Visar resultat för..."Jonathan Ball Publishers SA"

The fortunes of Africa have changed dramatically in the fifty years since the independence era began. As Europe's colonial powers withdrew, dozens of new states were launched amid much jubilation and to the world's applause. The circumstances seemed auspicious. Africa was a continent rich in mineral resources. Its economic potential was huge. On the international stage, African states excited the attention of the world's rival power blocs: in the Cold War era, Africa was considered too valuable a prize to lose. Yet one country after another was soon mired in corruption, violence and warfare. Few states managed to escape the downward spiral. Even after decades of foreign aid, no other area of the world today arouses such a sense of foreboding. So what went wrong? In this history - now updated - the author examines and explains the myriad problems that Africa has faced in the past half-century, focusing upon key personalities, events and themes of the independence era. With compelling analysis he brings this new edition into the twenty first century, exploring Africa's enduring struggles for democracy, the corruption of its ruling elites and the rising influence of China.It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the continent's plight and its hopes for a brighter future.

When Mark Boucher played his first game of cricket for South Africa, a senior player took him aside and bluntly told him he was the worst wicket-keeper ever to play in the national side. Over a decade later, when Bouch finally retired with a plethora of records under his belt and to huge acclaim from the public, he took grim satisfaction in relating this piece of history. This is the story of a man with remarkable sporting prowess. Born into a sports-mad family in East London, he excelled in squash, tennis and rugby before choosing cricket as his preferred sport. His extraordinary achievements on the field are well-known -- he was voted SA player of the year in 1998, 2000 and 2006. What is not so well known, and makes up much of this book, are the behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes. Stories of staring down the barrel of defeat and of celebrating victory; of developing strong bonds with team-mates Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and others that go way beyond mere friendship. What emerges is the image of a man who always fought for the underdog, whose never-say-die attitude inspires those around him.Bouchs career was brought to a dramatic end on a cricket pitch in England when the bail of a stump punctured his left eye. But, in his own words, "I lost sight but gained vision". True to his character of gritty determination, Bouch has rededicated his life to a new cause, that of the environment and particularly the critically endangered rhino.

In Years of Fire and Ash: South African Poems of Decolonisation, fifty years of protest poetry are brought together in one volume by literary critic and lecturer Dr Wamuwi Mbao. The animating impulse behind this collection of old and new voices is ‘decolonisation’, a term which has regained prominence over the last few years. It allows us to perceive how different South African poets have placed their work in the world, and how that work might relate to the struggle for radical social transformation. How, then, does decolonization look like in the world of South African poetry? This anthology is an attempt to answer that question. The poems express the thoughts and experiences of poets who experienced Apartheid, but also of those who address current political realities. This collection includes established voices such as HIE Dhlomo, Oswald Mtshali, Mongane Serote, Sipho Sepamla, and Eskia Mphahlele, as well as prominent contemporary poets such as Vangile Gantsho, Adrian van Wyk and Lebohang Masango.

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. Its easy to imagine that state capture began with Jacob Zuma and the Guptas. But youd be wrong. Born out of the ANC Womens League 20 years ago, Bosasa has come to be described as the ANCs Heart of Darkness. At its helm today is Gavin Watson, a struggle-rugby-player-turned-tenderpreneur who made it his business to splash out on gifts and cash to get up close and personal with the countrys top politicians and civil servants. In return, Bosasa won tenders to the tune of billions of rands and with friends in high places stayed clear of prosecution. Adriaan Basson has been investigating Bosasa since he was a rookie journalist 13 years ago. He has been sued, intimidated and threatened, but has stuck to the story like a bloodhound. Now, in the wake of the explosive findings of the Zondo commission, he has weaved the threads of Bosasas story together. Blessed by Bosasa is a riveting in-depth investigation into an extraordinary story of high-level corruption and rampant pillage, of backdoor dealings and grandiose greed. Through substantial research and a number of interviews with key individuals, Basson unveils the shady, cult-like underbelly of the criminal company that held the Zuma government in the palm of its hand.

