Christi van der Westhuizen recently took part in the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) “Roundtable on Whiteness – Whites, Afrikaans, Afrikaners: Addressing Post-Apartheid Legacies, Privileges and Burdens” where thought leaders like former president Kgalema Motlanthe, Achille Mbembe, Mary Burton, Mathews Phosa, Ernst Roets and Nico Koopman disucssed topics like “Being White Today” and “The Place of Afrikaans”.

CapeTalk’s Aubrey Masango invited Van der Westhuizen, an associate professor at the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS & Gender at the University of Pretoria, on his Late Night Talk show to reflect on what was said during the event. Her topic on the day was “White Power Today”, following up on her 2010 book White Power: The Rise and Fall of the National Party.

“Apartheid has officially come to an end, but white power persists. Whiteness derives its power from operating invisibly. It is an unspoken regime of oppressive norms and so it is absolutely necessary to disturb whiteness by making it seen,” Van der Westhuizen wrote in an article for the Sunday Times after the discussion on whiteness, expanding on some of the things discussed at the event.

Read the article:

Whiteness is not skin pigmentation, but the meaning attached to pinkish, whiteish skin. People with such skin are seen as “naturally” belonging to the top, while darker-skinned people are racialised as black, to be placed as “naturally” at the bottom. This has a wide-ranging effect on the distribution of resources, resulting in white privilege and black deprivation.

Democracy has been good to white people in South Africa. The average annual income in white households was R125,495 in 1996 – in contrast to R29,827 for black households. White households’ average annual income rose to R530,880 in 2013, in contrast to R88,327 in black households. Out of 4.5million whites, only 35,000 live in poverty, according to StatsSA.

• Complete article: Sunday Times

Masango wanted to know more about Van der Westhuizen’s article and the MISTRA conversation in general. She opens the interview by explaining: “If there is anything like ‘an Afrikaner’ I regard them as part and parcel of the South African nation. Within the South African nation there is of course different ethnic groups and I regard them as one of them”.

Van der Westhuizen identifies three different groups of Afrikaners: Afrikaans African Nationalists, the Neo-Afrikaner Enclave, and Afrikaans South Africans. Listen to the podcasts to understand this differentiation and for Van der Westhuizen’s fascinating insight to Afrikaners and white power today:

Listen to part one of the interview:

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Listen to part two of the interview:

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For more about the MISTRA Roundtable on Whiteness, read here:

• Roundtable on whiteness – Whites, Afrikaans, Afrikaners: Addressing Post-Apartheid Legacies, Privileges and Burdens

• Roundtable on Whiteness, Afrikaans, Afrikaners: Address by Kgalema Motlanthe

Book details

• White Power: The Rise and Fall of the National Party by Christi van der Westhuizen
  EAN: 9781770073050
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Frik du Preez ken van stories vertel. Die oud-Springbok en skrywer van Boots en brannewyn: Snaakse stories uit die rugbywêreld het verlede jaar staaltjies met Bun Booyens gedeel oor hoe dit was om in die 1960′s rugby te speel.

Netwerk24 het die storie opgespoor, afgestof en weer gedeel, en hoe bly is rugbyaanhangers nie daaroor nie?

Du Preez het vertel hoe dit was om destyds vir die beroemde afrigter “Dok” Danie Craven te speel. Hy’t verder gesels oor 1965 wat ‘n besonderse moeilike jaar was vir die Springbokke, hul groot kragmetings teen Nieu-Seeland, Frankryk en Brittanje, die moeilikste speler wat hy ooit teëgekom het en die grootste oomblik in sy sportloopbaan.

Lees die artikel:

Wie was die moeilikste ou teen wie jy gespeel het?

