Renowned historian Hermann Giliomee challenges the conventional wisdom on the downfall of white rule: Instead of impersonal forces, or the resourcefulness of an indomitable resistance movement, he emphasises the role of Nationalist leaders and of their outspoken critic, Van Zyl Slabbert. What motivated each of the last Afrikaner leaders, from Verwoerd to De Klerk? How did each try to reconcile economic growth, white privilege and security with the demands of an increasingly assertive black leadership and unexpected population figures?

In exploring each leader’s background, reasoning and personal foibles, Giliomee takes issue with the assumption that South Africa was inexorably heading for an ANC victory in 1994. He argues that historical accidents radically affected the course of politics.

Drawing on primary sources and personal interviews, this book sheds dramatic new light on many key moments: Verwoerd’s offer to the urban black leadership in 1950, the incursion into Angola in 1975, the unexpected breakthrough that made possible the labour reforms, Botha’s secret attempt in 1984 to forge a pact with the Soviet Union, the background to the disastrous Rubicon speech and the National Party backtracking in the negotiations.

Giliomee offers a fresh and stimulating political history which attempts not to condemn, but to understand why the last Afrikaner leaders did what they did, and why their own policies ultimately failed them.

Die gevierde historikus Hermann Giliomee beskou die val van wit regering in Suid-Afrika uit ’n prikkelende nuwe hoek: Pleks van onpersoonlike magte, of die vindingrykheid van ’n onstuitbare weerstandsbeweging, beklemtoon hy die rol van die Nasionale leiers en hul uitgesproke kritikus, Van Zyl Slabbert. Wat het die laaste Afrikanerleiers, van Verwoerd tot De Klerk, aangevuur? Hoe het hulle sekuriteit, ekonomiese groei en wit bevoorregting probeer versoen met die eise van ’n immer meer uitgesproke swart leierskap – en met foutiewe volkskattings?

In sy verkenning van elke leier se agtergrond, denke en persoonlikheid, neem Giliomee stelling in teenoor die idee dat Suid-Afrika in 1994 onafwendbaar op ’n ANC-oorwinning afgestuur het. Hoewel hy die belang van strukturele magte erken, argumenteer hy dat historiese toevallighede en die gehalte van leierskap die landspolitiek radikaal beïnvloed het.

Openhartige gesprekke met ’n magdom betrokkenes en talle primêre bronne werp dramatiese nuwe lig op sleutelmomente: Verwoerd se aanbod in 1950 aan stedelike swart leiers, die inval in Angola in 1975, die onverwagte deurbraak wat die arbeidshervormings moontlik gemaak het, Botha se geheime poging in 1984 om ’n ooreenkoms met die Sowjetunie aan te gaan, die agtergrond tot die rampspoedige Rubikon-toespraak, tronkgesprekke met Mandela, bosberade waar die kabinet taktiek beplan het – en hoe die Nasionale Party in die onderhandelinge nie sy beloftes kon nakom nie.

Giliomee bied ’n prikkelende politieke geskiedenis. Eerder as om te veroordeel, probeer hy verstaan waarom die laaste Afrikanerleiers opgetree het soos hulle het, en hoekom hul eie beleid hulle uiteindelik in die steek gelaat het.

We Are No Longer At Ease is a collection of personal articles, essays, speeches and poetry mainly from voices of young people who were part of the student-led protest movement known as #FeesMustFall which began in 2015. It tells the journey of a youth that participated in a movement that redefined politics in post-apartheid South Africa and is the evidence of a “born free” generation telling their own story and leading discourse as well as action on transforming South Africa.

The collection includes works by the young student leaders turned academic and public commentators such as David Maimela, Thapelo Tselapedi and Sisonke Msimang; student newspaper journalists that were covering the protests like Natasha Ndlebe; public writing commentators with aims to inform and teach the broader South African society about the aspects of the movement like Yamkela Spengane and Rofhiwa Maneta; lecturers who were assisting the students articulate and find clarity in the way they shaped and voiced their ideas such as Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni and then of course others were foot soldiers on the ground leading students through the police brutality of rubber bullets and pepper spray like Loverlyn Nwandeyi, Ntokozo Qwabe and Ramabina Mahapa.

