INTO DARK WATER, a police memoir

194pp., colour illus., paperback, Cape Town, 2021

A memoir by Jeremy Vearey, written when he was Deputy Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape South African Police Service. He was an Umkhonto weSizwe cadre and bodyguard to Nelson Mandela, and is known for his work as head of the police anti-gang unit in the Western Cape

Vearey's autobiography, Jeremy Vannie Elsies, won the 2019 kykNET-Rapport Book Prize. In May 2021 Vearey, then Western Cape Head of Detectives, was dismissed for misconduct by National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole. Vearey claims the process to remove him was unprocedural and that he was targeted because of investigations he conducted. Vearey’s dismissal is the latest in a series of clashes between police officers and Sitole. Minister of Police Bheki Cele recently called for an inquiry into Sithole's fitness to hold office after a high court judgment that Sitole and two of his deputies breached their duties.

"A tour de force. This warts-and-all satirical look at the author's thirty-plus years as a police officer and top investigator is a riveting account of policing from one of our own sons. I loved it." Irvin Kinnes, criminologist

"Vividly portrays the parallel journeys of an individual, a country, and a police service - from freedom fighter to fatherhood, from apartheid to democracy, and from brotherhood to frequent backstabbing. Into Dark Water is a gripping account of navigating a world of turncoats, secrets and murder, while retaining a sharp sense of humour, and fighting to retain a sense of self" Caryn Dolley, journalist