When I’m dead, you make sure that ordinary people, ordinary rural women, must be at the forefront of my funeral. I want my rural women to be there at the forefront: people that know me well.’

With great care and meticulous research, Kally Forrest brings us the life of Lydia Komape, also known as Mam Lydia Kompe. Kally travels in Lydia’s footsteps, with family, friends, comrades and ancestors from Limpopo and Johannesburg to Cape Town where Lydia sat in Nelson Mandela’s parliament.

Her family’s shattering loss of land in the 1930s deeply impacted Lydia’s life choices. She was fiercely independent, yet bound by the collective, forceful but consultative, humorous and deeply serious.

Lydia closely identified with rural women, remarking, ‘We are so discriminated against, but we are made to work like donkeys. We do all the dirty work – you must go and plough, hoe, harvest, carry water, fetch wood, and men are just sitting drinking alcohol under the tree.’

This is a biography that will open your eyes and heart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kally Forrest is a former trade unionist and editor of the South African Labour Bulletin. She has written biographies of organisations and how they impact individuals. This book however looks at an individual’s impact on the broader society during and after apartheid. She was a Ruth First Fellow and a senior researcher on the Marikana Commission, and is currently an associate of the Society Work & Politics Institute and the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, both at the University of the Witwatersrand, and a fellow of the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Johannesburg.

'Lydia: Anthem to the Unity of Women' is published by Jacana Media

A groundbreaking account that tells the remarkable, untold story of the early days of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) and the critical international alliances that armed and trained South Africa’s freedom fighters, by a participant. Through vivid and detailed recollections, Sijake transports readers from Sudan and Egypt to Tanganyika and Tashkent, offering a glimpse into the heart of the Pan-African and Soviet efforts that fuelled the anti-apartheid struggle.

Fighting For My Country: The Testimony of a Freedom Fighter doesn’t just chronicle the revolutionary training camps and clandestine supply routes; it also provides an intimate look at Sijake's time on Robben Island. His encounters with figures from SWAPO, PAC, and other liberation movements bring depth to his gripping narrative, shedding light on the early conversations that paved the way for negotiations and the resilience required to endure life in confinement.

In one thrilling chapter, Sijake recalls an MK operation on the Transkei coast with plans orchestrated alongside stalwarts Chris Hani and Oliver Tambo. From navigating hidden harbours to examining Soviet-supplied weapons and armaments aboard the boat Aventura, Sijake offers a first-hand perspective on a pivotal moment in the fight for freedom. His story resonates with the courage, sacrifice, and unity of those who refused to bow under oppression.

This memoir is a tribute to Sijake’s unwavering commitment to liberation and an essential addition to the history of South Africa’s journey to freedom. Readers will find here both an adventure and an inspiring reflection on the sacrifices made for justice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in 1945 in the Eastern Cape, Sandi Sijake joined the ANC in 1959 and left for exile in 1963. Captured in 1972, Sijake was sentenced in 1973 to 15 years and sent to Robben Island. Released in 1988, Sijake joined the SANDF in 1995, and in 2009 he was elected president of the ANC Veteran's League.

'Fighting For My Country: The Testimony of a Freedom Fighter' is published by Jacana Media

South Africa’s general election of 2024 saw the African National Congress losing its majority at the national level for the first time since the arrival of democracy in 1994.

To maintain its rule, President Cyril Ramaphosa led his party into a Government of National Unity (GNU) centered around a hitherto unlikely coalition with the opposition Democratic Alliance. Election 2024, South Africa: Countdown to Coalition presents the first comprehensive analysis of this historic process.

It outlines the extensive social and economic crisis that preceded the election; provides detailed analyses of the election campaigns of the political parties; highlights the dramatic rise Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe Party; places the GNU against the recent experiences of coalition formation at provincial and local level; offers comprehensive summaries of voter participation and both the national and provincial results; and discusses prospects for the GNU’s survival and its possible long-term consequences.

Written in a highly accessible style, Election 2024, South Africa is an indispensable resource for all those wanting to understand South Africa’s contemporary politics.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Collette Schulz-Herzenberg is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University. Collette specialises in political behaviour and public opinion research and has contributed to the surging body of scholarship on South African electoral politics. Collette completed her undergraduate studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London in the 1990s and returned to South Africa to pursue postgraduate studies.

