Politics
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A Native Life in South Africa R160.00
Native Life in South Africa is one of South Africa’s great political books. First published in 1916, it was first and foremost a response to the Native’s Land Act of 1913 and was written by one of the most gifted and influential writers and journalists of his generation. Native Life in South Africa provides an account of the origins of this crucially important piece of legislation and a devastating description of its immediate effects. Plaatje spent many weeks traveling in the countryside and the most moving chapters in the book tell us what he saw. His book explores the wider political and historical context that produced policies of the kind embodied in the Land Act, and documents meticulously steps taken by South Africa’s rulers to exclude black South Africans from the exercise of political power.
Author(s): Sol Plaatje
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African History, Biography, History, Political, Political Activism, Political Parties, Political Structures & Processes, Politics, Politics & GovernmentAlbert Luthuli: Bound by faith R200.00
Much public historical mythology asserts that Chief Albert Luthuli, former President of the African National Congress (ANC), launched the armed struggle upon his return to South Africa after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. This misinterpretation sparks what is arguably one of the most relevant and controversial historical debates in South Africa. Due to Luthuli’s domestic and international prominence and impeccable moral character, liberation struggle icons, political parties and politicians justify in part their past actions and their contemporary relevance upon a contrived historical memory. Often that memory is not compatible with the archival record. Contrary to a nationalist inspired historical perspective, in this book Scott Couper argues that Luthuli did not support the initiation of violence in December 1961. Luthuli’s ecclesiastical tradition, Congregationalism, embedded within him the primacy of democracy, education, sacrificial service, multiracialism and egalitarianism, propelling him to the heights of political leadership. However, these same seminal emphases rendered Luthuli obsolete as a political leader within an increasingly radicalised, desperate and violent environment. While Christian faith fuelled his political success, it engendered the inertia for his irrelevance following the ANC’s resort to violence. By not supporting the ANC’s armed movement, Luthuli’s political career proved to be `bound by faith’.
Author(s): Scott Couper
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Political, Political Activism, Political Parties, Political Structures & Processes, Politics, Politics & GovernmentBantu Holomisa: The Game Changer - An Authorised Biography (Paperback)
R290.00Original price was: R290.00.R240.00Current price is: R240.00.Bantu Holomisa is one of South Africa’s most respected and popular political figures. Born in the Transkei in 1955, he attended an elite school for the sons of chiefs and headmen. While other men his age were joining Umkhonto weSizwe, Holomisa enrolled in the Transkeian Defence Force and rose rapidly through the ranks.
As head of the Transkeian Defence Force, Holomisa led successive coups against the homeland regimes and then became the head of its military government. He turned the Transkei into a ‘liberated space’, giving shelter to ANC and PAC activists, and declared his intention of holding a referendum on the reincorporation of the Transkei into South Africa. These actions brought him immense popularity and the military dictator became a liberation hero for many South Africans.When the unbanned ANC held its first election for its national executive in 1994, Holomisa, who had by now joined the party, received the most votes, beating long-time veterans and party stalwarts. He and Mandela developed a close relationship, and Holomisa served in Mandela’s cabinet as deputy minister for environmental affairs and tourism. As this biography reveals, the relationship with both Mandela and the ANC broke down after Holomisa testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, among other issues, that Stella Sigcau and her cabinet colleagues had accepted a bribe from Sol Kerzner.
After being expelled from the ANC, Holomisa formed his own party, the United Democratic Movement, with Roelf Meyer. As leader of the UDM, Holomisa has played a prominent role in building coalitions among opposition parties and in leading important challenges to the dominant party.
This biography, written in collaboration with Holomisa, presents an engaging and revealing account of a man who has made his mark as a game changer in South African politics.
Author: Eric Naki
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Black Man, You Are On Your Own R250.00
Some 40 years ago, in 1968, workers and students in France took to the streets in battles against the conservative Gaullist regime. University students in Britain occupied campuses, calling for greater democracy and student rights. The Prague Spring saw Czechoslovakian patriots take on Soviet tanks in an attempt to overthrow Russian domination. In the United States, mass opposition to the war in Vietnam and the black civil rights and black power movements reached new heights. In South Africa, the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) was launched under the leadership of Bantu Stephen Biko. Black South African students were not just victims of apartheid but were also thinkers, conscious actors and historical agents. In the face of an authoritarian and repressive political order, SASO turned black students into an organised social force, taught them about politics and the role they should play, was a catalyst of collective action notably for the Soweto uprising, and contributed significantly to the erosion of the apartheid social order and to educational and social transformation in South Africa.
