Two recently published books have exposed the covert corrupt networks that have blighted our country - both pre- and post-apartheid.

Jacques Pauw's exposè of the rapacious Comrade Cosa Nostra and his coterie of repugnant acolytes and puppet masters has resulted in a frenzy of sales of his book The President's Keepers.

Hennie van Vuuren's Apartheid Guns and Money - based on meticulous research - reveals the extent of the clandestine global and local structures including some white businesses that supported and defended apartheid.

Unsurprisingly, Van Vuuren's book is not a runaway success as it does not fit in with the view that corruption only emerged post-1994. This book serves as a discomfiting reminder to those beneficiaries of apartheid that they were willing participants in the subjugation of the masses.

Terrance Jeevanantham

Killarney