Welcome to our book review site go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Restless Nation
South Africa's rainbow nation has become a restless nation. Citizens are faced with poor service delivery and corruption, while a new bling culture has infected both politics and business. William Gumede takes a fearless look at these and other burning issues which threaten the South African democracy: leadership battles within the ANC, attacks on the constitution, black economic empowerment strategies which only benefit a few, racism and moral bankruptcy.
Governance and the postcolony
Civil society, NGOs, governments, and multilateral institutions all repeatedly call for improved or ‘good’ governance – yet they seem to speak past one another. Governance is in danger of losing all meaning precisely because it means many things to different people in varied locations This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, the postcolony takes many forms, reflecting the imperial project with painful accuracy. Offering a set of multidisciplinary analyses of governance in different sectors (crisis management, water, food security, universities), in different locales across sub-Saharan Africa, and from different theoretical approaches (network to adversarial network governan...
Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC
As a spokesman for a country, a continent and the developing world, Thabo Mbeki played a crucial role in world politics, but to many people he remained an enigma throughout his presidency. Is this simply because he was a secretive man, or were there complicated political factors at play? Who was the real Mbeki? In this book, multiple-award-winning journalist William Mervin Gumede chronicles Mbeki’s spectacular rise to dominate Africa’s oldest liberation movement. He explores the complex position that Mbeki occupied – following in Nelson Mandela’s footsteps, holding together an alliance with deep ideological differences, and ruling an intensely divided country. Revealing the political and personal tensions behind the scenes, Gumede explains how Mbeki sought to mould the ANC into his image through tight control, and exposes the intrigues behind the battle for succession. Covering Mbeki’s attempts to modernise the economy and kick-start an African Renaissance, and investigating his controversial stance on issues from AIDS to Zimbabwe, the book offers invaluable insights into the arcane machinations behind political decisions that touch the lives of millions every day.
Fees Must Fall
This book explores the student discontent a year after the start of the 2015 South African #FeesMustFall revolt #FeesMustFall, the student revolt that began in October 2015, was an uprising against lack of access to, and financial exclusion from, higher education in South Africa. More broadly, it radically questioned the socio-political dispensation resulting from the 1994 social pact between big business, the ruling elite and the liberation movement. The 2015 revolt links to national and international youth struggles of the recent past and is informed by black consciousness politics and social movements of the international left. Yet, its objectives are more complex than those of earlier st...
A Kite's Flight
"A Kite's Flight is a richly illustrated book which tells the story of how Andile and his father make a beautiful kite. While flying the kite, its string breaks releasing the kite and taking readers on an epic journey across Africa. From the thundering Victoria Falls and the snow tops of Kilimanjaro, to the Sahara deserts and ancient Egyptian Pyramids, follow the kite's flight over some of the great landmarks of Africa!"--Publisher's website.
The Poverty of Ideas
"In a country where it has been suggested that the distinction requirements at schools be moved down from 80% to 70%, it is of grave importance that we evaluate the role of knowledge and what significance we attach to it. Do we respect and value the production of knowledge, or is contemporary South African society being 'dumbed down'? And if knowledge is no longer an essential commodity, do we have a need for a 'thinking class'; the intellectuals? Where are our great South African minds? Are they hiding in fear of our society's seeming intolerance of criticism and dissent? Eminent thinkers Leslie Dikeni and William Gumede examine how South African intellectuals have regressed from drivers of change in the Apartheid era to disenchanted ghosts that appear to fear critical engagement in The Poverty of Ideas. This title offers differing but critical evaluations of the responsibility of the progressive intellectual in a new democracy. During the struggle against apartheid intellectuals have spoken out and more often then not influenced the trajectory of events. But it appears that today's intellectuals are paralysed by fear of raising the ire of authority"--Kalahari.net website.
No Easy Walk to Freedom
This collection of Nelson Mandela's articles, speeches, letters from underground, and transcripts from the trials in which he was accused vividly illustrates his magnetic attraction as Africa's foremost campaigner for freedom.
People's War
More than 25 years have passed since South Africans were being shot or hacked or burned to death in political violence, and the memory of the trauma has faded. Nevertheless, some 20 500 people were killed between 1984 and 1994. Conventional wisdom has it that most died as a result of the ANC's people's war. Many books have been written on South Africa's political transition, but none has dealt adequately with the people's war. This book does. It shows the extraordinary success of the people's war in giving the ANC a virtual monopoly on power, as well as the great cost at which this was done. The high price of it is still being paid. Apart from the terror and killings it sparked at the time, ...
Liberal Democracy and Peace in South Africa
South Africa's transition to democracy was met by the global audience with at first, disbelief, followed later by applause. After fifteen years of democracy big questions remain: has a more democratic regime also lead to a more liberal society? And has democracy made for a more peaceful society?
Regenerating Africa
It has been long overdue to address the principal problems that Africa continues to have. How to bring real African solutions to these problems remains unresolved. Palaeontologists have discovered that Africa is the origin of humanity. Africa has also experienced the commodification of its humanity through slavery, colonialism and apartheid. The African continent has been influenced by a melange of races, cultures, religions, ethnic nationalities making the project of how the differences can be managed to forestall conflict and promote the unity of the current 54 states to turn the cacophony of noises into a single voice that can protect Africa a di? cult challenge. This book on Regenerating...
