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Books > Local Author Showcase > Politics

Spear - Mandela And The Revolutionaries (Paperback): Paul S. Landau Spear - Mandela And The Revolutionaries (Paperback)
Paul S. Landau
R340 R314 Discovery Miles 3 140 Save R26 (8%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Drawing from several hundred first-person accounts, most of which are unpublished, Spear reshapes our understanding of Mandela by focusing on this intense but relatively neglected period of escalation in the movement against apartheid.

Landau’s book is not a biography, nor is it a history of a militia or an army; rather, it is a riveting story about ordinary civilians debating and acting together in extremis.

Contextualizing Mandela and MK’s activities amid anti-colonial change and Black Marxism in the early 1960s, Spear also speaks to today’s transnational anti-racism protests and worldwide struggles against oppression.

The Whistleblowers (Paperback, Updated Edition): Mandy Wiener The Whistleblowers (Paperback, Updated Edition)
Mandy Wiener
R270 R245 Discovery Miles 2 450 Save R25 (9%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

With corruption and fraud endemic in democratic South Africa, whistleblowers have provided an invaluable service to society through disclosures about coverups, malfeasance and wrongdoing. Their courageous acts have resulted in the recovery of millions of rands to the fiscus and to their fellow citizens as well as in improved transparency and accountability.

But in most cases, the outcomes for the whistleblowers themselves are devastating. Some have been gunned down in orchestrated assassinations, others have been threatened and targeted in sinister dirty-tricks campaigns. Many are hounded out of their jobs, ostracised and victimised. They are pushed to the fringes of society.

These are the evocative accounts of South Africa’s whistleblowers, told in their own voices, from across the country. The Whistleblowers also advocates for a change in legislation, organisational support and social attitudes in order to embolden others to have the courage to step up

Capture In The Court - In Defence Of Judges And The Constitution (Paperback): Dan Mafora Capture In The Court - In Defence Of Judges And The Constitution (Paperback)
Dan Mafora
R360 R321 Discovery Miles 3 210 Save R39 (11%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Are the courts against the people of South Africa?

Since populist factions claim to be the people, judges confronting them do not just decide against the people; they are against the people.

The judiciary faces a barrage of attacks not just from the ruling ANC but from other political parties clamouring for power. There comes a predictable phase in the cycle of politics where this is most likely to occur. Why does it benefit political parties to deflect from their failure to deliver with calls for parliamentary sovereignty? Why do so many myths circulate about the nature of our courts and constitution?

Dan Mafora answers these questions and more in an inspired analysis. He takes us through the historical ideological clashes within the ANC that make judicial independence up for debate, how administrations since '94 have responded to judicial decisions and why this phenomenon is important to watch globally. He also examines how disinformation campaigns play a big role.

Days Of Zondo - The Fight For Freedom From Corruption (Paperback): Ferial Haffajee, Ivor Chipkin Days Of Zondo - The Fight For Freedom From Corruption (Paperback)
Ferial Haffajee, Ivor Chipkin 2
R452 Discovery Miles 4 520 Ships in 2 - 4 working days

In order to look to the future, we must first understand the past. On 2 November 2016, then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela ordered a Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. Chaired by Judge Raymond Zondo, the commission began proceedings on 21 August 2018. After three years of staggering testimonies, the breadth and depth of how South Africa was captured has been laid bare for a traumatised nation to comprehend.

Days Of Zondo is the definitive guide to what was formally exposed during the commission; with players ranging from the Gupta family to former president Jacob Zuma, Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa, Ace Magashule, former NPA boss Shaun Abrahams, Brian Molefe, Bosasa's Angelo Agrizzi, numerous ministers and associates, business leaders and corporate entities. This tangled web of corruption and criminality is unravelled by award-winning journalist Ferial Haffajee as she leads the threader through Zondo's biggest moments and the most shocking admissions, and makes sense of the commission's findings.

