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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political corruption

Is The Party Over? (Paperback): Oscar van Heerden Is The Party Over? (Paperback)
Oscar van Heerden
R280 R205 Discovery Miles 2 050 Save R75 (27%) In Stock

As an ANC insider, Oscar van Heerden had a ringside seat at the ANC elective conference at NASREC in 2022. Here he presents a gripping account of how political power changed hands and what was at stake as Cyril Ramaphosa battled to consolidate his power.

Van Heerden does not simply give us the numbers, the money, the delegates, the switching, the promises and the backstabbing, but in this powerful account of the inner workings of a cripplingly divided political party, he himself is part of the story, having to contend with his own great disappointment with the party of liberation.

Vivid and unputdownable, Is the Party Over? is a future classic and a must read for these testing times.

Confessions Of A Stratcom Hitman (Paperback): Paul Erasmus Confessions Of A Stratcom Hitman (Paperback)
Paul Erasmus
R290 R227 Discovery Miles 2 270 Save R63 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Paul Erasmus’s searing account of his time as a security policeman during apartheid is nothing short of explosive.

In this book, remarkable for its candour as for its effort at Erasmus’s attempt at coming to a reckoning with the atrocities he committed or was party to, we read of the National Party’s determination to destroy Winnie Mandela, to terrorise anti-apartheid activists, and to smear and compromise people who did not accept the ‘Volk en Vaderland’ way. Erasmus lays bare the corruption and power mongering in the South African Police and the fascist associations that some cops were linked to. He names names, but ultimately asks himself how he could have done what he did.

His testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was extensive and allowed a view into the world of Stratcom. This book takes that testimony a step further.

Sabotage - Eskom Under Siege (Paperback): Kyle Cowan Sabotage - Eskom Under Siege (Paperback)
Kyle Cowan 2
R300 R240 Discovery Miles 2 400 Save R60 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

After unknown saboteurs toppled a strategic pylon near Lethabo Power Station in the Free State in November 2021, almost causing the country to plunge into stage 6 load shedding, Eskom’s chief executive officer André de Ruyter declared: ‘This was clearly now an act of sabotage and I think we can call it as such.’ Who was behind this, and what is their ultimate goal?

Since his appointment in January 2020, De Ruyter has faced intense opposition from within the power utility as he attempts to clean up corruption and return the electricity company to a semblance of its former glory. He is not alone. Chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer and other trusted allies in Eskom have also come under intense fire. From forensic investigations and botched probes to accusations of racism, De Ruyter and Oberholzer have spent significant amounts of time fending off allegation after allegation. Amid this onslaught, it has become clear that their enemies will take any measures necessary to have them removed from office.

Based on exclusive interviews with De Ruyter, Oberholzer and other key figures, Sabotage is a story of conspiracy and subterfuge at South Africa’s ailing power utility, uncovering the power struggles that threaten the country’s very survival.

Better Choices - Ensuring South Africa's Future (Paperback): Greg Mills, Mcebisi Jonas, Haroon Bhorat, Ray Hartley Better Choices - Ensuring South Africa's Future (Paperback)
Greg Mills, Mcebisi Jonas, Haroon Bhorat, Ray Hartley
R350 R301 Discovery Miles 3 010 Save R49 (14%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

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.

To The Wolves - How Traitor Cops Crafted South Africa's Underworld (Paperback): Caryn Dolley To The Wolves - How Traitor Cops Crafted South Africa's Underworld (Paperback)
Caryn Dolley 2
R282 Discovery Miles 2 820 Ships in 4 - 8 working days

Cops and Robbers: we think we know how to tell the good guys from the bad, but when it comes to Cape Town’s crime scene, things are anything but clear cut. Controlled by gangs, fuelled by drugs and policed by cops that, all too often, get caught on the wrong side of the action.

Among the Cape Town cops who have consistently claimed that colleagues are trying to pin crimes on them are Major General Andre Lincoln (former head of a national police unit mandated by Nelson Mandela), Major General Jeremy Vearey (known as SA’s top gang buster) and Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear (who was investigating some of the country's most brutal underworld crimes when he was assassinated in September 2020). Colleagues and suspects alike pointed to all three as colluding with criminals. Who is telling the truth?

