An essential guide for those dealing with the Cape Water Crisis and for general water saving in South and southern Africa, a notoriously water-scarce region.

Three provinces in South Africa have been declared national disaster zones because of drought. The way we think about water needs to change, and fast. This is especially true for those of us who have running water and flush sanitation piped into our homes. For millions of South Africans, water is already a precious resource that costs toil to collect and fuel to heat. Our middle-class expectations that water will gush steaming from our dozens of indoor taps 24/7 are going to look as bizarre to future generations as the spectacle of Cleopatra bathing in asses’ milk. Our Roman-orgy relationship with water is over.

This book will hopefully help to alleviate water panic and distress. A “can-do” compendium, it’s meant to be a guide, not prescriptive – not all solutions or tips are one-size-fits-all. Think of it as an ally in your fight to save water and part of your survival kit, along with the first-aid box; Valium for water-worriers.

Why do these large financial institutions with hundreds of billions on their books fail out of the blue? What role do central banks play in these dramatic failures? How can the global financial system be reformed to be more resilient, and what path should South Africa take?

In a world where banks are perceived as unshakeable fortresses, there is a worrying truth that lies just beneath the surface: banks are far more fragile and fail more frequently than we choose to believe.

In the US alone, more than 560 banks have failed since the turn of the century. In South Africa, the collapse of Saambou in 2002 sparked the A2 Banking Crisis, which saw half the country’s banks deregistered in the aftermath. In 2023, the high-profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, Signature Bank and Credit Suisse dominated global headlines and set off waves of panic across the international banking landscape.

On October 7, Israeli territory around the Erez border of Gaza Strip was invaded by Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, killing over 1,000 people. In response to this, the people of Gaza have been subjected to nearly eight months of wholesale genocide. Over 36,000 civilians have been killed, an estimated million made homeless and displaced, tens of thousands injured, and an entire population traumatised. Never in living history has such an atrocity been perpetrated in plain sight of the world’s leaders and mainstream media, who have all managed to give it their complete backing. Images and video clips of hourly horrors and tragedies have spread around the world, combatted by fake news propagated not by dark conspiratorial corners on the web, but by corporate media outlets and politicians.

Baseless Israeli propaganda and deliberately-biased framing has been fed to journalists and repeated, without question, on the front pages of the world’s newspapers and in the mouths of TV pundits and politicians.

One of the few voices of Gaza to make it out into Western media has been that of writer Atef Abu Saif, whose edited diary entries have been occasionally serialised in The New York Times, Washington Post, Le Monde and elsewhere. Here, the complete, unedited diaries show the journey of a man who arrived in Gaza just a few days before October 7 as a government minister and ended the period, like most other Palestinians, living in a tent in a refugee camp.

For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios.

Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected.

A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.

Imtiaz Sooliman, a medical doctor practising in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, visited a Shaikh in Istanbul in 1992. The Sufi teacher gave him a message that would dramatically change the lives of countless people.

‘To my absolute astonishment he told me I would help people for the rest of my life. He then instructed me to form a humanitarian organisation called the “Gift of the Givers”, and repeated the phrase “the best among people are those who benefit mankind”.’

Almost 30 years later Gift of the Givers, Africa’s largest humanitarian and disaster agency, has a reputation for speedy responses to floods, war, famine, fires, tsunamis, kidnapping and earthquakes. Well known for their interventions in South African and international disasters, teams of volunteers have undertaken missions to places such as Bosnia, Palestine, Japan, Haiti, Indonesia, Malawi and Mozambique. In the last few years they have turned their attention to the poorest South Africans - they have put up hospitals, run clinics, dug wells, drilled boreholes, built houses, offered scholarships and provided shelter, food and psychological succour to millions.

Originally published in 2014, the book has been brought up to date to continue the extraordinary tale of an organisation that has become a South African legend – the first to intervene in so many devastating situations and bring hope to those who have lost everything. Gift of the Givers’ reputation for direct, honest and non-partisan solution-finding has become a beacon of hope in South Africa.

In 2018 the world watched as 82 per cent of all wealth created was claimed by the top 1 per cent of the global population. The bottom 50 per cent of humanity saw no increase at all. While one new billionaire was created every two days, one in every four South Africans were living on less than R18 per day – not enough to buy a loaf of bread.

Inequality has always been part of the world we live in, but in the past twenty years the situation has worsened. We have seen the rise of mega corporations, where regional companies have become global players: power brokers that are richer and more powerful than most countries. This has seen businesses record ever-increasing profits while they pay ever-decreasing taxes. How is this happening?

In South Africa, millions of people depend on the services and products of mega corporations, but to what extent do these corporations influence and affect the lives of their consumers? What do these companies do with all the power that is in their hands?

