The Zuma Years: South Africa's Changing Face of Power

by Richard Calland

Overview

The face of power in South Africa is rapidly changing – for better and for worse. The years since Thabo Mbeki was swept aside by Jacob Zuma’s ‘coalition of the wounded’ have been especially tumultuous, with the rise and fall of populist politicians such as Julius Malema, the terrible events at Marikana, and the embarrassing Guptagate scandal. What lies behind these developments? How does the Zuma presidency exercise its power? Who makes our foreign policy? What goes on in cabinet meetings? What is the state of play in the Alliance – is the SACP really more powerful than before? And, as the landscape shifts, what are the opposition’s prospects? In The Zuma Years, Richard Calland attempts to answer these questions, and more, by holding up a mirror to the new establishment; by exploring how people such as Malema, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko have risen so fast; by examining key drivers of transformation in South Africa, such as the professions and the universities; and by training a spotlight on the toxic mix of money and politics. The Zuma Years is a fly-on-the-wall, insider’s approach to the people who control the power that affects us all. It takes you along the corridors of government and corporate power, mixing solid research with vivid anecdote and interviews with key players. The result is an accessible yet authoritative account of who runs South Africa, and how, today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770222762
Publisher:	Penguin Random House South Africa
Publication date:	08/16/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	529
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Richard Calland is one of South Africa’s most incisive political analysts. He led IDASA’s political and economic governance programmes for over a decade, is a founder member of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC), and is now an associate professor in public law at the University of Cape Town, where he teaches constitutional law and heads the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit. A regular commentator in the press and on TV and radio, his column ‘Contretemps’ has appeared in the Mail&Guardian since 2001. His earlier publications include Thabo Mbeki’s World: The Politics and Ideology of the South African President, Anatomy of South Africa: Who Holds the Power? and The Vuvuzela Revolution: Anatomy of South Africa’s World Cup.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface and acknowledgements xiii

Abbreviations and acronyms xix

1 From Mbeki to Zuma 1

2 The Presidency 25

3 The cabinet 52

4 Foreign policy 88

5 The foreign policy makers 104

6 Parliament 232

7 The ANC 59

8 The unions 94

9 The opposition 221

10 The traditional leaders 253

11 The judges 269

12 Money and politics 296

13 The corporate boardrooms 323

14 The professions 352

15 The universities 383

Conclusion: Anatomy of a crisis 412

Appendix 1 Cabinet ministers 427

Appendix 2 Constitutional Court judges 455

Notes 471

Index 491