Where can one buy a copy of the book?
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Luzuko Buku Sent: 09 June 2010 09:34 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Review of In a Different Time, The Story of the Delmas Four Till death row us apart! By Luzuko Buku I am yet to read a book about conviction and loyalty to the struggle against apartheid oppression so powerful and moving such as In a Different Time (2008) by Peter Harris. This book is a clear and perfect recollection of the history of the liberation struggle in South Africa, viewed through the lens of a young anti-apartheid lawyer. It is about a six men highly trained and experienced assassination unit of Umkonto Wesizwe (MK), the armed wing of the then banned African National Congress(ANC). This unit entered South African in the mid 1980s and managed to pull many missions for about two years, before it was arrested. This was one of the few missions which reported directly to Chris Hani, Chief of Staff of MK. One of these men commits suicide very early, another one is arrested, then brutally tortured to death and blown into pieces whilst the remaining four are captured by the apartheid police and then face a trial that leads to them being on Death Row. This book is written by Peter Harris, a well known human rights lawyer, who also represented these soldiers when they were caught by the apartheid police. . Facing Death Row is comrade Jabu Masina, Ting Ting Masango, Neo Potsane and Joseph Makhura. The author takes you through the story of sacrifice, loyalty and dedication to the struggle by outlining the manner in which the cadres responded to their trial in an apartheid court. The book is indeed a very good read, exciting, fascinating and educating at the same time. Your mood changes as you turn the 320 pages, leaving you with a shock of your life in the last page, but you only need to read the whole book to get this shock. The author made me, as a young South African, picture myself in the dying days of the apartheid era. No wonder it won the Jenny & Co Best Non-fiction Book of the Year 2008 and the Jenny & Co Best Book of the Year 2008. In representing these soldiers Peter Harris goes in and out of Lusaka, trying to consult with the ANC leadership, especially Chris Hani. After meeting with Hani for the first time, he writes: "I have often wondered to what extent a person's status, in terms of power or wealth, influences our perception of them. If we stripped away the trappings and met them afresh, would we regard them as we had when we knew their status? While we are all susceptible to the influence of high office, it is always sickening to watch normally rational people become sycophants before powerful politicians or the very rich. This degrades both parties. With Hani, I realize that the power comes from the man and not the office." Luzuko Buku is SASCO Western Regional Chairperson( EC) -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . NB: This email and its contents are subject to our email legal notice which can be viewed at: http://www.treasury.gov.za/Email_Disclaimer.pdf -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