The author argues for the continued importance of NGOs, social movements and other 'civil society' actors in creating new forms of citizenship and democracy in South Africa. Critics of liberalism in Europe and North America argue that a stress on 'rights talk' and identity politics has led to fragmentation, individualisation and depoliticisation. But are these developments really signs of 'the end ofpolitics'? In the post-colonial, post-apartheid, neo-liberal new South Africa poor and marginalised citizens continue to struggle for land, housing and health care. They must respond to uncertainty and radical contingencies on a daily basis. This requires multiple strategies, an engaged, practised citizenship, one that links the daily struggle to well organised mobilisation around claiming rights. Robins argues for the continued importance of NGOs, socialmovements and other 'civil society' actors in creating new forms of citizenship and democracy. He goes beyond the sanitised prescriptions of 'good governance' so often touted by development agencies. Instead he argues for a complex, hybrid and ambiguous relationship between civil society and the state, where new negotiations around citizenship emerge. Steven L. Robins is Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Stellenbosch and editorof Limits to Liberation after Apartheid (James Currey). Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland): University of KwaZulu-Natal Press (PB)

In 2012 Angy Peter was bringing up her young children with her husband, Isaac Mbadu, in Bardale, Mfuleni, on the Cape Flats.

Angy and Isaac were activists, leading the charge for a commission of inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha. Angy was vocally against vigilante violence and a go-to-person when demanding better services from the police.

But when the commission started its hearings Angy found herself instead on trial for murdering – necklacing – a young neighbourhood troublemaker, Rowan du Preez. The State’s case would centre on the accusation Rowan du Preez allegedly made with his dying breath – that Angy and her husband Isaac set the tyre alight around his neck.

Simone Haysom takes us into the heart of a mystery: was Angy Peter framed by the police for a murder she did not commit? Or was she, as the State argued, ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’, who won a young man’s trust then turned against him, in the most brutal way?

Simone Haysom spent four years meticulously researching this case and the result is a court-room drama interwoven with expert opinion and research into crime and the state of policing in the townships of South Africa.

Remains of the Social is an interdisciplinary volume of essays that engages with what 'the social' might mean after apartheid; a condition referred to as 'the post-apartheid social'. The volume grapples with apartheid as a global phenomenon that extends beyond the borders of South Africa between 1948 and 1994 and foregrounds the tension between the weight of lived experience that was and is apartheid, the structures that condition that experience and a desire for a 'post-apartheid social' (think unity through difference). Collectively, the contributors argue for a recognition of the 'the post-apartheid' as a condition that names the labour of coming to terms with the ordering principles that apartheid both set in place and foreclosed. The volume seeks to provide a sense of the terrain on which 'the post-apartheid' - as a desire for a difference that is not apartheid's difference - unfolds, falters and is worked through.

In the afternoon of May 10, 2015, Mmusi Maimane was announced as the new leader of the Democratic Alliance, beating his opponent by a huge margin. It was an historic event because it marked the completion of the DA’s transformation from a ‘white’ political party to one whose new leader shared similar experiences to those of the majority of voters.

Thus a highly intelligent and charismatic young man is thrust onto centre stage. But who is the real Mmusi Maimane? Experienced political reporter S’Thembiso Msomi goes behind the scenes to examine how and why Maimane rose to head up the opposition. He delves into Maimane’s formative years, his time at the pulpit in the church, and his family, to bring substance to the man.

Finally, the author attempts to answer these burning questions: is Maimane his own man, and can he deliver the electorate that the DA so fervently desires?

Dr Xolela Mangcu has earned a reputation as one of South Africa’s most vibrant and engaging public voices.

This new book is a collection of his columns written for local and international newspapers over the past fifteen years.

Vivid, polemical and poignant, it records the initial excitement – and growing disillusionment – of a leading black intellectual about post-apartheid government, notably the administrations of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, and the growing realisation that achieving real liberation in South Africa will require an even longer struggle than he had once believed.

South Africa came late to television; when it finally arrived in the late 1970s the rest of the world had already begun to shun the country because of apartheid. While the ruling National Party feared the integrative effects of television, they did not foresee how exclusion from globally unifying broadcasts would gradually erode their power.

Throughout the apartheid-era, South Africa was barred from participating in some of television’s greatest global attractions, including sporting events such as the Olympics and contests such as Miss World. After apartheid, and with the release of Nelson Mandela from prison – itself one of the world’s most memorable media events, came a proliferation of large-scale live broadcasts that attracted the admiration of the rest of the world. At the same time, the country was permitted to return to international competition. These events were pivotal in shaping and consolidating the country’s emerging post-apartheid national identity.

Broadcasting the End of Apartheid assesses the socio-political effect of live broadcasting on South Africa’s transition to democracy. Martha Evans argues that just as print media had a powerful influence on the development of Afrikaner nationalism, so the “liveness” of television helped to consolidate the “newness” of the post-apartheid South African national identity.

