PAGECAST

Wie vandag se ANC, sy beleid en regeerstyl wil verstaan, moet feitlik ’n eeu terug begin delf. ’n Deel van die antwoord lê in sy verhouding met die Suid-Afrikaanse Kommunistiese Party (SAKP) en die invloed van die kommunisme, asook die ANC/SAKP se optrede in ballingskap, skryf die politieke kommentator en historikus Leopold Scholtz.

In Terreur en bevryding toon hy aan hoe die SAKP reeds in 1928 opdrag van die Kremlin ontvang het om die ANC te infiltreer. Die doel was om mettertyd die partyleiding oor te neem as deel van ’n beoogde revolusie in twee fases: ’n nasionaal demokratiese revolusie – ’n konsep wat steeds deel is van ANC-beleid – gevolg deur ’n Marxisties-Leninistiese “diktatuur van die proletariaat”. Volgens Scholtz sou dit ’n immorele stelsel met beperkte vryheid meebring.

Dit was ook die SAKP wat die dryfveer agter die gewapende stryd was.

Scholtz plaas die kollig op die dodelike kombinasie van erge interne intoleransie en onbekwaamheid binne die ANC/SAKP in ballingskap, die korrupsie deur ’n deel van die leierskorps en die ernstige menseregtevergrype in die ANC se buitelandse kampe. Hy voer aan dat dit wat tans in Suid-Afrika op al drie regeringsvlakke gebeur ’n voortsetting is van ’n kultuur wat al tydens die alliansie se jare in ballingskap gevestig is.

An optimistic vision of the future after Covid-19 by a leading professor of globalisation at the University of Oxford.

We are at a crossroads. The wrecking-ball of Covid-19 has destroyed global norms. Many think that after the devastation there will be a bounce back. To Ian Goldin, Professor of Development and Globalisation at the University of Oxford, this is a retrograde notion.

He believes that this crisis can create opportunities for change, just as the Second World War forged the ideas behind the Beveridge Report. Published in 1942, it was revolutionary and laid the foundations for the welfare state alongside a host of other social and economic reforms, changing the world for the better.

Ian Goldin tackles the challenges and opportunities posed by the pandemic, ranging from globalisation to the future of jobs, income inequality and geopolitics, the climate crisis and the modern city. It is a fresh, bold call for an optimistic future and one we all have the power to create.

Told in alternate voices by the award-winning author of The Joyce Girl, and with recipes that leap to life from the page, The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs is the most thought-provoking and page-turning historical novel you’ll read this year, exploring the enduring struggle for female freedom, the power of female friendship, the creativity and quiet joy of cooking and the poetry of food, all while bringing Eliza Action out of the archives and back into the public eye.

On this episode of Pagecast pioneering South African journalist, magazine editor, radio and television presenter, Jennifer Crwys-Williams chats with author Annabel Abbs about her latest novel.

England 1835. Eliza Acton is a poet who dreams of seeing her words in print. But when she takes her new manuscript to a publisher, she’s told that ‘poetry is not the business of a lady’. Instead, they want her to write a cookery book. That’s what readers really want from women. England is awash with exciting new ingredients, from spices to exotic fruits. But no one knows how to use them

Eliza leaves the offices appalled. But when her father is forced to flee the country for bankruptcy, she has no choice but to consider the proposal. Never having cooked before, she is determined to learn and to discover, if she can, the poetry in recipe writing. To assist her, she hires seventeen-year-old Ann Kirby, the impoverished daughter of a war-crippled father and a mother with dementia.

Over the course of ten years, Eliza and Ann developed an unusual friendship that crossed social classes and divides – and, together, they broke the mould of traditional cookbooks and changed the course of cookery writing forever.

Sukhjeet Kaur "Sukh" Ojla is an English stand-up comedian, novelist, playwright and comedy writer. On this episode of Pagecast she chats with fellow author Sara Nisha Adams.

Sunny is the queen of living a double life. To her friends, she's the entertaining, eternally upbeat, single one, always on hand to share hilarious and horrifying date stories. But while they're all settling down with long-term partners and mortgages, Sunny is back in her childhood bedroom at thirty, playing the role of the perfect daughter. She spends her time watching the Sikh channel, making saag and samosey with her mum, hiding gins-in-a-tin in her underwear drawer and sneaking home in the middle of the night after dates, trying but failing to find 'the one'.

She juggles both lives perfectly . . . on the outside, at least. But when her mum sees a guy dropping Sunny home one evening, Sunny's life gets a little complicated. Now her mum wants to know about the life she's hidden from her for so long.

Sunny is well versed in lying to her friends, her family, and, above all, herself. But how long can she keep it up for? Or is it finally time to start being honest?

SUNNY by Sukh Ojla is a relatable, moving, and life-affirming novel. It is warm and full of honesty, exploring family, love and mental health. Perfect for fans of Grown-Ups by Marian Keyes and Olive by Emma Gannon.

TWO CULTURES. TWO FAMILIES. TWO PEOPLE.

Established South African media personality and bestselling author Joanne Joseph chats with Monica Ali about this exquisite gorgeous, layered and immersive tale of a Bengali Muslim family.

Yasmin Ghorami has a lot to be grateful for: a loving family, a fledgling career in medicine, and a charming, handsome fiancée, fellow doctor Joe Sangster.

But as the wedding day draws closer and Yasmin's parents get to know Joe's firebrand feminist mother, both families must confront the unravelling of long-held secrets, lies and betrayals.

As Yasmin dismantles her assumptions about the people she holds most dear, she's also forced to ask herself what she wants in a relationship and what a 'love marriage' actually means.