Journalist Caryn Dolley has tracked this tangled trail, following the corruption breadcrumbs, sifting through court documents, laying fact upon fact and exposing the depths and breadth of systemic corruption that was set in place during apartheid and has only become more entrenched during the first decades of our democracy. She has traced the rot from cops to underworld to politicians and back, exposing duplicitous networks that have for decades ensnared South Africa in an expanding cycle of organised crime and cop claim crossfire. At the centre of this crisis is the mounting collateral: the victims of Cape Town’s manufactured killing fields.

To The Wolves tells the true life story of how South Africa’s underworld came to be, what continues to fuel it today and how the deception and lies go all the way to the top...

Uncaptured - The True Account Of The Nenegate/Trillian Whistleblower (Paperback): Mosilo Mothepu Uncaptured - The True Account Of The Nenegate/Trillian Whistleblower (Paperback)
Mosilo Mothepu; Foreword by Thuli Madonsela, William Bourdon
R300 R240 Discovery Miles 2 400 Save R60 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

In March 2016, Mosilo Mothepu was appointed CEO of Trillian Financial Advisory, a subsidiary of Gupta-linked Trillian Capital Partners. The prospect of being at the helm of a black-owned financial consultancy was electrifying for a black woman whose twin passions were transformation and empowering women. Three months later, suffering from depression and insomnia, she resigned with no other job lined up.

In October 2016, a written statement handed to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela detailing Trillian’s involvement in state capture was leaked to the media. Key to the disclosures were the removals of finance ministers Nhlanhla Nene and Pravin Gordhan from their posts due to the Guptas’ influence. Although she was not identified by name as the source of the affidavit, details of the revelations published in the Sunday Times left no doubt in the minds of Trillian’s executives: Mothepu was the Nenegate whistleblower.

Despite fearing legal consequences, Mothepu had decided that she could not just stand by as the country burnt. Her disclosures resulted in the freezing of Trillian-associated company Regiments Capital’s assets and a High Court order for Trillian to pay back almost R600 million to Eskom. Facing criminal charges and bankruptcy, unemployed and deemed a political risk, Mothepu experienced first-hand the loneliness of whistleblowing. The effect on her mental and physical health was devastating. Now, in Uncaptured, she recounts this troubling yet seminal chapter in her life with honesty, humility and wry humour in the hope that others who find themselves in a similar situation will follow in her footsteps and speak truth to power.

Inside The Belly Of The Beast - The Real Bosasa Story (Paperback): Angelo Agrizzi Inside The Belly Of The Beast - The Real Bosasa Story (Paperback)
Angelo Agrizzi 1
R277 Discovery Miles 2 770 Ships in 4 - 8 working days

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.

Nuclear - Inside South Africa's Secret Deal (Paperback): Karyn Maughan, Kirsten Pearson Nuclear - Inside South Africa's Secret Deal (Paperback)
Karyn Maughan, Kirsten Pearson
R340 R292 Discovery Miles 2 920 Save R48 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

Award-winning investigative journalist Karyn Maughan and former National Treasury insider Kirsten Pearson reveal the inside story behind South Africa's controversial nuclear deal.

Through insider accounts, audio recordings and confidential minutes, the authors piece together the Zuma administration's secret dealings with Russia and how it went to extraordinary and dark lengths to conclude the nuke before Zuma's time ran out.

Indentured - Behind The Scenes At Gupta TV (Paperback): Rajesh Sundaram Indentured - Behind The Scenes At Gupta TV (Paperback)
Rajesh Sundaram 2
R220 R172 Discovery Miles 1 720 Save R48 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

The scene: An Indian television journalist is drafted in to lead the setting up of a new 24/7 television news channel in South Africa. The goal: To create a world class news product. This is the story of the three months Rajesh Sundaram, along with a small team of Indian television professionals, took to launch what was to be the biggest news channel in South Africa. However, this launch was not without its wide range of challenges, catastrophes and social media entertainment.

