Let's talk - not about sex - but books. Remember them? One book out of which I used to get a kick was a collection of Andy Capp cartoons, which at least some of this newspaper's readers must recall.

In one of them, if I remember correctly (and obviously I don't), Andy said to his minister something along the lines of "If you don't lend me some money, I'll drown myself" - and in the next frame, we see him standing on the edge of the bar about to dive into his ever-present pint.

The minister, taking money from his pocket, grins at the reader and says: "I'll forgive a man with style just about anything."

I'll forgive a man who can write well just about anything - which is why the first book I want to mention is the recently-published Inside Quatro: Uncovering the Exile History of the ANC and Swapo (Jacana Books) by Paul Trewhela. Trewhela writes wonderfully, with passion and enormous clarity, and anyone interested in our "real" recent history should read this book.

The reason I have to "forgive him" is that I find him annoying - like a neighbourhood dog that barks at 3am every day and won't stop. And one of the issues about which he bangs on incessantly is Jacob Zuma's alleged complicity in the death in Lusaka of Muziwakhe Ngwenya, better known as Thami Zulu.

I don't mind Trewhela raising the matter. I think it's important that he did and does. It's just that he never stops. And, as befits a former member of the SACP (they're like ex- smokers in their zeal), Trewhela's approach comes from the nasty side of the street.

But there's nowhere else to go with the issue. Trewhela and others have said what they have to say. Zuma has chosen not to say what he has to say (mainly, I understand, because Zuma has nothing to say!). So enough already!

Another issue that exercises Trewhela is Zuma's (former) membership of the Communist Party, which brings me to the second book I want to mention. On Tuesday night Rian Malan's Resident Alien (Jonathan Ball Publishers) was launched at Johannesburg's Radium Beer Hall. Malan is, as I think most South Africans know, an absolutely remarkable writer - perhaps one of the best writers and commentators in the world.

But what struck me about Malan's speech and at least one of the pieces in the book is how seriously he takes communism - or, to be precise, the membership of the party by such people as Thabo Mbeki and Zuma.

I must say that the bogeymen, or evil agendas, that Malan and Trewhela see lurking in the CP memberships, or former CP memberships, of many ANC luminaries - I do not buy.

Here's a silly old joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto. The two went camping in the desert. After setting up their tent, they fell sound asleep.

Some hours later, Tonto woke the Lone Ranger and said, "Kemo Sahbee, look towards sky. What you see?"

The Lone Ranger replied, "I see millions of stars."

"What that tell you," asked Tonto.

The Lone Ranger pondered for a minute, then said: "Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies. Time- wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, the Lord is all powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What's it tell you, Tonto?"

"You dumber than buffalo s**t. Someone stole tent."

I think the simple and correct explanation is that someone merely stole the tent - in other words, that Zuma and others joined the SACP because that was what young revolutionaries did then (the SACP being the one party that had remained resolutely anti- apartheid). It was almost de rigueur for people such as Zuma, for young people embarking on the Struggle to, among other things, join the party.

But, to continue this discussion, you'll have to wait for the second edition of the Zuma biography, scheduled for next year.

Jeremy Gordin is author of Zuma: A Biography. This article first appeared in the Daily Dispatch.

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