Author: Saleem Badat
1 in stock
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Economics, Home & Family, Humanities, Labour Law, Lifestyle, Local Author Showcase, Political Economy, Political Structures & Processes, Politics & Government, Relationships, Relationships & The Self, Social & Environmental Issues, Social & Political Science, Social Issues, Social ScienceBlack Tax: Burden or Ubuntu? R200.00
A secret anguish for some, a proud responsibility for others, black tax draws heated and wide-ranging reactions. While the debate rages, these payments and other forms of support to family members remain a daily reality for many black South Africans. Black tax has its historical roots in the inequalities created by apartheid and the loss of land. Consequently, thousands of black South Africans still live in poverty today. Some believe black tax is an undeniable part of black culture and part of the philosophy of ubuntu.
Others feel they should not have to take over what is essentially a government responsibility and should be allowed to focus on building their own wealth. In this book, award-winning author Niq Mhlongo has brought together deeply personal stories that tease apart a multitude of thought-provoking perceptions on black tax by well-known writers, such as Dudu Busani-Dube, Sifiso Mzobe, Fred Khumalo, Mohale Mashigo, Thanduxolo Jika and many other new voices.
The stories cover an engrossing cross-section of experiences, ranging from the student who diverts bursary money to put food on the table back home, family members who make outrageous demands on individuals often resulting in debt to look after their families, to people who are happy to open their homes to provide shelter to jobseekers or the downtrodden. In giving voice to the many different perspectives on this topical issue, this book hopes to start a dialogue about this undeniable part of the lived reality of black South Africans.
Author: Niq Mhlongo
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Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise R160.00
The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States is a defining moment in American history. After years of failed policies and failed politics from Washington, this is our chance to reclaim the American dream. Barack Obama has proven to be a new kind of leader–one who can bring people together, be honest about the challenges we face, and move this nation forward. Change We Can Believe In outlines his vision for America.
In these pages you will find bold and specific ideas about how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence, and keep America safe in a dangerous world. Change We Can Believe In asks us not just to believe in Barack Obama’s ability to bring change to Washington, it asks us to believe in our ability to change the world.
Author: Barack Obama
2 in stock
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Dreams From My Father - A Story of Race and Inheritance R225.00
An international bestseller which has sold over a million copies in the UK, Dreams From My Father is a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking big questions about identity and belonging. The son of a black African father and a white American mother, President Obama recounts an emotional odyssey, retracing the migration of his mother’s family from Kansas to Hawaii, then to his childhood home in Indonesia. Finally he travels to Kenya, where he confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
Author(s): Barack Obama
Available on back-order
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I Am Malala - How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World R160.00
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, 9 October 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price when she was shot in the head at point-blank range. Malala Yousafzai’s extraordinary journey has taken her from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations. She has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and is the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. I Am Malala will make you believe in the power of one person’s voice to inspire change in the world. ***** ‘Malala is an inspiration to girls and women all over the world’ JK Rowling ‘Moving and illuminating’ Observer ‘Inspirational and powerful’ Grazia ‘Her story is astonishing’ Spectator
Author(s): Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb
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Autobiography, Biography, Language & Literature, Local Author Showcase, Politics, Politics & Government, Social ScienceI Am Ndileka - More Than My Surname R260.00
Celebrated and honoured across the globe for its bearer’s selfless role in the liberation of South Africa, the name Mandela has become an iconic brand. Nelson Mandela’s life was dedicated to politics and achieving freedom for the oppressed in the country, which left him little time with his children and loved ones. It was not easy growing up a Mandela.
