COMRADE & COMMANDER, the life and times of Joe Modise

320pp., b/w & colour illus., maps, paperback, Johannesburg, 2024

Joe Modise (1929-2001), a Sophiatown bus driver turned freedom fighter, was one of the youngest of the 156 people charged with treason in the 1950s. One of the founders of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), he headed the organisation from 1965 to 1990. Nelson Mandela appointed him as democratic South Africa's first Minister of Defence from 1994 to 1999 and, together with Siphiwe Nyanda and Ronnie Kasrils, he led the formation of the new South African National Defence Force. He also founded the Umkhonto we Sizwe Veterans Association and was elected Life President.

Foreword by Thabo Mbeki. Includes contributions by Nelson Mandela, Essop Pahad, Ronnie Kasrils, Pallo Jordan, Jackie Sedibe, Vladimir Shubin, Alec Irwin, and many others.

"This is a masterpiece of oral history. It covers decades of South African struggle across multiple fronts from inside the apartheid state to the Soviet Union, via Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and numerous other African states before their independence. The interviews are a treasure trove of unique detail on the vast web of heroic, dangerous organisational work, both political and military, developed by the ANC and MK. Joe Modise - multilingual, working class, mixed race - emerges here as a visionary leader, in the words of those who shared with him the years of sacrifice." Victoria Brittain, former associate foreign editor of the Guardian and author of Hidden Lives, Hidden Deaths and Death of Dignity

"Told through the memories of those who knew and worked with him, this unique biography ... is not only a celebration of one of the key figures in the ANC's armed struggle and South Africa's democratic transformation, but also constitutes an exceptional history of MK and its vicissitudes over more than three decades, ending with the creation of a new South African National Defence Force." Arianna Lissoni, Wits History Workshop

Ronnie Kasrils was Chief of Military Intelligence for MK. From 1994 to 2008, he served as Deputy Minister of Defence, Minister of Water and Forestry and Minister of Intelligence Services.

Dr Fidelis Hove is an economist, development specialist and researcher Dr Fedelis Hove is an executive at a ldevelopment consulting firm. Previously. he was a senior civil servant in the South African government.