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In a Different Time: The inside story of the Delmas four
This book tells the story of four young South Africans who embark on a mission that will ultimately take them to Death Row. They are a highly trained and experienced assassination squad reporting directly to Chris Hani.The narrative details their infiltration into the country, their operations, arrest and subsequent trial. These men are the foot soldiers who sacrificed everything. As their trial unfolds with their attorney fighting to save them from the gallows, so too does the story of their own lives and the choices they make. The story is set in a South Africa gripped by unrest and political tension, when the ANC was in exile and repression at its height.It tells of the extraordinary lengths people go to in order to fight for what they believe, and the acts people will commit to preserve the status quo. The characters are linked by bizarre coincidence and tragedy in a true account narrated by their attorney.Woven through the narrative is the construction of a bomb and its journey towards its target, and the circumstances which enable that meeting.
312 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 2008
9 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
Peter Harris
4 books10 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Peter Harris practiced law in South Africa for 15 years before being seconded to the National Peace Accord in the early 1990s. He headed the Monitoring Directorate of the Independent Electoral Commission for the 1994 election and is currently Executive Chairman of the Resolve Group Management Consultancy, which he co-founded.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Peter Harris practiced law in South Africa for 15 years before being seconded to the National Peace Accord in the early 1990s. He headed the Monitoring Directorate of the Independent Electoral Commission for the 1994 election and is currently Executive Chairman of the Resolve Group Management Consultancy, which he co-founded.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 3, 2022
In 2002 my wife and I visited South Africa for about three weeks. We rented a car and drove a long trek through the country beginning at a game reserve near Botswana, continuing to the Durban coast, and driving the coastline to Cape Town. We were not sure what we would find when we arrived, but on departure we were captivated by a beautiful country filled with people who welcomed our visit and made us feel at home. This visit instilled a desire in me to understand how this country survived the perfect conditions for all out civil war and its associated carnage.
In a Different Time presents a depiction South Africa in a low-level and violent armed conflict between the security factions of the minority government and well organized branches of the African National Congress. During the final years leading up to the transition of power, both sides of the conflict carried out heinous acts that are fully detailed within this book. But rather than just providing an accounting of these acts, Peter Harris makes certain that people that performed these acts are known to the reader as fellow members of humanity.
It is this humanistic side of In a Different Time that captivates. It offers an environment where actions are neither absolutely right nor wrong and the reader is left alone by Harris to make his or her own judgments. He simply tells the story of his experiences without condemnation or praise and tells his story well.
In a Different Time presents a depiction South Africa in a low-level and violent armed conflict between the security factions of the minority government and well organized branches of the African National Congress. During the final years leading up to the transition of power, both sides of the conflict carried out heinous acts that are fully detailed within this book. But rather than just providing an accounting of these acts, Peter Harris makes certain that people that performed these acts are known to the reader as fellow members of humanity.
It is this humanistic side of In a Different Time that captivates. It offers an environment where actions are neither absolutely right nor wrong and the reader is left alone by Harris to make his or her own judgments. He simply tells the story of his experiences without condemnation or praise and tells his story well.
December 25, 2011
Peter Harris's father-in-law was our landlord, and I remember many Christmases spent playing with Harris's kids while he and my dad sipped beers on the beach. He's a great guy, and it shows in his honest and sincere treatment of this depiction of a very difficult period of South African history.
I was born in Johannesburg in 1989, and my family emigrated to Mauritius in 1993. The history I learned in school was about Roman togas, and French beheadings, Mayan temples, and the spread of Islam. I learned some South African history in brief when I was later schooled in SA, but textbooks fail to convey the horror of living during that time. That's where this book comes in.
The book describes the trial of the Delmas Four, notorious MK soldiers who killed several people and wounded many others in shootings, bombings and other attacks during the 1980s. Harris describes the trial and crimes in meticulous detail without being tedious, and explores the characters, the minds behind soldiers who were ordinary men that were willing to kill to achieve the liberation of their people from a corrupt, and evil regime.
A gripping read, factual and not boring, extremely moving and inspiring. What's more inspiring is that, despite the corruption, the secrecy bill, rape allegations, and so on that may be found in a quick study of the current South African government, if you take a close look at the late eighties and early nineties, prior to the talks between the Apartheid Government and the ANC, we've come pretty far. But we still have a way to go...
I was born in Johannesburg in 1989, and my family emigrated to Mauritius in 1993. The history I learned in school was about Roman togas, and French beheadings, Mayan temples, and the spread of Islam. I learned some South African history in brief when I was later schooled in SA, but textbooks fail to convey the horror of living during that time. That's where this book comes in.
The book describes the trial of the Delmas Four, notorious MK soldiers who killed several people and wounded many others in shootings, bombings and other attacks during the 1980s. Harris describes the trial and crimes in meticulous detail without being tedious, and explores the characters, the minds behind soldiers who were ordinary men that were willing to kill to achieve the liberation of their people from a corrupt, and evil regime.
A gripping read, factual and not boring, extremely moving and inspiring. What's more inspiring is that, despite the corruption, the secrecy bill, rape allegations, and so on that may be found in a quick study of the current South African government, if you take a close look at the late eighties and early nineties, prior to the talks between the Apartheid Government and the ANC, we've come pretty far. But we still have a way to go...
