In Defence of Open Society
George Soros, In Defence of Open Society (John Murray, 2019) A LIST of George Soros’s low-life detractors – from big fish like Vladimir Putin to small fry like Julius Malema flourishing in a groundswell of […]
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=Blessed by Bosasa
Adriaan Basson, Blessed by Bosasa: Inside Gavin Watson’s State Capture Cult (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball) THE GRAND corruption of Gavin Watson’s facilities management company, Bosasa, detailed at length in Adriaan Basson’s book will be familiar to […]
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=Agent Running in the Field
John le Carré, Agent Running in the Field (London: Viking) WITH a degree of inevitability, the Brexit novel has arrived. Happily, one of the authors is the 88-year-old John le Carré, an articulate Remainer. There […]
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=A House Divided: The Feud that Took Cape Town to the Brink
Crispian Olver, A House Divided: The Feud that Took Cape Town to the Brink (Jonathan Ball, 2019) CAPE Town has a reputation, based on consistent clean audits and much evidence of administrative efficiency, as the […]
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=Permanent Record
Edward Snowden, Permanent Record (Macmillan, 2019) THE first, and most important, point to make about Edward Snowden is that he is not Julian Assange. Snowden is a whistleblower in the classic sense who identified illegality, […]
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=Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe: New Reflections
Benjamin Pogrund (ed.), Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe: New Reflections (Jonathan Ball, 2019) WRITTEN out of history – that is fair comment on the life of founding Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) president Robert Sobukwe. First imprisoned by […]
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=The Enforcers: Inside Cape Town’s Deadly Nightclub Battles
Caryn Dolley, The Enforcers: Inside Cape Town’s Deadly Nightclub Battles (Jonathan Ball, 2019) RATIONAL people might assume that there is a clear fault line between police and criminals; yet even in the best-ordered societies the […]
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=The Stellenbosch Mafia: Inside the Billionaires’ Club
Pieter du Toit, Stellenbosch Mafia: Inside the Billionaires’ Club (Jonathan Ball, 2019) THE term ‘Stellenbosch Mafia’ was concocted, it seems, by two well-known financial journalists by way of wry commentary. Appropriated by interests such as […]
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=Tobacco Wars: Inside the Spy Games and Dirty Tricks of Southern Africa’s Cigarette Trade
Johann van Loggerenberg, Tobacco Wars: Inside the Spy Games and Dirty Tricks of Southern Africa’s Cigarette Trade (Tafelberg, 2019) SMOKING is considered by many a filthy habit, but according to Johann van Loggerenberg it is […]
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=For the People: A Small Town’s Struggle against Apartheid
Anelia Schutte, For the People: A Small Town’s Struggle against Apartheid (HQ, 2019) MUCH of the struggle against apartheid took place in dorps like Cradock and Oudtshoorn, their particular histories overshadowed by the main centres, […]