Search results for ""Jacana Media""

This is the life and times of Jabu Ndlovu—wife, mother, worker, union activist—who fought for the rights of her fellow workers and community members. Flashes in Her Soul is the second book in the Hidden Voices series and is the story of Jabu Ndlovu, a shop steward of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and a community leader in Imbali near Pietermaritzburg. Jabu, her husband and her oldest daughter were killed in a brutal attack on their home in May 1989. This story shows the courage and compassion with which Jabu fought against all forms of exploitation. Her story represents the experiences of thousands of women who struggled and suffered as a result of the war in KwaZulu-Natal in the 1980s and 1990s. Jabu's story reminds us of the devastation that violence brings to families, communities and organizations.The politics and dynamics behind the violence today are not the same as in the 1980s and early 1990s, but the need remains for strong and moral leaders like Jabu to speak out and organize against the violence and the moral corruption that lies behind it.

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The AIDS Law Project (ALP) is a small legal NGO in Johannesburg that, along with its allies in the Treatment Action Campaign, fought for more than a decade for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. Today South Africa has laws that protect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and the largest treatment program in the world. The ALP’s story is told through their clients and the major legal cases, which form the milestones in this struggle. It is a story about ordinary people who in their own way did some extraordinary things at an exceptionally difficult time. Their clients stood up against prejudice and disinformation because they felt strongly about their rights. For some it was discrimination against themselves; for others it was discrimination against their fellow citizens who were vulnerable because they were living with a disease that had no cure and they were often seriously ill, even dying. People’s rights were being violated, but the law gave them a way to reassert them, generating the first resurgence of civil society in postapartheid South Africa. This book is about the power of people and their courage to speak the truth.

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Accompanied by superb photographs, this ground-breaking book is the first practical field guide to record the Zulu names of bird species commonly found in KwaZulu-Natal. Where one name was previously used to describe a number of birds belonging to the same genus (i.e. ukhozi for most eagles), the need existed to give species specific names. The authors hope this book will be used to inspire a greater interest, awareness and protection of the avifaunal heritage of KwaZulu-Natal. It is vital for the heritage of all South Africans that these names are recorded and made widely available. Noleen Turner, a passionate birder and honorary research professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in collaboration with Prof Adrian Koopman and Roger Porter, led this seven-year project, together with 18 expert Zulu bird guides from various parts of KwaZulu-Natal. The recording, derivation and crafting of these names has been a lengthy but fascinating process. Turner notes that the project has included not only the consideration of biodiversity management, but also the pursuit of social ecology, the long neglected but crucial 'people's' aspect of conservation. She said when it came to Zulu names for birds, they had to fill in the gaps, and of the 550 species analysed, some were confirmation of well-known names, such as inkazwi for the fish eagle; some were selected from the most commonly known names such as inkankane for the hadeda ibis. Some names were redirected: for example, the name for the Brown-headed Kingfisher indwazela became the generic name for all kingfishers (ndwaza referring to the motionless position while waiting for prey). Other new names were coined based on appearance, calls, behaviour and distribution such as isankawu (the bird whose call sounds like a vervet monkey) for the Southern Pochard, or umacutha derived from the Zulu word cutha (meaning to draw the body tense) as the generic name for herons, which perfectly describes the bird's behaviour before it lunges at its prey.

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At the core of every human being is the voice of the soul. This voice longs to live in our daily walk or the sole. Soul 2 sole tackles the journey and believes that by asking better questions and ultimately bridging this gap, the individual leader and influencer can live more effectively and make a larger difference in his/her life and the lives of their community. Soul 2 sole is about your footsteps and your soul moving to the same beat. With this book, Webster asks this essential question: Is it possible to align the Soul to the sole? Is there a movement away from conspicuous consumerism, towards a more holistic lifestyle where the pursuit of authenticity is desired? Or perhaps we should be attempting to marry modernity, technology and a new definition of what it means to live authentically, because the old definition suggests we walk barefoot, put away our phones and forgo chatting in favour of living in the spiritual moment? For your soul to find its way into the sole of your feet, the machine we know to be the brain must be acknowledged as both an enabler and a hurdle. The brain or the biological bridge between the soul/sole evolves and shifts over time; and science has now shown that we know far too little about elements of the brain, both consciously and unconsciously, to suggest any of us have full control over our authenticity. Both the soul and the sole have unique identities, completely separate from each other, and the key to understanding authenticity is to view them both in isolation as well as fused together. This book investigates the history, thinking, sociological obstacles and the neuroscience of crossing this complicated bridge to authenticity.