South Africa is a major player in African diplomacy. Its economic, diplomatic and military resources far outstrip those of other nations on the continent, and it has, since the country's 1994 democratic transition, sought to take a lead role in the continent's relations with other power blocs, particularly during the 1999-2008 presidency of Thabo Mbeki. While Mbeki's push for greater African engagement in the global political sphere drew widespread praise, other positions-notably its seeming inaction toward Zimbabwe and perceived abandonment of its stated emphasis on human rights in foreignpolicy-were more controversial, both at home and abroad. John Siko has had insider access to South Africa's leading foreign policy players, and has been able to ask why Pretoria has taken its various stances and who has mattered in influencing those decisions, a topic little examined since 1994. In addition, he examines the foreign policy process over the past century, determining that despite ANC promises of greater democratic engagement on foreign policy, the process has changed quite little.

This is the book President Jacob Zuma does not want you to read. From Shaik to ‘The Spear’, award-winning investigative journalist Adriaan Basson reveals the truth behind Jacob Zuma’s presidency of the ANC and South Africa.

From one bad decision to another, this explosive, roller-coaster account traces the unravelling of a likeable but deeply flawed leader who came to power as victim, not visionary. Basson forensically unpacks the charges against Zuma and reveals a president whose first priority is to serve and protect his own, rather than the 50 million people he was elected to lead.

To be published on the eve of the ANC elective conference in Mangaung, this is essential reading for any South African who cares about the country they live in.

A comparative historical study of the narrative of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. A persistent theme among historical narratives of South African presidential politics was that Mandela is a 'hero,' and that his style embodied an inclusive approach. His former deputy and successor, on the other side, was regarded a little harshly as a 'prince.' The book is concerned with the historical contexts in which these two narratives were centered, and it takes the reader on a journey of what South African history could look like when Mandela, a character of legend, is cast in the role of an introverted ruler, and Mbeki as manifesting the sense of an outsider.

Mbeki had a reputation for being 'an opinionated foreigner' in South Africa's politics of avant-gardism and universalism. Mandela & Mbeki: The Hero and the Outsider presents a picture of the period 1912-2008, organized around a number of themes of current interest: the 'invention' of traditions and modern nations, Black Consciousness, the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress, the working class, and the middle class. It is a stimulating account with a great deal of interesting detail, taking the debate about these two protagonists beyond the 'orthodox' platform to which it had been taken in the mid-1990s.

The book demonstrates, on the one hand, that Mandela's legend amounts to a great deal more than the surge of his charisma, and that his Republicans' avant-gardism did much to make Mandela the leader he became. On the other hand, the book also demonstrates that Mbeki was a pragmatist and a 'hyphenate' leader, both by custom and by principle, and was historically programmed by his exile past into the primordialist he became.

The world remains uncertain. Africa is fragile. Many issues remain unresolved and the African, and global, situation is worsening. South Africa has been at the crossroads for long enough. There can be no more delays – the time has come to address the many critical issues.

In Africa’s Wellbeing in an Uncertain World, Vusi Gumede discusses these critical issues about Africa, with specific focus on South Africa. He has revisited opinion articles and blogs he has been writing since the mid-2000s and taken his ideas and arguments, together with his deliberations on the recent changes globally and in Africa, and presented them in this thought-provoking book. While taking into account what others have said about similar issues, this is an attempt to get us to talk about these challenges, the important issues and fundamental problems, with a view to finding solutions.

The future of the African continent could be bright if all the efforts that are being pursued for the improved wellbeing of Africans succeed. But, as Vusi Gumede reflects in this book, if South Africa is to achieve the society envisaged in the Constitution, then all South Africans – whatever the colour of their skin – have an important role to play.

Securing economic growth by ensuring that its rewards are distributed to the poor and marginalized through social grants and effective delivery, remains a key challenge facing South Africa in the second decade of democracy. "The Politics of Service Delivery" examines obstacles to effective service delivery and, in a series of case studies, reflects on lessons for delivery in developing countries. This book is published in the Wits P&DM Series.

South Africa boasts many achievements since the beginning of majority rule, but there are also some countervailing trends that reflect the tensions implicit in the transition from the apartheid system. "The Politics of Service Delivery" explores these tensions from different angles, and looks forward to a period where issues are defined less by legacy and more by policy.