A collection of thought-provoking and moving essays on Robert Sobukwe, commissioned and edited by his biographer and friend Benjamin Pogrund. Sobukwe was a lecturer, lawyer, founding member and first president of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and Robben Island prisoner. CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE: Barney Pityana, Adam Habib, Thandeka Gqubule-Mbeki, Bobby Godsell, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Bonang Mohale, Barney Mthombothi, Anele Nzimande, Paul Verryn, Otua Sobukwe, Claudelle von Eck, Joel Mbhele

A patient is standing in the middle of the river. He gazes across the water to the city and the mountain above where the sun is setting. His back is turned to the hospital. The nurses are waiting for him patiently on the river bank. He seems uncertain whether to cross the river or to return. There is no danger. He is on the edge, in an in-between space, as is the hospital where I have worked as a specialist psychiatrist for over twenty-five years. For many of us, mental illness is shrouded in mystery, and our understanding of it largely influenced by misrepresentations in the media is often founded upon misconceptions and fear. In Madness: Stories of uncertainty and hope, Dr Sean Baumann, who has spent 25 years as a psychiatrist at Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town, lifts the veil on madness, arguing for a more nuanced and empathetic understanding of mental illness. In this book, Baumann tells the stories of his patients and draws on his experiences working in the South African public health sector. Based on the authors personal encounters and interviews with persons dealing with various forms of psychoses, this book uncovers what it really means to suffer from, amongst others, schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. We meet a man whose shoes can transport him to the moon, an elderly, aristocratic couple, and a young man who, one day, goes into labour without warning. But there are also the first-hand accounts of people plagued by unknown enemies frightful external forces which control their every move and thought. Madness encourages a more inclusive way of making sense of mental health. Writing with sensitivity and empathy, Bauman draws on topics such as art, psychology, consciousness, free will and theories of the self to show that mental illness raises questions that affect us all especially the meanings we attach to being who we are.

Africa is a continent with boundless potential -- it has the natural resources, the population and the land mass to become a major player on the global stage. Why then, is the gap between Africa and the rest of the world increasing? While the continent has seen improvements in terms of key indicators of human wellbeing like infant mortality and life expectancy, Africa still suffers from massive poverty, weak economic growth, deindustrialisation, an underdeveloped agricultural sector and poor regional integration, among others. What needs to be done to unleash Africas potential and ignite a growth revolution? In this book Jakkie Cilliers examines where the continent is at and where it will be in 2040 if it continues on the current path. He sets that against the 11 scenarios he develops that could help to turn Africas fortunes around and radically improve its growth trajectory. His isnt a blue skies approach -- Cilliers shows exactly which policy, political, technological and economic interventions are needed to put Africa first. Yes, it is possible for the 55 countries on the continent to catch up with the rest world, although it will require a large measure of leapfrogging. This is a book that is bound to become an authoritative guide for policy makers and researchers.

You’re never too young to start saving and learning about money. Manage Your Money Like A Grownup, by bestselling author Sam Beckbessinger, aims to get younger readers thinking about the basics of money, laying the solid foundation in financial education that most grownups today never had. With illustrations, jokes and fun facts designed to appeal to even the most easily bored reader, this book covers all the basics South African teenagers need to know about money, such as: the relationship between earning, saving and spending; how investing works; why compound interest is a superpower; why we pay taxes; and the ethics of money. Informed by discussions with real teens and their parents, this book aims to equip readers with practical tips for earning and investing money at any age, and questions to spark lively dinner-table conversations.

