50 People Who F***ed Up South Africa: The Lost Decade
Authors: Alexander Parker and Tim Richman
Illustrator: Zapiro
Genre: South African non-fiction
RRP: R285
ISBN: 9781990956096
EXTENT: 264
RELEASE DATE: November 2020
ABOUT THE BOOK
It took 350 years to come up with the list of shame for the original 50 People Who Stuffed Up South Africa, published to critical acclaim in 2010. But it’s taken only ten more years to come up with the next 50…
From Shaun Abrahams to Mosebenzi Zwane, 50 People Who F***ed Up South Africa is shot through with the architects and beneficiaries of state capture who have defined The Lost Decade. There’s Dlamini, there’s Zuma and there’s Dlamini-Zuma. There are the Guptas, Geoghegan and Gigaba. There’s a malady of “M”s – Mabuza, Magashule, Mahumapelo (and many more mofos). There are the crony-corporate enablers and big business abusers. Importantly, there are clean takedowns of those who represent the scandals that will live in infamy when the history of this time is written: Eskom, Nkandla, Marikana, Life Esidimeni, Steinhoff, Bosasa, VBS Mutual Bank… And then there is the joker in the pack (Niehaus), the naked emperor (Survé), the zombie killer (Pistorius), the Twittering twit (Zille) and the twit who got past security (Thamsanqa Jantjie). The end result is a readable, accessible, entertaining overview of South Africa’s recent political and socioeconomic landscape. Because sometimes humour (along with a clearly painted picture) really is the best coping mechanism…
SOME MORE REVIEWS
“It has been a wild, wild ten years for South Africa. We’ve gone through a lot together, and this newly published book plays a spectacular blame game.”
– The South African
“For those of you who can’t think of what to buy a politically aware, non woke, white patriarchal cis gender male I can’t recommend this highly enough.”
– David Bullard
“Riveting and a thoroughly good read – witty and well researched”
– Known Magazine
“The latest instalment in the 50 People series is every bit as informative, insightful, and enjoyable as its predecessors. While the humour is certainly still liberally scattered throughout the book, I found it darker, sharper and more biting than the previous instalments and rightly so.”
– The Book Fairy’s Haven
“Read this book.”
– Ian Mann, Fin24
“A brilliant read!”
– Chad Thomas, Chai FM