In 2016, the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) were signed into being, marking a new phase of global development thinking focused on ecologically, socially and fiscally sustainable human settlements. Few countries offer a better testing ground for their attainment than post-apartheid South Africa.

Since the coming to power of the African National Congress, the country has undergone a policy-making revolution, driven by an urgent need to improve access to services for the country’s black majority. More than 20 years on from the fall of apartheid, Building a Capable State asks what lessons can be learned from the South African experience. This comprehensive examination of urban service delivery in the global South assesses whether the South African government has succeeded in improving service delivery, focusing on the vital sectors of water and sanitation, energy, roads and public transport.

Emphasising the often-overlooked role of local government institutions, the book demonstrates that effective service delivery can have a profound effect on the social structure of emerging economies, and must form an integral part of any future development strategy.

This book offers an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to thinking about inequality, and to understanding how inequality is produced and reproduced in the global South.

Without the safety net of the various Northern welfare states, inequality in the global South is not merely a socio-economic problem, but an existential threat to the social contract that underpins the democratic state and society itself. Only a response that is firrmly grounded in the context of the global South can hope to address this problem. This collection brings together scholars from across the global South to address broad thematic areas such as the conceptual and methodological challenges of measuring inequality; the political economy of inequality; inequality in work, households and the labour market; and inequalities in land, spaces and cities. The book concludes by suggesting alternatives for addressing inequality in the global South and around the world.

The pioneering ideas and theories put forward by this volume make it essential reading for students and researchers of global inequality across the fields of sociology, economics, law, politics, global studies and development studies.

The demise of apartheid was one of the great achievements of postwar history, sought after and celebrated by a progressive global community. Looking at these events from the other side, An African Volk explores how the apartheid state strove to maintain power as the world of white empire gave way to a post-colonial environment that repudiated racial hierarchy.

Drawing upon archival research across Southern Africa and beyond, as well as interviews with leaders of the apartheid order, Jamie Miller shows how the white power structure attempted to turn the new political climate to its advantage. Instead of simply resisting decolonization and African nationalism in the name of white supremacy, the regime looked to co-opt and invert the norms of the new global era to promote a fresh ideological basis for its rule. It adapted discourses of nativist identity, African anti-colonialism, economic development, anti-communism, and state sovereignty to rearticulate what it meant to be African. An African Volk details both the global and local repercussions.

At the dawn of the 1970s, the apartheid state reached out eagerly to independent Africa in an effort to reject the mantle of colonialism and redefine the white polity as a full part of the post-colonial world. This outreach both reflected and fuelled heated debates within white society, exposing a deeply divided polity in the midst of profound economic, cultural, and social change. Situated at the nexus of African, decolonization, and Cold War history, An African Volk takes readers into the corridors of white power to detail the apartheid regime's campaign to break out of isolation and secure global acceptance.

This is a must-read for all South African citizens looking for solutions to the problems facing our democracy. Adam Habib offers an original analysis of political and economic transition in the post-apartheid era by exposing the institutional constraints and the balance of forces at play in South Africa's political arena. Grappling with dilemmas such as the crisis of service delivery and accountability, the shifts in economic policy, the role of civil society and the viability of a social pact, Habib explores factors that influence political and policy outcomes. These include the power and leverage of political parties, the business sector, foreign investors, trade unions, civil society organisations as well as global power and institutions. He believes that individuals and institutions can, with imagination, act against the grain of a given historical moment and transform society as a whole. South Africa's Suspended Revolution: Hopes and Prospects was published in 2013. Rewolusie Op Ys: Suid-Afrika se Vooruitsigte is an abridged and translated version of the original English edition, and serves as an ideal introduction for anyone interested in South Africa's future prospects.

In 2015 and 2016 waves of student protest swept across South African campuses under the banner of FeesMustFall. This book offers a historical perspective, analysing regional influences on the ideologies that have underpinned South African student politics from the 1960s to the present. The author considers the history of student organisations in the Northern Transvaal (today Limpopo Province) and the ways in which students and youth influenced political change on a national scale, over generations.

The University of the North at Turfloop played an integral role in building the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) in the late 1960s and propagating Black Consciousness in the 1970s; in the 1980s it became an ideological battleground where Black Consciousness advocates and ANC-affiliates competed for influence. Limpopo has remained a hotbed of political activism in the country. Generations of nationally prominent student and youth activists became politically conscientised here – among them Julius Malema, Onkgopotse Tiro, Cyril Ramaphosa, Frank Chikane and Peter Mokaba.

