Ohio Short Histories of Africa
2 total works
What have been the most significant developments-political, social, economic-in South Africa since 1994? How much has changed since the demise of apartheid, and how much remains stubbornly the same? Should one celebrate a robust democracy now two decades old, or lament the corrosive effects of factionalism, greed, and corruption on political life? Colin Bundy tries to answer such questions, while avoiding simplistic or one-sided assessments of life under Mandela, Mbeki, and Zuma. He recognizes real advances under ANC rule but also identifies the limits and contradictions of such progress. Bundy demonstrates, too, how the country's past permeates the present, complicating and constraining the politics of transition, so that genuine transformation has been short-changed.
This biography of Govan Mbeki (1910-2001), activist and intellectual, goes beyond the narrative details of his long life. Drawing on lengthy interviews with 'Oom Gov', it analyses his thinking, expressed in his writings over 50 years. This helps establish what is distinctive about him: as African nationalist and as committed Marxist - more than any other leader of the liberation movement, he sought to link theory and practice, ideas and action. The biography also explores controversial aspects of Mbeki's personality and career: his reputation as a hardliner, the personal and psychological price paid for militancy, and his role in the tensions within the ANC leadership on Robben Island.