Event Date
01 March 2017
Venue
Love Books, Johannesburg
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Umuzi and Penguin Random House SA invite you to join us for the launch of Dancing the Death Drill by Fred Khumalo:
Fred will be in conversation with Karabo Kgoleng
Date: Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Time: 18:00 for 18:30
Venue: Love Books
Address: Bamboo Lifestyle Centre, 53 Rustenburg Road, Melville, Johannesburg
RSVP: Love Books on kate@lovebooks.co.za or 011 726 7408 by Monday, 27 February 2017
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
‘Be quiet and be calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do... Brothers, we are drilling the death drill .’ - Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyobha
Paris, 1958. A skirmish in a world-famous restaurant leaves two men dead and the restaurant staff baffled. Why did the head waiter, a man who’s been living in France for many years, lunge at his patrons with a knife?
As the man awaits trial, a journalist hounds his long-time friend, hoping to expose the true story behind this unprecedented act of violence.
Gradually, the extraordinary story of Pitso Motaung, a young South African who volunteered to serve with the Allies in the First World War, emerges. Through a tragic twist of fate, Pitso found himself on board the ss Mendi, a ship that sank off the Isle of Wight in February 1917. More than six hundred of his countrymen, mostly black soldiers, lost their lives in a catastrophe that official history largely forgot. One particularly cruel moment from that day will remain etched in Pitso’s mind, resurfacing decades later to devastating effect.
Dancing the Death Drill recounts the life of Pitso Motaung. It is a personal and political tale that spans continents and generations, moving from the battlefields of the Boer War to the front lines in France and beyond. With a captivating blend of pathos and humour, Fred Khumalo brings to life a historical event, honouring both those who perished in the disaster and those who survived.