Books published by Jonathan Ball Publishers SA

“God is nie een of ander control freak nie … Hy laat die gelowige self keuses maak en self verantwoordelikheid neem.”Wat beteken dit om vandag ’n Christen to wees? Dit is lankal nie meer genoeg om blindelings net Sondag ná Sondag die erediens by te woon nie, sê die geestelike leier and oudsoldaat Callie Roos. Dit is slegs deur ’n lewe in Christus da tons werklik God se krag in ons kan beleef.Volgens Callie beleef die kerk vandag ’n krisis en georganiseerde godsdiens hou gelowiges gevange in dogma en ’n behoefte aan beheer. Christene moet onstnap uit die geestelike tronk wat hulle inperk en hul bestaande begripsraamwerk bevraagteken.’n Lewe in Christus behels dat jy uitgaan in die wêreld en daadwerklik ’n verskil maak. Wanneer gewone Christen-mense Christus word vir ander, kan hierdie nuwe manier van glo ’n massabeweging word wat die ganse mensdom ten diepste sal aangryp.In Christus beloof om te inspireer en gelowiges nuut oor hul Christenskap te laat dink. 

“Dit gebeur dikwels dat ’n skietoorlog deur ’n tweede oorlog gevolg word. Dié oorlog word nie met ammunisie of kartetse gevoer of met tenks and bomwerpers nie, maar met words.”In 1987–1988 was die stowwerige Angolese dorpie Cuito Cuanavale die toneel van die laaste gevegte van die Grensoorlog. Sedertdien is dit die fokuspunt van ’n openbare debat oor wie eintlik hierdie oorlog gewen het.Die leierskorps van die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag (SAW) hou vol hulle is nooit verslaan nie, terwyl die alliansie van die Angolese MPLA-regering, Kuba en Swapo beweer hulle het die SAW uit Angola en Suidwes-Afrika verdryf. Hulle glo voorts die SAW wou Cuito Cuanavale beset en as afspringplek gebruik om Luanda in te neem.Maar was Cuito Cuanavale ooit regtig ’n doelwit vir die Suid-Afrikaners? Dit is die vraag wat Leopold Scholtz vra wanneer hy onlangs gedeklassi-fiseerde dokumente in die weermagargief bestudeer en die taktiese en strategiese besluite ondersoek wat ’n bepalende rol in die ses groot veldslae van dié veldtog gespeel het.Sy kritiese ontleding wys hoe maklik propaganda en politiek in die pad van feite kan staan.

‘A shooting war is often followed by a second war. This war is not fought with bullets or artillery shells, not with tanks or bombers, but rather with words.’In 1987–1988 the dusty Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale was the backdrop for the final battles of the Border War. Ever since the war ended, the fighting around Cuito has been the subject of a fierce public debate over who actually won the war.While the leadership of the former South African Defence Force (SADF) claims it was never defeated, the supporters of the Angolan MPLA government, Cuba and SWAPO insist that the SADF was vanquished on the battlefield. They contend that the SADF wanted to overrun Cuito Cuanavale and use it as a springboard for an advance on Luanda.But was Cuito Cuanavale ever really an objective of the SADF? Leopold Scholtz tackles this question by examining recently declassified documents in the SANDF archives, exploring the strategic and tactical decisions that shaped the six main battles, from the SADF’s stunning tactical success on the Lomba River to the grinding struggle for the Tumpo Triangle.His incisive analysis untangles what happens when war, politics and propaganda become entwined.