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In this consideration, respected trend analyst JP Landman focuses on the South African economy, examining its history, its current state, and what he perceives as its future fate. By questioning and challenging the preconceived ideas and the media-portrayed examples of what members of the public might deem a modern and developed society, Landman goes beyond the present to give readers a solid, long-term, and informed view. As an economist, the author deals neither in optimism nor in pessimism, only realism. In this examination, he provides a vision of South Africa’s future that transcends the daily drama of the snapshots seen on television and in the media, providing a proper understanding and view of the realities that the country faces. It is only in letting this truth speak, Landman argues, that South Africa can move forward confidently and with purpose.

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The base of the pyramid (BOP)—the largest socio-economic group, but which also has the lowest income—is the subject of increasing attention in business practices worldwide, the current shift of which is toward creating a more sustainable market. That trend is thoroughly detailed in this helpful guide to understanding and succeeding in BOP business. Utilizing case studies from South Africa, the book demonstrates that in South Africa, around 60 percent of the population is not served or underserved by current business, with similar comparisons existing globally. The book offers strategies for tapping the significant new market both effectively and ethically, and showcases pioneering BOP businesses as well as the failures—giving special focus to what makes an approach sustainable. Also included are interviews with more than 40 top players, and the case studies include Nestlé, Danone, Walmart, Blue Label Technologies, and Capitec.

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Tony Frost's uniquely African leadership title takes the lessons learned from our abundant and diverse wildlife, and recasts them into practical ideas for implementation by anyone in any organisation. Through his humorous description of a conference of animals, Tony paints issues, the basic lessons we have learned from the wild, and make them work positively in our favour. After the Rain enables the reader to see global issues through very African eyes. This sharing of lessons allows a fusion of ideas and a sharing of knowledge between Africa and the First World which could only enhance growth, creativity and innovation in local organisations.

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Informative and up-to-date, this comprehensive study is written by Zimbabweans about Zimbabwe. It discusses the contemporary issues affecting Zimbabwe citizens and critically examines both the historical and contemporary dynamics shaping political and economic developments in the country, taking into account voices from a broad spectrum of Zimbabwean society—including civil society, faith-based communities, the diaspora, women, community leaders, the media, youth, and regional actors such as Southern African Development Community and the African Union. Providing insights into the role of ordinary people achieving a more stable future, this book will interest academics, policymakers, and civil-society practitioners alike.

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Beginning with the struggle revolving around the ideas that surround public art in South Africa, this book aims to create a critical and thoughtful space in which to consider film, photography, and literature related to migration on the African continent. Addressing the hard social realities and the untransformed landscape of apartheid through art, this anthology moves on from feet, physicality, and shoes to real and imagined movements, using invented maps, possible routes, dreams, and ideas about the future. This unique book forces readers to reconsider space from various perspectives.

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Combining journalism with research to present an analysis that is broad in scope yet focused on the key issues, this publication is a multiauthored investigation into HIV reporting in South Africa. Ranging from in-depth quantitative and qualitative research documents to radio and television transcripts and candid interviews, this collection offers insight into the history and struggles of South African health politics and gives a voice to those whose voices are often not heard against the din of political controversy surrounding HIV. As it demonstrates the role the media has played in shaping the ideas about and the approach toward the virus, this discussion will be of particular interest to academics in both health and politics.

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South Africa has done much in the 15 years since the fall of apartheid to establish its leadership on the continent. It has been a constant architect of Africa's new peace and security architecture and an advocate of new diplomatic norms.

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The land development unit (LDU) was a small; non-government organization (NGO) engaged from 1992 to 2004 in agricultural and rural development in the Western and Northern Cape provinces. At its inception, agriculture was the weakest link in the array of support to rural communities in the region - the small, disadvantaged farmers in the Coloured Rural Areas and black vegetable growers in the townships. The LDU was deliberately established to fill this gap. The title tells the story of this significant NGO that was active during the critical period when South Africa was transforming itself into a democratic nation. Starting work in the early 1990s, it pioneered participatory methods, and was virtually the only organization at that time running operational projects with these communities. A companion online publication traces the LDU's conception and birth, discusses its philosophy and strategy, management, funding and public awareness activities, and analyses why it was so vulnerable and finally faded away. The title breaks new ground in that it is the first detailed account of the work of a small NGO which supported disadvantaged farmers and growers in the arid western part of South Africa. Many other NGOs have disappeared from the South African scene without leaving a proper record of their work. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a supporter of the LDU from the very beginning, has written the foreword of this 200-page book is published under the auspices of the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), School of Government, University of the Western Cape.

