In the murky world of espionage few rules apply. Everything is permitted in the name of state security – even talking to the country's Enemy No. 1. This is exactly what Niel Barnard, then head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), did in the late 1980s. On instruction of PW Botha, he started top-secret talks with Nelson Mandela in prison. Not even Cabinet was informed. In Secret Revolution Barnard reveals, for the first time, the deta ...
In die duister wereld van spioene geld die gewone reels nie. Alles is geoorloof in die naam van landsveiligheid – selfs om met die staat se Vyand No. 1 te praat. Dit is presies wat Niel Barnard in die laat 1980's as hoof van die Nasionale Intelligensiediens (NI) gedoen het. In opdrag van PW Botha het hy hoogs geheime gesprekke met Nelson Mandela begin voer. Nie eens die kabinet het geweet nie. In Geheime Revolusie lig Barnard vir die eerste ...
Xolela Mangcu has earned a reputation as one of the most vibrant and engaging public voices in South Africa. This selection of his best columns, published locally and internationally over the past two decades, is vivid, polemical and poignant. It records the initial excitement – and growing disillusionment – about the ANC in government, and the leadership meltdown at the heart of the South African crisis. Placing South Africa in an African conte ...
"Until Julius Comes" is a boisterous, unprecedented journey through the wilds of South African politics in an election year. With his sharp wit and perceptive observations, Richard Poplak exposes the tricks of the political trade and the skulduggery that comes with it. Writing under the byline Hannibal Elector, he spares no one: Julius Malema looks like a 'Teletubbie in his EFF onesie'; Jacob Zuma is a tasteless home renovator wit ...
The R250-million upgrades to President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla estate have tainted his image in the eyes of South Africa and the world. It may even signal the demise of his presidency. The story of Nkandla goes back to 2004 and Zuma’s connection to Shabir Shaik. In the ensuing years, there have been numerous reports about the lavish spending at the president’s home and in the Nkandla district, and questions about where the money came f ...
Staan die DA hoegenaamd 'n kans by die stembus? Of sal verkiesings in Suid-Afrika bloot 'n ras-sensus bly? Is swart kiesers se ongemak met die Demokratiese Alliansie 'n kwessie van beleid – of van toon? Eusebius McKaiser is bekend daarvoor dat hy geen doekies omdraai nie. In hierdie vermaaklike, ietwat voor-op-die-wa en soms tong-in-die-kies boek, bekyk hy ons amptelike opposisie van naderby.
The post-Apartheid era shows fascinating echoes of the era after the Boer War: Afrikaners learning that they can win by 'losing', the trade-off between vengeance and forbearance, and a worrying trajectory towards nationalism. Efforts to reconcile 'the nation' are treacherous and demand trade-offs. Tim Cohen looks at how Louis Botha and Nelson Mandela managed the transitions they were overseeing – and how both suffered the bac ...
What happens when you form a political party six months before a general election? And instantly become the hope of the nation?Mostly chaos! At least that is what 26-year-old Michiel le Roux encountered when he quit his enviable job as a banker at Absa to “make a difference”. He volunteered for the Congress of the People (Cope) and became part of their 2009 election campaign. Very soon, he loses his political innocence in a party paralysed by po ...
Reading the script of Invictus, finding a new – anti-slavery Afrikaans – name for Mandela's Cape Town home, discussing awkward issues like HIV or coloured politics: through all these Wilmot James's admiration for Mandela's values and fearlessness g ...
