WHAT LIGHT CANNOT TOUCH — PRESS KIT Thato Sebastian-Charles Mmereki Kuruman House Publishers, Johannesburg, South Africa Press contact: mmereki@gmail.com · https://www.mmereki.com/press ------------------------------------------------------------ BOOK FACT SHEET ------------------------------------------------------------ Title What Light Cannot Touch Subtitle A Memoir on Memory, Cost, and the Shape of What Remains Author Thato Sebastian-Charles Mmereki Publisher Kuruman House Publishers, Johannesburg Genre Memoir · Political non-fiction Publication First edition, May 2026 ISBN (hardback) 978-1-0492-8730-0 ISBN (eBook) 978-1-0492-8729-4 Extent 328 pages Formats Hardback, eBook Signed edition ZAR 430 (direct, dispatched worldwide from Johannesburg) Cover design Thato Sebastian-Charles Mmereki and Stephen Symons Language English Territory South Africa, with international enquiries welcome ------------------------------------------------------------ SHORT BIOGRAPHY (approx. 50 words) ------------------------------------------------------------ Thato Sebastian-Charles Mmereki is a South African author, strategic executive and sovereign venture capitalist. A former aide to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, he has worked as a journalist and technical producer at the SABC, Director: Strategic Communications in the Office of the Premier, Chief Financial Officer of the China-South Africa Youth Forum and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Transcontinental Council for Strategic Cooperation. His memoir, What Light Cannot Touch, is forthcoming in 2026. ------------------------------------------------------------ LONG BIOGRAPHY (approx. 200 words) ------------------------------------------------------------ Thato Sebastian-Charles Mmereki was born in Kuruman in the Northern Cape and works between Johannesburg and global markets. His career has moved along the seam where power is exercised and where it is recorded — public broadcasting, executive government, bilateral finance and sovereign venture capital. He served as an aide to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an experience that sits at the centre of his forthcoming memoir. He has since held roles as a journalist and technical producer at the SABC, Director: Strategic Communications in the Office of the Premier, Chief Financial Officer of the China-South Africa Youth Forum, Chairman of the National Gambling and Wagering Policy Council, and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Transcontinental Council for Strategic Cooperation. He is a member of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust and One Young World, and advises principals, boards and sovereign entities on political risk, international partnerships and institutional governance across African and global markets. ------------------------------------------------------------ INTERVIEW TOPICS ------------------------------------------------------------ - Life inside the household and office of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela - What the official archive of the transition leaves out - Political risk and institutional fragility in African markets - Africa-China relations beyond the alignment narrative - Governance, succession and founder dependence - Writing memoir about people who trusted you ------------------------------------------------------------ IMAGE USE ------------------------------------------------------------ Author portrait, cut-out portrait, cover image and monogram are cleared for editorial use with the credit shown on https://www.mmereki.com/press. Portraits: courtesy of the author. Cover: Kuruman House Publishers. For review copies, extract permissions, interviews or event enquiries, write to mmereki@gmail.com. Replies within three business days.