In The Dirty Secrets of the Rich and Powerful, James-Brent Styan casts the spotlight on economic inequality and unpacks historical and ongoing business practices that have a real influence on people today. This book takes you right into the corridors of power and behind the closed doors of the boardrooms of the rich and powerful to show you how, and why, the status quo seems so unfair.

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.

Youth Revolution is the inspirational story of how a sixteen-year-old high-school student from Johannesburg, Kiara Nirghin, overcame huge health obstacles to win the grand prize at the 2016 International Google Science Fair for her unique and innovative solution to worldwide drought. Having experienced bacterial meningitis, undiagnosed bilharzia and severe weight loss, Kiara was forced to postpone her school career for hospitalisation, with a real chance of losing her hearing, her sight and the use of her limbs.

Youth Revolution not only covers her journey from the hospital bed to the stage as the winner of the science award, but also looks at issues surrounding stagnant youth innovation, while considering the dangers of lacking diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). It also includes contributions from prominent women in science and education, among them Malala Yousafzai, VP of Education and University Programs for Google and the recipient of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science.

Youth Revolution is a deeply human and truly inspirational real-life story that will enthral teenagers and adults alike, and proves that even ‘ordinary’ teenagers can do extraordinary things.

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.

This is the most urgent book ever to appear from the pen of cultural icon Koos Kombuis.

Sometimes, when he is in an irreverent mood, Koos writes under the fun-filled pseudonym ‘Joe Kitchen’.

This time around, though, he is deadly serious.

“The Death of History” is a climate change diary. When Koos started writing it more than two years ago, he did not intend for it to be published as a book, but the longer he continued writing, the more he became aware of the urgency of sharing his message with the world.

In short, “The Death of History” is a warning to all of humanity that must be heeded NOW.

There is an invisible weapon among us. By the time you know you are a victim, it has turned you into a killer. A compelling, fast-paced, ticking clock non-fiction thriller from the author of the bestselling Nuclear War: A Scenario.

A lab accident, a bio-attack, a global pandemic, and the collapse of human society. In this explosive new book, based on dozens of new interviews with experts with high-level political, governmental, medical, and military responsibility, Annie Jacobsen examines this very scenario.

There is no mushroom cloud, no shock wave or blast. Instead, the scenario that could end the world as we know it begins with something so small and malicious, that when used for evil, only evil can result.

This is what could happen; a roadmap to the hours, days, and weeks following the release of a biological agent, that serves as the most essential, forward-looking journalism in preparation for urgent societal upheaval.

The first comprehensive examination of the relationship between war and public health, this book documents the public health consequences of war and describes what health professionals can do to minimise these consequences. It explores the effects of war on health, human rights, and the environment. The health and environmental impact of both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons) is described in chapters that cover the consequences of their production, testing, maintenance, use, and disposal. Separate chapters cover especially vulnerable populations, such as women, children, and refugees. In-depth descriptions of specific military conflicts, including the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and wars in Central America provide striking illustrations of the issues covered in other chapters. A series of chapters explores the roles of health professionals and of organisations during war, and in preventing war and its consequences. This revised second edition includes seven new chapters, including one on landmines by the Nobel Prize-winning founding director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

The Covid-19 pandemic threw into stark relief the multi-dimensional threats created by neoliberal capitalism. Government measures to alleviate the crisis were largely inadequate, leaving women – in particular working-class women – to carry the increased burden of care work while at the same time placing themselves in direct risk as frontline workers.

Emancipatory Feminism in the Time of Covid-19, the seventh volume in the Democratic Marxism series, explores how many subaltern women – working class, peasant and indigenous – responded to challenges of increased labour precarity and additional care-work. The book critiques neoliberal feminism, which has overshadowed the experiences of feminist grassroots resistance. Instead, the academics and activists in this volume call to action a new wave feminism that is responsive to socio-ecological and economic exploitation, and the oppression of both women and the environment within the patriarchal capitalist system.

Offering a diverse range of approaches to this topic, contributions range from women leading the defence of Rojava – the Kurdish region of Syria, anticapitalist ecology and building food secure pathways in communities across Africa, championing climate justice in mining-affected communities and transforming gender divisions in mining labour practices in South Africa, to contesting macro-economic policies affecting the working conditions of nurses.

These practices demonstrate a feminist understanding of the current systemic crises of capitalism and patriarchal oppression. What is offered here is a subaltern women’s grassroots resistance focused on advancing and enabling solidarity-based political projects, deepening democracy, building capacities and alliances to advance new feminist alternatives.

