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Book review: ’Manifesto’

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Author: Songezo Zibi

Author: Songezo Zibi

Publisher: MacMillan SA

Reviewer: Neville Motlhabakwe

THIS book is apposite to the times. The author Songezo Zibi is an ordinary South African who has spent time in the corporate world. He is concerned about the breakdown in good governance, the prevalence of abject poverty, lack of development and general economic stagnation.

Of even greater concern is the total absence of the voice of the middle classes – black and white – in the affairs of the country, especially in the face of the destruction of its moral fibre and the economic decline supervised by the ruling elite.

The “Manifesto” speaks to the apolitical elite to abandon their non-involvement and put their shoulders to the “rescue RSA” project. The author claims the “Manifesto” is an instrument through which he advocates for change in the country’s politics.

The book details many instances of the decline in good governance that took hold after the first decade of a democratising South Africa.

A consumer of the daily news would find the author’s narration of the unfolding decline in the country’s governance, and with it, the economy and morality, a not too unfamiliar read.

He enumerates the myriad instances of misgovernance, especially the sort that beset state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the democratic experiment.

In many chapters the focus is on the wanton destruction at SOEs such as Prasa, a public transport organ that fell into disrepute owing to the careless and negligent administration by its managers acting in cahoots with political minders. Many others in the fray are mentioned as well.

In a very singular stamp of the times that is indicative of the depths of despair that South Africans have been driven to, the author advocates for the removal of the ruling party from the centre of government.

In what is a clear measure of the times, this brazen statement calling for the demise of the ruling party would have been unthinkable not so long ago. It is highly unlikely that the author would face even the subtlest of censures for that view. Alas, that sentiment is probably shared far and wide in today’s broken country.

This is an easy read.

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