With infographics and timelines that give a bird's-eye view of the key findings from the commission's report, including how much money was spent, how much was lost and where it could have helped us improve the quality of life for ordinary South African citizens. It also includes commentary from Ismail Momoniat, deputy director-general at the National Treasury, and Ivor Chipkin, a leading scholar of government and public policy in South Africa and internationally.

Playing the Enemy - Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation (Paperback, Tie-In - (Now filmed as Invictus)): John Carlin Playing the Enemy - Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation (Paperback, Tie-In - (Now filmed as Invictus))
John Carlin 1
R334 Discovery Miles 3 340 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Now filmed as INVICTUS directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2008 As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand's all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered the hearts of white South Africa. Playing the Enemy tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences.

Rights To Land - A Guide To Tenure Upgrading And Restitution In South Africa (Paperback): William Beinart, Peter Delius,... Rights To Land - A Guide To Tenure Upgrading And Restitution In South Africa (Paperback)
William Beinart, Peter Delius, Michelle Hay 1
R250 R231 Discovery Miles 2 310 Save R19 (8%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

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.

General Jan Smuts - And His First World War In Africa 1914-1917 (Paperback): David Brock Katz General Jan Smuts - And His First World War In Africa 1914-1917 (Paperback)
David Brock Katz
R320 R286 Discovery Miles 2 860 Save R34 (11%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Jan Smuts grabbed the opportunity to realise his ambition of a Greater South Africa when the First World War ushered in a final scramble for Africa. He set his sights firmly northward upon the German colonies of South West Africa and East Africa.

Smuts’s abilities as a general have been much denigrated by his contemporaries and later historians, but he was no armchair soldier. He first learned his soldier’s craft under General Koos de la Rey and General Louis Botha during the South African War (1899−1902). He emerged from that conflict immersed in Boer manoeuvre doctrine.

After forming the Union Defence Force in 1912, Smuts played an integral part in the German South West African campaign in 1915. Placed in command of the Allied forces in East Africa in 1916, he led a mixed bag of South Africans and imperial troops against the legendary Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his Schutztruppen. His penchant for manoeuvre warfare and mounted infantry freed most of the vast German territory from Lettow-Vorbeck’s grip.

General Jan Smuts and his First World War in Africa provides a long-overdue reassessment of Smuts’s generalship and his role in furthering the strategic aims of South Africa and the British Empire during this era.

House Of Bondage (Hardcover, Re-Issue): Ernest Cole House Of Bondage (Hardcover, Re-Issue)
Ernest Cole; Preface by Mongane Wally Serote; Text written by Oluremi C. Onabanjo, James Sanders
R1,565 R1,243 Discovery Miles 12 430 Save R322 (21%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

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.

The Thabo Mbeki I Know (Paperback): Sifiso Ndlovu, Miranda Strydom The Thabo Mbeki I Know (Paperback)
Sifiso Ndlovu, Miranda Strydom; Foreword by Barney Afako 3
R399 R362 Discovery Miles 3 620 Save R37 (9%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

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.

Mandela Dead And Alive 1976 - 2001 (English, French, Paperback): Edouard J. Maunick Mandela Dead And Alive 1976 - 2001 (English, French, Paperback)
Edouard J. Maunick
R36 Discovery Miles 360 Ships in 6 - 10 working days

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.

Slabbert: Man On A Mission - A Biography (Paperback): Albert Grundlingh Slabbert: Man On A Mission - A Biography (Paperback)
Albert Grundlingh
R300 R268 Discovery Miles 2 680 Save R32 (11%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert was a man on a mission, whether as an academic, opposition politician, democratic facilitator or businessman. When he famously led a delegation of leading Afrikaners to Dakar in 1987 to meet the exiled ANC, many saw it as a breakthrough moment, while others felt he had been taken in. And yet his reputation – for honesty, integrity, wit and courage – still towers above many of his contemporaries.

An academic turned politician, Slabbert brought unusual intellectual rigour to Parliament, transforming the upstart Progressive Federal Party into a force that could challenge the National Party. Disillusioned by South African society, he resigned in 1986 to explore democratic alternatives. Sidelined during the democratic transition, he continued to pursue a broad range of initiatives aimed at building democracy, empowering black South Africans and transforming the economy.

