Book Review: Short-Changed? South Africa since Apartheid by Colin Bundy

Abstract

Colin Bundy Short-Changed? South Africa since Apartheid, Athens: Ohio University Press, 2015; 174 pp.: ISBN 9780821421550, $14.95 (pbk) In this pocket-sized book, Colin Bundy addresses a burning question which has generated an abundance of literature over the last two decades--have South Africans been short-changed by the negotiated end to Apartheid, and if so, who is to blame? In the years immediately following the end of Apartheid, seriously questioning the intentions or legitimacy of the African National Congress (ANC)-led government was less common within left-leaning circles. Inevitably, many of those who campaigned against Apartheid were reluctant to criticise the new democratic government in too harsh a tone. Some voiced the opinion that the ANC, struggling in a neoliberal post-Cold War environment, with a deeply dysfunctional economy inherited from the Apartheid regime, were doing their best in highly unfavourable conditions. Others, especially commentators based in developed countries, perhaps felt that it wasn't their place to judge. Twenty years on, in the post-Marikana landscape, such reluctance has fallen away even for those with deep ties to the tripartite alliance (Pillay 2014). Of course, the problem of postcolonial governments failing to live up to expectations developed by socialists during struggles for national liberation isn't one unique to South Africa (Arrighi et al. 1989: 66). Yet the particularities of the struggle against South Africa's settler colonialism, the ANC's overtures to socialism and the strength of the South African trade union movement led many to hope that South Africa could potentially move beyond the authoritarian impasse that characterised its neighbours. This optimism was certainly not baseless, but it makes the inequality, corruption and violence that persist today even more disappointing and repugnant. Bundy does an excellent job of addressing this situation in a measured tone while emphasising the true extent of South Africa's political, social and economic ills. No original research is presented per se, yet value can be found in the manner that Short-Changed? throws new light onto well-rehearsed debates. In part, this is achieved because Bundy places structure and agency, and the push and pull which this engenders, at the centre of his analytical framework. A historian by training, the topics highlighted by Bundy are always contextualised as part of a history that doesn't presume a profound break in the year of 1994, and an international frame which reminds us of South Africa's position within world order. Throughout Short-Changed? it is reiterated that while the decisions of political actors are important, they are made 'under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past' (p. 18). Rather than simply splitting the Post-Apartheid era into chronological periods, Bundy puts forward four chapters that deal with specific themes: the negotiated settlement, dilemmas of power, cities as sites of contestation and the issue of crime. Given the brevity of the book, these matters aren't dealt with in a comprehensive manner, yet Bundy still manages to intervene authoritatively in each, providing thought-provoking summaries that speak directly to the weaknesses of current literature. The first chapter, which focuses on the negotiated settlement that led to the transitional Government of National Unity, is structured by three questions: why did the ANC and National Party enter negotiations, what was the content of the settlement and how much change did this entail? Contrary to explanations which put 'Great Men' to the fore, Bundy proposes that a 'hurting stalemate' was the primary factor leading to negotiations (p. 31). The outcome was a system which largely mirrored the ANC's political demands, but which left social and economic structures untouched. In the second chapter, Bundy primarily focuses upon two aspects of the ANC's governance: their macroeconomic policy and their electoral performance. …