Dit is 1713. VOC-admiraal Johannes van Steelant bring sy ryklik belaaide retoervloot via die Kaapse diensstasie terug na Nederland uit Batavia. Saam op die vlagskip, sy vyf jong kinders. Op die oop see raak hulle een-een siek. Hete koors, maagpyn, swere – die gevreesde pokke.

Op 12 Februarie gaan die gesin, nou almal gesond, aan land in Tafelbaai. Hul skeepsklere word gewas in die VOC se slawelosie. Enkele maande later is byna die helfte van die Kaapse bevolking dood aan pokke.

In Retoervloot bring VOC-kenner Dan Sleigh dié gegewe, en die verbysterende werkinge van die VOC-retoervlootstelsel, lewend voor die oog. Aan die hand van Van Steelant se nuut-ontdekte skeepsjoernaal, met die agtergrondinkleding wat ’n meesterlike geskiedkundige soos Sleigh kan bied, staan die leser op die dek van vlagskip Sandenburg – ’n magtige skip van ’n roemryke organisasie, dog uitgelewer aan die woedende oseaan. Verder is Retoervloot ’n gedenksteen vir Kaapstad se grootste ramp tot op hede

Utilizing extensive research in economics, psychology, political science, neuroscience and evolutionary theory, Ananish Chaudhuri provides a critical perspective on the role of cognitive biases in decision-making during the Covid-19 pandemic. The extensive use of, and support for, stringent social distancing measures in particular is explored in depth. Nudged into Lockdown? provides clear explanations of complex scientific information regarding Covid-19, vaccines, and policy responses, to highlight issues at the center of policy-making during the pandemic. With a comprehensive overview of the policy debates around Covid-19, the book offers an alternative thought-provoking perspective on the topic, as well as suggestions for policy-making during future pandemics and other crises. It further highlights applications of a range of concepts from heuristics and biases literature, including priming, framing, anchoring, Prospect Theory, and loss aversion. Providing directions for future research in the area, this book will be an invigorating read for established academics, as well as postgraduate students looking to undertake research in Covid-19 related decision-making. It will also be a critical read for economics, political science, and public policy scholars seeking a deeper understanding of the topic.

Poverty remains a problem in Europe, raising the need for new solutions. In this thought-provoking book the contributors delve deeply into the everyday lives of poor households to see which practices and resources they apply to improve their situations. One of the key findings is that social resilience requires a functioning welfare state operating as a warrantor of common and public goods, on which poor households can build up resilient practices. This insightful book illustrates that in addition to sufficient welfare transfers, there is a need for low-commodified common goods, including public health services, access to housing, education infrastructures and public space. These need to be made available not only for the registered poor but all low-income households. Drawing on over 400 interviews with families and experts across Europe, the chapters demonstrate the need for social policy to become more tolerant towards various forms of small additional income generation and non-commodified values and lifestyles. Poverty, Crisis and Resilience will be a key resource for students and scholars of social policy, poverty research and sociology, while also being of value to social policy practitioners within the charity sector, welfare state administration, social work, politics and counselling.

In this synthetic, interdisciplinary work, Neil Brenner develops a new interpretation of the transformation of statehood under contemporary globalizing capitalism. Whereas most analysts of the emergent, post-Westphalian world order have focused on supranational and national institutional realignments, 'New State Spaces' shows that strategic subnational spaces, such as cities and city-regions, represent essential arenas in which states are being transformed. Brenner traces the transformation of urban governance in western Europe during the last four decades and, on this basis, argues that inherited geographies of state power are being fundamentally rescaled. Through a combination of theory construction, historical analysis and cross-national case studies of urban policy change, 'New State Spaces' provides an innovative analysis of the new formations of state power that are currently emerging. This is a mature and sophisticated analysis by a major young scholar

This comprehensive Handbook assesses the escalation of global natural disasters as a result of climate change. Examining the complex interplay of human and natural activities, it highlights the growing vulnerability of people and communities in developing countries to floods, landslides, cyclones, heat waves and wildfires. The Handbook opens with a global framework analysis, outlining the implications of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction. International contributors address the roles of stakeholders in mitigating climate hazards, as well as offer detailed analysis of cross-cutting issues, including poverty, health, education and gender. Concluding chapters address the future of climate change mitigation and disaster protection, exploring the growing role of emerging technologies in disaster resilience and sustainable development. Bringing together cutting-edge research from renowned global scholars and professionals, this Handbook offers key insights for researchers and students of environmental studies and development studies, particularly those focusing on natural disasters and climate technologies. The empirical data and case analysis will also benefit practitioners, professionals and policymakers working in climate risk relief.

