“A brilliant biography that will transform your understanding of this young, charismatic leader” — Joseph Nhini, BooksLive, Sunday Times

“Deeply thought-provoking” — Tyrone August, Cape Times

“Makes a good job of weaving together a number of strands that make the totality of the powerful persona Biko became ... Sheds new light on more than just Biko” — Sam Mkokeli, Business Day

Interest in the iconic Steve Biko has strongly revived, as the current generation of activists calls on his legacy and thoughts. Biko is cited and disputed particularly in the #RhodesMustFall and decolonisation movements. This comprehensive biography, shortlisted for the Alan Paton award, explores Biko's life, the people and ideas that shaped him, and his part in Black Consciousness and the struggle. Updated in an affordable new edition, Biko: A Biography presents a new generation with nuanced insights into the life and thought of a South African hero.

South Africa is ready for a new vocabulary than can form the basis for a national consciousness which recognises racialised identities while affirming that, as human beings, we are much more than our racial, sexual, class, religious or national identities. The Colour of Our Future makes a bold and ambitious contribution to the discourse on race. It addresses the tension between the promise of a post-racial society and the persistence of racialised identities in South Africa, which has historically played itself out in debates between the 'I don't see race' of non-racialism and the 'I'm proud to be black' of black consciousness. The chapters in this volume highlight the need for a race-transcendent vision that moves beyond 'the festival of negatives' embodied in concepts such as non-racialism, non-sexism, anti-colonialism and anti-apartheid. Steve Biko's notion of a 'joint culture' is the scaffold on which this vision rests; it recognises that a race-transcendent society can only be built by acknowledging the constituent elements of South Africa's EuroAfricanAsian heritage. The distinguished authors in this volume have, over the past two decades, used the democratic space to insert into the public domain new conversations around the intersections of race and the economy, race and the state, race and the environment, race and ethnic difference, and race and higher education. Presented here is some of their most trenchant and yet still evolving thinking.

Emerging Johannesburg explores the transformation of one of the most important African cities. In recent years, South Africa has progressed a great deal politically, but faces many of the same staggering problems that other sub-Saharan states face, particularly crime, violence, poverty and AIDS.
Contributors address these issues, including the urban/suburban divide in the city and its relationship to poverty and socio-political power, local politics and governance, the devastating impact of AIDS and the effect of post-apartheid life on ordinary residents.

Emerging Johannesburg explores the transformation of one of the most important African cities. In recent years, South Africa has progressed a great deal politically, but faces many of the same staggering problems that other sub-Saharan states face, particularly crime, violence, poverty and AIDS.
Contributors address these issues, including the urban/suburban divide in the city and its relationship to poverty and socio-political power, local politics and governance, the devastating impact of AIDS and the effect of post-apartheid life on ordinary residents.

Why does it matter that nations should care for their archives, and that they should develop a sense of shared identity? And why should these processes take place in the public domain? How can nations possibly speak about a shared sense of identity in pluralistic societies where individuals and groups have multiple identities? And how can such conversations be given relevance in public discussions of reconciliation and development in South Africa? These are the issues that the Public Conversations lecture series - an initiative of the Constitution of Public Intellectual Life Project at Wits University - proceeded from in 2006. Five years later, cross currents in contemporary South Africa have made the resumption of a public debate to clarify the meanings of identity and citizenship even more imperative, and an understanding of 'archive' even more urgent. The 2006 lectures were subsequently collected, resulting in this volume which takes its title from Weber's point, elaborated on in the chapter by Benedict Anderson, that the future asks us to be worthy ancestors to the yet unborn. The book, as did the lecture series, aims to reach a broad and informed reading public because the topic is still of pressing interest in contemporary public discourse. In a changed (and, some might say, degraded) environment of public dialogue, the editor hopes to inspire a re-thinking of the very essence of what it means to be a citizen of South Africa. Becoming Worthy Ancestors aims to make accessible the theoretically informed, sometimes highly academic work of its various contributors. With chapters from high profile international and local contributors, it will be of interest to South African and international audiences. Editing for publication has further enhanced the accessibility of each speaker's thinking without forfeiting any of its complexity, and the addition of an introductory chapter by the editor contributes to the coherence of the volume. While the target audience is the broad public, the book is based on a core of academic thinking and research.

