Four decades ago, The Solution, a best-seller co-authored by Leon Louw, helped shape South Africa’s political settlement and left an indelible imprint on its Constitution. Today, the country finds itself at an economic impasse once more – and Louw’s ideas feel more urgent than ever.

From his early battles against apartheid-era property laws to his international advocacy for economic freedom, this book explores what worked, what didn’t, and what still might. With clarity and courage, Cohen distills Louw’s enduring belief: that prosperity and justice flow from empowering people, not politicians.

For policymakers, political thinkers, and all who care about South Africa’s future, this is more than a biography – it’s an invitation to think differently. Perhaps, even, to wake the continent’s economic lion from its long slumber.

In this deeply researched and elegantly told account, Tim Cohen – one of South Africa’s most respected and incisive financial journalists – draws on hours of conversations with Louw to capture the man behind the ideas. The result is a rare and revealing portrait of the extraordinary life, philosophy, and influence of a maverick libertarian who championed liberty, enterprise, and accountability when it mattered most.

Nationalisation: Swear word for some, cure-all for others both within and outside the ruling party.

Tim Cohen, a senior journalist with many years experience in both political and business reporting, traces the emergence of calls for nationalisation in South African politics. It is a subject which has become the most fiercely argued and passionate economic debate of modern-day South African politics. This is particularly so since the call for nationalisation is so closely associated with the emergence of the controversial Julius Malema, although the policy also has strong support from within the trade union movement.

A Piece of the Pie offers a short, accessible overview of the political and economic debate surrounding nationalisation that emerged within the African National Congress after the 2010 general election. It traces the history of nationalisation and privatisation both locally and internationally and discusses the economic and political arguments that have made it such a topical and contentious issue in local politics. This book is an attempt to understand nationalisation more completely in order to enrich the ongoing debate.