is the updated edition of the highly successful unauthorised biography of Springbok Captain Siya Kolisi. It includes all the games at the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, and the tumultuous victory tour around South Africa when the team brought home the cup. Victory at the Rugby World Cup is the crowning glory of an incredible journey that began on the impoverished streets of Zwide, a township outside Port Elizabeth. As the first black South African to captain a Springbok rugby team, Kolisis remarkable story is unique and deserves to be heard. His mother was a teenager when he was born. She left him in the care of his grandmother who brought him up until she died when Siya was twelve. He found love and acceptance playing junior rugby with the African Bombers club until his talent was spotted by the prestigious Grey High School, who offered Siya a full scholarship. He adapted well to the private school, but it was on the rugby field where he excelled. Siya was rewarded with a call-up the SA schools team and a contract to join Western Province rugby union. Author Jeremy Daniel tracks Siyas journey from his childhood days on the streets of Zwide, through some crucial games in high school, into the Western Province rugby set-up and his fight to become Springbok captain. He goes deep inside the systems that identify junior talent, the characters who shaped his journey and the moments where he showed who he really was. Siya never forgot where he came from, and ultimately adopted his mothers other two children after she died when he was in high school.

If a mere seven more MPs had voted with Prime Minister JBM Hertzog in favour of neutrality, South Africa’s history would have been quite different. Parliament’s narrow decision to go to war in 1939 led to a seismic upheaval throughout the 1940s: black people streamed in their thousands from rural areas to the cities in search of jobs; volunteers of all races answered the call to go ‘up north’ to fight; and opponents of the Smuts government actively hindered the war effort by attacking soldiers and committing acts of sabotage. World War Two upended South Africa’s politics, ruining attempts to forge white unity and galvanising opposition to segregation among African, Indian and coloured communities. It also sparked debates among nationalists, socialists, liberals and communists such as the country had never previously experienced. As Richard Steyn recounts so compellingly in 7 Votes, the war’s unforeseen consequence was the boost it gave to nationalism, both Afrikaner and African, that went on to transform the country in the second half of the 20th century. The book brings to life an extraordinary cast of characters, including wartime leader Jan Smuts, DF Malan and his National Party colleagues, African nationalists from Anton Lembede and AB Xuma to Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, the influential Indian activists Yusuf Dadoo and Monty Naicker, and many others.

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert was always a man on a mission, whether as an academic, opposition politician, democratic facilitator or businessman. Perhaps it was the product of his restless, probing intellect, or his early ambition to become a dominee in the Dutch Reformed Church. When he famously led a delegation of leading Afrikaners to Dakar in 1987 to meet the exiled ANC, many saw it as a breakthrough moment, while others felt he had been taken in. And yet his reputation – for honesty, integrity, wit and courage – still towers above many of his contemporaries. Slabbert was always different. As an academic turned politician, the charismatic Slabbert brought unusual intellectual rigour to Parliament, transforming the upstart Progressive Federal Party into a force that could challenge the National Party government. Disillusioned by the paralysis of formal white politics, and by the growing polarisation of South African society, he resigned in 1986 to explore democratic alternatives to the impasse into which the country had been led under apartheid. Largely sidelined during the democratic transition, he continued to pursue a broad range of initiatives aimed at building democracy, empowering black South Africans and transforming the economy. Albert Grundlingh’s penetrating biographical study offers sharp insights into the thinking and motivation of this most unlikely politician. Concise but wide-ranging, Slabbert: Man on a Mission provides new perspectives on a figure who even today remains something of an enigma.

The story of the Springboks 2019 Rugby World Cup victory is one of the most inspiring in South African sporting history. It is about how two men – coach Rassie Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi – led a team of warriors into battle and conquered the world when inequality and division are still undeniable realities in South African society. When the Boks won the 2007 World Cup final, they did so with 20 white players in their match-day squad of 22. In 2019, there were five black Africans in their starting line-up for the Yokohama final and the images of Kolisi lifting the Webb Ellis Cup will be replayed forever. None of this seemed possible just two years ago when the Boks had reached an all-time low. They had slipped to No 7 in the world and had lost the faith of the rugby-loving public. Erasmus came in with just 18 months to prepare for the competition. Sports writer Lloyd Burnard takes the reader on a thrilling journey from the time when no-one gave the Boks a chance of winning, to the delirious victory tour. He covers the key roles played by Erasmus and Kolisi, and their special relationship. There are ups and downs en route to victory: the first signs of self-belief when they beat the All Blacks in Wellington, Kolisi’s injury, the fall of Aphiwe Dyantyi when he was caught with banned substances in his system, and the Langebaan incident involving Eben Etzebeth that threatened to derail the team.

