Authors Nick Dall of Tokai and Matthew Blackman of Tamboerskloof have written a book, Rogues’ Gallery, about some of the biggest skelms to grace our shores.
On Thursday May 20, they were in discussion at Exclusive Books in Cavendish Square with Tom Eaton, of Constantia, the author of Is it me or is it getting hot in here?.
Rogues’ Gallery tells of dodgy dealings throughout South African history.
The action starts with the machinations of three rotten colonial governors. Next up is Cecil John Rhodes poisoning the land with theft, fraud and war, and Oom Paul Kruger’s corrupt and compromised Volksraads. Readers are then treated to apartheid’s finest feats in corruption: from the Broederbond’s perfect ten in state capture to the Department of Information’s peddling of fake news. And then there’s the hotbed of corruption that was the “independent” homelands.
Add to this a few murders, plenty of nepotism, land deals, minerals, politics and a state president who started out as a Nazi spy, and the gallery of rogues is complete. A couple of the rogues are not local and some died during the writing of the book.
Rogues’ Gallery busts the myth that the Zuptas were the first to capture the South African state, showing that corruption has always been around – and that the tricks politicians play haven’t changed a jot.
