Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa

[1][2] The publishers decided to prioritise an English-language edition, and to expand the scope of the encyclopaedia to encompass all of the African countries in the Southern Hemisphere.

Although South Africa remains the central focus, the scope of the encyclopaedia extends through the Southern African countries of Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rhodesia, South West Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia, into the Central and East African countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zaire.

The editor-in-chief of the first seven volumes of the encyclopaedia was Dirk Jacobus Potgieter, who had previously co-edited the fifth edition of Afrikaans for English-speaking Students (1949)[4] and an Afrikaans/English bilingual dictionary for Juta & Co.[5] When Nasou reused some of the encyclopaedia's material for a book called Animal Life in Southern Africa (1971), Potgieter was a compiler and co-editor on the project, along with fellow SESA editor P. C. du Plessis and entomologist Sydney Skaife.

[7][8] Some years after the publication of the final volume, Nasou was acquired by a holding company, and was merged with South African publisher Via Afrika (est.

[22] However, when they released the book in 1973, the Cape Times criticised them for showing overwhelming bias in favour of White writers.