MY FATHER’S COAT is the realisation of Michael Charton’s decade-long ambition to make the incredible story, that is South African history, more accessible to our people. To open the hearts of South Africans to our past, so that we may use our remarkable story no longer as a tool to inspire hatred and fear and division, but rather as a source of unity and healing.

Accordingly, Michael Charton idea was to condense the epic narrative of South Africa into a bite-size story which is both compelling and balanced. A project which would prove to be a colossal, time-consuming challenge, but one which has ultimately given rise to a very unique product, providing order and meaning to a notoriously complex subject.

But importantly, this is no history lecture. Instead, this is just a story. A human story, told by climbing into the boots of five prominent and directly interlinked protagonists spanning 200 turbulent years: Mzilikazi, Kruger, Rhodes, Smuts and Mandela.

So, while historians actively try to eliminate the biases so prevalent in our story; Michael embraces them. And as Michael Charton introduces you to each of his five characters, he allows them to lure you under their spell by subtly endorsing their beliefs and biases.

But, with the introduction of each subsequent character, new insights are carefully leaked into the narrative, undermining previous biases and providing a new depth of understanding; until a layered and more balanced view of our complex past is gradually revealed.

Further, and because the lives of these characters overlapped, Michael Charton finds unique opportunities to tell the same pivotal moments in the story through more than one set of eyes; so providing a powerful reminder of our heavy biases as well as the absurdity of some of our historic attitudes. Those attitudes ultimately responsible for South Africa’s catastrophic 20th century.

This was a project Michael Charton believed in so strongly that he gave up his life as a chartered accountant in order to pursue it. This passion shines through in his delivery. Indeed, this is a unique life experience: An opportunity to reflect on our unique past and to celebrate the fascinating peoples with whom we all share this complex country. Never before has our past been explored in this manner