In September 2007, Ellen Pakkies, a working mother from Lavender Hill on the Cape Flats, strangled her son to death. The judge in the subsequent trial sentenced her to community service for her crime. What drove Ellen to commit this horrific deed, and why the ostensibly light sentence for such a heinous crime?

The story of what happened over ten years ago has continued to grip public interest, putting a spotlight on the dire and desperate situation faced by many parents of addicted children. A highly successful play was produced in theatres around South Africa in 2011/12, and a full-length movie has recently been made of this story, which will reach the big screen in September 2018.

When Dealing in Death was first published in 2009, the scourge of drug addiction was sweeping across South Africa, affecting every level of society. Little, if anything, has changed since then, as this new edition reveals. The use of tik, particularly in the Western Cape, has skyrocketed, and it was Abie Pakkies’s addiction to this drug, and the horrendous impact it had on his and his family’s lives, that drove Ellen to murder. Her trial exposed the dark underbelly of a community crippled by drug and alcohol abuse, and focused attention on the plight of those who live in poverty and do not have recourse to drug-rehabilitation centres and other measures effective in the treatment of addicts.

Dealing in Death looks at the global and local drugs culture, the predicament of Ellen Pakkies and other mothers like her, and an impoverished community and the apartheid laws that gave birth to it.

The new, updated edition of the 2017 bestseller!

Coming to grips with money, making wise decisions and setting ourselves on a path to wealth can be daunting. Some women excel at this; others battle from payday to payday. What do ‘smart women’ know that the rest of us can learn? In this updated edition, Smartwoman reveals who is competing for your money (black tax and other family pressures), how to create a designer life (as opposed to filling up space with designer stuff), and how to start a side hustle. It also covers major life events, such as marriage, divorce and death, and how you can make smart financial decisions at these times.

Knowing how and where to invest is crucial to building wealth, and this book covers the full spectrum of investment options, including equities, property, offshore investment and alternative investments, such as art.

New chapters include how Covid-19 impacts our cash flow and investments; side hustles; investing offshore; and cryptocurrencies and how they fit into an investment portfolio.

Whatever your life stage or circumstances, being in financial control, owning your destiny and building long-term wealth is within every woman’s reach.

For a very long period of time, Dr. David Klatzow was the only independent forensic investigator in South Africa. During the apartheid years, a time of police brutality and state cover-ups, he was the man human rights lawyers called when they needed independent forensic evidence to uncover the truth. Although some cases are still unsolved, for him a case is never closed. The truth is out there, and he will find it. Klatzow s investigations into countless notorious cases, such as the Guguletu Seven, the Trojan Horse, the murders of human rights lawyer Bheki Mlangeni and activist Dr. David Webster, and the bombing of Khotso House and Cosatu House, made him a controversial public figure. Hampered by the apartheid police and the legal system, he was always fearless and earned a reputation of being an ANC supporter, even though he always remained impartial. On a non-political level, he was instrumental in changing the testing mechanism for drunk driving in the 1980s and became an expert in fire investigations. One of his most enduring interests is uncovering the truth behind the Helderberg airplane crash. Through a detailed analysis of the findings of the Margo Commission of Inquiry and having sifted through all available evidence, he is convinced that the official version of the story is far from the truth. More recently, Klatzow investigated the Paarl Press fire, the assassination of Brett Kebble and the murder of Inge Lotz. Fascinating reading for anyone interested in crime and current affairs; puts into perspective much of the information one hears about in the news.