Book: After Mandela by Douglas Foster

I finally finished this long book. Or sort of finished it as the final 30 pages were duplicated earlier in this library book, and the actual final pages are missing. But after reading 534 pages, I was ready to move on. I think it was very near the end anyway.

The time period is 2004 to 2012. I was immersed in South Africa while reading, at least the political/social aspects. I learned from every page, not especially difficult as I knew so little before I started.

The four traditional classes in SA were the European (White), the Coloured (Mixed), the Asian (Indian) and the Native (Black), and many of the old ways and customs governing society have certainly not been obliterated since liberation in 1994 and this cannot help but cause frustration and protests and anger.

There was the battle between Mbeki (who succeed Mandela as head of the country) and Jacob Zuma who is the current president of SA. There was the dissension in the ANC (African National Congress) and with Julius Malema who was the increasingly radical head of the ANC Youth League and who has recently been ousted. There was author's (sad and heartbreaking at times) dialogue with various street kids, living on the margins of the new order in SA but really not benefiting in legal ways from democracy. There were visits to small villages where those who remain (there is a constant influx from village to big city) still struggle to survive as SA tries to find ways to govern effectively and protect and nourish its citizens wherever they live. There were the conversations with Zuma himself  and with his children; there were conversations with Mandela's grandchildren. There were the striking disparities in lifestyle between those in power and those at the bottom. There was the grim accounting of SA's reluctance for too many years to confront and tackle AIDs which afflicts 1 in 6 young South Africans. This was a huge problem, along with the problem of Mbeki's friendship and apparent support for the evil Robert Mugabe in neighboring Zimbabwe.

There was/is the usual corruption and bad choices and outcomes by many who should strive for nobility rather than personal gratifications, not unique to SA. And, at least for a time, there was the absolute jubilation and a sense of unity throughout the country when SA was chosen to host soccer's World Cup.

How could SA not be a dynamic changing nation, given it's recent history? 

Other than being a bit too long for me, this book is engaging, easy to read and informative on the status of SA in the two decades after Mandela was released from prison.