From capricious, micro-managing owners who had a political and commercial agenda to the shocking abuse of staff and violation of laws, finally resulting in a tempestuous and very public parting of ways, Indentured is the true story behind the launch of ANN7 - better known as Gupta TV.

This is behind the scenes, disclosing a range of delicious stories about the Gupta brothers, and their relationship with Number 9. And yes; you'll be told exactly why he is called Number 9.

A History Of South Africa - From The Distant Past To The Present Day (Paperback, New Edition): Fransjohan Pretorius A History Of South Africa - From The Distant Past To The Present Day (Paperback, New Edition)
Fransjohan Pretorius
R334 Discovery Miles 3 340 Ships in 4 - 8 working days

This extensive history of South Africa was written by some of the country’s most prominent historians such as Hermann Giliomee, Jan Visagie, David Scher and Fransjohan Pretorius.

Its broad scope includes South Africa's pre-colonial history, slavery, Afrikaner nationalism, an environmental history and an analysis of a post-apartheid South Africa.

In this updated edition, a new chapter by Jan-Jan Joubert has been added – From state capture to Covid: the decline of the ANC.

Can We Be Safe? - The Future Of Policing In South Africa (Paperback): Ziyanda Stuurman Can We Be Safe? - The Future Of Policing In South Africa (Paperback)
Ziyanda Stuurman 1
R310 R266 Discovery Miles 2 660 Save R44 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

When we say we want to be safe, what do we mean? Is the state capable of achieving this for us? These are important questions for anyone envisioning and building a future anywhere, but especially in South Africa. This book explores contemporary South African society through the lens of law and order, and with the goal of understanding what reform must look like going forward, in a way that is accessible to ordinary citizens who need this most. 

In South Africa, both ‘crime’ and ‘safety’ are loaded terms. Ziyanda Stuurman unpacks the complex and fraught history of policing, courts and prisons in South Africa. In her analysis of the problems nationally and in putting those problems in context with the rest of the world, she concludes that more resources won’t necessarily lead to more safety. What then, will?

Ziyanda unpacks this complex question deftly with a view of a better future for us all.

A Tango With Death - Tolletjie Botha And The DCC (Paperback): Giancarlo Coccia A Tango With Death - Tolletjie Botha And The DCC (Paperback)
Giancarlo Coccia
R310 Discovery Miles 3 100 Ships in 4 - 8 working days

‘Dancing a tango with death’ was the daily life of the DCC – the Directorate of Covert Collection – secret agents, working in what JJ ‘Tolletjie’ Botha called ‘hostile countries’. Who were these men? Airline pilots, Belgian missionaries, German industrialists, engineers, medical doctors, high-ranking officers of enemy countries and last, but not least, people like a well-known Namibian lawyer and a famous, internationally acclaimed South African singer; people who, sometimes unwittingly, collaborated with the ‘shadow’s men’, believing they were helping friendly countries … Did the document prepared by General Pierre Steyn, the famous topsecret Steyn Report, really exist?

In this book you will find the full original document whose existence has been denied by FW de Klerk and his closest allies. Did Judge Richard Goldstone act bona fide by accepting in his final report the information given to him by Counter Intelligence and the NIS, information that, at the very end, emerged as “hearsay”? Was Judge Goldstone aware of the final objective of the tandem pair Steyn-De Klerk to decapitate the South African Defence Force?

Did the top structure of the DCC maintain close contacts with most of the Western intelligence services, and particularly the British MI6? Was any one of the hundreds of civilian and military men ‘listed’ as part of the infamous Third Force ever condemned? Was Staal Burger or Ferdi Barnard really part of the DCC or were they ‘imposed’ by the then Chief of the Army, General Kat Liebenberg? Did you know that more than half the African members of the first Mandela cabinet had been on the DCC’s payroll? Why did the Motsuenyane Commission of Enquiry have to suspend its search, and never published the list of ANC members massacred or disappeared, victims of their own comrades?