‘This is a book every performer and listener will enjoy reading.’– Gina Beukes, leading international violinist, violist and teacherDo you ever wish you had time to read the programme notes in depth before rushing to take your seat at a concert – or that you could quickly find out more about that sublime piece playing on the radio? Now, with Rodney Trudgeon’s Concert Notes, you can enrich your musical listening experiences at leisure.Rodney Trudgeon has selected nearly 250 regularly performed works from his programme notes and pre-concert talks – covering the Baroque period to the 20th century. From Bach to Weber, Rodney looks at famous concertos, overtures, symphonies and more, describing them lucidly and evocatively.A book as timeless as the music itself …

It’s 2018 and Cape Town is racked by its worst drought on record. The prospect of ‘Day Zero’ – when the taps will run dry – is driving citizens into a frenzy.Then the ruling Democratic Alliance removes control of the water issue from Mayor Patricia de Lille. While politicians turn on each other, revealing deep-lying faultlines and new enmities, critical questions arise: what lies behind the fallout, and what, if any, deeper interests are at play?Against this fraught backdrop, author and academic Crispian Olver resolves to explore how the city of his childhood is run, and he sets his sights in particular on the web of connections between local politicians and property developers. Interviewing numerous people – including many dropped from the City administration in questionable circumstances – he uncovers a Pandora’s box of backstabbing, infighting and backroom deals.Olver explores contentious property developments in agriculturally sensitive Philippi, on the scenic West Coast and along the glorious – and lucrative – Atlantic Seaboard, delves into attempts to ‘hijack’ civic associations and exposes the close yet precarious relationship between the mayor and City Hall’s ‘laptop boys’. In blistering detail he gets to grips with the political meltdown within the DA and the defection of De Lille to form her own party.

Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe: New Reflections brings together a fresh and diverse range of contributors to reconsider the life, ideas and legacy of Robert Sobukwe – teacher, thinker, Africanist and founder of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). For leading the anti-pass campaign of 1960, Sobukwe was jailed for many years by the apartheid government, including solitary confinement on Robben Island, and then banished to Kimberley. Today, there are few memorials to Sobukwe, and while his followers venerate him, he has largely been written out of the history of the liberation struggle. Yet his ideas and example have enduring resonance in contemporary South Africa.Sobukwe’s pan-Africanism was an inspiring contribution to the development of Black Consciousness, which continues to energise new generations of young people. From his stances on the land question and racism to his love of gardening and knowledge of literature, as devoted family man and principled political leader, Sobukwe is revealed at every turn to be profound, erudite, compassionate and concerned with the betterment of all who identify with the advancement of Africa and Africans.

'Next year I'm going to be 80 years old. My car will be 20 years old. Together we'll be 100. We're going to drive to Cairo.''And what route are you going to take?''I have no idea. I think I'll keep to the right.'When 80-year-old Julia Albu calls in to her favourite radio show with a zany, half-baked idea, she has no idea that it will lead her to the adventure of a lifetime.From helping push a 30-year-old Toyota bakkie up a precipitous mountain pass in Malawi to being 'adopted' by the riotous ex-pat South African community in Dar es Salaam and being fed mildly hallucinogenic 'herbs' by her Ethiopian driver-guide, nothing deterred 80-year-old JuliaAlbu from her quest to drive through Africa from the Cape to Cairo.She and her 20-year-old Toyota Conquest, Tracy - a personality in her own right - travelled through 10 African countries, from South Africa to Egypt (and beyond). Julia was accompanied by a series of companions who added texture to her travels: three of her four grown-up children, her son-in-law, and at least one person who began as a complete stranger and ended up as a friend for life.Reminiscing about her long and interesting life along the way, and maintaining a bright and upbeat outlook regardless of the circumstances, Julia proves that you're never too old to tackle that buck

'There is only one way to survive and even thrive in the third world, and that is by being as Caucasian as you possibly can. Fact: white people have it easier in life because they deserve it.' Coconut Kelz is a young Caucasian woman trapped in a black woman's body. Kelz lives in - and tries never to leave - Sandton and is a staunch member of the DA.With handy tips for how to achieve the white right standard of beauty, deal with your family in the lalis, pick the best suburb to live in and nab yourself a white guy, Kelz offers a complete guide to a full Caucasian conversion.Through the mask of her character Coconut Kelz, whose apparent adoration of all things white has riled many an unsuspecting viewer of her online videos, Lesego Tlhabi speaks straight to the heart of this country's strong residue of prejudice, framing hard and potent truths to incredibly funny effect.

