Publication: The Sowetan
Issued:
Date: 2007-11-20
Reporter: Zenoyise Madikwa
| Publication |
The Sowetan
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| Date |
2007-11-20
|
|
Reporter |
Zenoyise Madikwa |
|
Web Link
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www.sowetan.co.za
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Book: After the Party
Author: Andrew Feinstein
Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Reviewer: Zenoyise Madikwa
The run-up to the ANC national conference has not only heightened tensions among
the party's members, the succession debate has seen the mushrooming of books
that do not help the situation, but add to the confusion.
After the Party: A Personal and Political Journey Inside the ANC by Andrew
Feinstein is such a book. The cover is misleading. It boldly sports ANC colours
and you would think that the book is about Feinstein's journey in the ANC.
However, it is about besmirching both the ANC and President Thabo Mbeki.
Though the book is not about Mbeki, Feinstein casts doubt on the president's
policies and his person. Maybe he should have written a biography instead.
His pen is poisonous and divisive to the ANC he claims to love. One can read
between the lines that he never had the interests of oppressed blacks at heart.
Joining the ANC was about self-aggrandisement and about protecting the interests
of white people.
Feinstein sounds like a disillusioned white man who thinks that siding with
black people in their struggle is a passport to bad-mouth the government.
I think in 1994 the ANC made a huge mistake in recruiting
every white Jack and Jill to make up the numbers to fulfill its
non-racialism policy. It is against this background that Feinstein found himself
in parliament. He resigned in 2001 after being an ANC MP for more than seven
years, ostensibly because he was angry about the way the arms deal scandal was
swept under the carpet.
Though his ideas will make you want to shred his book into pieces because of his
stance on certain issues, I strongly agree with his views on Palestine and
Israel.
He is a good writer, but his book can lead you astray if you are not politically
grounded.With acknowledgements to
Zenoyise Madikwa and The Sowetan.
I think in 1994 every black and white Jack and Jill made a
huge mistake in being recruited by the ANC to give them a 66% majority.
It would have been much better for everyone and the whole country for there to
have been a better political balance.
In 1994 the ANC election campaign was financed by gold amalgam money.
In 1999 the ANC election campaign was financed by Arms Deal money.
In 2004 the ANC election campaign was financed by cellular licence money and oil
deal money.
In 2009 the ANC election campaign will be financed by conventional power station
money.
In 2014 the ANC election campaign will be financed by nuclear power station
money.
In 2019 the ANC election campaign will be financed by pebble bed nuclear reactor
money.