Roger Southall has taught in Uganda, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa, where he was a Professor of Political Studies from 1990 to 2001, Executive Director/Distinguished Research Fellow Human Sciences Research Council from 2001-2007, Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, 2007–2013. He now lives in Cape Town, continues to write, and walks dogs.

'Election 2024, South Africa: Countdown to Coalition' is published by Jacana Media

A collection of Robert Sobukwe’s political writings, speeches and court testimonies supplemented by an account of his years in Kimberley following his release from Robben Island.

There are several accounts of Robert Sobukwe’s courageous role in contesting South Africa’s system of apartheid and of his incarceration on Robben Island after the Anti- Pass Campaign that led to the tragic events of Sharpeville in March 1960. Far less attention has been paid to the years the leader of the Pan-Africanist Congress spent in Kimberley, between 1969–1978, after his release from the Island. Darkest Before Dawn, the follow-up to Lie on Your Wounds: The Prison Correspondence of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, captures the story of the post-prison years of Sobukwe’s life.

This latest compilation complete with a biographical narrative by the editors and enriched with images from Sobukwe’s life in this period of his life demonstrates the many challenges Sobukwe faced as well as his continued political resolve to fight for an end to apartheid. This is captured in the many meetings he had in spite of banning orders and letters he exchanged with friends and admirers, including the celebrated novelist Bessie Head whose letters to Sobukwe are published here for the first time. Sobukwe continued to meet political allies, such as Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, he pursued a legal career and played host to international visitors. The portrait of Sobukwe that emerges is that of a highly ethical man, a figure of dignity and fortitude, and a wise elder whose commitment to the people of Africa and to the vision of Pan-Africanism who remained undeterred, despite his being forced to live, in his final years, under near impossible conditions.

To do justice to Sobukwe’s legacy, his intellectual contribution and his unfailing desire to pursue liberation for the African people, we need to view his biography against the backdrop of his words. Darkest Before Dawn includes a definitive collection of his political writings, speeches, unpublished court testimonies, interviews with Gail Gerhart and Joe Thloloe, and expansive annotations by the compilers. The book ends with a reflective essay which highlights the ongoing pertinence of Sobukwe’s legacy.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Derek Hook is Professor of Psychology and a clinical supervisor at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh and Extraordinary Professor of Psychology at the University of Pretoria. He edited the first volume of Sobukwe letters, Lie on Your Wounds: The prison correspondence of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.

Leswin Laubscher is Associate Professor in the Clinical Psychology department at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. He is Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Amongst others he is the co-editor of Fanon, Phenomenology and Psychology.

Robert Sobukwe founded the Pan Africanist Congress in 1959 and was its president. He was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1960-1969, mostly in solitary confinement, and was considered such a threat by the government that its parliament enacted the ‘Sobukwe clause’, which authorised the arbitrary extension of his imprisonment. After his release in 1969, he lived in Kimberley with family under house arrest. He died in 1978 from lung cancer.

'Darkest Before Dawn: Writings, Testimonies and Correspondence from the Life of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe' is published by Wits University Press

Alexandra: A Backstory is a powerful graphic novel that uncovers the hidden history of Alexandra Township, a vibrant and resilient community nestled in Johannesburg. Through stunning visuals and poignant storytelling, this book reveals the complex web of cultures, lifestyles and socioeconomic realities that define Alex.

By amplifying the voices of its people and exploring the remnants of colonialism and apartheid, Alexandra: A Backstory sheds light on the enduring legacy of resistance and endurance that shapes this remarkable community.

Join the journey as we delve into the margins of Joburg and uncover the untold stories that will recalibrate your understanding of this incredible city.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Solam Mkhabela is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a PhD from the Wits University School of Architecture and Planning, where he currently convenes the Master of Urban Design programme.

'Alexandra: A Backstory' is published by Jacana Media

Joe Modise (1929-2001), a Sophiatown bus driver-turned freedom fighter, was a humble man who tended to avoid the limelight. A protege of the Mandela leadership in the 1950s mass struggle, he was one of the youngest among that decade’s Treason Trial, and was a senior commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) from its inception, facing danger and privation most of his adult life.