Evaluating the myriad dimensions of how disasters can affect economic activity and decision-making, this cutting-edge Handbook presents a timely analysis of the conditions that reduce or exacerbate disaster impacts. Addressing developments in research on disaster economics, internationally recognized scholars explore the role of both the private and public sectors in managing and mitigating disasters. Chapters discuss important theoretical considerations in the evaluation of the impacts of disasters on economic activity, including the behavioral consequences, biases and heuristics, and risk preferences. Delving deeper into disaster economics, the Handbook then presents empirical methods and applications used in modelling disaster impact evaluation, with research focusing on impacts on economic growth, government fiscal and social conditions, well-being, and migration. Informed by the latest research on the economics of pandemics, the Handbook concludes by presenting novel approaches to evaluating and improving risk management, resilience, recovery and adaptability in the face of disasters. A valuable resource for conducting research, this Handbook will prove vital to students and scholars of developmental and environmental economics. Providing a broad range of guidance from disaster response experts, it will also prove useful to practitioners and policymakers concerned with the economics of disasters.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. With disasters increasing in both frequency and intensity, this timely Advanced Introduction provides a fresh perspective on how the concepts established in the Sendai Framework can be put into practice to reduce disaster risk, improve preparedness in cost-effective ways, and develop whole-of-society approaches to increasing resilience. Key Features: Provides evidence-informed coverage of the core areas of disaster risk reduction Identifies the implementation issues and challenges to anticipation, preparedness, evaluation and governance and the strategies that can be used to facilitate it Discusses individual and collective ways to manage recovery and to learn from disaster experiences and programmes such as Build Back Better to prepare people to deal with disasters more effectively in the future Incorporating research on preparedness modelling, evaluation strategies, adaptive governance, and transformative learning, this Advanced Introduction will be invaluable to students and scholars of environmental management, governance and regulation interested in disaster risk reduction. It will also be a vital resource to policymakers looking to strengthen their disaster preparedness and recovery measures.

Utilizing extensive research in economics, psychology, political science, neuroscience and evolutionary theory, Ananish Chaudhuri provides a critical perspective on the role of cognitive biases in decision-making during the Covid-19 pandemic. The extensive use of, and support for, stringent social distancing measures in particular is explored in depth. Nudged into Lockdown? provides clear explanations of complex scientific information regarding Covid-19, vaccines, and policy responses, to highlight issues at the center of policy-making during the pandemic. With a comprehensive overview of the policy debates around Covid-19, the book offers an alternative thought-provoking perspective on the topic, as well as suggestions for policy-making during future pandemics and other crises. It further highlights applications of a range of concepts from heuristics and biases literature, including priming, framing, anchoring, Prospect Theory, and loss aversion. Providing directions for future research in the area, this book will be an invigorating read for established academics, as well as postgraduate students looking to undertake research in Covid-19 related decision-making. It will also be a critical read for economics, political science, and public policy scholars seeking a deeper understanding of the topic.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. With disasters increasing in both frequency and intensity, this timely Advanced Introduction provides a fresh perspective on how the concepts established in the Sendai Framework can be put into practice to reduce disaster risk, improve preparedness in cost-effective ways, and develop whole-of-society approaches to increasing resilience. Key Features: Provides evidence-informed coverage of the core areas of disaster risk reduction Identifies the implementation issues and challenges to anticipation, preparedness, evaluation and governance and the strategies that can be used to facilitate it Discusses individual and collective ways to manage recovery and to learn from disaster experiences and programmes such as Build Back Better to prepare people to deal with disasters more effectively in the future Incorporating research on preparedness modelling, evaluation strategies, adaptive governance, and transformative learning, this Advanced Introduction will be invaluable to students and scholars of environmental management, governance and regulation interested in disaster risk reduction. It will also be a vital resource to policymakers looking to strengthen their disaster preparedness and recovery measures.

More than fifteen years later, Hurricane Katrina maintains a strong grip on the American imagination. The reason is not simply that Katrina was an event of enormous scale, although it certainly was by any measure one of the most damaging storms in American history. But, quite apart from its lethality and destructiveness, Katrina retains a place in living memory because it is one of the most telling disasters in our recent national experience, revealing important truths about our society and ourselves. The final volume in the award-winning Katrina Bookshelf series Higher Ground reflects upon what we have learned about Katrina and about America. Kai Erikson and Lori Peek expand our view of the disaster by assessing its ongoing impact on individual lives and across the wide-ranging geographies where displaced New Orleanians landed after the storm. Such an expanded view, the authors argue, is critical for understanding the human costs of catastrophe across time and space. Concluding with a broader examination of disasters in the years since Katrina-including COVID-19-The Continuing Storm is a sobering meditation on the duration of a catastrophe that continues to exact steep costs in human suffering.