The real significance of this book lies in the fact that it tells us more about the everyday life of black South Africans. It delves into the essence of black family life and the secret anguish of family members who often battle to cope. - Niq Mhlongo A secret torment for some, a proud responsibility for others, 'black tax' is a daily reality for thousands of black South Africans. In this thought-provoking and moving anthology, a provocative range of voices share their deeply personal stories.With the majority of black South Africans still living in poverty today, many black middle-class households are connected to working-class or jobless homes. Some believe supporting family members is an undeniable part of African culture and question whether it should even be labelled as a kind of tax.Others point to the financial pressure it places on black students and professionals, who, as a consequence, struggle to build their own wealth. Many feel they are taking over what is essentially a government responsibility.The contributions also investigate the historical roots of black tax, the concept of the black family and the black middle class. In giving voice to so many different perspectives, Black Tax hopes to start a dialogue on this widespread social phenomenon.

‘Comrade president, Stellenbosch is a big problem. We know your proximity to Stellenbosch … we have not elected Stellenbosch here … we have not elected the Ruperts here.’ – Julius Malema addressing President Cyril Ramaphosa in the National Assembly on 22 May 2019THE BEAUTIFUL TOWN OF STELLENBOSCH, nestled against vineyards and blue mountains that stretch to the sky, lies a short drive from Cape Town. Here, some of South Africa’s richest individuals live: all male, most Afrikaans – and all fabulously wealthy.Julius Malema refers to them scathingly as the ‘Stellenbosch Mafia’, the very worst example of white monopoly capital. Their critics rail about their influence over the state and the economy. But who are these rich individuals, and what influence do they wield?Journalist Pieter du Toit explores the roots of Stellenbosch, one of the wealthiest towns in South Africa and arguably the cradle of Afrikanerdom. This is the birthplace of apartheid leaders, intellectuals, newspaper empires and more.He also closely examines this ‘club’ of billionaires. Who are they and, crucially, how are they connected? What network of boardroom membership, alliances and family connections exists? Who are the ‘old guard’ and who are the ‘inkommers’?The Stellenbosch Mafia is the first attempt to not only investigate if this group actually exists, but also to determine whether the town has an excessive influence on South African business and society. 

Adam Habib, vice-chancellor of Wits University and the most prominent and outspoken university official during the recent student protests, takes a characteristically frank view of the past three years on South Africa's university campuses in this new book. He focuses on the student protests at Wits, drawing on his own intimate involvement and negotiations with the students, and records university management and government responses to the events. He critically examines the student movement and individual student leaders who emerged under the banner #FeesMustFall, discusses how to achieve truly progressive social change in South Africa, on our campuses and off, and reimagines the future of South African higher education.Rebels and Rage is both a historical account of a tempestuous time and a thoughtful reflection on the issues the protests kicked up from Habib's perspective not only as a high-ranking member of university management, but also as a political scientist and intellectual.

DO YOU DREAM of a future free of financial stress? One where you can afford to start your own business, travel or retire comfortably? In Make Your Money Work For You, investment specialist Anthea Gardner shows you how to ‘sweat your assets’ and grow your wealth to achieve these dreams – and you won’t even need a degree in accounting.Gardner makes the world of investing accessible by:Illustrating why it’s important to know the difference between saving and investingExplaining key terms, from ‘unit trusts’ and ‘retirement annuities’ to ‘compound interest’Clarifying the role of different players, such as financial advisors and asset managersDescribing how easy it is to buy shares on the stock marketYou don’t need millions to start. You can launch your financial future by investing just R100 a month. It’s time to take action and make your money work for you.

