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Our Poisoned Land: Living in the Shadows of Zuma’s Keepers
Our Poisoned Land is Jacques Pauwʼs sequel to the bestselling The Presidentʼs Keepers. A publishing phenomenon, The Presidentʼs Keepers fearlessly exposed former president Jacob Zumaʼs darkest secrets. Our Poisoned Land is as riveting and explosive as its predecessor. In his compelling narrative style, Pauw picks up where he left off in The Presidentʼs Keepers to expose the shadows, deceit and debauchery of Zumaʼs cronies.
555 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 24, 2022
154 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
About the author
Jacques Pauw
9 books55 followersSouth African journalist and author Jacques Pauw was a founder member of the anti-apartheid Afrikaans newspaper Vrye Weekblad in the late 1980s, where he exposed the Vlakplaas police death squads.
He worked for some of the country’s most esteemed publications before becoming a documentary filmmaker, producing documentaries on wars and conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi, Algeria, Liberia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, among other countries.
When he left journalism in 2014, he was the head of investigations at Media24 newspapers. He has won the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award twice, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting in the US, Italy’s Ilaria Alpi and the Nat Nakasa award for bravery and integrity in journalism.
He is the author of five books: four nonfiction and one fiction. They are In the Heart of the Whore, Into the Heart of Darkness, Dances with Devils, Rat Roads and Little Ice Cream Boy. Three of his books have been shortlisted for major literary awards.
He worked for some of the country’s most esteemed publications before becoming a documentary filmmaker, producing documentaries on wars and conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi, Algeria, Liberia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, among other countries.
When he left journalism in 2014, he was the head of investigations at Media24 newspapers. He has won the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award twice, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting in the US, Italy’s Ilaria Alpi and the Nat Nakasa award for bravery and integrity in journalism.
He is the author of five books: four nonfiction and one fiction. They are In the Heart of the Whore, Into the Heart of Darkness, Dances with Devils, Rat Roads and Little Ice Cream Boy. Three of his books have been shortlisted for major literary awards.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 9, 2022
Thuli Madonsela: Do we want a mafia state?
A FRIEND WHO had read the whole manuscript of this book commented that it is “the definitive guide to how irreparably fucked up this place is”. This is not how I had wanted it to be.
It is incredible to think that Jacques Pauw only put the finishing touches on this book as late as end October 2022. It was supposed to come out much earlier, but the Zondo Commission’s snail-like pace in releasing its State capture reports delayed publication.
Hardly on the shelves and Julius Malema threatened the full Wrath of the Commander-in-Chief, nicely boosting sales, whereafter he was conspicuous by his silence. Said salacious details about the EFF and its arch-capitalist-with-an-identity-crisis leader are only revealed close towards the end. They are by no means the most shocking revelations here.
Nearly towards the end of this exhausting book – which I had to put aside on several occasions as it is so upsetting and depressing to read – the Phala Phala scandal broke, reminding me of Pauw’s comment that it is almost impossible to write a ‘current affairs’ book in South Africa, given the volatility of its political situation, which is nearly as up and down as our loadshedding schedules.
The latter is very much a South African joke. I wonder how an international audience will respond to this book, but then I suppose the American publishing industry asks the same thing about the Trump tomes being shovelled out dissecting the minutiae of his presidency (and general incompetency, insanity and stupidity. You see, politicians are of the same stripe the world over.)
Of course, a major elephant in the room is the scandal that engulfed Pauw following the fake account he wrote for The Daily Maverick following a shameful drunken arrest incident at the Waterfront in Cape Town in late February 2021. Pauw addresses the issue perfunctorily in an Afterword that feels kind of tagged on (interestingly, I heard him comment in an interview that he wanted it at the front of the book, but his publisher overrode him. Pauw’s instinct was correct, I feel.)
There has been a lot of handwringing about Pauw throwing his privilege around as a white male to write these kinds of books, which invariably throw mud (and other materials) at our Rainbow leaders. I think that is a separate debate and one must read ‘Our Posioned Land’ on its own merits, no matter how flawed the author is perceived to be as a human being or as an investigative journalist, or even what you think of him as representing South Africa’s past.
Thankfully Pauw’s follow-up is possibly even more excoriating than ‘Our President’s Keepers’. His brilliance as a journalist is in synthesising vast, disparate quantities of information and statistics and presenting it in a narrative that reads like a Hollywood thriller.
Peppered with righteous fury and a lot of asides and jokes, it is a master stroke for Pauw to use relevant Tweets throughout. Not only are these in the public domain, but Tweeters often say or imply what the author cannot (legally, at least.)
An argument against the book is that, as a work of journalism, Pauw was legally obligated to seek a right of reply from everyone he references or quotes. He has pointed out that if he had done that, people like Arthur Fraser and Julius Malema would have halted the book in its tracks before it had even been written. The information Pauw divulges is in the public interest and therefore waives the automatic right to reply, which would have been weaponised against the book.
