Polity Author Articles

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

The greatest gift we can give to our children, and the future South Africa, is our own healing. South Africa may have moved beyond apartheid, but not beyond racial polarisation. Virtually every problem we face in this country is touched by our legacy of systemic racism and the psychological trauma it has caused to people of all races.

Racial healing is not a new, woke, talk shop. It is also not a ‘how-to’ guide for do-gooders. On the contrary, racial healing requires diverse people of all ages to embrace the unique and challenging complexity of racial diversity and to forge a human bridge between multiple opposing truths that can peacefully co-exist.

Only a sober admission of this complexity can help us to heal from the open, festering wound of ongoing racism that has left South Africa with the unenviable distinction of being the most unequal country in the world; a wound not necessarily unique to South Africa, but indeed also the reason behind the violent conflict seen around the world.

Author, Ian Fuhr and co-author, Nina de Klerk, have created a powerful examination of the deep-rooted causes of continuing racial polarisation in South Africa and suggest a road map for the journey towards racial healing. The book is the first of its kind and is enhanced by influential collaborators who share their authentic and often emotive perspectives on racial healing, with essays from Bonang Mohale, Carin Dean, Jonathan Jansen, Leon Wessels, Loretta Feris, Lukhanyo Calata, Max Du Preez, Mbali Baduza, Padhma Moodley, Roelf Meyer and Sylvester Chauke.

The Human Bridge is an ambitious but achievable vision of the future. If people are willing to familiarise themselves with each other’s life experiences, own up to their own fears and racial biases, and engage in authentic dialogue, South Africans may once again become an example to the rest of the world.

The Human Bridge challenges every South African to educate themselves to become more aware of race-related issues, read, research, watch, learn, unlearn, enlighten, understand, explore, unpack, overcome and interact with people from different race groups and to start having those difficult conversations about racial healing.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ian Fuhr has been described as a ‘serial entrepreneur’. His working career is lined with a number of entrepreneurial start-ups, including a retail chain, a record company, a race relations consultancy, and a national chain of beauty salons called Sorbet. In February 2019, he set up a coaching and consulting business called the Hatch Institute, focusing on self-development, culture, leadership, customer service and racial healing. Ian has authored three books, Get that Feeling (Pan Macmillan, 2014), The Soul of Sorbet (Pan Macmillan, 2018) and Cultureneering (Pan Macmillan, 2021).

Nina de Klerk is a seasoned academic and published researcher and has many years of industry experience in various capacities. She is an emeritus professor of Strategic Communication at the University of Johannesburg and has participated in various critical transformation initiatives in the country and abroad.

'The Human Bridge: Racial Healing in South Africa' is published by Tracey McDonald Publishers

These essays contribute to the debate about what it means to decolonise, deracialise, and transform knowledge after apartheid by problematising and clarifying the stakes involved.

Predicaments of Knowledge explores the difficult questions South African universities face after apartheid: Is there a difference between Africanising a university and decolonising a university? What about differences between deracialising and decolonising the curricula taught at universities across disciplines?

Through a range of reflections on race, language, colonial, postcolonial and decolonial knowledge projects from Africa and Latin America, this book explores the pitfalls and possibilities that face a post-apartheid generation inventing the future of knowledge. The distinctions between Africanisation, decolonisation and deracialisation are often conflated in the political demands put to universities. Suren Pillay emphasises all three as important but distinct imperatives.

If an intervention is undertaken with the aim of decolonising the university while actually addressing deracialisation, it can undermine the effort to decolonise. Similarly, if an initiative to Africanise the university does not address decolonisation, both processes can be undermined. Drawing on more than two and a half decades of the author’s participation in these debates, these essays aim to intervene in and elucidate questions and predicaments, rather than offering blueprints; they are dialogical in spirit even when polemical in tone. In conversation with existing continental African and Latin American experiences, they offer incisive reflections on current South African debates.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Suren Pillay is the A C Jordan Chair and Director of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town.

'Predicaments of Knowledge: Decolonisation and Deracialisation in Universities' is published by Wits Press

From the bestselling author of Steinhoff: Inside SA’s Biggest Corporate Crash, comes a revealing new exposé asking: Are companies and billionaires more powerful than governments?

A new billionaire is created every two days. Meanwhile, one in four South Africans live on less than R18 per day – barely enough to buy a loaf of bread. Is this the price of progress? What does it mean for the world we live in today, and can anything be done about it?

