ISS Book Launch, Cape Town: Who Rules South Africa?

Date: 2012-06-15

Venue: , ISS Cape Town Boardroom, ISS Cape Town, 2nd Floor Armoury Building, Buchanan Square, 160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock

RSVP:
Bongeka Mdaniso-Boso
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 021 461 7211

About the Book:

In this timely work, Martin Plaut and Paul Holden analyse the political elites that battle daily for power in South Africa. 2012 marks the centenary of the ANC. It is also the year in which the ANC holds it`s five-year conference where Jacob Zuma and his allies will seek to hold the presidency while other factions within the Tripartite Alliance will attempt to unseat him.

Plaut and Holden argue that power does not reside in traditional institutions such as Parliament or even the Cabinet. Rather, power lies within the ANC-led Alliance which, with no founding documentation and no constitution, is an unstructured and mutable political hydra with business and criminal elements in close attendance. It is the interaction between these forces which is the real story behind post-apartheid South Africa. In a country where poverty is rampant and institutions are weak, the battle for power is set to intensify.

The authors unravel how the rainbow nation has reached such a pass. What are the origins of the Alliance and will it survive the current power struggles? Who are the forces - some shadowy, some criminal - that operate within or alongside the Alliance? Most importantly, they seek to answer the burning question of whether South Africa is destined to become another African tragedy, or whether there is still promise of growth and a stable democracy.

About the Authors:

Martin Plaut is the Africa editor of the BBC World Service News and has been reporting on the continent for more than 25 years. He has published widely on the Horn of Africa and southern Africa.

Paul Holden is a researcher and the author of The Arms Deal in Your Pocket (2009) and co-author of The Devil in the Detail (2011).