Südafrikas neue Elite: Die Prägung der ANC-Führung durch das Exil, by Hans-Georg Schleicher. Hamburg: Institut für Afrika-Kunde, 2004. 367 pp. €22 paperback. ISBN 3-928049-89-5 (paperback).

Abstract

Almost 12 years after the first democratic elections in South Africa, the post-apartheid society is slowly finding some equilibrium. A new political culture is in the making, which, of course, is decisively different from the old days of apartheid and the struggle. The African National Congress (ANC) has firmly established itself as the dominant party. First led by Nelson Mandela, and since 1999 by Thabo Mbeki, the country has managed a remarkable dual transition from an authoritarian, quasi war economy to a democratic, quasi free-market economy. However, severe problems still pose major political and economic challenges: growing inequality and poverty in South Africa (which is accompanied by the transition from a race-based to class-based society), the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the pitfalls of increased integration into the global economy, sometimes contradictory policy agendas vis-à-vis the region and the global, etc. Focussing on the day-to-day running of the country, ‘political culture’ has again become a relevant analytical category. Political observers attribute current in-fights within the ANC, the ‘Zuma saga’, and other incidents of corruption, but also the way the ANC-led government deals with critique, for instance on its handling of the HIV/AIDS issue, to South Africa’s new political culture. However, what exactly constitutes this political culture remains an enigma.