Licence To Loot - How The Plunder Of Eskom And Other Parastatals Almost Sank South Africa (Paperback): Stephan Hofstatter Licence To Loot - How The Plunder Of Eskom And Other Parastatals Almost Sank South Africa (Paperback)
Stephan Hofstatter 4
R270 R216 Discovery Miles 2 160 Save R54 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Licence To Loot is a fast-paced, hard-hitting investigation into parastatal looting, written by journalist Stephan Hofstatter. At the centre of the story is Eskom, the largest power utility in Africa, which could determine the success or failure of South Africa’s economy.

Hofstatter’s story begins in 2016, with the Guptas’ controversial purchase of Optimum coal mine and Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe’s key role in the deal. From there it takes the reader on a journey from secret meetings in London hotel rooms to a clandestinely purchased bolthole on a Dubai golf estate, uncovering the corrupt acquisition of a private jet along the way. From the diary entries of a Saxonwold security guard to first-hand accounts of backroom dealmaking, it traces the origins of a shadowy network between the Guptas and Eskom that ultimately allowed the family to extract billions of rands from the parastatal.

Licence To Loot reveals the complicated deals and machinations underpinning state capture and the subsequent ministerial and board appointments that ceded the control of the country’s parastatals, including Eskom, Transnet, SAA and Denel, to Gupta-linked moneymen.

The book is particularly relevant in the current political climate as it focuses on the impact of state capture, not just its origins, and takes the story beyond the Zuma presidency.

How To Steal A Country - State Capture And Hopes For The Future In South Africa (Paperback): Robin Renwick How To Steal A Country - State Capture And Hopes For The Future In South Africa (Paperback)
Robin Renwick; Illustrated by Zapiro
R280 R219 Discovery Miles 2 190 Save R61 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

How To Steal A Country describes the vertiginous decline in political leadership in South Africa from Mandela to Zuma and its terrible consequences. Robin Renwick’s account reads in parts like a novel – a crime novel – for Sherlock Holmes old adversary, Professor Moriarty, the erstwhile Napoleon of Crime, would have been impressed by the ingenuity, audacity and sheer scale of the looting of the public purse, let alone the impunity with which it has been accomplished.

Based on Renwick’s personal experiences of the main protagonists, it describes the extraordinary influence achieved by the Gupta family for those seeking to do business with state-owned enterprises in South Africa, and the massive amounts earned by Gupta related companies from their associations with them. The ensuing scandals have engulfed Bell Pottinger, KPMG, McKinsey and other multinationals. The primary responsibility for this looting of the state however, rests squarely with President Zuma and key members of his government. But South Africa has succeeded in establishing a genuinely non-racial society full of determined and enterprising people, offering genuine hope for the future. These include independent journalists, black and white, who refuse to be silenced, and the judges, who have acted with courage and independence.

The book concludes that change will come, either by the ruling party reverting to the values of Mandela and Archbishop Tutu, or by the reckoning it otherwise will face one day.

Boereverneukers - Afrikaanse Swendelaars, Swierbolle En Swerkaters (Afrikaans, Paperback): Izak du Plessis Boereverneukers - Afrikaanse Swendelaars, Swierbolle En Swerkaters (Afrikaans, Paperback)
Izak du Plessis 1
R240 R192 Discovery Miles 1 920 Save R48 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

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.

Damaged Goods - The Rise and Fall of Sir Philip Green (Paperback): Oliver Shah Damaged Goods - The Rise and Fall of Sir Philip Green (Paperback)
Oliver Shah 1
R308 R251 Discovery Miles 2 510 Save R57 (19%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

The gripping, jaw-dropping rise and fall of Sir Philip Green, the self-styled 'king of the high street'.

Sir Philip Green is no stranger to scandal. He was once hailed one of Britain's best businessmen and had prime ministers and supermodels on speed dial. But his reputation came crashing down when Oliver Shah uncovered the truth behind his doomed BHS deal.

The collapse of British Home Stores left 11,000 employees without jobs and put 20,000 people's pensions at risk. Green eventually paid Ł363m towards the company's Ł571m pension deficit, but it wasn't long before he found himself in trouble again. In October 2018, Green was named as the business figure at the heart of Britain's #MeToo scandal. With accusations of sexual and racial harassment flooding the press, and with Topshop's pension deficit rising to almost double the figure that toppled BHS, can the retail tycoon survive yet another scandal?