From high profile figures such as Cyril Ramaphosa, Albie Sachs, and Wendy Luhabe to analysts such as Wendy Lucas-Bull, Vuyo Jack, and Itumeleng Mahabane; to practitioners such as Lot Ndlovu, Eric Mafuna, Nolitha Fakude, this title brings together leading South African analysts and practitioners in the most comprehensive analysis of black economic empowerment (BEE) to date. The volume situates black economic empowerment within the longer trajectory of black business history; critically analyses the constitutional and political imperatives for empowerment; and provides policy recommendations for legislative and regulatory clarity. Visions of Black economic empowerment achieves what the debates on empowerment have thus far failed to do, which is to examine the sociological foundations of BEE. Its appeal, however, goes beyond technical discussions of BEE to an examination of the political ecomony of BEE, and the raging debates about capital concentration in a land still characterised by mass poverty and inequality. Read the views of the leading contenders in this debate - from Blade Mzimande of the South African Communist Party to fellow African National Congress heavyweight, Saki Macozoma - and examine potential policy innovations to bridge this divide. Essential for the academic and research community, business practitioners and analysts, and for a public that is hungry for the analytical tools to evaluate the most talked about economic policy of the post-apartheid transition. This rich collection of essays reflect the broad analytical range of tis editors - former cabinet minister and former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor; Professor Gill Marcus has been selected by the Absa Board to be the new chair of Absa Group LImited and Absa Bank Limited, business analysts Khehla Shubane, political commentator and scholar Xolela Mangcu, and former poltical editor and researher, Adrian Hadland.

The Democratic moment is, among other things, a look at the mass forces that swept Jacob Zuma to power in 2009 and put an end to the elite politics of the Thabo Mbeki era. Trenchant and provocative as always, Xolela Mangcu looks at the new configuration of power in South Africa and in the process illuminates such topics as the new black elite, the role of Julius Malema, the cartoons of Zapiro and the fortunes of COPE. His is a book that will stimulate ideas, provoke discussion, create controversy and help us understand where we are as a society and a nation.

Steve Biko was an exceptional and inspirational leader, a pivotal figure in South African history. As a leading anti-apartheid activist and thinker, Biko created the Black Consciousness Movement, the grassroots organization which would mobilize a large proportion of the black urban population. His death in policy custody at the age of just 30 robbed South Africa of one of its most gifted leaders. Although the rudimentary facts of his life - and death - are well known, there has until now been no in-depth book on this major political figure and the impact of his life and tragic death. Xolela Mangcu, who knew Biko, provides the first in-depth look at the life of one of the most iconic figures of the anti-apartheid movement, whose legacy is still strongly felt today, both in South Africa, and worldwide in the global struggle for civil rights, today.

If we are to talk of a `new' intellectual movement, the question is begged: what happened to the `old' intellectual movement? What happened to the thinkers who inspired and led our struggle against colonialism, apartheid and exploitation? What has happened to the thinkers who gave substance and guidance and, in many cases, practical leadership to our attempts to undo the past and forge a new future? In pursuit of answers to these questions, the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), in partnership with the Liliesleaf Trust, hosted a roundtable in March 2015 on the theme `The Role of Intellectuals in the State-Society Nexus'. The roundtable received inputs from a range of thinkers, including Ibbo Mandaza, Ben Turok, Ari Sitas, Ayanda Ntsaluba, Xolela Mangcu, Joel Netshitenzhe, Tshilidzi Marwala and Nomboniso Gasa, as well as provocative and piercing inputs from the attendees. This publication aims to put the contributions and debates at the roundtable further into the public domain and records the input of the main speakers, the respondents, as well as the discussion from the floor. The rigorous debate at the roundtable spilt out of the boundaries of the event itself and encouraged a number of thinkers to provide additional material for this publication: Z. Pallo Jordan, David Moore (with Tshilidzi Marwala) and Desiree Lewis. The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), which was publicly launched as a think tank in March 2011, was founded by a group of South Africans with experience in research, academia, policy-making and governance, who saw the need to create a platform for engagement around strategic issues facing South Africa. The Institute combines research and academic development, strategic reflections and intellectual discourse and applies itself to issues such as economics, sociology, governance, history, arts and culture, and the logics of the natural sciences.

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.

Xolela Mangcu is well known for incisive social commentary that characterizes his regular newspaper columns. In To the Brink, Mangcu turns his focus to the state of South Africa's evolving democracy. From policy controversies surrounding HIV/AIDS, Zimbabwe, corruption, and the constant labeling of black critics as 'foot lickers' of the white man, no relevant issues escape his analysis of the racial insider/outsider dynamic that has evolved under President Thabo Mbeki's rule. Drawing on the intellectual history of the Eastern Cape as well as his own life experiences, Mangcu contrasts damaging racial exclusivity with the adaptation, renewal, and tolerance that has characterized the best traditions of South Africa's liberation movements. He discusses how black and white people could build a joint culture and, additionally, he examines the African National Congress' choice of president and its implications for the future of democracy in South Africa.