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Love poems written by South Africans, and set in its police vans and bluegum trees, its backyards and its bedrooms, are collected in this anthology.

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Father Patrick Noonan's book is a meticulously written and moving account of the events in and around the Vaal Triangle, leading up to the downfall of apartheid. Noonan's clear and unbiased historical record clarifies many misconceptions regarding these important events. They're Burning the Churches elucidates the Sharpeville Six Trial, the Delmas Treason Trial, the 1984 uprising that led to international sanctions against South Africa, the first-ever army invasions of the townships, as well as the Boipatong massacre.

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Published to coincide with the World Summit on Sustainable Development, this book is a current comprehensive and holistic assessment of the social and environmental challenges facing a developing African state within the global context. An up-to-the-minute review of the state of the South African environment, Coming Back to Earth will shock and surprise you as it covers what we've achieved and where we need urgent action in fields of biodiversity, air, water, soil, marine life, nature conservation, urban environment, population dynamics including HIV-AIDS, solid waste management, GM crops, policies and attitudes history...and possibilities for change.

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A meticulously written and moving report of the groundbreaking events that dramatically accelerated the downfall of the apartheid movement, this new edition focuses on a particularly violent period in South Africa’s tumultuous history. Clearly and without bias, this book discusses the Sharpeville Six Trial, the Delmas Treason Trial, the 1984 uprising that led to international sanctions against South Africa, the first-ever army invasions of the Vaal townships, and the still controversial Boipatong massacre. With firsthand accounts—including those from formerly despised councillors—this record clarifies many misconceptions regarding the important events that were instrumental in bringing down the apartheid regime.

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A practical guide for doctors and nurse clinicians in treating and managing people with HIV, this fifth edition addresses the essential medical care for people infected with HIV as well as issues relating to the epidemic in general. It is ideal for those on the front line of primary care and includes information on the HIV test, antiretroviral therapy, HIV and women and children, HIV risk and accidental exposure to health care workers, reducing mother-to-child transmission, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and hepatitis B co-infection, HIV and cervical cancer, and ethical and moral considerations. The book will also serve as a useful reference for counselors, social workers, therapists, pharmacists, alternative health care professionals, and for health care personnel training.

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It is 1963. South Africa is in crisis and the white state is under siege. On 19 August the dreaded Security Police swoop on Griggs bookstore in downtown Durban and arrest Eleanor, the daughter of the manageress. They threaten to 'break her or hang her' if she does not lead them to her lover, 'Red' Ronnie Kasrils, who is wanted on suspicion of involvement in recent acts of sabotage, including the toppling of electricity pylons and explosions at a Security Police office in Durban. Though she comes under intense pressure during interrogation, Eleanor has her own secret to conceal. She has been acting as a clandestine agent for the underground ANC and must protect her handlers and Ronnie at all costs. Astutely, she convinces the police that she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and, still a prisoner, is sent off to a mental hospital in Pietermaritzburg for assessment. It is here that she plots her escape ...This remarkable story of a young woman's courage and daring at a time of increasing repression in apartheid South Africa is told here for the first time with great verve and elan by Eleanor's husband, Ronnie Kasrils, who eventually became South Africa's Minister of Intelligence Services in 2004. He is the author of a bestselling autobiography, Armed and Dangerous.

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Violence rendered things visible, writes Denis Hirson in this beautifully crafted, musical story, which is as much about seeing how people lived at that time as it is about desire, loneliness and the desperate, blind need for revenge. Lemon street runs downslope through a leafy, peaceful suburb of Johannesburg. It is early 1960. One resident of the street, a young widow, believes she has finally met the new man of her life. In a narrow room at the back of the garden, her maid impatiently awaits the arrival of her lover. Across the street, while his parents engage in yet another heated argument, a schoolboy dreams of a girl. And down past the willow trees at the bottom of the street this girl's mother prepares a party to celebrate her twentieth wedding anniversary, which will hardly turn out as she expected. Meanwhile, tremors run through South Africa. Hundreds of men die in the great Clydesdale mine disaster. There is an assassination attempt upon the Prime Minister, Dr Verwoerd. There is the Sharpeville Massacre, which will radically shape the political climate of the country, and permanently alter the lives of certain people on Lemon Street.