Hulle was almal moeilik, maar [die All Black] Colin Meads en sy broer Stan. Hulle het mos saam gespeel, maar Stan het net daar in Nieu-Seeland gespeel, want iemand moes na die plaas kyk. Hy was baie beter as Colin in die lynstaan. Stan het vir my gas gegee.
Dan was daar Benoît Dauga. Daar in Frankryk het hy my geëet in die lynstane, maar gelukkig was daar nie televisie nie, so die mense kon nie sien hoe gee hy my pak nie.

As jy nou terugkyk, wat is die grootste oomblik?

Toe ek gekies is vir die Springboktoerspan sonder dat ek vir Noord-Transvaal gespeel het. Daardie Saterdagaand luister ek nie eens na die spanne nie, ek het nog ’n meisie drive-in toe gevat. Ek hoor toe die ouens langs my begin hande klap, maar ek is te skaam om te gaan vra. Toe ek by die huis kom, sê hulle vir my: “Jy is nou ’n Springbok.”

• Volledige artikel: Netwerk24

Boekbesonderhede

• Boots en brannewyn: Snaakse stories uit die rugbywêreld deur Frik du Preez en Chris Schoeman
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9781770221338
  Spoor hierdie boek met BOOK Finder op!

Jana van der Merwe recently spoke to Samm Marshall on Morning Live about her book, Grave Murder: The Story Behind the Brutal Welkom Killing.

“We never saw these two suspects coming,” Marshall says in his introduction about Chané van Heerden en Maartens van der Merwe. Van der Merwe agrees: “I think what blind-sided everybody is that the two suspects who were finally convicted of the murder just did not fit the profile at all.”

Grave Murder is the seasoned journalist’s account of the brutal murder of Michael van Eck that took place in April 2011, in the sleepy goldmining town of Welkom.

“Both of them are very well-mannered, educated youngsters that had their whole future before them. I just didn’t understand why somebody would do something like that,” Van der Merwe says. “I think I wrote the book for myself to understand their psyche.”

“I went into the SMSes between the two of them and you could see that they created their own little world, their own universe, where everything they did and talked about was normal.”

Watch the video:

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Also read:

• “Die skryf van die boek was by tye ’n baie traumatiese ervaring” – Jana van der Merwe oor Grave Murder

• “Dit is donker waar hulle is” – Jana van der Merwe gesels oor Grave Murder (Plus: Uittreksel)

Book details

• Grave Murder: The Story Behind the Brutal Welkom Killing by Jana van der Merwe
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770227767
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Jana van der Merwe, ‘n deurwinterde joernalis, het gedink sy het al alles gesien, tot die dag toe Welkom geruk is deur die grusame moord op Michael van Eck.

In ‘n onderhoud met Vista vertel Van der Merwe hoe sy daardie aand gevoel het toe sy die nuus ontvang het en die vreemde omstandighede waarin die storie gehul was.

Van der Merwe gesels oor die uitdagings wat met die skryf van Grave Murder: The Story Behind the Brutal Welkom Killing gepaard gegaan het, onder meer om die sielkundige motiewe te verstaan wat Chané van Heerden en Maartens van der Merwe daartoe gelei het om Michael so wreed te vermoor.

Lees die artikel:

Hoe het die boek jou, Jana die skrywer, geraak?

Die skryf van die boek was by tye ’n baie traumatiese ervaring. Ek was baie geskok deur die foto’s wat ek gesien het, ook die oorspronklike foto’s wat Chané en Maartens baie liggeraak van die skending geneem het om hul dade te dokumenteer. Weereens ’n bewys dat hulle reeksmoordenaars in wording was – die hou van trofees en die dokumentasie het vir die kenners getoon dat veral Chané weer en weer genot uit haar dade wou put of dit herleef. Sy is ’n skrikwekkende karakter. Die skryfproses was soms – veral aan die begin – baie frustrerend, maar die uitwerking ook baie swaar op my gestel. Ek was by tye baie depressief, ek het gesukkel om te slaap – deels ook omdat ek seker so obsessief was om te bly krap en te verstaan.