The fact that a character like Arthur Fraser still looms large in South African politics, given he is the instigator of the latest Phala Phala scandal, and whose account of how he acquired the information and to what end has never been questioned, just goes to show what a dangerous shadowy figure he continues to be, sowing discord and disharmony on the sidelines.
Apparently, Pauw’s book is well into its second print run. I read the e-version on Scribd and have bought a hard copy for my dad for Christmas (not a particularly uplifting gift, I know.) I doubt it will achieve the stratospheric sales of ‘The President’s Keepers’, which was a real political lightning rod in 2017. But the fact that Pauw is simply able to continue the story with many of the corrupt main players still firmly entrenched under Ramaphosa’s presidency is quite damning, to say the least.
Pauw writes prophetically:
If Ramaphosa survives the RET onslaught and the fallout from the Phala Phala catastrophe, he faces a challenging few years. He needs to get rid of Bheki Cele, revive police Crime Intelligence, ensure the State Security Agency fulfils its mandate of safeguarding the Republic and its people, boost the ranks and budget of the Investigating Directorate, and recruit top legal minds into the NPA. And we cannot have the Hawks operating at anything less than half its capacity.
Ramaphosa lacked courage and urgency in his first term as president. He now needs to change the course of this poisoned land. If he fails, we will again be at the mercy of the keepers.
A FRIEND WHO had read the whole manuscript of this book commented that it is “the definitive guide to how irreparably fucked up this place is”. This is not how I had wanted it to be.
It is incredible to think that Jacques Pauw only put the finishing touches on this book as late as end October 2022. It was supposed to come out much earlier, but the Zondo Commission’s snail-like pace in releasing its State capture reports delayed publication.
Hardly on the shelves and Julius Malema threatened the full Wrath of the Commander-in-Chief, nicely boosting sales, whereafter he was conspicuous by his silence. Said salacious details about the EFF and its arch-capitalist-with-an-identity-crisis leader are only revealed close towards the end. They are by no means the most shocking revelations here.
Nearly towards the end of this exhausting book – which I had to put aside on several occasions as it is so upsetting and depressing to read – the Phala Phala scandal broke, reminding me of Pauw’s comment that it is almost impossible to write a ‘current affairs’ book in South Africa, given the volatility of its political situation, which is nearly as up and down as our loadshedding schedules.
The latter is very much a South African joke. I wonder how an international audience will respond to this book, but then I suppose the American publishing industry asks the same thing about the Trump tomes being shovelled out dissecting the minutiae of his presidency (and general incompetency, insanity and stupidity. You see, politicians are of the same stripe the world over.)
Of course, a major elephant in the room is the scandal that engulfed Pauw following the fake account he wrote for The Daily Maverick following a shameful drunken arrest incident at the Waterfront in Cape Town in late February 2021. Pauw addresses the issue perfunctorily in an Afterword that feels kind of tagged on (interestingly, I heard him comment in an interview that he wanted it at the front of the book, but his publisher overrode him. Pauw’s instinct was correct, I feel.)
There has been a lot of handwringing about Pauw throwing his privilege around as a white male to write these kinds of books, which invariably throw mud (and other materials) at our Rainbow leaders. I think that is a separate debate and one must read ‘Our Posioned Land’ on its own merits, no matter how flawed the author is perceived to be as a human being or as an investigative journalist, or even what you think of him as representing South Africa’s past.
Thankfully Pauw’s follow-up is possibly even more excoriating than ‘Our President’s Keepers’. His brilliance as a journalist is in synthesising vast, disparate quantities of information and statistics and presenting it in a narrative that reads like a Hollywood thriller.
Peppered with righteous fury and a lot of asides and jokes, it is a master stroke for Pauw to use relevant Tweets throughout. Not only are these in the public domain, but Tweeters often say or imply what the author cannot (legally, at least.)
An argument against the book is that, as a work of journalism, Pauw was legally obligated to seek a right of reply from everyone he references or quotes. He has pointed out that if he had done that, people like Arthur Fraser and Julius Malema would have halted the book in its tracks before it had even been written. The information Pauw divulges is in the public interest and therefore waives the automatic right to reply, which would have been weaponised against the book.
The fact that a character like Arthur Fraser still looms large in South African politics, given he is the instigator of the latest Phala Phala scandal, and whose account of how he acquired the information and to what end has never been questioned, just goes to show what a dangerous shadowy figure he continues to be, sowing discord and disharmony on the sidelines.
Apparently, Pauw’s book is well into its second print run. I read the e-version on Scribd and have bought a hard copy for my dad for Christmas (not a particularly uplifting gift, I know.) I doubt it will achieve the stratospheric sales of ‘The President’s Keepers’, which was a real political lightning rod in 2017. But the fact that Pauw is simply able to continue the story with many of the corrupt main players still firmly entrenched under Ramaphosa’s presidency is quite damning, to say the least.