More than 25 years have passed since South Africans were being shot or hacked or burned to death in political violence, and the memory of the trauma has faded. Nevertheless, some 20 500 people were killed between 1984 and 1994. Conventional wisdom has it that most died as a result of the ANC's people's war.Many books have been written on South Africa's political transition, but none has dealt adequately with the people's war. This book does. It shows the extraordinary success of the people's war in giving the ANC a virtual monopoly on power, as well as the great cost at which this was done. The high price of it is still being paid.Apart from the terror and killings it sparked at the time, the people's war set in motion forces that cannot easily be tamed. Violence, once unleashed, is not easy to stamp out. 'Ungovernability', once generated, is not readily reversed.For this new edition, Anthea Jeffery has revised and abridged her seminal work. She has also included a brief overview of the ANC's National Democratic Revolution for which the people's war was intended to prepare the way. Since 1994, the NDR has been implemented in many different spheres. It is now being speeded up in its second and more radical phase.

Are the courts the only arm of government that can fulfil the Constitution’s promise? Is there too much interference by the courts in politics? Is law a weapon in politics? Is politics outside the law? Lawfare is the potent clash of these ideas.This book is essential reading to bring forward the lessons from our past. A bold and unique collaboration between legal experts Michelle le Roux and Dennis Davis, it explores a series of landmark cases that came to define South Africa’s legal and political landscape. It examines how the law has been used and abused. Defining cases litigated in the apartheid past, in the constitutional era and right up to the recent days of state capture are examined.This book is a response to populist attacks on the Constitution. It affirms that South Africa’s Constitution holds the promise of the law as one progressive tool to use in dismantling racial inequality, holding government accountable and constructing a free, dignified, equal and just society.

A bold and innovative social history, The Seed is Mine concerns disenfranchised black people who did so much to shape the destiny of South Africa. After years of interviews with Kas Maine and his neighbours, employers, friends, and family – a rare triumph of collaborative courage and dedication – Charles van Onselen has recreated the entire life of a man who struggled to maintain his family in a world dedicated to enriching whites and impoverishing blacks, while South Africa was tearing them apart.

RW JOHNSON’S BEST-SELLING How Long Will South Africa Survive? was hailed by financial writer Alec Hogg as ‘a masterpiece in unblemished reality’. Published at the height of the Zuma presidency, it accurately forecast that South Africa’s credit rating would be downgraded to junk status. Johnson warned that this sorry progress might end in an IMF bail-out and wholesale change to the political system.These predictions, novel at the time, were quickly confirmed by events. Now, with Cyril Ramaphosa in the hot seat and an election looming. Johnson picks up the story, analysing how Ramaphosa came to power and how Zuma has fought back. Recovery from the deep economic damage caused by Zuma will not be easy and the prospect of an IMF bail-out is now measurably closer. The key question is whether Ramaphosa and his supporters can restore the lost dream of the Mandela years.Johnson is easily the most incisive analyst of the South African situation. He offers his own suggestions for a road out of the crisis and a tough-minded assessment of where the country stands at this critical hour.

Growing up in suburban Pretoria, Steve Joubert dreamed of a career as a pilot. After undergoing SAAF pilot training, a freak injury put an end to his hopes of flying fighter jets. Instead he learned to fly the versatile Alouette helicopter.He had barely qualified as a chopper pilot when he was sent to the Border, where he flew missions over Namibia and southern Angola to supply air cover to troops on the ground. As a gunship pilot, Steve saw some of the worst scenes of the war, often arriving first on the scene after a contact or landmine attack.He also recalls the lighter moments of military life, as well as the thrill of flying. A born maverick, his lack of respect for authority often got him into trouble with his superiors.His experiences affected him deeply, and led him eventually to question his role in the war effort. As the Border War escalated, his disillusionment grew. This gripping memoir is a powerful plea for healing and understanding. 

