Böcker utgivna av Jonathan Ball Publishers SA

Just like in the squatter camp in Atteridgeville, there was no electricity in our new home. But here it was very different: it was safe. Only years later I figured out why the crime rate was so low in our village: there was nothing to steal.Born in Chains is a fist-hand account of living in abject poverty in South Africa. Clinton Chauke was born in 1994 into a Vatsonga household and has faced all the challenges of growing up at the edges of society: first in rural Limpopo, then in a village bordering the Kruger National Park, and finally in a squatter camp near Pretoria.Navigating a world of racism and tribalism and confronting urban life as a country 'bumpkin', the author depicts the lifelines and pitfalls of a young life: going to school, coming to terms with tradition, religion and politics, becoming a man and - ultimately - finding his identity as a young black person in South Africa.Uncompromising, honest and witty, Chauke's memoir is a story of hope and perseverance and of succeeding against all the odds.

I love her with all my childish heart even though I am still small enough to fear her. Sometimes I also hate her. She says she loves me because I'm her daughter but she doesn't like me. I think I would prefer it to be the other way around but I can't decide which is better. From her very beginning, when Suzan is adopted in the late 1960s, she is set on a collision course with her adoptive mother and with polite Pietermaritzburg society. Suzan grabs her childhood life with unrestrained zeal - an exuberance that is barely tolerated by her mother, and which spirals into rebellion, landing her in a place of safety at the age of thirteen. As a ward of the state, Suzan fights to survive in an underworld of drugs and prostitution. She tells her story with a sometimes tender, often angry, frequently funny eye in this engrossing tale of a singular childhood.

The ANC received a bloody nose in the 2016 local elections, when it lost three major metros to the opposition. Will the fractured ruling party be able to reunite under Cyril Ramaphosa and gain a majority at the polls in 2019? Or could the DA and EFF overcome their vast ideological divide to oust the ANC?The South African political landscape has changed dramatically since Jacob Zuma stepped down as president. Veteran political journalist Jan-Jan Joubert looks at all the possible scenarios, taking us behind the scenes into a world of political horse trading to analyse the options available to all the parties in the run-up to the next election. Will the oldest liberation movement in Africa have to form a coalition to stay in power? And what is the likelihood of the ANC's turning to the EFF to bolster its support?One thing is certain: deals will be done. By examining the results of the local elections, Joubert argues that the 2019 national elections may well be the first in 25 years in which no party wins an outright majority.In exclusive interviews, political leaders also share their views on the major issues dividing - or perhaps uniting - South Africa today, and point the way to a new political future.

As the Queen walked over to the lounge in her beautiful, wide-brimmed hat, I realised I'd just been speaking to the Queen of England. She was sweet and caring, with a warm family feel about her - obviously very well spoken, yet I'd felt like I was speaking to my gran. How does all that power and influence fit into one lovely, caring lady, I wondered.Brett Ladds' cooking has made Quincy Jones sing, his kindness has charmed the likes of Tony Blair and King Mswati III, and his humanity has won over hard-bitten bodyguards.For many years he also served Nelson Mandela many cups of rooibos tea and made him his favourite meals. As executive chef of the South African government and manager of the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria from 1994 to 1999, Ladds was responsible for serving both Mandela and his successor, Thabo Mbeki.His stories about meeting kings and queens, presidents, musicians, supermodels and even the Pope are laced with his trademark self-deprecating humour. Ladds' disarming honesty is as funny as it is touching.The Madiba Appreciation Club offers a heart-warming insider's view on what it takes to look after a head of state and tells of a young man's coming of age at a turning point in our history.

Early on in his life, Siya discovered that rugby could be his route to a better life. He worked hard and earned a scholarship to Grey High School in PE, one of the best rugby school in the country. But leaving the people he knew and loved, and thriving in a whole new world, was a struggle for young Siya. His talent and personality have taken him all the way to the top of South Africa's beloved sport, and given him a way to look to the future and make peace with the past.¿Siya Kolisi is part of the series, Road to Glory, which covers some of South Africa's sporting legends as they set out on their journeys to becoming national and international stars.

