After the Party: Corruption, the ANC and South Africa's Uncertain Future by Andrew Feinstein

by Andrew Feinstein

After the Party is the explosive story of the power struggles dominating South African politics and a crucial analysis of the ANC's record in power. Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC member of parliament, recounts how Mandela's successor Thabo Mbeki repressed debate within the party, imposed his AIDS denialism on government, refused to criticize Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe and stopped an investigation of a multi-billion-dollar arms deal that was tainted by allegations of high-level graft. Feinstein shows how this infamous deal epitomises all that is rotten at the heart of the ANC. Investigating the payment of up to $200 million worth of bribes, he reveals a web of concealment and corruption involving senior politicians and officials, and figures at the very highest level of South African politics.With an insider's account of the events surrounding the contentious trial of South Africa's colourful President, Jacob Zuma, and the ongoing tragedy in Zimbabwe, After the Party has been acclaimed as the most important book on South Africa since the end of apartheid.

Genres: South Africa, Africa, Nonfiction, Politics, History, Southern Africa, Biography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Andrew Feinstein was elected an ANC member of parliament in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. He resigned in 2001 in protest at the ANC government’s refusal to allow an unfettered investigation into an arms deal that was tainted by allegations of high-level corruption. His political memoir, After the Party: A personal and political journey inside the ANC, was published in 2007.

Feinstein lives in London, where he chairs the Aids charity Friends of the Treatment Action Campaign, and lectures and writes on South Africa. He was educated at King’s College, Cambridge, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cape Town.

Reviews

[Eren Buğlalılar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny story: With economy degrees from Berkeley and Cambridge, a capitalist boi is offered a chance to contribute to the "liberation" of South Africa by becoming a leftist MP in the post-apartheid parliament. Honed in the economy schools of the core, his nose immediately smells opportunity.

He devotes himself to drafting, defending and passing aggressive neoliberal policies that opened the country's economy into imperialist capital, privatised public assets and smashed the bargaining power of the workers to create "a more flexible labour market" (p. 60). He gets sad when some politicians complain about the gap between the rich and the poor, as they "jarred the frail consensus in South Africa" (p. 78). Hah, 'frail consensus', namely the illegitimate rule of the rich over the pacified masses.

And once these policies come into full effect, they ruin the country's healthcare system, crush the purchasing power of the workers, further enrich the already ultra-rich white minority to the detriment of desperate masses, whose lives are now 10-years shorter because of raging HIV/AIDS epidemic. The "liberator" ANC politicians go full corrupt and sign shady deals with British and German arms dealers, pocketing sizeable sums of bribes.

Our capitalist boi is now heartbroken. Why did this happen? Wasn't a benign, moral, constructive capitalism that is useful for everyone, rich and poor, possible? Maybe, just maybe, if he wrote a book about how he battled against the corrupt politicians within his own party and lost, he could right the wrongs of capitalism and be the hero and the saviour of the masses?

Footnote to the author: I was not even slightly interested about the details of how your "testicles shrivelled in fright" after you lost an argument about corruption in the parliament. But thanks.

[Margitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes guts to to stand up for justice in difficult times, as the Afrikaner authors did during the Apartheid years. It is much easier to voice rebellion after the fact, when it was much safer, as so many Afrikaners tried to do post 1994 and did. But the people who really stood up for justice in the heat of the battle are those who should be glorified.

For that reason, Andrew Feinstein's book, written in a period of the ANC's golden moments, brought the much needed balance into the ANC tale which until then only depicted the noble side of their actions while too many dark secrets were still kept locked up with nobody to blow the whistle on it. Nobody dared until Andrew Feinstein came along. Since then, and also thanks to Feinstein, an even more detailed history of their brutal past was published. One of those whistle blower books is "The Devil in the Detail" co-authored by Paul Holden & Hennie Van Vuuren. Another one, "Zuma Exposed" written by Adriaan Basson also broke the surface. It coincides with the recent revolts in South Africa by the poorest of the poor who were used in getting the gravy train started and on track for the chosen few in the upper echelon of the ANC, while the hopeless foot soldiers were left behind as destitute, hungry, and disillusioned onlookers.

Feinstein's book was timely and necessary. Well written. Books like these justify the current battle to save the freedom of press in South Africa which is now under danger of being destroyed by the very same people exposed in Feinstein's book.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An indictment of ANC corruption after the promise of a new South Africa from a lefty insider MP. Even if you accept the necessity of setting SA on track in a framework of socialism and the affirmative action-like reconcilliation, the ANC has done a great job of pushing SA towards being another African basket-case. Like the American civil rights movement, what happens when the real leaders are killed, die or retire, and all that are left are corrupt substitutes?