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Thandi needs new shoes but she knows they cost a lot of money. After thinking for a while, she goes to her grandmother, who helps plan a way to get the money with a little bit of help from Nosipho, Thandi's doll, and Pepi, her pet rooster. Along the way, Thandi learns that gentle persuasion is sometimes best—and that with the help of friends, everything is possible.

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A portrait of visionary leadership, this study of the Bafokeng people describes how they acquired their land and protected their customs during 150 years of political upheaval in South Africa. In addition, the book provides a look at the current state of affairs in Royal Bafokeng Nation: the community has plenty of wealth from platinum—and it is the only rural community ever to host world cup soccer in the history of FIFA. Fully illustrated, book introduces the Bafokeng community, both past and present, as well as those who played a major role in shaping Bafokeng society, including Paul Kruger, Hans Merensky, and Christoph Penzhorn from the German Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission.

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In this fascinating account of scientific study among forbidding wilderness, a husband-and-wife team describe their trek to the Kalahari to study the little-known brown hyena. The details of the scientific inquiry are provided while the daily challenges of living with children 420 kilometers from the nearest town are described. Despite the hardships, the couple becomes so enchanted by these intelligent animals that they stay for 12 years, documenting many hyena clans and observing behavior only a handful of people have ever seen.

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The little girl who didn't want to grow up retold by Veronique Tadjo and illustrated by Catherine Groenewald. Little Ayanda loves her father with all her heart. One day he goes away, and doesn't return. She is so sad that she decides she doesn't want to grow up. So she stays small for a long time, even when her friends tease her. One day her mom gets sick and she changes her mind. She grows bigger so that she can help her family. But when trouble strikes her village, is she big and brave enough to save everyone?

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Little Red Hen is feeling peckish and decides to make bread; she asks her friends for help but they all refuse. Will she have to do everything by herself? Engaging and beautifully illustrated, this story teaches children the importance of lending a helping hand and the value of sharing. A retelling of a beloved children's fable, this story reflects African contexts while maintaining the universal appeal of the original.

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The Gift of Gold has all the ingredients of a classic fairy tale; a curse, a missing lucky gold pebble, an inquisitive little girl and, of course, a happy ending. The characters are South African; a traditional tribe praying for rain, a talking chameleon, and a misunderstood tokoloshe. Mathews' illustrations are gorgeous, ominous, evocative and beautiful in turn. And Kowen's tale is simply and powerfully written. The lesson is one we should all adhere to; "You should never take back a gift. A gift is a token of love. How can you take back your love?"

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Examining the corruptive effects that money can have on politics, this book explores the challenges of party funding reform in South Africa. With input from leading analysts, academics, and journalists, key controversies in party finance reform—including one-party dominance, party-controlled businesses, corruption, and public financing—are analyzed. Thorough and candid, this account highlights the intricacies of contemporary South African politics.

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The Three Billy Goats Gruff retold by Carole Bloch and illustrated by Shayle Bester. The Three Billy Goats Gruff are hungry and tired of living in the dusty and thorny veld. Just across the bridge there is a koppie covered in sweet, green grass that they would love to eat. But they are afraid of the fierce monster who lives under the bridge. One day they are so hungry that they decide to be brave and cross the bridge. Will they outsmart the monster or will he catch them and gobble them up?

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This collection of essays by some of South Africa’s foremost HIV/AIDS writers, doctors, and activists takes readers down the rabbit hole of AIDS denialism when thousands of people died unnecessarily as their treatment became the subject of intellectual debate by politicians. Recounting the democratic, postapartheid government's questioning of the link between HIV and AIDS and the contention of the inefficacy of antiretroviral drugs, this history stands as both a chronicle of the past and a cautionary tale for the future.

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George Stow was a Victorian man of many parts- poet, historian, ethnographer and prolific writer. A geologist by profession, he became acquainted, through his work in the field, with the extraordinary wealth of rock art paintings in the caves and shelters of the South African interior. Enchanted and absorbed by them, Stow set out to create a record of this creative work of the people who had tracked and marked the South African landscape decades and centuries before him. Unconquerable Spirit reveals for the first time the beauty and scope of his labors.