In 1968, 15 principled and ambitious students met on the campus of the University of Natal in Durban to begin a journey guided by self-love. Two of these young students, Steve Biko and Mamphela Ramphele, fell in love with each other while dreaming of a life free from oppression and racial discrimination. In this deeply personal book, Hlumelo Biko – who was born of Steve and Mamphela’s union – movingly recounts his parents’ love story and how their message to fellow black South Africans to love themselves helped to change the course of South African history. Their love story is set against the founding of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), which quickly gained mass support as it swept across the country in the early 1970s. Hlumelo offers an insider’s view on the early years of the movement, thanks to interviews with several founding members like Barney Pityana, Sath Cooper, Charles Sibisi, Malusi Mpumlwana, and his own mother. While setting out the guiding principles of the movement around a positive black identity, a black theology and practising ubuntu through community programmes, Hlumelo is in a spiritual conversation with his father, who was brutally murdered by the apartheid police in 1977. In writing this book, Hlumelo re-examines what it takes to live a Black Consciousness life in current-day South Africa. In a critical analysis of the BCM’s influence on the ANC, he shows how the governing party would do better by the majority of citizens if it returned to some of the tenets of Black Consciousness.

Toe hy 21 jaar gelede vir die eerste keer in Parys aankom, sou die kunstenaar Louis Jansen van Vuuren hom nooit kon indink dat hy eendag ’n château in die Franse platteland sou besit nie. In Amper Frans vertel hy op skreesnaakse wyse hoe hy alles wat Frans is ontdek en beproef het – daar is neusoptrekkerige kelners, statige hertoginne, etlike botsings met die berugte Franse burokrasie en natuurlike talle faux pas in sy gebrekkige Frans. Om die vervalle château saam met sy lewensmaat, Hardy Olivier, in ’n boetiekhotel te omskep het groot geduld en uithouvermoë geverg. Talle lesse is op die harde manier geleer. Een daarvan is dat vier verwarmers geensins genoeg is om ’n hele château te verhit nie en dit sal jou dae lank sonder elektrisiteit laat. Louis vertel ook van kaskenades met hulle gaste en hul eie avonture soos hulle die land platry agter vlooimarkte en avontuur aan. Hy vermeng stories oor hul lewe in Frankryk met brokkies geskiedenis en fassinerende inligting oor eg Franse tradisies. Dit is ’n moet vir Frankofiele!

When the artist Louis Jansen van Vuuren first visited Paris he could never have imagined that he would end up owning a château in rural France. Almost French is the highly entertaining account of his induction over the past 21 years into all things French: snooty waiters, high-brow countesses, numerous faux pas with the French language and of course, several encounters with the infamous French bureaucracy. Turning the dilapidated château into a boutique hotel with his life partner, Hardy Olivier, required patience and perseverance. Many lessons were learnt the hard way. Four heaters are not enough to heat an entire château and they will blow your power supply. And practising your French is a must. On a visit to the butcher, Louis asked for “sheep socks” when he was after leg of lamb. Talk about butchering the lamb! Louis interweaves the stories about his life in France with fascinating snippets of history, culture and tradition. A must for all Francophiles.

In 2010, government spokesperson Themba Maseko was called to the Gupta family’s Saxonwold compound and asked by Ajay Gupta to divert the government’s entire advertising budget to the family’s media company. When Maseko refused to do so, he was removed from his position and forced to leave the public service. The life of this once-proud civil servant would never be the same again. Maseko, whose activism was forged in the Soweto uprising of 1976, is a product of the struggle, and has always been unfailingly loyal to the principles of the ANC. In 2016, when the party called on members with evidence of wrongdoing by the Guptas to step forward, Maseko was the only one to do so. For this courageous act of whistleblowing, he was ostracised, slandered and even threatened. As a former senior state official, with a distinguished record of public service, Maseko also offers a rare insider’s view of the presidencies of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma and of the inner workings of government. Compelling and revelatory, For My Country shows what it takes to stand up for one’s principles and defy the most powerful man in the country.

