Since 1994, South Africa has had five presidents who have varied greatly in style and character, despite all coming from the same political party. How do they compare? How did they handle the crises they faced? What effect did they have on the country? As the ANC’s next elective conference approaches and Cyril Ramaphosa seeks a second term as president, the country is reeling from the effects of state capture and the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupled with an ailing economy and record unemployment, the need for good political leadership to steer us through the morass is more urgent than ever. It is, therefore, a perfect time to think critically about the role that presidential leadership plays in our lives and in history. To this end, The Presidents provides an honest assessment of the five post-democracy presidents – Mandela, Mbeki, Motlanthe, Zuma and Ramaphosa – examining their strongest qualities and greatest weaknesses in the context of the momentous challenges they faced.

The Presidents: From Mandela to Ramaphosa, Leadership in the Age of Crisis

Biographies & Memoirs

Calland, Richard

Sithole, Mabel

Historical

Penguin Random House South Africa

Politics in South Africa is alive and vibrantly so, although the media often fail to reflect this. This book’s main aim is to bring that political world to life. It presents a vivid, up-to-date picture of how power works in the new South Africa and who really makes the decisions around here. It is people who make politics, and this is a book about personalities as well as the institutions they belong to. Discussing topics such as the presidency, the cabinet and the directors-general, the opposition parties, the parliamentary committees and the ANC alliance partners, Calland takes the reader along the corridors of power, mixing vivid anecdote with solid research. The result is an accessible yet authoritative account of who runs South Africa, and how, today. The title is borrowed from Anthony Sampson’s seminal work about who ran Britain, Anatomy of Britain, which was first published in the early 1960s. Like Sampson before him, Richard Calland has a fly-on-the-wall, insider’s approach to the people who control the power that affects us all.

Anatomy of South Africa: Who Holds the Power?

History

Africa

In line with common efforts to measure the state of democracy in countries around the world, this study documents the results of a 'democratic audit' of South Africa. The survey was carried out by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), an independent, non-profit organisation, promoting democracy, governance, sustainability and social justice in South Africa. Some of the indicators used are: participation, elections, accountability, transparency, equality: socio-economic, civil and political rights; and human dignity. The statistical data is interspersed with a series of conceptual essays on democracy in relation to debate, business, capital, media, women, foreign policy, globalisation, accountability and citizenship.

Democracy in the Time of Mbeki (Idasa's Democracy Index)

Institute for Democracy in South Africa

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Books by Calland, Richard