In Damaged Goods, Oliver Shah, the award-winning journalist who first broke the BHS story, shines a light on Green's past and his uncertain future; this is the extraordinary account of the retail magnate Sir Philip Green's fall from grace.

So, For The Record - Behind The Headlines In An Era Of State Capture (Paperback): Anton Harber So, For The Record - Behind The Headlines In An Era Of State Capture (Paperback)
Anton Harber
R290 R232 Discovery Miles 2 320 Save R58 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Veteran journalist Anton Harber brings all his investigative skills to bear on his very own profession, the media. For two years he conducted dozens of interviews with politicians, journalists, policemen and 'deep throats', before piecing together two remarkable tales.

The first is a chilling story of police death squads, rogue units and renditions, and how South Africa's leading newspaper was duped into doing the dirty work of corrupt politicians. The second starts with a broken and discarded hard drive and evolves, with many near misses, into the exposure of the depths of the Guptas' influence over the ruling party.

Harber's two tales reveal the lows and highs of journalism during an era of state capture. His book is both a disquieting exposé of how easily the media can be duped by a conniving cabal for its own selfish ends, and a celebration of brilliant investigative reporting by brave and ethical journalists.

Enemy Of The People - How Jacob Zuma Stole South Africa And How The People Fought Back (Paperback): Adriaan Basson, Pieter du... Enemy Of The People - How Jacob Zuma Stole South Africa And How The People Fought Back (Paperback)
Adriaan Basson, Pieter du Toit 17
R260 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R24 (9%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Enemy Of The People is the first definitive account of Zuma’s catastrophic misrule, offering eyewitness descriptions and cogent analysis of how South Africa was brought to its knees – and how a nation fought back.

When Jacob Zuma took over the leadership of the ANC one muggy Polokwane evening in December 2007, he inherited a country where GDP was growing by more than 6% per annum, a party enjoying the support of two-thirds of the electorate, and a unified tripartite alliance. Today, South Africa is caught in the grip of a patronage network, the economy is floundering and the ANC is staring down the barrel of a defeat at the 2019 general elections. How did we get here?

Zuma first brought to heel his party, Africa’s oldest and most revered liberation movement, subduing and isolating dissidents associated with his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. Then saw the emergence of the tenderpreneur and those attempting to capture the state, as well as a network of family, friends and business associates that has become so deeply embedded that it has, in effect, replaced many parts of government. Zuma opened up the state to industrial-scale levels of corruption, causing irreparable damage to state enterprises, institutions of democracy, and the ANC itself.

But it hasn’t all gone Zuma’s way. Former allies have peeled away. A new era of activism has arisen and outspoken civil servants have stepped forward to join a cross-section of civil society and a robust media. As a divided ANC square off for the elective conference in December, where there is everything to gain or to lose, award-winning journalists Adriaan Basson and Pieter du Toit offer a brilliant and up-to-date account of the Zuma era.

WTF - Capturing Zuma: A Cartoonist's Tale (Paperback): Zapiro Zapiro, Mike Willis WTF - Capturing Zuma: A Cartoonist's Tale (Paperback)
Zapiro Zapiro, Mike Willis
R295 R231 Discovery Miles 2 310 Save R64 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Only Zapiro can truly capture the craziness and the seriousness of state capture and the Zuma years. WTF is the award-winning and best-selling cartoonist’s definitive, unique and superbly funny record of this rollercoaster time in our history in words and more than 400 brilliant cartoons.

Zapiro’s career has been tightly entwined with the bewildering tale of Jacob Zuma for more than 20 years. He has sharply charted his rise and his fall and everything in between, including the corrupting presence of the Guptas and the destructive cancer of state capture. On two different occasions Jacob Zuma served Zapiro with unfulfilled lawsuits totalling R22 million, claiming his dignity had been infringed, and the cartoonist has been threatened in other ways by senior political figures because of his caustic and brilliant work. Zapiro first drew a showerhead on Zuma in 2006 as a comment on his preposterous evidence during his rape trial that he took a shower after sex to reduce the chance of getting AIDS. That showerhead image stuck in the public imagination, and in Zapiro’s cartoons, and has become a nationally known symbol of the former president.