[Aaron Watling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book about the failings of Thabo Mbeki and (to a lesser extent Jacob Zuma), along with Feinstein’s efforts to uncover the corruption involved in the South African arms deal of 1999. However, at some points Feinstein seems to really tell on himself about how much of a neoliberal he was. Also he perhaps fails to see how the policies he pushed for arguably limited the development of South Africa post-apartheid.

[Jan Rabie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is both a very interesting story and excellently written without being too casual or two formal. One almost feels sorry for the starry eyed liberalist who stands back for other MP’s because he didn’t have the struggle credentials and then starts to work tirelessly to make South Africa a better place for all. He even went into people homes in Sea Point to assist them with their personal problems. But then on the other side of 1994, the honeymoon of the new South Africa comes to an end and he learns how deep the rot sits within in the ANC. As of late, I have come to the conclusion that besides Nelson Mandela, the ANC had/has very little else to offer the people of South Africa. Perhaps that is what Andrew Feinstein also learned. A friend of mine recently said “After school, they sent us to the Army to ‘go and fight the ANC’ whom we didn’t know from a bar of soap. They told us that the ANC is a bunch of terrorists who “plant bombs in shopping centres”. THEY LIED TO US! The ANC is actually an organised crime family consisting of eloquent thieves who always use the collective cause to further their self-interest at the expense of their supporters.” Makes you think , doesn’t it?

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book confirmed much I'd understood or suspected about SA politics under both Mbeki and Zuma. I had always despised three ANC stalwarts in particular, and despite A Feinstein's idealistic defence of his party colleagues, the book thoroughly vindicates my dislike for PM, TY, WM and our previous Health Minister.

It is indeed depressing, if not chilling, to realise that the heroic liberation movement which once held the high moral ground in SA now governs under a cloud of corruption and entitlement; this continues to be a travesty to heroes like Mandela.

'After the Party' is a page-turner, written with flair, detailed evidence, references, and disillusionment - but without fear or favour.

We must revive the investigation into our President's role in the Arms deal and expose him and others who have enriched themselves at the country's expense.

[Nick Fitzhenry · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this memoir, Andrew Feinstein recounts his experiences as an ANC member of parliament (first in Gauteng and then in the national legislature) during the first decade and a half of the party's rule. At the core of the book are the failures of the Mbeki administration: the president's AIDS denialism, the arms procurement scandal, and the shift within the ANC from a democratic, horizontal organisation to one of an increasingly centralised leadership resistant to dissent. Feinstein's commitment to his parliamentary responsibilities resulted in him being one of the few members prepared to relentlessly expose the arms deal, and to implicate his guilty superiors. This would result in him being chided and alienated within the party, and ultimately forced to resign.

Feinstein's insider account provides sufficient material for a fascinating read, but it is his crisp prose and his strength in communicating policymaking that makes the book very enjoyable. In succinct asides, Feinstein summarises many of the major political moments of the early years of democracy and how these were dealt with within the ANC: the onset of the AIDS crisis, the early provincial politics of Gauteng, the implementation of GEAR, and the arms deal. For someone who was too young to engage with these issues at the time, I found his review very useful.

After the Party is a book about disillusionment and can be quite disheartening to read, resonating with the broader disappointment in the ANC's performance after Mandela. However, consolation is found in the view, which Feinstein holds, that the principles on which the party was founded transcend the ANC's recent failures, and are ready to be reignited if the political will can be generated.

[Tafadzwa Kwaramba · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big fan of Thabo Mbeki despite read about some of his character flaws in his biographies written by William Gumede and Mark Gevisser, I always thought of him as an astute politician who managed to bridge the gap between being an intellectual and being an outright politician. The corruption described that surrounded the purchase of arms by the South African Defence Forces as described within the book is both disturbing and unsurprising for a follower of the trajectory of politics particularly politics of liberation movements. The principles of the author shine throughout the book but the laces of naiveté that lead to his downfall through trusting bureaucracy rather than realising that bureaucratic offices are occupied by people who are primarily politicians. Political gamesmanship is also present throughout the book and it appears that money and corruption are now wired and part of the ANC DNA. I give the book a fair 3/5 because it is written by the protagonist and the author hardly points at his own flaws which makes his narrative fairly questionable.