June 19, 2022
At the same time we cannot plead guilty. Although we are, in fact, guilty our acts cannot be seen in purely criminal terms, just as those who killed the enemy in the fight against fascism in the Second World War were not tried for murder. The acts we committed were carried out against an enemy that has made us victims in our own country and taken any rights that we had away from us. Our rights to land, to move freely, to work in a fair manner, to be educated and a range of others. (One of the Delmas Four in Peter Harris)
I read this book a few years ago in its British title A Just Defiance. Reading it again, I am struck at how the story of the Delmas four remains powerful. Peter Harris'account of the lives of the MK soldiers and their actions leading up to the trial is absolutely superb. It really contextualises the situation in SA at the time bringing in all the players that shaped the history of this country in the last century - the State police, the ANC human rights lawyers, victims and their families, the press, the establishment, the people. It is an absolute must read. 5 stars.
I read this book a few years ago in its British title A Just Defiance. Reading it again, I am struck at how the story of the Delmas four remains powerful. Peter Harris'account of the lives of the MK soldiers and their actions leading up to the trial is absolutely superb. It really contextualises the situation in SA at the time bringing in all the players that shaped the history of this country in the last century - the State police, the ANC human rights lawyers, victims and their families, the press, the establishment, the people. It is an absolute must read. 5 stars.
April 7, 2025
Absolutely exceptional. I’m honestly at a loss for words.
May 12, 2014
This was a great find on the library sale table. Peter Harris, a white anti-apartheid lawyer, recounts the defense of four political prisoners in a trial that was to become a turning point in ending South Africa's apartheid rule. His memoir is far more reaching than your typical courtroom drama. In a Different Time won South Africa's 2009 Alan Paton award for non-fictioin and the 2009 Bestseller's Choice Award. (Note, In a Different Time was later retitled - A Just Defiance: The Bombmakers, the Insurgents, and a Legendary Treason Trial.) It is a compelling read.
July 27, 2012
This is a wonderful book and should be read by every single South African, or anyone who has an interest in SA history.
December 20, 2020
I don’t really like reading about SA politics, but this book knocked my socks off. The amazing account of the events that lead up to the ANC’ Delmas four’ being tried for high treason, sentenced and then pardoned. Peter Harris can be commended for a book that is well researched, written without sentimentality or prejudice and totally unputdownable.
April 13, 2019
Possibly the best book ever written about the liberation struggle.
April 7, 2023
I do not have words to express the weight of this work.
January 11, 2021
Such an informative, riveting read of South Africa’s dark apartheid past. Somewhat more informative than Antjie Krog’s Country of my Skull, in my opinion.
July 25, 2015
A superb, gripping story that every South African of my generation should read, because like so much from the apartheid era, most of us white citizens became inured to much of the brutality playing out out of sight in the townships and across our borders. Two decades have now passed and ‘Lest We Forget’, this is compulsory reading. The story is at times unbelievable and shocking, but the honesty and precision in the detail, as one would predict from an experienced lawyer, is also there. Of course Peter Harris conveys his compassion as well as admiration for the sacrifices and courage of The Delmas Four, who make a heroic stand even when on Death Row, but there are surprises for the reader, too, in discovering the human and humane side, respectively, of Dirk Coetzee and Judge Prinsloo - and others. The author writes superbly and with impressive recall: even conversations and descriptions of those who played roles are compelling.
I found this account of an ugly part of our history and the various commissions of enquiry illuminating, and I now understand far more about the struggles of the pre-democracy era. Harris also uses the clever structural device of descriptions of clandestine bomb preparation running parallel with court battles. It reads like a thriller, but it is in fact an even-handed account of legal process and personal sacrifices made, as well as atrocities committed on both sides. There is a powerful positive outcome to the story - if not for the last recipient of a death-squad bomb.
I found this account of an ugly part of our history and the various commissions of enquiry illuminating, and I now understand far more about the struggles of the pre-democracy era. Harris also uses the clever structural device of descriptions of clandestine bomb preparation running parallel with court battles. It reads like a thriller, but it is in fact an even-handed account of legal process and personal sacrifices made, as well as atrocities committed on both sides. There is a powerful positive outcome to the story - if not for the last recipient of a death-squad bomb.
January 26, 2014
What is one willing to give, for the freedom of many? This compelling true story is one that grips the reader with questions of what is right? What is wrong - when seeking freedom from oppression. The chilling details haunt me even as I write this. In light of Nelson Mandela's death, I am even more amazed by this mans choice to live daily in the turbulent waters of forgiveness-it costs much but impacts more than we will ever live to see.
September 17, 2009
I really enjoyed this, it was very interesting to see things told from a different angle, different that is, to the propoganda we were presented with at the time, the South African government had it's own "war-on-terror" in those days.
January 9, 2012
One of the best books on the effects of Apartheid on South African citizens. I agree, it reads like a legal-thriller, but in excellent, very readable English. This book has stayed with me even years after I originally read it in 2009.
October 9, 2009
Essential reading form anyone wanting to learn about S.A.'s recent history.Reads like a thriller but author/lawyer has much better command of English language than most thriller writers.
December 17, 2014
Probably the best book I've read in the past year. Entirely engrossing, very interesting and a look into a world I wouldn't see otherwise.
December 2, 2010
Thought- provoking or perhaps reminding of the horrors of the Apartheid government. Easy to read whilst not romantising.
May 15, 2012
Recommended by Sue Miller
August 21, 2011
Excellent! Intimate details of the lives of South African revolutionaries as told by their lawyer. He doesn't spare the contradictions!
September 22, 2011
Excellent and enlightening - a must read for all South Africans
September 9, 2012
Absolutely absorbing, well-written, and I would say a must-read for all South Africans.
March 24, 2013
An excellent and informative read. Non fiction in a fiction format.
September 8, 2013
One of the most important books about South Africa's past. Definitely the best I've read. Should be compulsory for all South Africans.
January 16, 2014
It was, simply, very, very good.
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March 22, 2014Gripping! A must read for all South Africa.
June 8, 2012
You cannot live in SA without reading this book!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews