The Great African Society

Title: The Great African Society
Subtitle: A Plan for a Nation Gone Astray
Author: Hlumelo Biko
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Johannesburg & Cape Town, South Africa 2013
ISBN 9781868425211 / ISBN 978-1-86842-521-1
Softcover, 15x23 cm, 293 pages

Description:

No debate from here on about the South African future can be taken seriously without weighing Hlumelo Biko's insights and his warnings in The Great African Society. The ANC, in its rush for political control, chose power over the people instead of power of the people. History will judge them harshly. Only a dramatic, imaginatively crafted intervention - a massive redistribution programme managed by the private sector, far-reaching policy changes in schooling, housing and health, and better, disciplined governance - will deliver the genuine liberation that South Africa's still-poor millions expected from the 1994 settlement. Without the real promise of a free, meritocratic society, South Africa will flounder and fail as corruption, crime, social decay, hopelessness and anger engulf society. This is the compelling thesis of Hlumelo Biko's hard-hitting, thoughtful analysis of South Africa's past, present and future, a sobering assessment of where we stand today, and where we need to go.

Hlumelo Biko demolishes much of the soft thinking about South Africa's future and places practical, achievable objectives for business, government and civil society. South Africa's challenge, The Great African Society argues, is to act now to avoid the mounting threat of revolt and decline that would devalue every political and economic achievement of the past decade-and-a-half. Hlumelo Biko is an Executive Chairman of a growth capital oriented investment firm called Spinnaker Growth. In parallel with a successful 13 year career as a venture capitalist, he is also a dedicated philanthropist, currently serving as vice-chairman of the Baxter Theatre, supporting budding small and medium enterprises as a board member of Endeavor, and supporting increased access to education through institutions like Kommunity Group Projects, the University of Cape Town and African Schools for Excellence. He was educated at the University of Cape Town and Georgetown University, USA.

Contents: The Great African Society

Preface
The Elusive Rainbow Nation
The Making of South Africa
A Pre-owned Society
The Great Fraud
After 1994 - Unintended Consequences of the Settlement
An Imperfect Democracy
Are We Capitalists or Communists?
Economic Freedom and the Comrades Marathon
The Original Sin
Societies in Peril
A More Civil Society
Towards a Great Society
Notes
Index