[Avanti Victoire Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Feinstein's book gives us an insight into the South African project gone badly wrong. The ANC fall from grace is saddening. I have reached out to Andrew personally and I can say he is humble and polite. His books are a valuable contribution to society.

[Kallum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-done history of the first 10 years of democratic rule in SA, Thabo Mbeki's strange views on HIV, and the corruption and obfuscation at work during the infamous arms deal that serves as a large part of the books's topic.

[Njabulo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a riveting read. Took a while to get to the juicy bits but I truly enjoyed the read. Highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in South African politics.

[Recato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still relevant today as one of the people who received BOSASA money is mentioned in this book.

[Stefan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong description of the ANC’s rise and subsequent moral corruption through the early 2000s.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only does Andrew Feinstein give a detailed insider's look of all the turmoil, triumph, and eventual disappointment of post-apartheid politics...he has also written what amounts to a representative example of how all governments work. In this respect his book is an unparalleled look at the machinations of power. It's more than a book about South Africa. His book made me understand once and for all that every government is comprised of flawed humans, who make decisions, not always consciously, in a manner that furthers their own personal interests. I am reminded of the way th US blundered into a civil war and eventually toward emancipation, a process driven by people on both sides of the war who were more interested in retaining political and economic power than in ending the moral horror of slavery--Lincoln did not emancipate the slaves until very late in the war, and even then the terms of emancipation were grudging. Even so, emancipation happened. And even so, in the case of South Africa, apartheid was abolished, and however flawed the outcome has been, the change was accomplished without the need for a bloody civil war.

I don't think it was Feinstein's intention to write a representative case study concerning the abuse of power, though. He meant for this book to be a muckraking exposé'; a call to action and for political reform. If you read the book with this sole intent in mind, it might leave you as frustrated with humanity and with government as the author himself seems to be. But i believe the book to be much more valuable as a study of power and its uses and abuses, a story that has implications far beyond the specific players and their actions at a given time in history. Within this larger historical framework the book is transformative and even hopeful.

[Greg Perowne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feinstein's enthusiasm for politics and effective governance is infectious. Unfortunately, reality taints the idealism within the ANC as corruption rears its ugly head. The book is very informative and eye opening about the inner workings of the South African government and the ANC, however as a foreigner new to South Africa it was difficult to follow the endless cast of names and organizations. I can't help but think this account would have resonated more with someone who has been present and politically aware in South Africa for the entire saga.

[Ray Hartley · Rating 4 out of 5]

After taking his seat in South Africa's first democratic parliament on the ANC benches, Andrew Feinstein believed that he would be part of the unfolding of the democratic transition. Instead, he found himself in the fight of his life as the party machine turned on him for asking too many questions about a massive arms acquisition deal. His journey from white South African with a conscience to political outsider is gripping reading.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably because I know so little about the ANC, I found this book insightful and thought provoking. I guess I'd need to come back and reread it some day to understand it a whole lot better. Some of the allegations are terrible... and the story is sad. I guess it's important to realise that even heroes have clay feet!

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow - such a good book about the ANC arm's deal. Written by a former MP who was originally put into charge of looking into the deal. Shows how South Africa is no different than any other country: CORRUPT! Such a fascinating read!

[Gadifele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must-read for South Africans. It leaves some questions unanswered; there is soooo much about the RSA Arms Deal that was hidden, that I wonder if the truth will ever wholly come out in the open...?

[Benson]

This book made me cry tears of pain and betrayal. It made me believe in ethical leadership. It made me loose hope for my country. A must read for anyone who can read. Thanks Angela Walker for sharing

[Thorsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I good review of the current kingdom of corruption called the South African circus. Needless to say, many more books have been published since with even more information on the rot, corruption and gory crime that we have to live with after "they" took over. It is saddening and disgusting.

[Chidi]

Gives a picture about the build up to the Arms Deal scandal that rocked South Africa soon after democracy. One for keeps.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

All is corruption.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing. This kind of stuff is the reason most of us are burying our heads in the sand.

[Fela · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a South African reading it a couple years after it was published, some things might seem redundant as they have been covered on local newspapers. But, it is still a good read.

[Marshal Mdeza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inside the tick of things of Arms Deal scandal and ANC

[Michael D'Offay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it. Sobering account of what happens when freedom fighters become politicians.

[Annabell · Rating 4 out of 5]

What detailed insight! Loved reading this book & it sheds so much light on the party.

[Stephen Rayner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant book exposing the magnitude of corruption in South Africa.

[Bernard Nel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant information from an insider.