Comrade and Commander

This is the first book about a significant South African figure, Joe Modise, who worked in the shadows for much of his life. His journey took him from an impoverished childhood to being chief of a guerrilla army and then Minister of Defence in a liberated country. Kasrils and Hove tell the story of Modise, the gifted revolutionary and military man. They correct mischievous misinformation from his detractors. Modise, a bus driver from Sophiatown in the volatile 1950s, was a young firebrand and brilliant organiser – frequently by Mandela, Sisulu and Oliver Tambo’s side. He was among the youngest accused in the 1956–61 Treason Trial. He was a founding member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, having pressed for the turn to armed confrontation since there was no possibility for non-violent change. After Mandela and Sisulu’s imprisonment, he became MK’s commander. He served until 1994 as one of the longest-serving guerrilla leaders in history. He was appointed Minister of Defence after the ANC’s electoral victory in 1994. He presided over the modernisation of the new military, the SANDF, successfully seeing to the effective integration of former adversaries, its transformation and the contentious replacement of obsolete weapons systems, sometimes known as the ‘Arms Deal’. To have kept an irregular armed force in exile intact, with operations that grew from sabotage and armed propaganda to approaching People’s War and mass insurrection in the latter stages, required impressive leadership qualities and firm discipline. To this day, there are those fiercely loyal to him and his detractors. This book celebrates his life, achievements and legacy, and answers his critics through fifty voices who knew him at different periods, including tender views of a close-knit family. It makes for absorbing reading in a fluid and readable style. It is firmly lodged within the context of those turbulent and dangerous times.

Ronnie Kasrils was born in Johannesburg in 1938. After matriculating from KES, he worked as a scriptwriter for a film company before joining Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) at its inception. In 1963, he left South Africa in exile and worked for the ANC, the SACP and the MK until his return to the country in 1990. Kasrils served on the highest bodies of all three organisations and was Chief of Military Intelligence for MK. From 1994 to 2008, he served under the democratic government in the portfolios of Deputy Minister of Defence, Minister of Water & Forestry and Minister of Intelligence Services. Fidelis Hove is an economist and researcher based in Johannesburg. He is a principal at Genesis’ Human Development practice, leading their work on social protection and advancing research, policy and programme implementation across Africa. He focuses on social impact funding, unemployment, social security, poverty, and inequality. Before joining Genesis, Fidelis worked as a senior technical advisor at the Jobs Fund, a consultant for Oxford Policy Management, a lecturer at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and a researcher at the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) and Centre for Social Sciences Research (CSSR).

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