Love Marriage is a story about who we are and how we love in today's Britain - with all the complications and contradictions of life, desire, marriage and family. What starts as a charming social comedy develops into a heart-breaking and gripping story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another.

‘Reminds me of Khaled Hosseini, poignant and heartwarming… Simply a beautiful story that had me reading until 3:30 in the morning’ Sarah, NetGalley

‘I am a friend of the bees. Like you.’

‘So, you have been waiting for me?’

‘The forest has been waiting for you.’

Pakistan, 1974: The secret-wreathed trees of Harikaya have always called to Hassan. He knows if he doesn’t find the last beekeeper and salvage a precious jar of his mythical black honey before the floods come, his mother will lose her sight.

But then he wins a scholarship to study with the state governor in Karachi amidst a brewing storm of political turmoil and simmering espionage.

His entire world is turned upside down when he meets Maryam, the governor’s niece visiting from London.

All the while the fate of his mother and his promise to the bees calls him back to the forest, and so he must decide: Maryam or the beekeeper, England or Pakistan, his head or his heart.

One of the most exciting debuts of 2021, this is a lyrical historical novel of family, friendship, and self-discovery exploring the power of choice in a changing world and love in communion with nature. Perfect for fans of Christy Lefteri, Yann Martel, and Monique Roffey.

‘An author with great skill in crafting a gripping and soul-searching story’ Leah Fleming

Cape Town-based radio presenter and book lover Pippa Hudson is in conversation with author Barbara Mutch about her latest book 'The Fire Portrait'.

About the book:

When Englishwoman Frances McDonald sets up home in a remote hamlet in South Africa in the 1930s, she is regarded with suspicion by the community. Confined by a marriage of convenience, she seeks an outlet by learning the local language, teaching art, and exhibiting her paintings of the stunning veld landscape. Soon the spectre of war threatens to divide not only the country but the town itself and scupper Frances’ hard-won acceptance.

When she reunites unexpectedly with a former love and her husband leaves to fight for the Allies, she gains a child but loses her home in a moment that will change her life and send her on a journey from the arid veld to the bright lights of London and beyond.

About the author:

Barbara Mutch was born and brought up in South Africa, the granddaughter of Irish immigrants. Before embarking on a writing career, she launched and managed a number of businesses both in South Africa and the UK. She is married and has two sons. For most of the year the family lives in Surrey but spends time whenever possible at their home in the Cape. When not writing, Barbara is a pianist, a keen enthusiast of the Cape's birds and landscape or fynbos.

The best-selling author Sara-Jayne Makwala King is in conversation with Sue Nyathi, editor of When Secrets Become Stories.

About Sue:

Sukoluhle ‘Sue’ Nyathi is a writer by passion and an investment analyst by profession. Sue has written three novels – The Polygamist (2012), The GoldDiggers (2018) and A Family Affair (2020). The GoldDiggers was longlisted for the Barry Ronge Fiction Award and the Dublin Literary Award, while A Family Affair has been longlisted for the Humanities and Social Sciences Award. She also contributed to Black Tax: Burden or Ubuntu? (2019) and Hair: Unpicking and Weaving stories of Identity (2019). Sue lives in Johannesburg.

About Sara-Jayne:

Sara-Jayne King is a South African journalist and author, whose career spans more than a decade and has taken her across the globe in search of extraordinary people with remarkable stories.

About When Secrets Become Stories:

She was asking for it.

She should have known better.

Bekezela (persevere), she was told.

It’s because I love you, he said.

It’s not that bad, she told herself.

In sharing their experiences from girlhood to the boardroom, from Cape Town’s suburbs to the hills of KwaZulu-Natal, women from different walks of life show how chillingly common male violence against women is. Together, their voices form a deafening chorus.

Gender-based violence feeds on shame and silence but in this extraordinary collection, brave women reclaim their power and summon the courage in others to do the same. In speaking out, sharing what was once secret, shame’s hold is broken.

With contributions by Lorraine Sithole, Desiree-Anne Martin, UCT vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Shafinaaz Hassim, Cathy Park Kelly and Olivia Jasriel, who as a child was sexually abused by tennis star Bob Hewitt.

Heart-rending at times, it is the honesty and courage of the writing that truly inspires.

Wilderness guide Sicelo Mbatha shares lessons learnt from a lifetime’s intimate association with Africa’s wildest nature.

Black Lion begins in rural South Africa where a deeply traumatic childhood experience – he witnessed his cousin being dragged away by a crocodile – should have turned Sicelo against the surrounding wilderness. Instead, he was irresistibly drawn to it. As a volunteer at Imfolozi Nature Reserve, close encounters with buffalo, lion, elephant and other animals taught him to ‘see’ with his heart and thus began a spiritual awakening.

Drawing from his Zulu culture and his own yearning to better understand human’s relationship to nature, Sicelo has forged a new path, disrupting the conventional approach to nature with an immersive, respectful and transformative way of being in the wilderness. Both memoir and philosophical reflection, Black Lion - co-written with environmentalist Bridget Pitt - is his brilliant and profound account of life as a wilderness spiritual guide.

As humanity hurtles into the anthropogenic 21st century, Black Lion is an urgent reminder of just how much we need wilderness for our emotional and spiritual survival.

'A brave account of a natural disaster, and of achieving reconciliation with the predatoriness of life.’ Richard Mabey on Sicelo Mbatha's essay, Letting Go, commended for the Irish Moth Nature Writing Prize.

‘A smart, riveting, and deliciously refreshing debut’ LISA JEWELL

I am your maid.

I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.

But what do you know about me?

Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?

But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

Escapist, charming and introducing a truly original heroine, The Maid is a story about how everyone deserves to be seen. And how the truth isn’t always black and white – it’s found in the dirtier, grey areas in between…