Book Reviews

Bonang Mohale is a highly respected South African businessman, who is known as much for his patriotism and his active role in seeking to advance his country’s interests as for the leading role he has played in companies like Otis Elevators, Shell South Africa and South African Airways, among others. Developed over 30 years of business experience, his insights have motivated change in organisations and individuals alike.

Drowning in the business deep? This book is the line you need, packaged in quick, bite-sized reference points. Did you know that over 80% of the world’s oceans have yet to be explored, mapped and observed? Scuba diving is a way to come closer to knowing a fraction more of the intricacies of the sea.

Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation is a first-hand account of the university protests that gripped South Africa between 2015 and 2017, widely better known as the #FeesMustFall.

So much has been written on xenophobia in South Africa, and yet so few have listened with care and precision to the voices of the ordinary people at the coalface. This book unsettles so many old assumptions, like who is host and who visitor, who belongs and what indeed it might mean to belong at all. It does this simply by creating a space in which people bare witness to their lives.

This is a book about the extraordinary economic, social, personal and emotional impact accountants across the world are having.

It is modern day South Africa. Fuel prices are shooting up. Mine workers’ deaths are increasing every day. Electricity is unaccounted for. Service delivery strikes are the prevailing state of affairs in every township. And the country has just been declared bankrupt. Most believe that it is mismanagement of state funds, but General Lucille Bester does not buy that.

Could you be the Branson of business, the Clarkson of cars or the Schwarzenegger of bodybuilding? Could you stand out as the great and lasting leader of your industry?

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) has launched Figure That!, a book about the story of the Chartered Accountancy profession in South Africa. The launch of Figure That! comes at a time when the profession is under severe scrutiny.

Creativity and imagination are key catalysts to unlocking potential in the 21st century. While those in business and civil society are generally aware of its challenges, few seem able to understand or apply the creativity necessary to meet them. Creativity Explained argues that the most direct route to imaginative insight lies in understanding how genuinely creative people develop their big ideas.

Strike action is an area of labour law where the stakes are high. The Labour Relations Amendment Bill, 2017 published on 17 November 2017, attributes a misalignment between the law on strikes and action taken by parties during industrial action, as the root cause for protracted and often violent industrial action.