Bill Schroder is the stuff teaching legends are made of. He was strict, yet kind; firm and consistent, yet creative and playful when needed. He knew the magical mix of discipline and care needed to ensure the loyalty of his students.In this warm-hearted, inspiring and often funny memoir, Schroder looks back on four decades as an English and Latin teacher and, later, headmaster, including 19 years at Pretoria Boys High.His holistic approach to teaching earned him the respect of both teachers and students. Teaching is not only about conveying knowledge, he believed, but also about looking after the emotional needs of students. For Schroder, the institution was never more important than the individual - he always put his students first.As a headmaster he became known for doing things his own way. He gave students a voice where others wanted to silence them, he found creative ways to turn problem schools around and never allowed departmental admin to get in the way of teaching. In the early 1990s when schools were opened to all races, Pretoria Boys High under him played a leading role in transforming their school. In his retirement he also served as a consultant and a mentor to a school in a Pretoria township.Here is a teacher who left an indelible mark on thousands of pupils from Cape Town to Pretoria.

MEET DAISY DE MELKER, who 'lovingly' prepared a flask of strychnine-laced coffee for her son. She is very different from Najwa Petersen, who carefully planned a 'house robbery' to eliminate her musician husband. Chané van Heerden placed her victim's facial skin in the freezer for preservation, yet Phoenix Racing Cloud Theron wished to dispose of her mother's body before it was even cold. And Dina Rodrigues? She 'wouldn't harm a fly' - but went and organised a hit on a baby.Women are not paragons of virtue who cannot commit murder. Nor are they always insane when they do deliberately cause death. And the women with 'blood on their hands' are not homogeneous.In Blood on Her Hands, award-winning journalist Tanya Farber investigates the lives, minds and motivations of some of South Africa's most notorious female murderers, from the poisonous nurse Daisy de Melker, to the privileged but deeply disturbed Najwa Petersen, to the mysterious Joey Haarhoff, who died before revealing the fate of her victims. Written in a style lighter than the subject matter might suggest, Blood on Her Hands will keep you reading until late at night.

CAPE TOWN'S POPULAR high-end night spots attract an array of clientele, from young partygoers to politicians, models to moguls. In parallel with this is a sleazy underworld where control of the lucrative nightclub-security scene is the ultimate prize, for which some are prepared to pay using extortion and murder as the main currencies.South Africa's private-security sector is massive, an informal police force increasingly relied on as confidence in traditional policing wanes. But it's an industry tainted by ties to underworld figures and events.The Mother City's security turf wars have their roots in pre-democratic South Africa, and branch into Cape Flats gang battles raging since the 1990s. Dotting this landscape are colourful and contentious figures - Yuri 'The Russian' Ulianitski, nightclub-security kingpin and rumoured apartheid-state operative Cyril Beeka, convicted drug dealer Radovan Krej¿í¿, controversial businessman Nafiz Modack and Mark Lifman. Making surprise appearances are high-ranking police officers as well as prominent members of the ANC and government.Journalist Caryn Dolley has interviewed numerous criminal and suspects, often putting herself in danger in pursuit of the truth. Here she weaves her research into a story that lays bare the reality of Cape Town's nightclub-security wars: a vast network of information and misinformation in which innocent members of the public enjoying a night out inadvertently rub shoulders with some of the city's most infamous criminals.

The ongoing assassinations of anti-apartheid activists led to rumours that some kind of third force must be responsible. The South African government flatly denied any involvement. All investigations of the matter were met with stony silence.The first crack in the wall came with the publication by the Vrye Weekblad newspaper of the extraordinary story of Dirk Coetzee, former Security Branch Captain. His tale of murder, kidnapping, bombing and poisoning provided corroboration of the shocking confessions made by Almond Nofemela on death row. Slowly the dark secret started unravelling under the probing of determined journalists.In the Heart of the Whore introduces the reader to the secret underworld of the death squads. It explains when and why they were created, who ran them, what methods they employed, who the victims and perpetrators were.Jacques Pauw was more closely involved with the subject than any other person outside the police and armed forces. In this groundbreaking work he looks at the devastating effect of the secret war on the opponents of apartheid as well as the corrosive effects on the people who committed these crimes.T