• Volledige artikel: Vista

 
Lees ook:

• “Dit is donker waar hulle is” – Jana van der Merwe gesels oor Grave Murder (Plus: Uittreksel)

Boekbesonderhede

• Grave Murder: The Story Behind the Brutal Welkom Killing deur Jana van der Merwe
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9781770227767
  Spoor hierdie boek met BOOK Finder op!

Big wave champion Chris Bertish, whose autobiography Stoked! was published by Zebra Press earlier this year, has been travelling all over to promote his book and documentary film Ocean Driven.

During an interview with Bonang Matheba from the Afternoon Express, Bertish chatted about Stoked! and told the story of how his ocean adventures began, saying he was exposed to the open waters from the youngest possible age. Since then, “the ocean has become my church, my temple and my sanctuary,” he says.

The accomplished waterman says he never planned on writing a book, but found he had so much more to say after his documentary was cut that he simply had to put pen to paper.

Bertish is a world-champion big-wave surfer and winner of the 2010 Mavericks Big Wave Invitational. “There is no such thing as failure, only failure to try,” Bertish tells Matheba, sharing more about his latest endeavour, which will see him stand-up-paddling across the Atlantic ocean.

The inspirational interview starts at 12:18:

• Not loading? Watch on YouTube

 
Related links:

• Jacket Notes: Chris Bertish Discusses His Book Stoked!

• Watch the Trailer for Ocean Driven, the Story of Chris Bertish Winning the Mavericks Invitational

• Chris Bertish: Everything I do is About Being Part of the Ocean and Fighting for My Dreams (TEDxSeaPoint)

Book details

• Stoked! by Chris Bertish
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770227644
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Chris Schoeman recently spoke to Mail & Guardian books editor Darryl Accone about his biography of Cornelis van Gogh, The Unknown Van Gogh.

“A very rewarding part of this exercise was walking in the footsteps of this family in the lovely province of Brabant and reading their letters,” Schoeman says about the research he did to construct an accurate account of Cor van Gogh’s life.

Schoeman talks about the process of writing this book, the origin of the idea to find The Unknown Van Gogh, writers he admires (John Kannemeyer for one) and the purpose of non-fiction.

Read the article:

What was the originating idea for the book?

Five years ago, when working on Brothers in Arms, a book on the Hollander volunteers in the Anglo-Boer War, I came across the name of Cornelis van Gogh, who had sided with the Boers. I was inspired by the fact that little was known about him and that no biography of him has ever been written. The fact that he spent the last 10 years of his life in the Transvaal was, of course, significant from a South African perspective.

Were the years you spent in journalism significant?

In the sense that it gives an edge to look into preconceived perceptions regarding Cor van Gogh and then through one’s own research to discover what was myth and what was fact.

• Complete article: Mail & Guardian

Also read:

• Read an Excerpt from The Unknown Van Gogh by Chris Schoeman

• Van Gogh’s Brother Worked Near Germiston – Excerpt from The Unknown Van Gogh by Chris Schoeman

Book details

• The Unknown Van Gogh by Chris Schoeman
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770227910
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• Die onbekende Van Gogh by Chris Schoeman
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770227941
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

“It changed my life in huge ways.”

These are the words of former Springbok rugby player Mark Andrews in an interview with Stephen Grootes on what it meant to win the Rugby World Cup in 1995.

Grootes asks: “The World Cup that you won, the 1995 World Cup, it was for South Africa about a lot more than just rugby. Do you think that that’s maybe made it harder for people playing for the Boks now, that there’s pressure on them that isn’t on other rugby players simply because of that particular history?”

Andrews replies: “You know what, I think probably 10 years ago that would’ve been true. The guys who are playing in the World Cup now, some of them were probably one or two years old in ’95, so it’s what they hear their parents talk about but it isn’t so real to them.”

For an insightful history of past Springbok players, have a look at South Africa’s Rugby Legends: The Amateur Years by Chris Schoeman.