'AB hopped over the boundary rope and onto the field, grinning at the sight and sound of a packed Wanderers Stadium. He swung his bat from side to side and listened to the crowd roaring his name.'With two much older brothers, AB learned early how to play hard and never give up. In this inspiring and entertaining story we watch one of South Africa's favourite sporting stars rise to fame as he progresses through school and university, playing against the best. The story takes the reader close to the action and the ups and downs in AB's life.AB de Villiers is part of the series, Road to Glory, which covers some of South Africa's sporting legends as they set out on their journeys to becoming national and international stars.

When Neil Reynolds was first asked to work as a private military contractor in Iraq, he didn't even know where it was on the map. But the Border War veteran and former SANDF officer would quickly learn the ins and outs of working and surviving in that war-torn country. It was 2003 and the US-led coalition that had toppled Saddam Hussein was confronted with a savage insurgency.His candid, unvarnished account tells of the numerous challenges faced by private military contractors in Iraq: from avoiding ambushes on the highways in and around Baghdad to buying guns on the black market and dodging bullets on several hair-raising protection missions. He describes how his team's low-profile approach allowed them to blend in with the local population and mostly kept them and their clients safe.Reynolds also tells the tragic story of four South African colleagues who were kidnapped and killed outside Baghdad in 2006.

Dad thinks lots of things are right-wing. He even thinks He-Man is right-wing. I ask Dad who we are and he says left-wing. Left is opposite to right. If right is bad, then we're the opposite of that, which means we're good. It's post-independence Zimbabwe and an atmosphere of nostalgia hangs over much of Harare's remaining white community. Hayden Eastwood grows up in a family that sets itself apart, distinguishing themselves from Rhodie-Rhodies through their politics: left is good; right is bad. Within the family's free and easy approach to life, Hayden and his younger brother, Dan, make a pact to never grow up, to play hide and seek and build forts forever, and to never, ever be interested in girls. But as Hayden and Dan develop as teenagers, and the chemicals of adolescence begin to stir, their childhood pact starts to unravel. And with the arrival of Sarah in their lives, the two brothers find themselves embroiled in an unspoken love triangle. While Sarah and Hayden spend increasing amounts of time together, Dan is left alone to deal with feelings of rejection and the burden of hidden passion, and the demise of a youthful promise brings with it a wave of destruction. Laced with humour, anger and sadness, Like Sodium in Water is an account of a family in crisis and an exploration of how we only abandon the lies we tell ourselves when we have no other option.

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 

Predictability isn’t a word you will find in any Bushveld dictionary, and the life of wildlife guardian Mario Cesare has been anything but. After years as warden of Olifants River Game Reserve, his feet are firmly planted in this magnificent slice of Big Five country to the west of the Kruger Park, where he has experienced a rich life packed full of incidents far from routine.In Heart of a Game Ranger, Cesare recounts some of these hair-raising, heart-breaking and heart-warming moments: a buffalo calf reunited with its pining mother, injured lions given second chances and rhinos lost, one by one, to poaching.Nestled among these tales, Cesare pays homage to the brave, dedicated and curious personalities engaged in a deadly combat on the most majestic of battlefields. Yet, while rhino poaching is by far the reserve’s biggest problem, Cesare reveals how the daily struggles of a game ranger are so much broader – and the rewards, when they come, immense.Heart of a Game Ranger is a story of extremes, one of fierce loyalty and devastating betrayal where spectacular days that end in exhausted satisfaction and achievement are balanced by those that leave behind only despair and frustration.Seen through his eyes and spoken from the heart, Cesare tells a deeply personal story – not only of a life lived wild, but of the joy of Africa’s incredible natural world. 

Part memoir, part ethnography, Under Nelson Mandela Boulevardis journalist Sean Hunter Christie’s account of time spent amongst the Tanzanian stowaways who live rough under the Nelson Mandela Boulevard flyover, at the foot of Cape Town. After a year living in South Africa’s most unequal city, the young Zimbabwean is introduced to serial stowaway Adam Bashili, through the photographer David Southwood. This encounter changes everything. Adam introduces Christie to the extraordinary world of the “beachboys”, a multi-port, fourth generation sub-culture of young men from the slums of Dar es Salaam, who came to South Africa with the aim of stowing away on ships bound for other continents. Under Nelson Mandela Boulevard presents Cape Town as it has not yet been seen: as a series of desperate social margents and cloying controls, but also of unbelievable and somehow hopeful beliefs and survival strategies. Leading the author on an unprecedented tour of Dar es Salaam’s underworld, followed by a madcap heroin run down Africa’s east coast, Adam leads him to a trail-head of his own: a way beyond his largely perceived oppressions.

