakfast; Salads; Soups; Chicken; Meat; Fish; Pasta; Preparing starches; Versatile vegetables; Meal plans; Store-cupboard essentials; Frequently asked questions.

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.

In 1985, a group of white South African business leaders, led by Gavin Relly, the executive chairperson of Anglo American, travelled to a game lodge in Zambia to meet with the exiled ANC leadership under Oliver Tambo and Thabo Mbeki. This visit set in motion a coordinated and well-resourced plan by big business to influence and direct political change in South Africa.

In The ANC Billionaires, top-selling author Pieter du Toit draws on first-hand accounts by major roleplayers about the contentious relationship between capital and the ANC before, during and after the country’s transition to democracy, and shows how the liberation organisation was completely unprepared to navigate the intersection between business and politics.

He also ties the rise of the new elite – including Cyril Ramaphosa, Patrice Motsepe and Saki Macozoma – to the ANC, a party of government and patronage.