Capitec: Stalking Giants
T.J. Strydom, Capitec: Stalking Giants (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2024) THE LIBERATION of the majority of South Africans after 1990 has all too often been seen in terms of the vote. This was always going to […]
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Breaking Bread: A Memoir
Jonathan Jansen, Breaking Bread: A Memoir (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2024) This is the story of a transformational journey from exclusive fundamentalist religion to international inclusivity and a broad-minded approach to higher education. Jonathan Jansen’s parents […]
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MAGA and the return of Trump
‘GOODBYE, America; it was nice knowing you.’ Those were the words of the British writer Philip Pullman the day Donald Trump was re-elected president of the United States. John Cusack, the American actor, reminded his […]
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The Truth about Cape Slavery
Patric Tariq Mellet, The Truth about Cape Slavery: The Foundations of Colonial South Africa (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2024) CAPE slavery has often been described as relatively benign, a sideshow to the main drama of South […]
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Persistent urban legend
EVERY Monday morning in the grounds of our local Anglican church modest food parcels are handed out. This began at a garden gate during the pandemic to help people who had lost jobs and resorted […]
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Hunting with the Hawks: Untold Stories from the Elite South African Crime-Fighting Unit
Graham Coetzer, Hunting with the Hawks: Untold Stories from the Elite South African Crime-Fighting Unit (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2024) THE FAMED Scorpions, the Directorate of Special Operations which fell under the NPA and combined investigative […]
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Hunting the Seven: How the Gugulethu Seven Assassins were Exposed
Beverley Roos-Muller, Hunting the Seven: How the Gugulethu Seven Assassins were Exposed (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2024) THE ATTEMPTED ambush of a police van in Gugulethu on 3 March 1986 resulted in the deaths of seven […]
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Social media: a world of hatred and fakery
FOR the last few years of my formal working life, I was employed in the newsroom of a medium-size, well-established paper. It was a happy experience in a non-hierarchic, team-orientated environment and a relief after […]
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High Times: The Extraordinary Life of a Joburg Dope Smuggler
Roy Isacowitz and Jeremy Gordin, High Times: The Extraordinary Life of a Joburg Dope Smuggler (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2024) CHARM, charisma and confidence are worth more than any academic qualification; but they can spill over […]
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Botha, Smuts and the First World War
Antonio Garcia and Ian van der Waag, Botha, Smuts and the First World War (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2024) MEMORIALS to generals Louis Botha and Jan Smuts have not fared well in recent years; removed or […]