WTF is sure to be another triumph for our best-loved cartoonist.

Turning And Turning - Exploring The Complexities Of South Africa's Democracy (Paperback): Judith February Turning And Turning - Exploring The Complexities Of South Africa's Democracy (Paperback)
Judith February
R280 R219 Discovery Miles 2 190 Save R61 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

South Africans often are deeply polarised in our perspectives of the present and the past. Our ‘ways of seeing’ are fraught with division, and we fail to understand the complexities when we do not see what lies beneath the surface.

There is no denying that the Jacob Zuma presidency took a significant toll on South Africa, exacerbating tensions and exposing the deep fractures that already exist in our society along the lines of race, class and even ethnicity. The Zuma years were marked by cases of corruption and state capture, unprecedented in their brazenness, and increased social protests – many of which were accompanied by violence – aggressive public discourse, lack of respect for reason and an often disturbing resistance to meaningful engagement.

Importantly, those years also placed enormous pressure on our democratic institutions, many of which still bear the scars, and challenged the sovereignty of the Constitution itself.

As an analyst and governance specialist at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) for twelve years, February has had a unique perch. Turning and turning is a snapshot of her IDASA years and the issues tackled, which included work on the arms deal and its corrosive impact on democratic institutions, IDASA’s party-funding campaign, which February helped lead, as well as work on accountability and transparency.

Combining analytical insight with personal observations and experience, February highlights the complex process of building a strong democratic society, and the difficulties of living in a constitutional democracy marked by soaring levels of inequality. There is a need to reflect on and learn from the country’s democratic journey if citizens are to shape our democracy effectively and to fulfill the promise of the Constitution for all South Africans.

The Republic Of Gupta - A Story Of State Capture (Paperback): Pieter-Louis Myburgh The Republic Of Gupta - A Story Of State Capture (Paperback)
Pieter-Louis Myburgh 15
R320 R256 Discovery Miles 2 560 Save R64 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

The Guptas, arguably South Africa’s most infamous family, have dominated news headlines for many years. But the landing of a commercial airliner packed with wedding guests at Air Force Base Waterkloof in 2013 sparked the most severe onslaught of public outrage the politically connected family had endured up to that fateful day. Since then, they have become embroiled in allegations of state capture, of dishing out cabinet posts to officials who would do their bidding, and of benefiting from lucrative state contracts and dubious loans.

The Republic Of Gupta examines the various controversies surrounding the family and explores the path that took the brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta from an obscure town in India to the inner circle of South African president Jacob Zuma.

This book investigates:

  • What were the Guptas up to during Thabo Mbeki’s tenure as president?
  • What role did they play in Zuma’s dramatic rise to power?
  • How do they get senior government officials to do their bidding?
  • What is it like being in the family’s employ?
  • What does state capture really involve?

Unpacking these and other questions, Pieter-Louis Myburgh delves deeper than ever before into the Guptas’ business dealings and their links to prominent South African politicians, and explains how one family managed to transform an entire country into The Republic Of Gupta.

Death And Taxes - How SARS Made Hitmen, Drug Dealers & Tax Dodgers Pay Their Dues (Paperback): Johann van Loggerenberg Death And Taxes - How SARS Made Hitmen, Drug Dealers & Tax Dodgers Pay Their Dues (Paperback)
Johann van Loggerenberg
R295 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R59 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Nothing in life is certain, except death and taxes – or so the expression goes. And over the past two decades South African criminals and tax dodgers have come to realise this truth the hard way.

Tax sleuth Johann van Loggerenberg was at the centre of many of SARS’ high-profile cases during his time there. As far as SARS is concerned all forms of income are subjected to tax, even if by ill-gotten means. Whether you are a drug dealer from Durban, one of the hitmen who shot Brett Kebble or soccer boss Irvin Khoza, you have to pay your dues!

Van Loggerenberg relates the riveting inside stories of the investigations into businessmen like Dave King, Billy Rautenbach, Barry Tannenbaum and his ponzi scheme, and others. Over the years he got to know all the scams and dirty tricks in the book and he explains these in plain language.