Turfloop (University of Limpopo) has remained politically significant in the post-apartheid era: it was here in 2007 that Julius Malema supported Jacob Zuma’s ascension to the South African presidency during the ANC’s pivotal party conference that resulted in the ousting of Thabo Mbeki.

A publication from MISTRA (Mapungubwe Institute For Strategic Reflection), Africa and the World: Navigating Shifting Geopolitics is one of the first books to analyse the global geopolitical landscape from an African perspective, with a view to the opportunities and challenges facing the African continent. Authors in this edited volume argue for the need to re-imagine Africa's role in the world.

As a cradle of humanity, a historical fountain of profound scientific knowledge, an object of colonial conquest and, today, a collective of countries seeking to pool their sovereignties in order to improve the human condition, Africa has a unique opportunity to advance its own interests. Authors reflect on all these issues; they outline how developments in the global political economy impact on the continent and, inversely, how Africa can develop a strategic perspective that takes into account the dynamics playing out in a fraught global terrain.

Central to this evaluation is the notion of 'island Africa' a vast island - with resources that extend into the oceans around it - that is a strategic centre by virtue of its geographic location, its endowments and its long-term potential. Authors assert that the positioning of 'island Africa' presents unique political, security and geo-economic benefi ts. Yet they also acknowledge that, as has happened historically, these very advantages can serve as a basis for new forms of domination and exploitation. In addition, this volume takes into account the socio-psychological factors that influence how nations of the world receive and interpret the present, and assess prospects for the future.

The authors go beyond analysis of what is, to venture concrete proposals on what can be, with Africa exercising its agency. This requires the strengthening of continental integration and cohesion in pursuit of ideals that the African Union has enshrined in Agenda 2063. In this way, Africa would be able to engage - in a systemic and disciplined manner - with external powers to assert the continent's own interests which, in their framing, are also the interests of humanity. A continent united in both purpose and action can be an active agent in shaping the evolving global order. This volume makes a strong case for precisely such a perspective and contributes to what should be an ongoing effort to analyse geopolitics with Africa as a critical frame of reference.

Krish Naidoo practised as a human rights lawyer in Johannesburg in the 1980s.

This book records his life, the political trials he was involved in & his activities in sport, culture & the legal fraternity.

After the ANC’s victory in the 2019 elections, president Cyril Ramaphosa’s mandate is stronger than ever. He can now make good on his promises to clean out government corruption.

But will he be successful and what does this mean for South Africa and its people? What does South Africa’s future look like with challenges like the land debate, racial tension and a dire economy? Will South Africa survive and thrive amidst the turmoil?

Between 1913 and 1989 some four million South Africans were forcibly removed from their homes to enforce residential segregation along racial lines. This study records and interprets the memories of some of the Capetonians who were relocated as a result of the infamous Group Areas Act.

Former resients of Windermere, Tramway Road in Sea Point, District Six, Lower Claremont, and Simon's Town narrate their experiences. The work shows how different - even conflicting - versions of popular memories are historically significant for individuals and communities, and for the professionals and academics who work with them.

Most important, it demonstrates how the sharing of oral histories and memories allows people to rebuild a sense of self and community.

The death of Neo “Snowy” Mashaba at 55 provokes an intense emotional reaction in his son, Tumiso, the author of this moving portrait of a relationship between a father and son.

Tumiso is stunned by his emotional response, as his father was a distant and often brutal presence in his childhood. This launches him down the road of personal investigation of his childhood, but also what it means to him now as a father to his own children. Will he repeat the sins of his father?

The author digs deep into his own psychology, providing a deeply satisfying read with well-drawn characters and moments of intense anguish and catharsis.

Covering themes of fatherhood, black masculinity, toxic masculinity, generational trauma, infidelity, abuse, and suicide and mental health, Mashaba creates a realistic backdrop of a gritty modern South Africa.

South Africa is in dire straits. Our economy is stagnant, unemployment is dangerously high and most State-Owned Enterprises are near collapse. Mosibudi Mangena, former Minister of Science of Technology (2004–2009) and former President of AZAPO, believes that South Africa can change.

He calls on Black Consciousness philosophy, and for us to unshackle ourselves from inferiority complexes produced by living for centuries under colonialism and apartheid, to do so.

He analyses various spheres of our lives, such as the poor health, education and transport systems; the mismanagement and looting of State-Owned Enterprises; the careless management of crime, particularly the insecurity of women and children in our society; as well as the neglect of our languages, the arts and culture and provides practical solutions and ways to implement changes.