Grundlingh offers insights into this most unlikely politician, providing new perspectives on a figure who even today remains an enigma.

It's Code Red (Paperback): Zapiro Zapiro It's Code Red (Paperback)
Zapiro Zapiro; Illustrated by Zapiro Zapiro 2
R174 Discovery Miles 1 740 Ships in 2 - 4 working days

Zapiro needs no introduction. His 19th annual speaks for itself.

No year would be complete without Zapiro’s annual collection of cartoons, and in this latest book of sharp-witted and well-timed cartoons, Zapiro once again proves himself a satirical genius, ensuring that no event passes by without comment … or a laugh.

The Terrorist Album - Apartheid's Insurgents, Collaborators And The Security Police (Hardcover): Jacob Dlamini The Terrorist Album - Apartheid's Insurgents, Collaborators And The Security Police (Hardcover)
Jacob Dlamini
R375 R346 Discovery Miles 3 460 Save R29 (8%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

An award-winning historian and journalist tells the very human story of apartheid's afterlife, tracing the fates of South African insurgents, collaborators, and the security police through the tale of the clandestine photo album used to target apartheid's enemies. From the 1960s until the early 1990s, the South African security police and counterinsurgency units collected over 7,000 photographs of apartheid's enemies.

The political rogue's gallery was known as the "terrorist album," copies of which were distributed covertly to police stations throughout the country. Many who appeared in the album were targeted for surveillance. Sometimes the security police tried to turn them; sometimes the goal was elimination. All of the albums were ordered destroyed when apartheid's violent collapse began. But three copies survived the memory purge.

With full access to one of these surviving albums, award-winning South African historian and journalist, Jacob Dlamini investigates the story behind these images: their origins, how they were used, and the lives they changed. Extensive interviews with former targets and their family members testify to the brutal and often careless work of the police. Although the police certainly hunted down resisters, the terrorist album also contains mug shots of bystanders and even regime supporters.

Their inclusion is a stark reminder that apartheid's guardians were not the efficient, if morally compromised, law enforcers of legend but rather blundering agents of racial panic. With particular attentiveness to the afterlife of apartheid, Dlamini uncovers the stories of former insurgents disenchanted with today?s South Africa, former collaborators seeking forgiveness, and former security police reinventing themselves as South Africa's newest export: "security consultants" serving as mercenaries for Western nations and multinational corporations.

The Terrorist Album is a brilliant evocation of apartheid's tragic caprice, ultimate failure, and grim legacy.

The New Apartheid - Apartheid Did Not Die, It Was Privatised (Paperback): Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh The New Apartheid - Apartheid Did Not Die, It Was Privatised (Paperback)
Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh 3
R360 R321 Discovery Miles 3 210 Save R39 (11%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

South Africa’s story is often presented as a triumph of new over old, but while formal apartheid was abolished decades ago, stark and distressing similarities persist.

Dr Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh explores the edifice of systemic racial oppression — the new apartheid — that continues to thrive, despite or even because of our democratic system.

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
R311 Discovery Miles 3 110 Ships in 2 - 4 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.

Malema - Money. Power. Patronage. (Paperback): Micah Reddy, Pauli van Wyk Malema - Money. Power. Patronage. (Paperback)
Micah Reddy, Pauli van Wyk 1
R360 R259 Discovery Miles 2 590 Save R101 (28%) In Stock

This book tells the story of how Julius Malema used his growing political clout to bankroll his party and amass a personal fortune. It reveals astounding new details about Malema’s old, seemingly forgotten scandals in Limpopo and how loot from the VBS Bank found its way to Malema and Shivambu. It shows the insidious ways in which money courses through South African politics and how some leaders exploit valid grievances about inequality to steal from the very people they claim to fight for.

Mafia Land - Inside South Africa's Darkest Cartels (Paperback): Kyle Cowan Mafia Land - Inside South Africa's Darkest Cartels (Paperback)
Kyle Cowan
R350 R269 Discovery Miles 2 690 Save R81 (23%) In Stock

Behind the façade of South Africa lies a brutal shadow-world ruled by mafias, cartels, and crime syndicates locked in a ruthless war over South Africa’s riches.