In The Dirty Secrets of the Rich and Powerful, James-Brent Styan, one of South Africa’s bravest independent writers, explores the phenomenon of global inequality and unveils the secrets of influence and power dictating people’s lives.

He revisits the collapse of Steinhoff following the death of Markus Jooste, investigates the way company shares get manipulated, and unpacks the tax games the powerful play. The Dirty Secrets of the Rich and Powerful asks difficult questions ranging from why medicine is so expensive to what are the risks of renewable energy. It is a fearless exploration of why the growing inequality between rich and poor should be a cause of concern for all of us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James-Brent Styan’s first book, in 2015, exposed the state of Eskom and warned about the future of loadshedding in South Africa. His 2018 exposé, Steinhoff: Inside SA’s Biggest Corporate Crash, was a number-one best­seller in South Africa. The Dirty Secrets of the Rich and Powerful is his fifth non-fiction title.

'The Dirty Secrets of the Rich and Powerful: Exposing the dark side of capitalism' is published by Penguin Random House South Africa

Slavery is at the core of the glaring inequality which persists in South Africa to this day. Yet slavery is but a subscript in our national consciousness. As a ‘storyteller who asks new questions’, Patric Tariq Mellet sets out rectify this.

In the Truth about Cape Slavery, Mellet shows that modern South Africa – its economy and politics – is shaped by slavery in the same way that it has shaped the United States of America, and that it deserves the same scrutiny. Cape slavery was a crucial feature of maritime capitalism and became the cornerstone of the Cape’s agricultural economy. This book challenges the Netherlands to improve on the weak apology offered in 2023 by its king and the lack of reparations offered by its government.

An incisive, timely look into the realities of Cape slavery and why its legacy endures in South Africa.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patric Tariq Mellet is the author of the bestselling book, The Lie of 1652. In 2009, his work on the intangible heritage of the Cape received a Western Cape Provincial Honours award and he serves on the Governance Council of the South African Heritage Resources Agency. He lives in Cape Town.

‘The Truth About Cape Slavery: The Foundations of Colonial South Africa’ is published by Tafelberg an imprint of NB Publishers

In late 2015 and 2016, South Africa witnessed a horrific tragedy. 144 people entrusted to the Gauteng public health system died from neglect, starvation and cruelty. This book examines the Life Esidimeni tragedy, offering a powerful narrative built on the stories of those most affected.

When writer Harriet Perlman and photographer Mark Lewis set about documenting the lives of the families whose loved ones had died in this catastrophe, they were determined to honour the dead, and to recognise the sufferings of those left behind. They travelled far and wide, and listened to their stories. These heartbreaking stories, accompanied by powerful portraits by Mark Lewis, help the reader to forge a deep connection with the victims. These photographs are not just faces on a page, but a testament to the human cost of this tragedy.

This book shines a light on the tireless efforts of organisations like SECTION27, SADAG and the Life Esidimeni Family Committee who have fought for truth, justice and accountability, holding those in power responsible for their actions. It is also a stark reminder of how wrong things can get with an arrogant, callous and unaccountable political leadership.

The book explores the ongoing struggle for better mental healthcare in South Africa and the urgent need to ensure such a tragedy never happens again. This is a call to action, urging readers to engage with the ongoing fight for mental health reform.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Harriet Perlman has worked in film, television and publishing for over 30 years, as a producer, scriptwriter, story editor and writer on a number of pioneering South African projects. These include Yizo Yizo, Soul City, and the award winning Vaya, which was both a film and a book based on stories from the Homeless Writer’s Project. Perlman has worked on entertainment and education projects and initiatives that combine the two. She is co-producer of the documentary film and writer of the accompanying book, The Colour of Wine. She is currently working with Heartlines on their Fathers Matter campaign and with the composer Philip Miller to create a vogue-opera on the life of gay anti-apartheid activist Simon Nkoli.

Mark Lewis is an urban photographer based in Johannesburg. For the past ten years he has traversed the dense inner core and the constantly shifting edges of Johannesburg. His images are an interplay between people and space. At root they are tales of lives carved in the search for economic opportunity and the stories of the impacts of those lives on the spatial fabric of the city. His work has been widely exhibited and published, and he has completed the tenth book in the popular series of Johannesburg stories called Wake Up, This is Joburg with writer and urban planner, Tanya Zack which formed part of the South African pavilion on the 2015 Venice Biennale.

