THE NUMBER

440pp., paperback, Johannesburg, (2004) 2019

An account of Jonny Steinberg's conversations with Magadien Wentzel, a long-time member of the 28s, South Africa's most notorious prison gang. They met in 2002, when Magadien Wentzel was in Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, and spent more than fifty hours discussing his life experiences and his desire to make something of his future. Jonny Steinberg also visited places and people from Wentzel's past. Magadien Wentzel was released in June 2003. This is also a history and analysis of the various South African gangs, the 25s, 26s, 27s and 28s.

Award-winning author Jonny Steinberg is also the author of "Midlands", "Three-Letter Plague, a young man's journey through a great epidemic" and "A Man of Good hope"