The Zuma Years: South Africa's changing face of power

Abstract

Richard Calland, an associate professor in Public Law at the University of Cape Town and a regular columnist for the Mail and Guardian newspaper, has written what is in a sense a sequel to his Anatomy of South Africa: Who holds the power? (2006). Though he claims that The Zuma Years is ‘no more than 2 or 3 per cent the same’ as his earlier book (p. xiii), this one is also explicitly modelled on Anthony Sampson's famous Anatomy of Britain series, to which Calland frequently refers. The Zuma Years begins with the transition from Mbeki to Zuma. Subsequent chapters discuss the presidency (beginning with an account of the Marikana massacre, called ‘Zuma's 9/11 moment’, p. 25), the cabinet, foreign policy, Parliament, the African National Congress (ANC), the unions, the opposition, traditional leaders, the judges, money and politics, the corporate boardrooms, the professions, and the universities. Calland acknowledges that he has omitted the public service, the media, and the intelligence services, and there are other gaps (the whole security cluster receives very little attention). While interviews with key players lie at the heart of his book, he also draws upon the work of a ‘small team of researchers’ (p. xiv), who have helped produce the tables and graphs scattered through the book. In an attempt to be as up-to-date as possible, the appendix of biographies of cabinet ministers was revised after the cabinet reshuffle in mid-2013.