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, […]
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Our Poisoned Land: Living in the Shadows of Zuma’s Keepers
Jacques Pauw, Our Poisoned Land: Living in the Shadows of Zuma’s Keepers (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2022) CRIMINALITY in high political and public places amounts to treason directly enabled by the toxic culture of the ANC. […]
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Black Beach: 491 Days in one of Africa’s Most Brutal Prisons
Daniel Janse van Rensburg with Tracey Pharoah, Black Beach: 491 Days in one of Africa’s Most Brutal Prisons (Cape Town: Penguin, 2022) THE TITLE of this book is explicit enough, but its broader significance lies […]