Modise served with acclaim as democratic South Africa’s first Minister of Defence and won the loyalty of his former enemy when many thought the country could be plunged into civil war or held to ransom by old-order apartheid generals.

The fact that Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo selected him for key positions over five decades of exacting struggle testifies to their sustained confidence in him. This fact alone belies the impression some might have that he was an amoral warlord. As a government minister, he led a modest lifestyle and did not die a wealthy man.

This book interlinks frank and engaging interviews with family and friends, comrades­ in-arms and former adversaries. Those who knew him reveal a warm human being and provide endearing insights into who Modise really was. As a soldier, statesman and leader, he has left behind an astonishing legacy that deserves to be widely known.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ronnie Kasrils was born in Johannesburg in 1938. After matriculating from KES, he worked as a scriptwriter for a film company before joining Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) at its inception. In 1963, he left South Africa in exile and worked for the ANC, the SACP and the MK until his return to the country in 1990. Kasrils served on the highest bodies of all three organisations and was Chief of Military Intelligence for MK. From 1994 to 2008, he served under the democratic government in the portfolios of Deputy Minister of Defence, Minister of Water & Forestry and Minister of Intelligence Services.

Dr Fidelis Hove is an economist, development specialist, and researcher based in Pretoria. He is an executive at a leading development consulting firm, where he spearheads work on poverty, social protection, and employment facilitation across Africa and the Middle East. Before his current role, he was a senior civil servant in the South African government.

'Comrade and Commander: The Life and Times of Joe Modise' is published by Jacana Media

As a young journalist, roped into court reporting to cover Jacob Zuma’s 2006 rape trial, Karyn Maughan could not have known that she would be reporting on Zuma’s legal woes for the next two decades. She would become an expert, the only journalist who covered his corruption case from the start still reporting on him – and the first journalist who herself would become his target.

In September 2022, Zuma would privately instigate an abusive prosecution against Karyn and Billy Downer, the state prosecutor in his corruption trial. Forced to sit in the dock and to endure social media vilification and traumatic threats of violence, Karyn had to travel with armed bodyguards.

This book tells the story of a respected journalist prosecuted by a former president, a first in South Africa and the world. Disarmingly honest and deeply personal, it also takes a razor sharp look at how powerful men, to avoid accountability, attack individuals, the media and the courts, undermining democracy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karyn Maughan is an award-winning journalist, documentary producer and best-selling author. She writes for News24 and is a BBC contributor. She regularly appears on local and international radio and TV stations, and has been named one of South Africa’s most influential journalists. She has over 508 000 followers on X. She lives in Johannesburg.

‘I Will Not Be Silenced’ is published by Tafelberg, an imprint of NB Publishers

Mathews Phosa has been an eyewitness to the dramatic shifts of political power in South Africa.

He was involved in the Black Consciousness Movement, the UDF and the ANC, before fleeing into exile in 1985 and becoming an Umkhonto weSizwe commander in Mozambique. A lawyer by training, he was one of the first ANC members to return to South Africa to prepare the way for negotiations.

He was premier of Mpumalanga during the presidency of Nelson Mandela, with whom he had a strong relationship. Under Thabo Mbeki, whom he had known in exile, Phosa was pushed to the sidelines, with false accusations that he was involved in a ‘plot’ to overthrow the president.

Phosa had served under Jacob Zuma as an MK field commander in Mozambique, and he became treasurer-general of the ANC when Zuma became its president at Polokwane. But Phosa later became a vocal critic of Zuma, and they didn’t speak for years, until the night before Zuma’s resignation.

Phosa and Cyril Ramaphosa had studied law together at the University of the North in the 1970s, and fifty years later Phosa played a key role in advising him over the Phala Phala report that threatened to end his presidency.

Witness to Power is a gripping story of underground activities, military operations, negotiations, political conflict and intrigue. It provides fascinating new insights into the ruling party and its leaders by an ANC elder who worked with them all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Nakedi Mathews Phosa was born in Mbombela township, Nelspruit, but grew up in a rural area near Potgietersrus (Mokopane). After studying law at the University of the North, he opened the first black-owned legal practice in Nelspruit in 1981. He became involved in underground ANC activities, and in 1985 he was forced into exile. After being trained in East Germany, he became the regional commander of uMkhonto weSizwe in Mozambique. Following the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, he was one of the first members of the ANC to return to South Africa to prepare for negotiations with the National Party government. He played an important role in transition initiatives, including CODESA, and headed the ANC’s legal department.