Jacques Pauw has been an investigative journalist for more than three decades. Before the phenomenal success of The President’s Keepers, he spent years tracking down apartheid death squads. Into the Heart of Darkness, first released in 1997, was the result of this work.Despite official denials and cover-ups, the rumours of apartheid’s death squads have now been proved to be all too real. Hundreds of anti-apartheid activists were killed and thousands tortured by a group of bizarre assassins, the foot soldiers of apartheid’s secret war.Jacques Pauw has been more closely involved with apartheid’s killers than any other journalist. For more than seven years, he has hunted them down and become a witness to their secret and forbidden world.Into the Heart of Darkness will take you on a journey into the minds and lives of the men who went out to kill and kill again. What caused these souls to become so dark and guided them to so much evil?

I sat there divided. Though my grandfather was visibly shaken by the force of this memory, and I knew I was seeing him more vulnerable than I had ever seen him, I felt a bubbly thrill because this was such good stuff, and I remember turning my eyes away from his distressed face to make sure the wheels of the dictaphone were still turning. When Daniel is tasked with writing the biography of his grandfather, Jules Browde - one of South Africa’s most celebrated advocates - he sharpens his pencil and gets to work. But the task that at first seems so simple comes to overwhelm him. As the book begins to recede - month after month, year after year - he must face the possibility of disappointing his grandfather, whose legacy now rests uncomfortably in his hands. The troubled progress of Daniel’s book stands in sharp contrast to the clear-edged tales his grandfather tells him. Spanning almost a century, these gripping stories compellingly conjure other worlds: the streets of 1920s Yeoville, the battlefields of the Second World War, the courtrooms of apartheid South Africa. The Relatively Public Life of Jules Browde turns the conventions of a biography inside out. It is more than the portrait of an unusual South African life, it is the moving tale of a complex and tender relationship between grandfather and grandson, and an exploration of how we are made and unmade in the stories we tell about our lives.

Ton Vosloo is one of South Africa’s most widely admired newspapermen and businessmen. Under his leadership, Naspers evolved from a print group into a media giant with investments across the world. In his memoir, Vosloo tells the story of his remarkable career, spanning fifty-nine fractious years – years that saw a great many changes in South Africa, in the media and politically.Born in 1937 in Uitenhage, Vosloo started out writing sports reports for local newspapers while he was still at school. Once he had cut his teeth in newspaper journalism, his career took him to Parliament, where he worked as a parliamentary correspondent, and then on to editing Beeld, the popular Afrikaans daily. In 1970, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University; it was during this time in the USA that he became increasingly aware of the unsustainability of apartheid.In 1983, Vosloo was appointed managing director of Naspers and set about vigorously transforming the company. On the commercial front, with Koos Bekker and other media companies, he established M-Net, the country’s first pay-television network. In 1992, Vosloo became chairman of Naspers, with Bekker later succeeding him. Today, Naspers’s story of singular and commercial success continues – a success that has its roots in Ton Vosloo’s stewardship.

In 2012 Angy Peter was bringing up her young children with her husband is Bardale, Mfuleni on the Cape Flats. Angy was an activist, and spent her days collecting evidence for a commission of inquiry into policing that had the chance to change law enforcement across the country’s troubled townships. She was vocally against vigilante violence and a go-to person when demanding better services from the police.But when the commission started its hearings, Angy found herself on trial for murdering – necklacing – a young neighbourhood troublemaker, Rowan du Preez. The state’s case centred on the accusation Rowan had allegedly made with his dying breath – that Angy had set alight the tyre around his neck.Simone Haysom takes us into the heart of a mystery: was Angy Peter framed by the police for a murder she didn’t commit? Or was she a wolf in sheep’s clothing who won a young man’s trust and then turned on him in the most brutal way?