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Within a generation, the wilderness of Zululand, with its spectacular array of mammals, birds and plants, came near to extinction. This is the saga of that decline and of the heroic and successful attempt, through establishing game reserves and enforcing environmental protection policies, to save one of Africa's surviving environmental gems. Enough elephant tusks to fill a thousand ox wagons - that's how much ivory alone was shipped out of Durban bay between the 1820s and the 1880s. It amounted to at least a million kilograms, or a thousand tons, of ivory and represented the slaughter of 20 000 elephant. Piles of elephant tusks were then a common sight at the dockside in Port Natal. But that was not all - rhino horn; buck horn; buffalo, hippo and wildebeest hide; lion, leopard and wildcat skin; as well as live wild animals, all were exported, much coming from the last surviving great African kingdom in southern Africa, Zululand. The three pillars of the Zululand and Maputaland wilderness were the wild game, the avifauna, particularly game birds, and the indigenous forests. This title charts both the onslaught on them and the efforts made to preserve them from the destruction that seemed imminent and inevitable. But the title also tells the story of the local African population and their attitudes; it looks at the white and African hunters who pursued the game; and it traces the foundation in the 1890s of the first Zululand game reserves and their struggle for survival against all the odds. Had not the pioneers of Zululand conservation embarked on this early conservation movement, the Zululand wilderness with its tremendous diversity of fauna and flora would have disappeared completely - and with it one of Africa's brightest jewels.

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As much a rigorous historical exploration as a culinary reference, this book offers a delicately compiled biography of Nelson Mandela through the recipes that have been the backdrop, and occasionally the primary cause, for momentous personal and political events. From the corn grinding stone of his boyhood and prison hunger strikes to presidential banquets, tales told in sandwiches, sugar, and samoosas speak eloquently of Nelson Mandela's intellectual awakenings, emotional longings, and constant struggle for racial equality.

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The South African-born Chinese community is a tiny one, consisting of 10,000 to 12,000 members in a population of approximately 45 million. Throughout much of the history of this most race-conscious country, the community has been ignored or neglected, and officially classed along with Coloureds (people of mixed race) or with Indians in that particularly South African category of 'Asiatic'. More recently, as China's aid, trade and investment in Africa grow and large numbers of new Chinese immigrants stream into South Africa and other African states, Chinese South Africans are beginning to receive both media and scholarly attention. For this reason it is timely to focus on the only resident community of Chinese on the continent. This title, based on a PhD thesis, focuses on Chinese South Africans by examining their shifting social, ethnic, racial and national identities over time. Using concepts of identity, ethnicity, race, nationalism, and transnationalism, and drawing on comparisons with other overseas Chinese communities, it explores the multi-layered identities of the South African group and analyses the way in which how their identities have changed over time and with each generation. As the title makes clear, Chinese identities in South Africa have been shaped by both external and internal forces. As regards external factors, the state - both that of China and of South Africa - played a key role in establishing the parameters of identity construction. Over time the weight of this influence changed, as a result of international political events, internal racial policies, and external trade and political relations. At the same time, individual and community agency, and the force of the 'China myth', played important parts in the construction of Chinese South African identity.

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The Little Explorers series takes children on a journey to teach them more about the world around them. Each title is beautifully illustrated and easy for children to read themselves. Approved by the National Department of Education as a Foundation Phase reader for Grades 1, 2 and 3. Shapes are Everywhere shows children how to find different shapes in the beautiful world around us. What are You Doing? introduces children to the many different ways that children can find the written word. Stop, Look and Listen shows children essential elements of road safety while dodging wild animals in a national park. It's Time! takes us through all the things that happen in a normal day. Oh No! is the story of poor Dangoes, who has many things to do but falls ill and can't do them. She gets better, but then it starts to rain! Lele Dreams takes the reader on a fantastical journey to the clouds and the sea.

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The Little Explorers series takes children on a journey to teach them more about the world around them. Each title is beautifully illustrated and easy for children to read themselves. Approved by the National Department of Education as a Foundation Phase reader for Grades 1, 2 and 3. Shapes are Everywhere shows children how to find different shapes in the beautiful world around us. What are You Doing? introduces children to the many different ways that children can find the written word. Stop, Look and Listen shows children essential elements of road safety while dodging wild animals in a national park. It's Time! takes us through all the things that happen in a normal day. Oh No! is the story of poor Dangoes, who has many things to do but falls ill and can't do them. She gets better, but then it starts to rain! Lele Dreams takes the reader on a fantastical journey to the clouds and the sea.