After the 1994 elections, Phosa was appointed premier of Mpumalanga, a position he held until 1999. He was a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee and was the party’s treasurer-general from 2007 to 2012. Phosa speaks nine languages and has published two volumes of poetry: Deur die oog van ’n naald (Through the eye of a needle) and Chants of Freedom.

'Witness To Power: A Political Memoir' is published by Penguin Random House South Africa

An in-depth study of the assassination of Jeanette and Katryn Schoon at the hands of apartheid spy Craig Williamson explores how the lives of a group of white radicals intersected with and were impacted by the undercover security police and their operations both within and outside of South Africa.

On 28 June 1984, a parcel bomb sent by the apartheid security police exploded in an apartment building in Lubango, Angola, killing 36-year-old Jeanette Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn. The Schoons were members of the revolutionary underground, exiled from South Africa, and committed to both the African National Congress and socialism. What many political activists had feared or suspected at the time was confirmed during the 1990s Truth and Reconciliation Commission: the bomb targeting the Schoons was sent by Craig Williamson, an apartheid spy and high-ranking member of the South African security service.

*Apartheid Spies and the Revolutionary Underground* is the first book-length account of the assassination of Jeanette and Katryn Schoon. Jeanette Curtis Schoon and Craig Williamson first met in 1973 on the Wits University campus. Jeanette was a passionate student radical and part of a network of white radicals fighting apartheid. Williamson had successfully infiltrated the student movement and rose within its ranks. He held positions of trust, first within the National Union of South African Students and then, after pretending to ‘flee’ the country, as an office-bearer of the International Universities Exchange Fund in Sweden, which helped fund many South Africans in exile.

The book uncovers how the lives of a group of white radicals intersected with and were impacted by the undercover security police and their operations both within and outside of South Africa. Intensifying political oppression caused many young radicals to flee South Africa in 1976; many of them, like Jeanette and her partner Marius Schoon, joined the African National Congress in exile. Williamson and the Schoons’ paths, and those of their comrades, continued to cross: he was a guest in their homes, a supplier of funds for their projects, a witness for the prosecution in political trials, and, ultimately, the hand that directed targeted assassinations.

Williamson received amnesty for his role in the Schoons’ murder, among other crimes. For the friends and family of the Schoons – and for all those seeking social justice – this was an unacceptable outcome, and Williamson continues to walk a free man. This book attempts to show the limits of the TRC process to render healing from South Africa’s apartheid past. That justice has not been served to the Schoons remains a tragedy in this story of the struggle against apartheid.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William (Billy) Keniston is a lecturer in the History department at Cuesta College, California. He is the author of Choosing to be Free, a biography of Rick Turner.

'Apartheid Spies and the Revolutionary Underground' is published by Wits University Press

How do you build a new bank from scratch? What does it require to take on the big four – Absa, Standard Bank, FNB, and Nedbank – and to win?

In Capitec: Stalking Giants, top-selling business author TJ Strydom tells the gripping tale of a small team of entrepreneurs that, in the early 2000s, turned a small microlending network into a challenger bank.

With their luxurious head offices in Johannesburg, the giants disregard the small Stellenbosch upstart. But once the new bank gains momentum and starts luring droves of customers away from the staid establishment, they are forced to take note.

By opening branches while the other banks are scaling down, focusing on personal interaction while the others are automating, and offering services to those South Africans written off as ‘unprofitable’ by the big four, Capitec bank becomes the biggest success story of the new South Africa.

An inspirational, authentically South African story with a good ending.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TJ Strydom is an author and business journalist who has worked for The Times, Reuters, Sunday Times and Beeld. His first biography, Christo Wiese: Risk & Riches, was published in 2019, followed by Koos Bekker’s Billions in 2022. Strydom grew up in Pietermaritzburg and studied at Stellenbosch University. He is married and lives in Johannesburg.

'Capitec: Stalking Giants' is published by Tafelberg an imprint of NB Publishers