Dr Joan Louwrens was always drawn to wild places, which were balm to her soul. When her husband died, leaving her alone with two small daughters to raise, she threw herself wholeheartedly into ‘adventure medicine’, seeking out the world’s most remote corners – on land and at sea – to practise her healing, both her own and others. Working in wild places from the Kruger Park to the Australian Outback, the Atlantic Ocean islands, and both the south and north poles, ‘Doctor Joan’ dealt with a vast range of medical issues, from rabies to deep-vein thrombosis, childbirth to wisdom-tooth extraction, catatonia to depression. Showing an eagerness to learn and a humility that isn’t always a given in her profession, and with a wry eye and a sympathetic outlook, Joan Louwrens has written a memoir that’s a poignant and often funny story of a life lived to the full.

Veteran journalist Anton Harber brings all his investigative skills to bear on his very own profession, the media. For two years he conducted dozens of interviews with politicians, journalists, policemen and 'deep throats', before piecing together two remarkable tales. The first is a chilling story of police death squads, rogue units and renditions, and how South Africa's leading newspaper was duped into doing the dirty work of corrupt politicians. The second starts with a broken and discarded hard drive and evolves, with many near misses, into the exposure of the depths of the Guptas' influence over the ruling party. Harber's two tales reveal the lows and highs of journalism during an era of state capture. His book is both a disquieting exposé of how easily the media can be duped by a conniving cabal for its own selfish ends, and a celebration of brilliant investigative reporting by brave and ethical journalists.

In 2008, Tony Leon’s award-winning biography On the Contrary concluded with a chapter entitled “Future Imperfect”. Now, in the riveting new Future Tense, the topic and title has changed to capture and analyse the squandered and corrupted years since. Leon, with unique access and penetrating insight, presents a portrait of today’s South Africa and prospects for its future, based on his political involvement over thirty years with the key power players: Cyril Ramaphosa, Jacob Zuma, Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk. His close-up and personal view of these presidents and their history-making, and many encounters in the wider world, adds vivid colour to the normal black and white picture painted of a country and planet in upheaval. Written during the coronavirus lockdown, Future Tense also examines the surge of both the disease and the response, which has crashed the economy and its future prospects, as well as the rise of a dangerous Julius Malema-led populism, and how this echoes global discontent elsewhere. As the founding leader of the official opposition, Leon also provides an insider view for the first time of the power struggles within that party, which saw the exit of its first black leader in 2019. There is every reason to fear for the future of South Africa but, as Leon argues, “the hope for a better country remains an improbable, but not an impossible, dream”.

If you search the Internet for parenting tips and read a few parenting books you will most likely stumble across the mythical Unicorn Baby. This is the baby who feeds every four hours and sleeps through the night, sits at six months, pees pure gold and poops rainbows. Didn’t get one of these? Don’t worry, neither did clinical Occupational Therapist and mom of two ‘non-unicorns’, Roxanne Atkinson, which is why she’s written this book. Combining her clinical and personal experience, Roxanne uses evidence-based facts to bust ten anxiety-inducing parenting myths, including the myth that breastfeeding comes naturally and that you must get your baby into a perfect routine. Acknowledging that every baby is unique, this book helps new parents navigate the first year of their baby’s life with their sanity – and sense of humour – intact. This book offers, among others, a better understanding of your baby’s brain and biology; tried and tested activities that support your baby’s development; a way to rid yourself of unrealistic expectations