There’s the tobacco mafia. The water tanker mafia. The taxi mafia. The hospital mafia. The construction mafia. The kidnapping mafia.

Each one feeds off a vast web of patronage and extraction that stretches from street level to the highest echelons of government. Their bloodsucking tentacles reach deep into municipalities, state-owned enterprises, political parties, the police, and even the National Prosecuting Authority. Those who resist them are silenced in cold blood.

This is not a criminal underworld lurking in the shadows. It is part of the system itself. Where does organised crime end and the state begin? Are the two so intertwined that it has become near impossible to distinguish the one from the other? Has South Africa become a mafia state?

Multi-award-winning investigative journalist Kyle Cowan sets out to answer these and other questions, revealing the dark underbelly of a country where the thin blue line has all but disappeared.

Mafia Land is the hair-raising tale of twelve of South Africa’s most dangerous cartels, and how they will stop at nothing in their deadly, devastating plunder of our country.

Walter & Albertina Sisulu - In Our Lifetime (Paperback): Elinor Sisulu Walter & Albertina Sisulu - In Our Lifetime (Paperback)
Elinor Sisulu; Foreword by Nelson Mandela
R631 Discovery Miles 6 310 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

For more than five decades Walter and Albertina Sisulu were at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid. As secretary-general of the ANC, Walter was sentenced to life imprisonment with Nelson Mandela in 1964 and spent 26 years in prison until his release in 1989. While her husband and his colleagues were in jail, Albertina played a crucial role in keeping the ANC alive underground, and in the 1980s was co-President of the United Democratic Front. Their story has been one of persecution, bitter struggle and painful separation. But it is also one of patience, hope and enduring love.

We Have Now Begun Our Descent - How To Stop South Africa Losing Its Way (Paperback): Justice Malala We Have Now Begun Our Descent - How To Stop South Africa Losing Its Way (Paperback)
Justice Malala 2
R342 Discovery Miles 3 420 Ships in 2 - 4 working days

12 February 2015. The South African secret services block the cellphones of journalists covering Parliament. Opposition party members are violently thrown out of the House. President Jacob Zuma – accused of corruption on a grand scale – laughs uproariously. Where is the country of Nelson Mandela headed?

The institutions of democracy are falling apart or being captured by a narrow and deeply corrupt elite built around Zuma. Its infrastructure is collapsing. Its economy cannot provide succor to the eight million who don’t have jobs. Protests over service delivery are on the rise. Does South Africa have the resolve and the leadership to stem the slide? In a devastating, searing, honest paean to his country, renowned political journalist and commentator Justice Malala forces South Africa to come face to face with the country it has become: corrupt, crime-ridden, compromised and its institutions captured by a selfish political elite that is bent on enriching itself at the expense of the increasingly marginalised masses.

In this deeply personal reflection, Malala’s diagnosis is devastating: South Africa is on the brink. He does not stop there. Malala believes that we have the ingredients to turn things around: our lauded Constitution, our wealth of talent, our history of activism and a democratic trajectory that can be used to stop the rot from setting in. But he has a warning: South Africans need to wake up now, or else they will soon find their country has been stolen.

The Great Pretenders - Race And Class Under ANC Rule (Paperback): Ebrahim Harvey The Great Pretenders - Race And Class Under ANC Rule (Paperback)
Ebrahim Harvey 1
R320 R295 Discovery Miles 2 950 Save R25 (8%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

In The Great Pretenders: Race and Class under ANC Rule, veteran political analyst Ebrahim Harvey delivers a stinging critique of the ANC. This must-read analysis reveals the complete failure of the ANC to roll back the race and class divide.

Harvey argues that a series of events – including HIV/AIDS denialism, the Marikana shootings, the Nkandla funding scandal, mass student protests, the Esidemeni tragedy, systemic corruption and state capture – are rooted in policy choices made by the ANC during negotiations and in power. This book is not just an evisceration of the ANC, however, as Harvey is able, through many interviews and patient delving into the past and present, to provide an indispensable guide to the future.

