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30 Years of Democracy in South Africa

About the Book Series

This curated collection reflects on the past 30 years of a democratic South Africa and assesses the future opportunities and challenges. The series brings together key titles from the pioneering black-owned publisher Skotaville and one of South Africa’s foremost university presses, UNISA Press, in collaboration with Routledge, Taylor & Francis.

In 2004, UNISA Press published 14 books in a series entitled “Imagined South Africa” to celebrate ten years of democracy. The series chronicled the multiple ways in which South Africans of all colours and ideological persuasions had responded, either critically or creatively, to the numerous contradictions in ten years of democracy.

In the same spirit, in 2024, we are co-publishing 30 titles with UNISA Press and Skotaville. As former directors of UNISA Press and specialists in African publishing, the series editors envision the book series as an intervention in debates around South Africa 30 years since the dawn of democracy. The titles in this series contemplate the complexity of issues now and in the coming years. The series relaunches original monographs and edited collections from a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. The titles cover domestic, regional and global dimensions, reflecting on South Africa’s place in political, economic and socio-cultural systems.

9 Series Titles


Touched by Biko

Touched by Biko

1st Edition

By Andile M-Afrika
February 19, 2025

In Touched by Biko, Andile M-Afrika writes about his memories of Ginsberg, the black township across the Buffalo River from central King William’s Town which was also home to Steve Bantu Biko. The book has been developed from his MA Creative Writing thesis, which he completed at Rhodes University ...

'To Serve and Protect': The Inkathagate Scandal As told to Laurence Piper by Brian Morrow

'To Serve and Protect': The Inkathagate Scandal: As told to Laurence Piper by Brian Morrow

1st Edition

By Laurence Piper
December 02, 2024

This book provides a detailed account of the history, consequences, and events leading up to the ‘Inkathagate Scandal’ which changed the course of South African history. It states that Inkathagate was the work of one man – Brian Morrow – who outraged by the racism, corruption and torture rife in ...

Imagining, Writing, (Re)Reading the Black Body

Imagining, Writing, (Re)Reading the Black Body

1st Edition

Edited By Sandra Jackson, Fassil Demissie, Michele Goodwin
December 02, 2024

This book is an outgrowth of an international conference – The Black Body: Imagining, Writing, and Re(Reading) – held at DePaul University, Chicago in 2004. The various contributing authors critically examine the changing discourses on the black body to address how it has been constituted as a site...

The ANC's Early Years Nation, Class and Place in South Africa before 1940

The ANC's Early Years: Nation, Class and Place in South Africa before 1940

1st Edition

By Peter Limb
December 02, 2024

The African National Congress (ANC) is the oldest and most durable of African nationalist movements, not only in South Africa but also across the continent. Since 1994, it has governed the country as leader of the Tripartite Alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and ...

The Making of an African Communist: Edwin Thabo Mofutsanyana And the Communist Party of South Africa 1927 to 1939

The Making of an African Communist: Edwin Thabo Mofutsanyana: And the Communist Party of South Africa 1927 to 1939

1st Edition

By Robert Edgar
December 02, 2024

This book is a short biography of the life of Edwin Thabo Mofutsanyana – the General Secretary of the Communist Party of South Africa. Set against the backdrop of political crisis in South Africa, the subject matter in this book discusses Mofutsanyana’s political endeavors and his service and ...

The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 3, International Solidarity, Part 1

The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 3, International Solidarity, Part 1

1st Edition

Edited By South African Democracy Education Trust
December 02, 2024

This book covers the contributions of various international organisations, governments and their peoples, and solidarity organisations to the liberation struggle in South Africa. With emphasis on international solidarity with the liberation struggle, the subject matter in this book examines and ...

The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 4, 1980–1990

The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 4, 1980–1990

1st Edition

Edited By South African Democracy Education Trust
December 02, 2024

In South Africa, the decade of 1980–1990 not only saw the mobilisation of the popular masses, but also the marked escalation of the armed struggle inside the country, initiated and waged by the African National Congress (ANC). The liberation movement, headed by the ANC-led Congress Alliance, took ...

The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 5: African Solidarity, Part 1

The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 5: African Solidarity, Part 1

1st Edition

Edited By South African Democracy Education Trust
December 02, 2024

This book examines the contributions made by the governments, organisations and African people ‘on the ground’ throughout the continent towards the realisation of the South African dream in 1994. The chapters provide detailed insight into the roots of the continent’s liberation from colonialism. ...

Writing Left The Radical Journalism of Ruth First

Writing Left: The Radical Journalism of Ruth First

1st Edition

By Donald Pinnock
December 02, 2024

This book presents a detailed study of the political journalism of Ruth First – an independent thinker and a headstrong journalist who stood her ground in a male-dominated liberation movement. A product of information gathering which began in South Africa in 1986 (at a time when discussing ...

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