Intelligence Isn’t Enough will empower young Black graduates entering the workforce and Black professionals already at work, teaching them not only how to survive but also thrive in the corporate environment. Carice Anderson, with over 17 years’ experience at top companies as a professional development manager and coach, shares her wisdom and knowledge. Her insider status has given her access to revelatory industry trends and insights on the harsh realities of corporates in general. Often, it is Black professionals who struggle the most and become frustrated and demotivated very early on in their professional lives as they lack the necessary skills, most of which aren’t taught or developed at tertiary level. This book will help Black professionals strategically perform in their careers while working for someone else. The author uses her own experience as a mentor, teacher and researcher, as well as the advice and personal anecdotes from 30 successful Black leaders in Africa, North America and Europe, to guide the reader through what she calls the major corporate muscles. These are IQ, Mental Attitude, People Matters, Cultural Intelligence, Personal Branding and Communication which, in her expert opinion, professionals need to flourish in any corporate setting. By mastering the balance between working on versus working in your career you can start making more strategic decisions critical to your success and advancement in the workplace.

I was three months shy of my 21st birthday, and I had committed the one unforgivable act for a Coloured girl from the Cape Flats. I sat on the toilet, staring at the pregnancy test, mostly confused by how I had fallen so far down the social ladder so quickly. The sex I had been having wasn’t even worth the trouble I was in. But the two lines that were almost glowing in one of the darkest moments of my life were there, and they weren’t fading. By the time Shana Fife is 25 she has two kids from different fathers. To the Coloured people she grew up around, she is a jintoe, a jezebel, jas, a woman with mileage on the pussy. She is alone, she has no job and, as she is constantly reminded by her family, she is pretty much worthless and unloveable. How did she become this woman, the epitome of everything she was conditioned to strive not to be? Unsettlingly honest and brutally blunt, Ougat is Shana Fife’s story of survival: of surviving the social conditioning of her Cape Flats community, of surviving sexual violence and depression, and of ultimately escaping a cycle of abuse. Exploring themes of sexuality, marriage and motherhood, rape, drugs and depression and cultural identity, Shana describes – with the self-deprecating humour her followers love so much – what it means to be a Coloured woman, who gives Coloured womanhood meaning and, ultimately, how surviving life as a Coloured woman means being OK with giving a giant ‘fuck you’ to the norm. A powerful, fresh and disarming new voice – Shana’s writing is like nothing you’ve read before.

One of the greats of South African rugby shares the many layers of his colourful and eventful life. From rugby legend to businessman, wine farmer, cultural custodian, musician, father and grandfather, Schalk Burger’s memoir is an intensely personal and honest journey of the triumphs and hardships that have shaped the life of a much-loved South African. Burger is a storyteller extraordinaire and he’ll have you snorting into your beer as you read about run-ins with officialdom, fisticuffs on the field, how he became the first white Springbok selected from a Coloured team, and the day Cheeky Watson asked to wash his feet. This is a glimpse into the life and times of one of the country’s most recognised figures, and told in the stories of the many lives that intersected with his. “Who am I, and how do I live? That is something this story will bring out of me.”

Hans van Rensburg se magnetiese persoonlikheid en sy sterk teenkanting teen Suid-Afrika se deelname aan die Tweede Wêreldoorlog het Afrikaners só aangegryp dat die Ossewabrandwag (OB) binne drie jaar na sy stigting by die 300 000 lede gehad het. In die vroeë 1930’s was Van Rensburg egter nog deel van die regering en het ’n blink politieke toekoms vir hom gewink. Hy was die jongste Justisiehoof voordat hy as die jongste administrateur van ’n provinsie aangestel is. Hy was ook ’n regsgeleerde, filosoof, taalkundige en taalstryder, bekwame burokaat, militaris, boer, wildjagter en hengelaar. Sy lewensverhaal strek oor sewe dekades en hy was by al die belangrikste historiese gebeure van 20ste eeu betrokke - van die Anglo-Boereoorlog tot die apartheidsregering. Dit is ’n tydperk waartydens talle “ismes” hoogty gevier het: imperialisme, nasionalisme, nasionaal-sosialisme, kapitalisme, kommunisme en rassisme. In die verlede is besprekings van Van Rensburg meestal beperk tot sy rol as OB-leier, terwyl hierdie boek ook gaan ondersoek instel na sy rol in die totstandkoming van die apartheidsbewind. Dit is minder bekend dat hy in die vroeë 1950’s as kommissaris van die Groepsgebiederade – ’n ankerpunt van apartheidsbeleid – aangestel is. Sy konflik met die verantwoordelike minister, PW Botha, het tot sy bedanking gelei. Van Rensburg word dikwels as ’n verbete Afrikaner-fascis beskryf, maar die werklikheid is meer kompleks. In vele opsigte was hy dalk eerder ’n gerieflike sondebok vir die Smuts- en Nasionale Party-regerings.

