Highly recommended: Birth by Peter Harris

Peter Soal writes: "(It) is the story of the three months Peter Harris, a Johannesburg based lawyer, spent as the head of the monitoring division of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) during our first democratic election in 1994. (...) (He) describes in considerable detail the logistics in providing for many millions of South African voters. For instance, discussions on how to deliver polling station equipment: voting enclosures, invisible ink to be painted on voters' hands, the ultraviolet lights to detect if a voter had voted previously, furniture, etc. etc. How would all this equipment be delivered to the thousands of polling stations, including those in remote rural areas? This was a problem until someone hit on the idea of South African Breweries. Cold beer is available throughout the country and so the beer giant was co-opted to assist with the delivery arrangements. (...) 'Birth' reads like a political thriller which is all true. Read it if you can."