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A war correspondent sets out from Amsterdam to South Africa to piece together the fragmented history of Ace and Rem, two brothers from South Africa. Their bizarre and disturbing scrapbook recounts a suspenseful tale of trauma and heartbreak that crosses two continents and leaves a trail of shattered lives in its wake. Six fang marks and a Tetanus Shot is a superb, multi-layered novel that investigates the eviscerating effect that intense trauma can have on a young boy's mind.

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The coastal guide of South Africa will take you on a magical journey along South Africa's coastline while exploring the beauties and hidden secrets of our natural heritage. The 3000km stretch of coastline in South Africa has contrasting climates and habitats that in turn accommodate an enormously rich and diverse array of plants and animals. The west coast has cold, nutrient-rich waters, kelp forests and low-growing, succulent scrub along the dunes, while on the east and north coasts conditions are more tropical with higher rainfall, warmer waters, greater marine diversity and tall, dense coastal forests. The coastal guide of South Africa is a basic guide to our coastline's biodiversity, from dune to ocean, developed in order to offer beach enthusiasts, holidaymakers and recreational anglers a simple guide for identifying the plants and animals most frequently or commonly seen or caught along South Africa's coastline. Although it does not cover all the species, it is a good introduction for those people who would like to begin to identify and understand some of the coastal life we come into contact with while using the beach. We also hope that this guide will create an awareness and appreciation of the diverse and contrasting biodiversity found on our rich and beautiful coast, including background information on tides, habitats and coastlines.

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Miss Kwa Kwa (or MK) is learning that in a country supposedly so black-and-white, there are a million shades of grey - 'Coconuts', 'Wiggas' and 'Buppies' are a few examples. But behind the simple facade of the rural, charming Miss Kwa Kwa lies a mind as sharp as a panga and just as deadly - and somewhere in this Rainbow Nation is a pot of gold with her name on it. Unaware that several people are chasing her, MK begins stalking a politician who has just checked his wife into rehab. Utterly charmed by MK, he takes her to the top-secret Studio 94 with its exclusive clientele. Throw in coincidence/fate, skulduggery, a crazed prostitute named Leeyann, a terrifying thunderstorm and a blackout, and it's a recipe for disaster. Everything comes to a head at Studio 94, resulting in comeuppance, fame and an unusual romance. And Miss Kwa Kwa becomes the host of her own new talk show called Kwa Kwa Konfidential.

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White Scars also explores the moments at which Hirson read the four books. They include the arrest of his anti-apartheid activist father, Baruch Hirson in the early 1960's; his own move to Paris in the 1970's; his father's death, and the end of a period of mourning for him. In weaving together these two strands in White Scars, Hirson has referred to many other texts, including other books by Breyten Breytenbach, Raymond Carver and Georges Perec. He has also explored a constellation of key words, which trace, in different ways, the political space of apartheid South Africa and the transience of one who is now looking back at that time through the prism of distance.

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There are two kinds of wars - one is external, a public war for all the world to witness; the other intensely private, glimpsed at by only a few. When Lieutenant Michael Fuller signed up to be part of the war, leaving behind a passionate yet vulnerable relationship, he had no idea that his experience would take him beyond the guns and bombs, deep into the heart of the human spirit. It is 1916 on the German East African frontier - surrounded by the beauty and oppressing heat of the African savanna with its guardian, Kilimanjaro, towering above the skyline, a war of words and prejudices flares up - these are early days for South African and Rhodesian regiments to be camping with men from the King's African Rifles and the Indian Baluchis. Private battles are waged as officers use the war to further their careers or cloak their pasts and a Boer War hero's son carries the weight of his father's reputation with him before he's even taken his first life. After a devastating defeat, Fuller, two men from the King's African Rifles, a Baluchi officer and Captain Carter are called to embark on a secret mission deep into enemy territory and the African bush. To survive these men are drawn into

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The quest for meaning and relationship in an alienated urban existence leads to a world beyond the mundane in this humorous, absorbing story. Fat and over forty, Ethne is not happy. In the flat above, Derek, thin and over forty, is frightened. When Mortimer comes into their lives with panache and pathos, he spins fantasies for them through which they discover surprising strengths. A variety of stressful human problems—unrequited love, sinister religions, astral travel, dog training, and homophobia—are made all the more poignant by the novel's lightness of touch.

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A new book on South Africa's political transition reveals that far from it being a home-grown strategy, foreign diplomats and organisations were intensely involved in making South Africa's "miracle" a reality. It takes the reader behind the scenes to witness how heads of state, politicians, diplomats and others worked tirelessly to help bring about our peaceful settlement. His focus on the process of changing South Africa's government from one of white-minority rule to a democracy, casts a new light on the diplomatic styles of former President Nelson Mandela and President Thabo Mbeki. Landsberg's insights, provide important links between particularly President Mbeki's brand of foreign policy and the diplomacy that made possible the new South Africa. "Having been on the receiving end of diplomatic efforts to help end apartheid, the post-apartheid government became a proponent and exporter of diplomatic efforts to help resolve conflict situations, especially in Africa," he writes. Most importantly, this book shows that the manner in which the Mbeki government has chosen to deal with the crisis in Zimbabwe, is not altogether different from the process of persuation which foreign actors used to convince the apartheid government to agree to relinquish power. "While Pretoria would not utter its concerns in public, certainly not while it engaged Mugabe, in private it did harbour very serious concerns about the nature and causes of the problem. For example, Pretoria was privately of the view that the violence and intimidation, and the handling of the land reform, appeared to be the main reasons for the loss of revenue, foreign direct investment and donor support," Landsberg writes. While not confining himself to the issue of Zimbabwe, Landsberg work does offer valuable clues as to "quiet diplomatic' persuasion towards our neighbour which seems, at last, to be showing results. In addition to looking at the post-apartheid governments' foreign policies The Quiet Diplomacy of Liberation considers the extend to which compromises made during South Africa's own transition focused more on appeasing whites at the expense of ensuring that black South Africans have the opportunity to express and fulfil their own aspirations.

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A powerhouse of South African and international scholars and activists reflect on the writings and theories of the late Jabulani Nobleman “Mzala” Nxumalo in this exciting new volume of essays. This book is both a tribute to and a deliberation on his intellectual work. Nxumalo’s death in 1991 robbed the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party of one of their most prolific writers, a revolutionary intellectual and thinker. His death was a huge loss particularly at a time when his thinking skills were much needed during both the negotiations period and the time of rebuilding the ANC in the country. This deeply thought book considers the value of Mzala’s work in the context of contemporary South Africa’s left politics. The contributors are Robert J. Balfour, Yul Derek Davids, Bernard Dubbeld, Pat Horn, Gregory Houston, Gunnett Kaaf, Rasigan Maharajh, Alex Mohubetswane, Sam Matiase, Percy Ngonyama, Bonginkosi Emmanuel “Blade” Nzimande, John Pampallis, Mandla J. Radebe, Jenny Schreiner, Vladimir Shubin, Noel Solani, Sigfried Tivana and Elaine Unterhalteriase.

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Leon and his twin Norman were born in August 1929, the youngest of four children born to Mary and Mark Levy, immigrants from Lithuania. His father died when Leon was six; to heroic degree, his mother carried the family – financially, practically and emotionally – in her widowhood. Leon was an intensely bookish boy but left school aged sixteen to help makes ends meet through a series of jobs. Deeply affected by the events of the Second World War and the Holocaust, Leon was radicalised in the Hashomer Hatza’ir, a left-wing Zionist youth movement. He was seventeen when he joined the Communist Party and became a committed young activist. In 1953, at the age of twenty-four, Leon became a full-time trade unionist. ‘It was a defining moment in my life story,’ he writes. ‘It gave practical form to my political beliefs; it also determined the shape and scope of my life. It transpired that I would spend the next six decades and more working in trade unions, industrial relations and mediation. A comrade in the trade union movement nicknamed Leon, TsabaTsaba – which means “here, there and everywhere”. Anyone who reads Leon’s account of his years as a full-time unionist will agree that the soubriquet was well earned. (Alongside trade union work, Leon was also committed to the remarkable Discussion Club, which he co-founded and ran throughout the 1950s; he was also secretary of the South African Peace Council from 1951 to 1961.) In the mid-1950s, he was part of a small group of progressive trade unionists who pushed for the formation of the first non-racial trade union federation in South Africa. These aspirations were realised in March 1955 with the launch of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). Later that year Leon was elected president and remained in that position for nine years. SACTU linked day-to-day concerns of workers with support for national liberation and the abolition of apartheid and was one of the five organisations which formed the Congress Alliance. As SACTU leader, Leon served on the committee that directed the activities of the Alliance; he was present at Kliptown when the Freedom Charter was adopted – and as SACTU president was one of the five original signatories of the Freedom Charter. Political activism of this order came at a high price. Leon Levy was served with banning orders and arrested several times; he was Accused No 4 of the 156 people arrested and charged with treason, and from November 1958 was one of the final 30 (and with Helen Joseph one of only two whites) who faced charges until the trial was finally dismissed in March 1961. He was detained for five months during the 1960 State of Emergency. In May 1963 he was the first person to be detained under the notorious General Laws Amendment Act, known as the 90-day Act. Unable to continue his work he chose to go into exile in the United Kingdom. There, he studied politics, economics and industrial relations at Oxford – and then applied what he had learned in a series of positions in industrial relations. After 1994, he was determined to make the skills and knowledge that he had acquired available to a democratic South Africa – and he and his wife Lorna returned to the country of their birth in 1997. In a remarkable final phase of his career, Leon took office shortly after his 70th birthday as a full-time commissioner for the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration – and spent the next 19 years in this capacity.

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The Discovery of Love, Nthikeng Mohlele’s debut short fiction collection, set the scene for a treatment of a multiplicity of themes while maintaining the stylistic registers of his novels. The intensity and range of the earlier stories is transplanted and further developed in A Little Light, stories that explore the complexities and contradictions of human consciousness. There is in A Little Light more overt focus on contemporary global historical events and personalities, the nature of the human heart, politics, human mortality and the afterlife. From the dusty streets of Tembisa township of the 1980s to Osama bin Laden’s lair in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Mohlele is cerebral, playful, speculative, incisive and, most of all, of a penetrating narrative gaze.

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Shudu’s happy and carefree childhood seems very far away when she moves towns and is bullied by her new classmates for being an outsider. But her special friendships help her feel like she belongs. Deep inside, Shudu has a spark, a special kind of strength that she didn’t even know was there. She finds her voice and can be herself. I am Shudu is an empowering coming-of-age story that will inspire readers to celebrate who they are and to dream big dreams!

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Hot Water is an intimate and daring look into the life of a young African woman from the Cape Flats with a chronic illness. The book investigates how endometriosis affects the way young woman function and navigate the world, and how this becomes especially complicated for those who are underprivileged and reliant on the public sector’s healthcare system. In Hot Water Nadine Dirks reveals the unique issues of racism, sexism, classism, fatphobia and slut-shaming that African women experience within the context of healthcare facilities, and how especially jarring it is when the stigma comes from medical staff who one expects to have the patient’s care as their primary concern. All of this has enraged Dirks and catapulted her into becoming a sexual reproductive health and rights advocate. Hot Water tells the story of how people with chronic illness are treated daily, at school, university and socially for being differently abled; how people are regarded as lazy, aggressive, disappointing, lacking, among multiple other things for being unwell in comparison to their healthy counterparts. One cannot look at seeking adequate healthcare as a young, black, underprivileged woman on the Cape Flats without experiencing racism in the most blatant of ways. Even with guidelines in place, the book shows that it is next to impossible to invoke those rights even if you are aware of them for fear of being victimised and excluded from the system.

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ruce McKenzie’s An Ecological Guide to the Bush captures the essence of what makes the bushveld tick. Here you’ll find the basic principles of how ecosystems work, with the emphasis on energy flow through the bushveld and the adaptations that the plants and animals make in facilitating this energy flow.

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A strongly truthful book. Oatway and Skuy have brought together this collection of photographs in a way that forces us to view the individuals as human. Unsettling and disturbing, it is unapologetic about the job of work it has been tasked to do. Xenophobia has to be considered, not just as another example of lawlessness, even though our leaders have responded by predominantly labelling xenophobia a crime. This is true. In an obvious sense. But also only partly true. The bigger, more horrendous truth is that it is crime-with-an-edge – anti-migrant crime, anti-African-migrant crime. As Edwin Cameron writes in his foreword, we are directed to view just whose stories are told – and whose are obscured; who is allowed to be visible – and who is erased? Photography entails more than record-keeping. It engages processes of world-making that organise how we understand our worlds, and ourselves, and how we engage with our communities. By engaging our attention on certain sites and away from others it frames what and who are worth seeing. In this way, the photographer helps produce a public knowledge about who should be made visible. South Africans know this acutely, for photographers, some of them heroic, some at cost to their own lives, made apartheid visible.

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