South Africa’s past quarter century has been shaped by the decisions and reach of one of the oldest political alliances in southern Africa, that between the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party. Towards a New Deal offers an insider account on the evolution of trade and economic policy in South Africa over the last 25 years from one of government’s most articulate and former senior members. Beginning in the early 1970s leading up to the current Ramaphosa era, Rob Davies gives in-depth insight into the politics, policies, and inner workings of the South African government. He concludes with a chapter on the ‘new dawn’ focusing primarily on the impacts of COVID-19 and the extremely challenging period that lies ahead. Told with intriguing anecdotes and, in parts, with the author’s own very personal and humanising history of activism and time spent in exile, this memoir presents a strong case for economic change, and is essential reading for economists, businesspeople, and ordinary readers keen to grasp the political and economic dynamics of the moment.

In April 2017 Pravin Gordan addressed a packed audience in St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. It was a week after President Jacob Zuma had fired him as Finance Minister, a move that signalled South Africa had been well and truly captured. Gordhan urged the crowd not to give up hope and to ‘join the dots’ in understanding what was taking place. At this moment he became a moral authority to many, someone who could fight the corruption. Seasoned journalists Jonathan Ancer and Chris Whitfield take a magnifying glass to someone at the centre of South Africa’s most tumultuous period and try to understand the man behind the public image. They go back to Durban in 1949 when Gordhan was born, tracing the significant events and influences that shaped his life and prompted him to become involved in politics as a pharmacy student at the University of Durban-Westville. Ancer and Whitfield have interviewed close former activists to build a picture of his time in the underground and the role he played in the struggle including his detention and torture. It was during this time he worked closely with Zuma, the man who would, on the back of a bogus intelligence report, fire him as finance minister. The book will examine why Gordhan has been dragged into major controversies like the rogue unit saga, the intelligence report and other smears against him. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s right-hand man has made many enemies: public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Julius Malema and Ace Magashule to name a few. Joining the Dots is an in-depth and satisfying read about a man who has been at the centre of South African public life.

A hair-raising account about the ins and outs of practising forensic pathology in AfricaAs a medical detective of the modern world, forensic pathologist Ryan Blumenthal's chief goal is to bring perpetrators to justice. He has performed thousands of autopsies, which have helped bring numerous criminals to book.In Autopsy he covers the hard lessons learnt as a rookie pathologist, as well as some of the most unusual cases he's encountered. During his career, for example, he has dealt with high-profile deaths, mass disasters, death by lightning and people killed by African wildlife. Blumenthal takes the reader behind the scenes at the mortuary, describing a typical autopsy and the instruments of the trade. He also shares a few trade secrets, like how to establish when a suicide is more likely to be a homicide. Even though they cannot speak, the dead have a lot to say - and Blumenthal is there to listen.

In Foreign Native, political commentator and author RW Johnson looks back with affection and humour on his life in Africa. From schooldays in Durban to later years as an Oxford don, director of the Helen Suzman Foundation and formidable political commentator, Johnson has produced an entertaining and occasionally eye-popping memoir brimming with history, anecdote and insight.Johnson charts his evolution from enthusiastic, left-leaning Africanist to political realist, relating episodes that influenced his intellectual worldview, including time spent among the exiled liberation movements in London during the 1960s, a sojourn in newly independent Guinea and more recent forays into Zimbabwe. There are wonderful stories, some hilarious, others filled with pathos, about the multitude of characters that he met along the way.Perceptive, critical and full of verve, Foreign Native is leavened with a deep humanity that is a pleasure to read.