Saints and sinners of SA politics all in the new A-Z book
AN interest in politics unites South Africans. It wakes us up in the morning, and puts us to sleep at night.
Load shedding is politics. Poverty is politics. The Gucci bags of Cabinet ministers are politics. And, unlike in many other Western democracies – because ours is surely not trying to be anything else – we’re not in a state of grace yet which allows us to go on with our lives without caring about politics.
Yet it’s a highly confusing arena, and a new book, The A-Z of South African Politics, which was launched at Constitution Hill’s Old Fort this week, is designed to make it much easier to understand.
The authors, who include Saturday Star editor Kashiefa Ajam, are all journalists by training and have profiled, analysed and covered the people, parties and players in politics throughout their careers.
The writing team was further made up of three other former newspaper editors, Kevin Ritchie, Janet Smith and Lebogang Seale, as well as former Saturday Star journalist and Sowetan news editor Thabiso Thakali.
The launch was facilitated by another former editor, Makhudu Sefara, who remarked on how vital it was that journalists and writers under this theme were able to stand by their words. Former public protector Thuli Madonsela – who wrote the foreword – said it was pertinent that the entries were as controversial as the subjects themselves, demoting the book’s currency and boldness.
Deliberately not academic, the book, which features more than 300 entries, seeks to give perspective and understanding of some of the most important figures and formations in South African history. As the country finds itself in an economic and social crisis 25 years after the first democratic elections, this sixth edition of The A-Z tracks the past 10 years, with the last edition of the book having been published in 2009 as Jacob Zuma was about to become president and a decade of accelerating state capture was about to begin.
The book doesn’t only track formal politics and many of the concepts which surround it, but also takes in social movements whose activities have and will continue to affect how South Africa moves into its next quarter-century.
Published by Jacana, whose catalogue includes some of the most important political books of the post-democratic period, The A-Z can be found at most good bookshops and as an e-book.