Listen to the podcast:

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Book details

• South Africa’s Rugby Legends: The Amateur Years by Chris Schoeman
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770227880
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Kabous Meiring het onlangs vir Dennis Cruywagen genooi om op Prontuit te gesels oor sy rubriek vir Netwerk24 oor die huidige taaldebat aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch.

In die artikel skryf die Brothers in War and Peace-outeur dat dit tyd is dat “bruin mense hul stem dik maak vir Afrikaans op Stellenbosch”.

Cruywagen vertel meer die geskiedenis van Afrikaans en die “geskiedkundige deurbrake” wat gemaak is in Genadendal, en verduidelik waarom Afrikaans nie uitsluitlik aan die onderdrukker behoort nie.

Lees die artikel:

’n Begrip van die geskiedenis van Afrikaans gee ook ’n begrip vir die bydrae van die eerste nasies. Hul nasate het rede om te vrees vir die toekoms van tersiêre opvoeding vir hul kinders. Weens die vrees vir viktimisasie en dat hulle as rassiste uitgekryt sal word, is min van hulle bereid om uit te praat oor hul reg tot onderrig in hul moedertaal.

Maar dit is nie nou die tyd om stil te bly nie, dis ’n tyd om die stem dik te maak. Luister het klippe in die bos gegooi, maar dit wys net ’n deel van die groter prentjie.

Dit sê niks oor die regering se segregasie van die swart gemeenskap in Afrikane en nie-Afrikane nie. Dit sê niks oor die toekoms van bruin mense wat hul onderrig wil voortsit in Afrikaans nie.

Hoeveel langer gaan hierdie onteiening voortduur?

• Volledige artikel: Netwerk24

In die video-onderhoud, wat uit twee dele bestaan, gesels Cruywagen oor sy kinderdae tydens apartheid en die dag toe sy gesin die Distrik Ses-uitsettingsbrief ontvang het (wat terloops ook dieselfde dag was toe hy besef het sy pa is ongeletterd).

Cruywagen vertel hoe die trek na Heideveld sy familie se lewe onherroeplik verander het en besin oor Meiring se vraag of hy kwaad is oor hierdie tydstip in sy lewe.

Kyk na die eerste deel van die onderhoud:

• Laai dit nie? Kyk op YouTube

 
In die tweede insetsel verduidelik Cruywagen waarom Afrikaans nie die taal van die onderdrukker is nie.

“Ek dink dis ‘n goeie ervaring vir enigeen om Stellenbosch toe te gaan,” sê hy. “Transformasie beteken nie jy dwing jou wil op ander mense af nie. Transformasie beteken ook jy bring jou deel in, en so verander die plek.”

Cruywagen vertel dat die eerste Afrikaanse koerant, Die Bode, in 1859 in Genadendal, sy ma se tuisdorp, uitgekom het. “As jy nie intiem vertroud is met die geskiedenis van daardie lieflike plek nie, dan weet jy dit nie.”

“Deel van transformasie is ook om die volle geskiedenis van Afrikaans te openbaar en te sê weet jy wat, die eerste vryheidsvegters in hierdie land het Afrikaans gepraat,” sê hy. “Transformasie beteken noodwendig in my boek dat die ouens wat sê Afrikaans is die taal van die onderdrukker, moet die geskiedenis van Afrikaans gaan leer.”

Kyk na die tweede deel van die onderhoud:

• Laai dit nie? Kyk op YouTube

Boekbesonderhede

• Brothers in War and Peace deur Dennis Cruywagen
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9781770226005
  Spoor hierdie boek met BOOK Finder op!

Jana van der Merwe het onlangs met Vicus Bürger gesels oor haar boek, Grave Murder: The Story Behind the Brutal Welkom Killing, wat pas by Zebra Press verskyn het.

Grave Murder vertel die verhaal van die grusame moord op Michael van Eck wat in April 2011 in Welkom plaasgevind het.