The Great Pretenders is fierce, passionate and provocative. It is certain to provoke those in power, stirring debate on not only the pernicious issue of race relations in South Africa, but on how to create the shared society promised us.

Recession, Recovery & Reform - South Africa After Covid 19 (Paperback): Raymond Parsons Recession, Recovery & Reform - South Africa After Covid 19 (Paperback)
Raymond Parsons
R300 R277 Discovery Miles 2 770 Save R23 (8%) In Stock

Where is South Africa going now? And where will South Africa be in five years’ time? Much has been written about the country’s past, but is enough thought being given to its future? Is South Africa in danger of again losing its way, given its pressing socio-economic challenges?

Prominent economist Raymond Parsons has drawn together a powerful collection of expert thinkers, economists and analysts who tackle these issues head on as well as offering timely solutions to several of South Africa’s most pressing problems, drawing key lessons from the past in crystallising what South Africa needs to do to create a better future.

After the so-called ‘lost decade’ under the Zuma administration, South Africans had high hopes that President Ramaphosa would deliver on his promise of a ‘new dawn’. Yet despite high expectations that the country would finally turn the corner and settle onto a path of stronger inclusive growth and better governance, socioeconomic conditions have deterioriated. Growth remains negligible, unemployment has worsened and the fiscus is under considerable strain. Will SA be able to break out of its present ‘growth trap’ without falling into a ‘debt trap’?

The country is also facing global headwinds in the form of volatile market conditions, shifting geopolitics, and a fast-changing and disruptive technological landscape which threatens to leave all but the most well-prepared behind. So how must the different strands of policy – ranging from purely economic issues to broader questions around education and the rule of law – now knit together to create a bigger, stronger and better SA economy in future?

If the vision of a well-functioning society is to be realised, policy uncertainty about the road ahead must be generally tackled at the highest level to facilitate job-rich growth. And business and civil society, in its turn, must take a long-term view of South Africa’s future and commit energy and resources to bringing about change which is both productive and transformational.

Recession, Recovery & Reform will offer compelling new insights into how South Africa can unlock its potential in the years ahead. The publication of this title a month ahead of the ANC policy conference in June 2020, at which President Ramaphosa’s political and economic ‘track record’ will be widely assessed, ensures it will be a must-read for all who are concerned about South Africa’s well-being and who are willing to believe that a ‘new dawn’ is indeed possible.

The Enemy Within - How The ANC Lost The Battle Against Corruption (Paperback): Mpumelelo Mkhabela The Enemy Within - How The ANC Lost The Battle Against Corruption (Paperback)
Mpumelelo Mkhabela
R370 R330 Discovery Miles 3 300 Save R40 (11%) In Stock

At a watershed meeting in 2000 the ANC committed itself to "the new cadre" project. A project with the aim to recruit and develop ANC members who are dedicated, selfless people with integrity. Yet twenty years later the ANC is consumed by corrupt cadres with the party clearly losing the battle against corruption and state capture.

How did this happen, and what exactly went wrong?

Political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela tells a fascinating story starting with Mandela, the Scorpions and Tony Yengeni all the way to Zuma and the Guptas to explain how we got here.

The Great Trek Uncut - Escape From British Rule: The Boer Exodus From The Cape Colony, 1836 (Paperback): Robin Binckes The Great Trek Uncut - Escape From British Rule: The Boer Exodus From The Cape Colony, 1836 (Paperback)
Robin Binckes
R647 Discovery Miles 6 470 Ships in 6 - 10 working days

In the early planning stages of Freedom Park, Robin Binckes participated as a member of the history sub-committee. The amount of debate and argument, much of it heated, astounded him. Practically every event discussed was interpreted from diametrically differing viewpoints. One of the most controversial topics was the Great Trek, the 1836 Boer exodus from the Cape Colony.

