ENTERTAINMENT NEWS - If there has ever been anything to fear, it would be Jackie Phamotse’s pen. She is back!

After more than two years of waiting, the award-winning author and human-rights activist makes a big comeback with her most hard-hitting novel in the top-selling BARE series: The Big Five Cartel.

The Big Five Cartel is not speculation but grounded in truth. After the global firestorm of BARE: The Blesser’s Game, Phamotse spent years investigating the hidden networks of power, exploitation and corruption that run deeper than anyone dared to expose. 

Although the characters and events are fictional, The Big Five Cartel illustrates how the untouchable elite - the “cartels” controlling modern-day South Africa - operate.

On the facts behind her fiction, Phamotse says: “I’ve had first-hand accounts and seen evidence of systems designed to protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. 

"I know how the cartels operate, who funds them and why they have remained untouchable. 

"This book cost me everything. But silence costs us more. 

"The book is for every person who is waiting for justice: every child, every South African who is told ‘this is just how it is’.”

Controversial. Unfiltered. If you found The Hockey Club from the BARE series shocking, wait until you read The Big Five Cartel …

The Big Five Cartel will be available in stores nationwide this August.

About Jackie Phamotse

Jackie Phamotse is a writer, businesswoman, social activist and philanthropist.

Her debut novel, BARE I: The Blesser’s Game, was published in 2017 and was awarded the African Icon Literary Award in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2018.

Her second book, I Tweet What I Like, was inspired by the late struggle icon Steve Biko’s book, I Write What I Like.

Jackie won the 2020 SA Book Award for Best Fiction for her novel BARE II: The Cradle of The Hockey Club.

She was also nominated for a bestselling award by Nielsen Bookscan and SAPnet in 2023 for her book Bare IV: Mercy.

Google listed Jackie as one of the most searched personalities in South Africa in 2020.

She won an award for her social activism at the Women of Wonder Awards ceremony in 2020, the same year the Generational Wealth Foundation listed her as one of the most influential educators.

She was longlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction award in 2025 for The Tea Merchant and nominated for the South African Book Award.

On 25 April this year, Rand West City Local Municipality awarded her a Certificate of Recognition for perseverance and outstanding contribution to the arts.

Jackie’s main objective is to create awareness around and find long-term solutions to eradicate social ills.

She currently lives in Sandton, South Africa.

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