Van der Merwe gesels oor die skryfproses en vertel dat die skrikwekkende feite haar soms aan depressie laat ly het. Sy sê die boek gaan grootliks oor die moordenaars, Chané van Heerden en Maartens van der Merwe, en hul motiewe: “Dit is donker waar hulle is. Dit is nie ’n plek waar ’n mens te lank wil wees nie.”

“Die slagoffer kon enigiemand gewees het. Die manier waarop Michael se familie van hom beroof is, is bitter erg. Hy was die middelpunt van hul bestaan.”

Lees die artikel en ‘n vertaalde uittreksel uit Grave Murder:

Chané het doodluiters die deur van die kleiner vrieskasgedeelte aan die bokant van die yskas oopgemaak … Nel en Steyn het toegekyk terwyl Chané versigtig haar hande indruk en ’n afgeplatte plastiekkruidenierssak – wat tussen ’n klein pakkie bevrore ertjies en ’n pak suikermielies ingedruk was – van die onderste rak uithaal.

Met groot sorg het sy die plastieksak op die kombuistoonbank gesit en die inhoud daarvan verwyder wat soos ’n plat pizzabasis gelyk het.

Nel het nie eens gegril toe sy kyk wat dit is nie – ’n makabere masker van Michael van Eck se gesig.

• Volledige artikel: Netwerk24

Nie almal het die boek met ope arms ontvang nie. Netwerk24 het berig oor Michael van Eck se ma se reaksie op Grave Murder:

Die ma glo nog vas daar was ook ander mense by haar seun se moord betrokke.

Henriëtte is baie kwaad oor die boek en meen dit doen afbreuk aan haar seun se nagedagtenis.

“Ek het haar (Jana) mooi gevra om dit nie te skryf nie … Hoe teer ’n mens op ander mense se smart?”

• Volledige artikel: Netwerk24

Boekbesonderhede

• Grave Murder: The Story Behind the Brutal Welkom Killing deur Jana van der Merwe
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9781770227767
  Spoor hierdie boek met BOOK Finder op!

Warren Ingram, executive director at Galileo Capital and author of Become Your Own Financial Advisor: The Real Secrets to Becoming Financially Independent, was recently interviewed by Hanna Barry for Moneyweb.

In the interview, Ingram shares his wisdom about drafting a financial plan and how it helps in tough times and also gives advice for young people who are just starting out. His top three tips are: build an emergency fund, stay out of debt and build up your retirement fund.

Listen the podcast:

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

• Not playing? Listen on Moneyweb

Read the transcription:

HANNA BARRY: Good to have you with us here this evening. To get us going, Warren, tell us what is a financial plan, and what does not count as a financial plan?

WARREN INGRAM: Well, to be a financial plan it should be quite a simple document. You can probably put it onto one page. Basically it’s your road map. What you would do is you would set an end goal, for example saying I’d like to be able to stop having to work for a living by the time I’m, let’s say, 60, and at that time, if we are talking about today’s money, I’d want to live on – whatever it is – R30 000 a month. In order to do that I would need, let’s pick a number, R8m of investments and that’s what I’d like to end up with.
So if you know your goal, you would work backwards from your goal to where you are today to say I probably need to save, whatever it is, R5 000 a month and it will probably mostly need to be insured because I’ve got a long time until I’m 60, and I should cut down on debt. If you’ve got children, how are you going to save for your kid’s education? Naturally I don’t think too much of cars, etc.
It’s really just a roadmap and, like any effective map, it helps you make decisions when you do come to difficult times. So when a life event happens to you, you inherit money, you lose your job or get married or something like that, at least you’ve got a plan as to where you’d like to go and then you can make more sensible decisions.
But if you’ve got no plan, it’s a bit like driving from Joburg to Cape Town and if you have no road map and no idea how to get there, you might end up in Namibia.

• Complete interview: Moneyweb

Book details

• Become Your Own Financial Advisor: The Real Secrets to Becoming Financially Independent by Warren Ingram
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770226180
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!