In these investigations the tax authority worked closely with the police, the NPA and the Directorate of Special Operations. However, after a few years SARS became the victim of its own success. In telling the stories of how tax evaders were caught, Van Loggerenberg also shows how the power struggle between different state departments and the phenomenon of state capture in recent years started crippling SARS.

Democracy & Delusion - 10 Myths In South African Politics (Paperback): Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Democracy & Delusion - 10 Myths In South African Politics (Paperback)
Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh 6
R295 R254 Discovery Miles 2 540 Save R41 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

A fresh, different perspective on South African politics.

Many common political arguments come pre-packaged in a very old and dusty box – and in this book, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh sets out to dismantle that box. The self-evident truths are not so inarguable. He argues that free education is far from impossible, land reform is not the first step to chaos, and the media is not free…

In this incisive, informed book we find challenges to commonly held opinions and new solutions to old problems.

Broken Land (Hardcover): Daylin Paul Broken Land (Hardcover)
Daylin Paul
R420 R328 Discovery Miles 3 280 Save R92 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

The winner of the 2017 Ernest Cole Award is Daylin Paul for his project, Broken Land. The project explores the other side of power. Set in Mpumalanga, home of 46% of South Africa's arable soil, it is also the area where nine power-burning coal stations are active. Paul's work explores the direct impact of fuel-burning coal stations on the local economy, population, farming community and, more broadly, climate change. As Paul says, "These power stations, while providing electricity for an energy-desperate South Africa, also have a devastating and lasting impact on the environment and the health of local people. Mining licences granted conditionally by the South African government are meant to safeguard the ecology and allow local people to benefit from the mineral wealth of the land. But it is clear that these conditions are not being followed and that the health and economic well-being of both the land and its people are being jeopardised. Vast tracts of fertile, arable land are being ripped up, the landscape scarred with the black pits of coal mines while coal-burning power stations are one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world." The polluting power stations not only contribute to global climate change but, through toxic sulphur effluents, also to the poisoning of scarce water supplies for a range of communities who are dependent on these for their survival. The area has in recent years also been hit by devastating droughts. The power dynamics in the area have in recent times been drawn into the national political arena. The former Glencore coal mines, taken over by Optimum Coal Holdings Limited, a conglomerate owned by the Gupta family, are embroiled in corruption and nepotism scandals that are affecting the very highest levels of the South African government. The aim of Paul's project as he says is "to look at both the macro issues like pollution, poverty and climate change while also personalising the experience of the local people who are on the front lines of this crisis and provide us with a glimpse of what the future could be like for the country and indeed the SADC region."

Precarious Power - Compliance And Discontent Under Ramaphosa's ANC (Paperback): Susan Booysen Precarious Power - Compliance And Discontent Under Ramaphosa's ANC (Paperback)
Susan Booysen 4
R350 R273 Discovery Miles 2 730 Save R77 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

What happens when a former liberation movement turned political party loses its dominance but survives because no opposition party is able to succeed it? The trends are established: South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) is in decline. Its hegemony has been weakened, its legitimacy diluted. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment suspended the ANC’s electoral decline, but it also heightened internal organisational tensions between those who would deepen its corrupt and captured status, and those who would redeem it. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened its fragility, and the state’s inability to manage the socio-economic devastation has aggravated prior faultlines. These are the undeniable knowns of South African politics; what will evolve from this is less certain.

In her latest book Precarious Power Susan Booyen delves deep into this political terrain and its trajectory for South Africa’s future. She covers an expansive range of topics, from contradictory party politics and dissent that is veiled in order to retain electoral following, to populist policy-making and the use of soft law enforcement to ensure that angry citizens do not become further alienated. Booysen’s analysis reveals Ramaphosa to be a president who is weak and walking a tightrope between serving the needs of the organisation and those of the nation. While he rose to the challenge of being a national leader during the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis has highlighted existing inequalities in South Africa and discontent has grown. The ANC’s power has indeed become exceedingly precarious, and this seems unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

This incisive analysis of ANC power – as party, as government, as state – will appeal not only to political scientists but to all who take a keen interest in current affairs.

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