Enemy of the People

Summary

He swore to serve the people, but Jacob Zuma robbed us blind.

This is the first definitive account of Zuma’s catastrophic misrule, offering eyewitness descriptions and cogent analysis of how South Africa was brought to its knees – and how the people fought back.

When Jacob Zuma took power of the ANC in December 2007, he inherited a country whose economy was growing and a party that had the support of two-thirds of the electorate. Today, South Africa is caught in the grip of state capture, the economy is moribund and a divided ANC is staring down the barrel of defeat at the 2019 elections. How did we get here?

Zuma ruthlessly brought his party to heel, subduing and isolating his political opponents. Then he built a patronage network of family, friends and business associates – powerful, corruptible political tenderpreneurs – who stopped at nothing to take control of state institutions and enterprises. State capture became Zuma’s brand – a maze of corruption so far-reaching that it has replaced many parts of government, causing irreparable damage to institutions, state enterprises, and the ANC itself. 

But it hasn’t all gone Zuma’s way. In a new era of activism, former political allies, public-minded civil servants, the media and the people have stepped forward to join the anti-Zuma groundswell. In the courts, too, the pressure has mounted against a bad president, who has become an enemy of the people.

As a deeply divided ANC squares off for the party’s conference in December, journalists Adriaan Basson and Pieter du Toit offer an insightful, up-to-the-minute account of the Zuma era.