There is the high veld, the middle veld, the low veld, the bush veld, and now thoughts from the thorn veld,
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
Foeta Krige, The SABC8 (Penguin, 2019) BOOKSHOP shelves are weighted with tales of anti-apartheid activism. And the number of titles recording the struggles of post-liberation human rights activists grows steadily. Foeta Krige’s book considers the […]
Toni Strasburg, Holding the Fort: A Family Torn Apart (Kwela Books, 2019) LIONEL (Rusty) and Hilda Bernstein were among several couples prominent in the South African liberation struggle. When detained on 8 April 1960 during […]
Adam Habib, Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall (Jonathan Ball, 2019); and Wandile Ngcaweni and Busani Ngcaweni (eds) We Are No Longer at Ease: The Struggle for #FeesMustFall (Jacana, 2018) WORLDWIDE, the shelf life of […]
Peter Storey, I Beg to Differ: Ministry Amid the Teargas (Tafelberg, 2018) THOSE who lived through the State of Emergency of the 1980s will not have forgotten the Candle of Peace, Hope and Justice, a […]
Harris Dousemetzis with Gerry Loughran, The Man Who Killed Apartheid: The Life of Dimitri Tsafendas (Jacana, 2018) EXACTLY who was Hendrik Verwoerd’s assassin? In this comprehensive, thoroughly researched account of the life of Dimitri Tsafendas, […]
Philippe Denis, Paddy Kearney and Jane Argall (eds), A Life in Letters: Selected Correspondence of Denis Hurley (Cluster Publications, 2018) APARTHEID South Africa produced a remarkable number of outstanding church leaders: Desmond Tutu, Allan Boesak, […]
Chris Hoare, ‘Mad Mike’ Hoare: The Legend (Partners in Publishing, 2018) AN officer and a gentleman; a brave, swashbuckling adventurer; a legend in his lifetime; the ‘best bloody officer in the British army’; the man […]