2019 MEDIA24 BOOKS LITERARY PRIZES │ MEDIA24 BOEKE LITERêRE PRYSE 2019
Recht Malan Prize for Nonfiction │ Recht Malan-prys vir Niefiksie
Judges │ Keurders: Max du Preez, Pauli van Wyk, Pierre de Vos
WINNER │ WENNER
Rob Rose: Steinheist: Markus Jooste, Steinhoff and SA’s biggest corporate fraud (Tafelberg)
The Steinhoff scandal was the biggest in corporate South Africa in many decades, but unlike the recent state capture scandals, it was very complex and technical and thus hard for the public to understand. In Steinheist, Rob Rose succeeded in demystifying and explaining the whole saga and added significant new insights.
The book was meticulously researched with dozens of interviews and as such enjoys high credibility. It was written in an engaging, journalistic style with a compelling narrative and insights into the personalities of key characters that makes it accessible to non-experts.
The description of the “cult” of Markus Jooste, Steinhoff’s former CEO, is especially illuminating. Rose explains the origins of the empire, started by Bruno Steinhoff doing business in the former Soviet Bloc and apartheid South Africa, and takes the reader to the behind the scenes drama of its final collapse.
The allegations of financial and accounting irregularities that wiped more than R200bn off the JSE and impoverished shareholders and pension funds are carefully examined. Tycoon Christo Wiese, who lost about R60bn, also comes alive in the book.
Rose succeeded in not only documenting an instance of spectacular corporate fraud with great clarity, but in telling the story almost like a crime novel. This excellent book will be used a research resource for years to come and will serve as a benchmark to other investigative journalists.
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SHORTLIST | KORTLYS
Simone Haysom: The Last Words of Rowan du Preez (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
Rowan du Preez was a young albino man, a petty criminal, who lived in Mfuleni on the Cape Flats on the margins of society. In 2012, he was kidnapped and necklaced, dying later in hospital. Police claimed his last words had implicated a local social justice activist, Angy Peter, her husband Isaac Mbadu, and two others in the attack on him, and they were eventually charged with his murder. Because Angy Peter was a fierce critic of the police, her prosecution looked suspicious. In The Last Words of Rowan du Preez, Simone Haysom retells this astonishing story with insight and sensitivity. Remaining respectful of the protagonists and the community, yet always prepared to ask the difficult questions, the author produced a book that reads like a suspenseful crime novel. Will the judge accept the argument from the defence that some of the evidence were fabricated? Did the police fabricate the story of Rowan du Preez’s death-bed accusation, or was Angy Peter really involved in the murder? The Last Words of Rowan du Preez sets out to answer these questions while also raising questions about the fairness of South Africa’s criminal justice system.
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Nathan Trantraal: Wit issie ’n colour nie (Kwela Boeke)
Om te dig is soos om naak te wees, het Nathan Trantraal se broer André hom geleer. Die les gaan so: Jy moenie dig as jy dit nie geniet om voor ’n lot mense naak te wees desondanks die feit dat jy klere dra nie. Dit is natuurlik ’n parafrasering, want Trantraal se styl is seldsaam. Beskrywend, kleurvol en welsprekend, is sy skryf-soos-jy-praat Kaapse Vlakte-Afrikaans. Die skryfstyl alleen maak Wit issie ’n colour nie ’n aanloklike werk.
Die samestelling van stories is rou, angswekkend eerlik en naak. Trantraal gebruik daaglikse gebeure in Bishop Lavis en die breë Kaapse Vlakte effektief om ’n komplekse sosiale en politieke diskoers uit te lok. Hy beskryf armoede, die uitbuiting van sy mense, sy mense se misbruik van dwelms, bendegeweld en moord vanuit die loopgraaf. Die lot van Suid-Afrikaanse bruin mense, steeds meestal geïgnoreer en misken, is hier die hooftema. Trantraal se stories skaaf en laat die leser dikwels ongemaklik, net om jou die volgende oomblik te laat skaterlag. Dit laat jou ook verstaan.
Wit issie ’n colour nie is beeldskoon. Dit is pynlik. Dis weersinwekkend. Dis ’n waardige finalis vir die Recht Malanprys.
Lees ook
Steinheist: Markus Jooste, Steinhoff and SA’s biggest corporate fraud by Rob Rose: book review