Abyss: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
Max Hastings, Abyss: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 (London: William Collins, 2022) IT is generally agreed that the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 was the closest the planet has come in the nuclear age […]
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Shutting down civil liberties in South Africa
OVER the years the South African definition of long weekend has expanded. Traditionally, it involved a Monday or Friday public holiday. But nowadays only a rare Wednesday holiday does not create a long weekend. President […]
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Farm Killings in South Africa
Nechama Brodie, Farm Killings in South Africa (Cape Town: Kwela Books, 2022) AMONG some white South Africans there is a belief that a genocide (volksmoord) is being perpetrated against them and showing up as an […]
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Fruit of a Poisoned Tree
Antony Altbeker, Fruit of a Poisoned Tree: A True Story of Murder and the Miscarriage of Justice (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, new ed., 2022) IN Stellenbosch in 2005 a 22-year-old student, Inge Lotz, was fatally beaten […]
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From the acute embarrassment of Eskom to the utter shame of Mosi 2
FOR months there has been mounting anger in all sectors of South African society about the downward spiral of Eskom, including from those who don’t pay for what it produces. A revolving door of loadshedding […]
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Koos Bekker’s Billions
T.J. Strydom, Koos Bekker’s Billions (Cape Town: Penguin, 2022) JUDGING by the number of published titles, the reading public appears to have a fascination for the lives of businessmen who have raked in billions, even […]
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The Durban moment fifty years on: hope as revolutionary force
AT the head of the march of 2 000 workers was a man holding aloft a red flag. This was Durban fifty years ago on 9 January and the flag was simply a warning to […]
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The Enemy Within: How the ANC Lost the Battle against Corruption
Mpumelelo Mkhabela, The Enemy Within: How the ANC Lost the Battle against Corruption (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2022) YET another book on corruption in South Africa? The value of this one lies in its analytical approach […]
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The making and shaping of history: the death of Dag Hammarskjöld
NEARLY ten years ago I was fortunate to review for the Witness Susan Williams’ brilliant book based on her research into the death of United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in the crash of flight […]
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Then, UKZN … and now, UCT
THE CURRENT standoff at University of Cape Town, brought to a head by the vice-chancellor and chair of Council’s apparent economy with the truth with Senate about the departure of a member of the executive, […]