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 context, Mangcu examines political transitions and the...
The first comprehensive biography of an exceptional and inspirational leader who changed South African history. As leading anti-apartheid activist and thinker, Biko created Black Consciousness, which has resonance to this day. His death by torture, at the hands of the police, robbed South Africa of one of its most gifted leaders. Biko's intellectual legacy cannot be overestimated.Then a journalist, Helen Zille, along with Donald Woods, close friend of Biko's, exposed the truth behind...
Steve Biko made a deep impression on youngsters in his hometown, Ginsberg. Among them was Xolela Mangcu, who here delves into Biko's own childhood: Steve as prankster at Forbes Grant school, and his lack of interest in politics – until, at St Francis College, his brother Khaya is arrested and Steve too is bundled into a police car. Mangcu looks at how Biko has affected the course of his own life – and at the legacy he left, giving us the courage and the language to claim our freedom.