Traditionally writers on the subject have covered the event from a perspective not only of 'white history' but predominantly of 'Afrikaner history'. It has always been seen as 'an Afrikaner event'. It was anything but. As the Great Trek and the events leading up to it involved every section of the population - Zulu, Sotho, Ndebele, Xhosa, Khoisan, Khoikhoi, Coloured, British, English-speaking South African and Boer - it is time to portray the trek in that light, in the context of a unbiased, modern South Africa.

Like most history the dots are all connected; it is impossible to separate the Great Trek from events which took place as far back as the Portuguese explorers because those early events shaped the backdrop to the causes of the Great Trek. Most writers have specialized in the trek itself whereas Binckes has adopted a broader approach that studies the impact of the earlier white incursions and migrations - Portuguese, Dutch, French and British - on southern Africa, to create a better understanding of the trek and its causes. Drawing heavily on eyewitness accounts wherever possible, he has consolidated these with the perspectives of leading historians, the final product being an objective and comprehensive record of one of the seminal events in South African history.

This book shows that the Afrikaner was, is, and always will be, an important player in South African society, but it shows him as part of a bigger picture. The author distances himself from the noble characters stereotyped for the past two centuries and portrays them in their true light: wonderful, courageous people with human feelings, strengths and failings.

The Dark Prince - An Unflinching portrait of Paul Mashatile's controversial rise through the ANC ranks to the doorstep of... The Dark Prince - An Unflinching portrait of Paul Mashatile's controversial rise through the ANC ranks to the doorstep of the presidency. (Paperback)
Pieter du Toit
R340 R269 Discovery Miles 2 690 Save R71 (21%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Should Paul Mashatile be South Africa’s next president?

Surviving scandal, controversy and the Zuma years, Paul Mashatile has risen through the ranks to the doorstep of the presidency.

Over his political career spanning 30 years, he has successfully navigated the corruption and factionalism that the ANC has become known for.

Now, he wants to take charge of the party – and the Union Buildings. The question is: Should he? Is this man suitable for the highest office?

•    He has been associated with the ‘Alex Mafia’ for more than 30 years.

What influence do they have over Mashatile?

•    He leads a lavish lifestyle, living in luxury homes in Johannesburg and Cape Town. How were they acquired?
•    He has been outspoken about the economy, Black Economic Empowerment, and South Africa’s foreign relations. But does he have firm principles?
•    And how has his string of lovers affected his professional life?

This meticulously researched account by bestselling author Pieter du Toit answers these vital questions and reveals the dark truth about the ANC’s crown prince.

Prisoners Of The Past - South African Democracy And The Legacy Of Minority Rule (Paperback): Steven Friedman Prisoners Of The Past - South African Democracy And The Legacy Of Minority Rule (Paperback)
Steven Friedman
R380 R351 Discovery Miles 3 510 Save R29 (8%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

South Africa’s democracy is often seen as a story of bright beginnings gone astray, a pattern said to be common to Africa. The negotiated settlement of 1994, it is claimed, ended racial domination and created the foundation for a prosperous democracy – but greedy politicians betrayed the promise of a new society.

In Prisoners Of The Past, Steven Friedman astutely argues that this misreads the nature of contemporary South Africa. Building on the work of the economic historian Douglass North and the political thinker Mahmood Mamdani, Friedman shows that South African democracy’s difficulties are legacies of the pre-1994 past. The settlement which ushered in majority rule left intact core features of the apartheid economy and society. The economy continues to exclude millions from its benefits, while racial hierarchies have proved stubborn: apartheid is discredited, but the values of the pre-1948 colonial era, the period of British colonisation, still dominate. Thus South Africa’s democracy supports free elections, civil liberties and the rule of law, but also continues past patterns of exclusion and domination.

Friedman reasons that this ‘path dependence’ is not, as is often claimed, the result of constitutional compromises in 1994 that left domination untouched. This bargain was flawed because it brought not too much compromise, but too little. Compromises extended political citizenship to all but there were no similar bargains on economic and cultural change. Using the work of the radical sociologist Harold Wolpe, Friedman shows that only negotiations on a new economy and society can free South Africans from the prison of the past.

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