Crime statistics do not belong to the government, academics, specialists, or the press. They are ours: we experience and report crimes and have a right to access and understand their official record. It should not take any particular expertise to get a grasp on what we should make of the figures and graphs that the South African Police Service produces every year.Yet crime, its measurement and control, are as much political matters as they are technocratic. While there is much that remains open to interpretation and discussion, there are some things that we should all be able to agree on, based on a sober reading of the evidence. As crime is a serious issue in South Africa, knowing what the official sources say is critical for productive debates on what we can do to make our country safer.A Citizen’s Guide to Crime Trends in South Africa provides a basis on which to understand the statistics in a manner that is accessible to the general public. Each chapter challenges a set of oft-repeated assumptions about how bad crime is, where it occurs, and who its victims are. It also demonstrates how and why crime statistics need to be matched with other forms of research, including criminal justice data, in order to produce a fuller account of what we are faced with.

''What do you mean?'' Megs gasped. ''It''s impossible.'' ''Well ... I got the test results back and he''s not the father. But it''s more complicated than that ...'' He was holding a sheet of paper in his hand, but seemed unable to articulate what was on it. Megs reached out for it: ''Let me read it then.'' ''And that''s how I found out. Boom! It was like I had been stabbed ... I collapsed on the floor at the back of the shop. It was as if I had passed out from shock. Then I cried. I cried for the child I had and the child I didn''t have. I knew without a shadow of a doubt my life had changed forever.'' In 1990 two South African mothers were faced with an impossible choice, one that no mother should ever have to make. Should they surrender the child they had lovingly raised in order to get back the baby they had given birth to? Megs Clinton-Parker and Sandy Dawkins chose nurture over nature, simply unable to give up their two-year-old sons who were switched at birth at an East Rand Hospital. Instead they decided to try to make their strange relationship work, although they lived in different cities, 500 km apart. And they decided to sue the South African state, whose negligence had altered the fates of two families forever.Robin Dawkins and Gavin Clinton-Parker grew up living each other''s lives, brothers-but-not-brothers, acutely aware that their mothers'' hearts were torn. Unable to escape the consequences of the swap, Robin decided at the age of 15 that it was time to claim what was rightfully his, adding a further twist to this bitter saga. Theirs is a story of how to live with the unliveable, and how some decisions can never be unmade.

In thirty-two entertaining chapters, humorist and master storyteller Henry D. Spalding introduces us to a wide range of colorful characters from the Jewish past and present. Hundreds of witty stories are retold here with care and verve. Every old and tasteful joke is included in one form or another, with punch lines returning to the reader from jolly memory. So, sit back, read, and enjoy! Available on Demand and also in Kindle, Nook, and other popular eBook formats.I

"There are only two great certainties in a game ranger''s career. The first is that you will never be well off. The second - and best by far - is that you will do things that most other people only get to dream about. This is a collection of stories about the life of a bushveld conservationist as it is lived at ground level by that elite band of men and women who guard the Kruger National Park - at the cost of much sweat and, not infrequently, quite a bit of blood. Bruce Bryden''s tales of 30 years in the service of our most famous park make a gripping and entertaining read, abounding with encounters with elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino, whether darting for research, managing culling operations by helicopter or stalking on foot. In the best tradition of bushveld stories, there is a great deal of shooting, and a fair amount of running away; there are meetings with extraordinary characters among the rangers; memorable gatherings; hilarious mishaps and narrow escapes; and throughout, a great love and respect for both the wilderness and the creatures that inhabit it."

In The Cowboy Capitalist, Charles van Onselen challenges a historiography of over 120 years, locating the raid in American rather than British history and forcing us to rethink the histories of at least three nations. Through a close look at the little-remembered figure of John Hays Hammond, a confidant of both Rhodes and Jameson, he discovers the American Old West on the South African Highveld. This radical reinterpretation challenges the commonly held belief that the Jameson Raid was quintessentially British and, in doing so, drives splinters into our understanding of events as far forward as South Africa's critical 1948 general election, with which the foundations of Grand Apartheid were laid.