Ndileka Mandela is a social activist, former ICU nurse and the head of a rural upliftment organisation known as the Thembekile Mandela Foundation. Born to Madiba Thembekile Mandela (Nelson Mandela’s first born), who died in a car accident while his father was in prison, and the eldest grandchild of Nelson Mandela, Ndileka has lived a challenging life – a labyrinth of highs and lows.I Am Ndileka tells the story of a woman who has made great stride in society, but still faces many challenges. Even though South Africa has been emancipated from the apartheid regime and so-called gender inequality structures have been removed, women still face oppression and abuse. In October 2017, as part of the #MeToo campaign to denounce sexual violence, Ndileka disclosed for the first time that she had been raped by her then partner in her own bed five years before. Follow Ndileka on her journey as she deals with death in her family, patriarchy, motherhood, depression, being homeless and surviving rape and abuse.
Along the journey of tackling challenges and expectations that come with her last name – things that she did not ask for but are asked of her nonetheless – Ndileka finds her voice.
Author: Ndileka Mandela
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My Own Liberator
R310.00Original price was: R310.00.R200.00Current price is: R200.00.In this memoir, the first of two, Dikgang Moseneke pays homage to the many people and places that have helped to define and shape him. These influences include his ancestry; his parents; his immediate and extended family; and his education both in school and on Robben Island as a 15-year-old prisoner. These people and places played a significant role in forming his principled stance in life and his proud defiance of all forms of injustice.
Robben Island became a school not only in politics but an opportunity for dedicated studies towards a law degree that would provide the bedrock for a long and fruitful career. The book charts Moseneke’s rise as one of the country’s top legal minds, who not only helped to draft the Constitution, but for 15 years acted as a guardian of it for all South Africans.Not only did Moseneke assist in shaping our new Constitution, he has helped to make it a living document for many South Africans over the past 15 years.
Author(s): Dikgang Moseneke
Out of stock
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No Longer Whispering to Power R200.00
No Longer Whispering to Power is about Thuli Madonsela’s tenure as Public Protector, during which the whisper grew into a cry. It is the story of the South African people’s attempt to hold power to account through the Office of the Public Protector.
Advocate Thuli Madonsela has achieved in her seven years as Public Protector what few accomplish in a lifetime; her legacy and contribution cannot be over-stated. In her final days in office she compiled the explosive State Capture report and, before that, the report on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence. Praised and vilified in equal measures, Madonsela has frequently found herself at centre stage in the increasingly fractious South African political scene. Yet, despite the intense media scrutiny, Madonsela remains something of an enigma. Who is this soft-spoken woman who stood up to state corruption? Where did she develop her views and resolve? This book attempts to answer these questions, and others, by exploring many aspects of Madonsela’s life: her childhood years and family, her involvement in student politics, her contribution to the constitution, her life in law. Madonsela once described her role as Public Protector as being akin to that of the Venda traditional spiritual female leader, the Makhadzi, who whispers truth to the ruler. When the sounds of the exchanges between the ruler and the Makhadzi grow loud, Madonsela said, that is when the whispering has failed.
No Longer Whispering to Power is about Thuli Madonsela’s tenure as Public Protector, during which the whisper grew into a cry. It is the story of the South African people’s attempt to hold power to account through the Office of the Public Protector. More significantly, this important book stands as a record of the crucial work Madonsela has done, always acting without fear or favour.Author(s): Thandeka Gqubule
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Petals of blood R180.00
After decades of British rule Kenya has declared its independence, but drought and poor harvest still govern the village of limorog. Undeterred, Munira, Karega, Wanja and Abdulla each move to ilmorog in search of a more provincial life, only to find themselves suspects in a crime that signals a dark turning of the times.
A classic of modern African literature, Ngugi wa Thiongo’s damning satire of politics and corruption in Kenya would prove the catalyst for his imprisonment by the Kenyan government.
Author: Ngugi wa Thiongo
Available on back-order
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Autobiography, Biography, Language & Literature, Politics & Government, Social & Political Science, Social IssuesSorry, Not Sorry - Experiences Of A Brown Woman In A White South Africa (Paperback)
R230.00Original price was: R230.00.R180.00Current price is: R180.00.In Sorry, Not Sorry, Haji Mohamed Dawjee explores the often maddening experience of moving through postapartheid South Africa as a woman of colour.