'Life Esidimeni: Portraits of Lives Lost' is published by Jacana Media

After many years of serving the country, Dr Peter Friedland was given an opportunity to become a member of Nelson Mandela’s medical team, charged with looking after his hearing.

Mandela was in his post-presidential years and over time, a rapport built between the two men. Their conversations often veered towards politics with Mandela carefully shifting Peter's perspective or quietly prompting him to re-examine his position.

As an ENT specialist, Peter spent many years treating victims of violent crime. This experience of trauma built incrementally, as he continued to lose colleagues and close friends to hijackings and assaults. His own family endured violence too, and eventually fear for his children's safety drove him towards making a life-changing decision.

Through simply sitting with, and talking to Mandela, Peter understood that when people make hard decisions, these never come cheap. His story beautifully captures the tension between an uncertain future, out of one’s control, and the fear that one might not thrive, let alone survive in a new land.

This book examines the powerful forces that push people away from South Africa and then pull them back. They find themselves in an emotional tug-of-war that continues, until something snaps.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Professor Peter Friedland is a leading ear, nose and throat surgeon and holds the academic chair in this discipline in Western Australia. Most of his career was spent in South Africa, where he was clinical head of the department of ENT at the University of the Witwatersrand Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

Jill Margo is a best-selling author specialising in biography, memoir and health. Her books have been translated into three languages. She is also a multi-award-winning journalist on The Australian Financial Review.

'Quiet Time with the President: A Doctor's Story about Learning to Listen' is published by Jonathan Ball Publishers

Spread over 160 pages in full colour, it unveils a remarkable journey through his many projects that demonstrate a meticulous attention to detail and thought. Aziz Tayob's creations not only left a lasting impression on clients but also introduced the transformative power of architecture to many who encountered it for the first time in their lives.

Commencing in the 1940s, it navigates the intricacies of his experiences, including the hurdles of growing up as a person of colour in apartheid South Africa and then having to study and work under the same oppressive system. It was a journey that, despite numerous challenges, saw the realization of several hundred projects.

His son Haneef explains that while the writing of the book formally started some 18 months ago, its foundation was slowly being laid over the years as they collected and categorized archival material.

He explains, “Many people who heard the stories of my dad’s experiences and numerous projects would ask my dad when he was going to write a book.”

It initially started with a focus on architecture.

"As we curated the work, we realized that this was going to be more than just a coffee table book with pretty pictures. Every building had a story to tell. Every new project was a product of its time and environment. The journey, while rewarding, was long and tough, with its fair share of disappointments. It was often dictated by outside forces, including the might of the apartheid system."

The book manages to overlay the career of South Africa’s first architect of colour on the path of a nation.

Activist and former MP Ismail Vadi, who wrote the foreword, acknowledged that many people like Aziz also walked the ‘long road to empowerment’.

Smashing the Patriarchy: Why Women Must Rise Up Against Gender-Based Violence is a powerful call to action for women to free themselves from the yoke of patriarchal oppression.

In this comprehensive set of books, author Lethabo Maleka explores the roots of patriarchy and its devastating consequences, particularly in relation to gender-based violence. Drawing inspiration from her extensive research, Maleka challenges traditional beliefs and societal norms that perpetuate the subjugation of women. With a clear and pressing message, she urges women to unite and fight for their rights, offering a roadmap for dismantling patriarchy and creating a more equitable society.

The eight volumes of this book are a testament to all the women who have suffered at the hands of men, a tribute to the strength, resilience and power of women, and a rallying cry for urgent and fundamental change.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lethabo Maleka (Gwangwa) grew up in rural Limpopo in South Africa where she attended school. Lethabo obtained her matric from the Joint Matriculation Board through correspondence at Turret Correspondence College funded by SACHED Trust. She graduated for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand and a master’s degree from the University of Johannesburg. After graduating, she started her career at Educational Opportunities Council (EOC) a non-governmental organisation in Johannesburg, the same organisation that offered her a full four-year scholarship sponsored by British Council. She worked as a student counsellor, a coordinator and administrator for local scholarship programme. When donor agencies pulled out their funding after the 1994 democratic elections, she joined Public Service at Gauteng Provincial Government.

'Smashing the Patriarchy, A Women’s Testament: Why Women Must Rise Up Against Gender-Based Violence' is published by JDoubleDPublicity