Kasrils launches book in PE
FORMER South African intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils was at Nelson Mandela University last night for the launch of his latest book, A Simple Man, and did not shy away from being critical about the political situation in the country.
Hosted by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, NMU’s department of development studies and the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy, Kasrils spoke candidly about his book, which offers insights into President Jacob Zuma.
Kasrils said Zuma was a representative of a faction within the ANC that was milking the economy for its own good and “breaking into the treasury”.
“The rot started in relation to the absolute desire to accumulate wealth,” he said.
The book had been “a long time gestating in the kop [head]” and had been the most difficult to write of the three he had penned on the liberation struggle.
He had tried to convey things to people in an easy manner.
He had used images in his head to construct the narrative, and A Simple Man could be seen as a memoir of these images with constructed dialogue “to fit the way I saw the past”.
“Specific exchanges resonate in my head. This plays in my head and that resonates in my mind,” he said.
Telling his captivated audience that the book started in a time during 1982 when he fought alongside Zuma on the border, Kasrils said it was during that time he had learnt how hypocritical and two-faced Zuma really was.
“For two years, I had got on so well with Jacob Zuma. He was a simple man of the people. Imagine my shock when I realised how two-faced he really was,” he said.
Kasrils said it had been when he and Zuma were crossing the Mozambican border and he was injured that he had learnt the true character of the president.
“He would come to me and check and see how I was and if I needed anything and then behind my back he would talk about me,” he said.
Kasrils said specific exchanges continued to resonate in his head and these were elements captured in the narrative of his book.
“I remember as clear as day the 4th of November 2005 at 10.35am, while I was intelligence minister and being driven between Pretoria and Johannesburg when my cellphone rang. The voice of a young woman on the other side said: ‘Uncle Ronnie, Jacob Zuma raped me,” he said.
Kasrils said his book was readable and as honest as possible.
NMU development studies department head Professor Janet Cherry said Kasrils showed enormous compassion and humility and encouraged everyone to read the book.
“Forget about reading political analysts, read [Kasrils’s] book if you want analysis of the past 10 years and the body politics of the ruling party, ” she said.
A young woman said: ‘Uncle Ronnie, Jacob Zuma raped me