In characteristically candid style, Dawjee pulls no punches when examining the social landscape: from arguing why she’d rather deal with an open racist than some liberal white people, to drawing on her own experience to convince readers that joining a cult is never a good idea. In the provocative voice that has made Dawjee one of our country’s most talked-about columnists, she offers observations laced throughout with an acerbic wit.Sorry, Not Sorry will make readers laugh, wince, nod, introspect and argue.
Author: Haji Mohamed Dawjee
1 in stock (can be backordered)
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African History, Crime, Environmental Issues, Equal Opportunities, Family & Health, History, Human Rights, Language & Literature, Literary Collections, Local Author Showcase, Political Activism, Political Structures & Processes, Politics & Government, Short Stories, Social & Political Science, Social IssuesThe Bus People R220.00
This book is about the lived experiences of the bus commuters. The Bus People are the Black-working class who primarily reside in informal settlements. The book covers the impact of taxi violence on the bus people, the targeting of bus drivers when there are conflicts about public transport routes, the struggles of domestic workers, #FeesMustFall, access to water and dignified sanitation, policing, absent fathers and family planning.
Author(s): Chumile Sali
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Political Economy, Political Structures & Processes, Politics, Politics & Government, Social & Political Science, Social ScienceThe Future of Capitalism - Facing the New Anxieties R210.00
This is a beautifully written and important book. Read it’ Martin Wolf, Financial Times From world-renowned economist Paul Collier, a candid diagnosis of the failures of capitalism and a pragmatic and realistic vision for how we can repair it Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of Britain and other Western societies: thriving cities versus the provinces, the highly skilled elite versus the less educated, wealthy versus developing countries. As these divides deepen, we have lost the sense of ethical obligation to others that was crucial to the rise of post-war social democracy. So far these rifts have been answered only by the revivalist ideologies of populism and socialism, leading to the seismic upheavals of Trump, Brexit and the return of the far right in Germany. We have heard many critiques of capitalism but no one has laid out a realistic way to fix it, until now. In a passionate and polemical book, celebrated economist Paul Collier outlines brilliantly original and ethical ways of healing these rifts – economic, social and cultural – with the cool head of pragmatism, rather than the fervour of ideological revivalism. He reveals how he has personally lived across these three divides, moving from working-class Sheffield to hyper-competitive Oxford, and working between Britain and Africa, and acknowledges some of the failings of his profession. Drawing on his own solutions as well as ideas from some of the world’s most distinguished social scientists, he shows us how to save capitalism from itself – and free ourselves from the intellectual baggage of the 20th century. These times are in desperate need of Paul Collier’s insights. The Future of Capitalism restores common sense to our views of morality, as it also describes their critical role in what makes families, organizations, and nations work. It is the most revolutionary work of social science since Keynes. Let’s hope it will also be the most influential – George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001 In this bold work of intellectual trespass, Paul Collier, a distinguished economist, ventures onto the terrain of ethics to explain what’s gone wrong with capitalism, and how to fix it. To heal the divide between metropolitan elites and the left-behind, he argues, we need to rediscover an ethic of belonging, patriotism, and reciprocity. Offering inventive solutions to our current impasse, Collier shows how economics at its best is inseparable from moral and political philosophy’ – Michael Sandel, author of What Money Can’t Buy and Justice For thirty years, the centre left of politics has been searching for a narrative that makes sense of the market economy. This book provides it – John Kay, Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford and the author of Obliquity and Other People’s Money For well-to-do metropolitans, capitalism is the gift that goes on giving. For others, capitalism is not working. Paul Collier deploys passion, pragmatism and good economics in equal measure to chart an alternative to the divisions tearing apart so many western countries. -Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England
Author: Paul Collier
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The Inaugural Address, 2009 R180.00
ABOUT THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 2009
Celebrate the inauguration of America’s 44th president with this New York Times bestseller
Tying into the official theme for the 2009 inaugural ceremony, “A New Birth of Freedom” from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Penguin presents a keepsake edition commemorating the inauguration of President Barack Obama with words of the two great thinkers and writers who have helped shape him politically, philosophically, and personally: Abraham Lincoln and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Having Lincoln and Emerson’s most influential, memorable, and eloquent words along with Obama’s historic inaugural address will be a gift of inspiration for every American for generations to come.
Author: Barack Obama