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There's a fair array of South African non-fiction coming out, some of which may be useful in the run-up to the general election, some simply filling out the category of current affairs at which local publishers have become so adept.
Jonathan Ancer's Bullsh!t: 50 Fibs That Made South Africa (Jonathan Ball) takes the kind of approach to South African history that Jonathan Blackman and Nick Dall found fruitful in Spoilt Ballots. The book is described as an "outrageous miscellany of serious and light-hearted lies, myths, untruths, fibs and fabrications that tells the tall tale of South Africa". It covers a wide range of such stories, from those of the "good old days" to South Africa's 1994 election and the weird tale of the decuplets. The humorous style makes this delightful reading, even if some of the content is enough to enrage one. Bullsh!t was News24's book of the Month in April, and you can read an excerpt here. Listen to Ancer talking to Rebecca Davis, who did the audiobook of Bullsh!t, here.
How to Fix (Unf*ck) a Country: Six Things to Reboot South Africa by Roy Havemann (Jonathan Ball) would fit the pre-election brief, except it tells us nothing about how to get the government to listen to the good ideas presented here or, alternatively, how to get the government out of power. The confused title perhaps betrays a tonal uncertainty, but Havemann argues that to fix South Africa, we need to focus on the six basic Es: Eskom, education, environment, exports, equality and ethics. These aren't new ideas or policies; they just aren't being "actioned" or not very well. Read an excerpt from How to Fix (Unf*ck) a Country here.