Pauw writes prophetically:
If Ramaphosa survives the RET onslaught and the fallout from the Phala Phala catastrophe, he faces a challenging few years. He needs to get rid of Bheki Cele, revive police Crime Intelligence, ensure the State Security Agency fulfils its mandate of safeguarding the Republic and its people, boost the ranks and budget of the Investigating Directorate, and recruit top legal minds into the NPA. And we cannot have the Hawks operating at anything less than half its capacity.
Ramaphosa lacked courage and urgency in his first term as president. He now needs to change the course of this poisoned land. If he fails, we will again be at the mercy of the keepers.
November 26, 2022
OUR POISONED LAND: LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF ZUMA’S KEEPERS
Jacques Pauw
From The President’s Keepers: Those Keeping Zuma in Power and Out of Prison to Our Promised Land: Living in the Shadow of Zuma’s Keepers, Jacques Pauw affirms that the more things change it is the more they remain the same.
The Zuma years marked the near end of South Africa and all her prospects, as Ramaphosa’s era offered the prospects of Mandela’s promised land.
As it turned out, Pauw argues in detail, Ramaphosa dazzled only to disappoint – crime and grime abound as we continue to live in the shadow of Zuma’s keepers who never went to prison to account for their state capture crimes.
As in the President’s Keepers, Pauw’s Our Poisoned Land offers a detailed account of the nation in a state of decay.
Julius Malema and his coterie of Gucci-revolutionaries’ double standards receive their fair treatment, hence attempts to remove the book from the shelves.
Our police-police services minister of Police Bheki Cele and his compromised functionaries bear no prospects to rid the country of rampant crime.
There is a lot of rot that Pauw lays bare for the country to know.
Our Poisoned Land is not an easy read, but it is a necessary read for citizens and their leaders to do something about the sorry state of the country.
You have to read the book itself to get the real picture of the nation. It is not all gloom and doom though; the book abounds with anecdotes for some comic relief.
A must-read for all those who love this beautiful country of ours.
Thanks to Paige Nick, The Good Book Appreciation, and the publishers Tafelberg for the giveaway that gave me an early opportunity to read the book.
Jacques Pauw
From The President’s Keepers: Those Keeping Zuma in Power and Out of Prison to Our Promised Land: Living in the Shadow of Zuma’s Keepers, Jacques Pauw affirms that the more things change it is the more they remain the same.
The Zuma years marked the near end of South Africa and all her prospects, as Ramaphosa’s era offered the prospects of Mandela’s promised land.
As it turned out, Pauw argues in detail, Ramaphosa dazzled only to disappoint – crime and grime abound as we continue to live in the shadow of Zuma’s keepers who never went to prison to account for their state capture crimes.
As in the President’s Keepers, Pauw’s Our Poisoned Land offers a detailed account of the nation in a state of decay.
Julius Malema and his coterie of Gucci-revolutionaries’ double standards receive their fair treatment, hence attempts to remove the book from the shelves.
Our police-police services minister of Police Bheki Cele and his compromised functionaries bear no prospects to rid the country of rampant crime.
There is a lot of rot that Pauw lays bare for the country to know.
Our Poisoned Land is not an easy read, but it is a necessary read for citizens and their leaders to do something about the sorry state of the country.
You have to read the book itself to get the real picture of the nation. It is not all gloom and doom though; the book abounds with anecdotes for some comic relief.
A must-read for all those who love this beautiful country of ours.
Thanks to Paige Nick, The Good Book Appreciation, and the publishers Tafelberg for the giveaway that gave me an early opportunity to read the book.
November 19, 2022
I read Jacques Pauw's The President's Keepers a few years ago, so when I saw this follow-up, I got it right away.
The book reads like a thriller and just like its predecessor reveals explosive facts about the state of South Africa.
The book reads like a thriller and just like its predecessor reveals explosive facts about the state of South Africa.
August 1, 2023
This is a meticulously documented account of what has happened and continues to happen in South Africa - a poisoned land indeed. So much has gone on that I find it impossible to remember the details of each nefarious deed oe event. Jacques Pauw has done the people of South Africa a great service in collating all the facts around most, if not all, of the scandalous and outrageous elements of state capture. Thanks to an excellent index, one can easily find and re-read about these events to refresh the failing memory. It is quite depressing, yes - but it gives hope that someday, someone may just be held to account because these deeds have been brought into the open by a courageous journalist. LEST WE FORGET...
December 28, 2022
Following "The President's Keepers", this is a must-read for conscious South Africans and others interested in understanding the blueprint of how kleptocratic strongmen go about capturing a modern democratic state. The book is rich in supported facts that played out in the media, as well as bagsful of new claims that are likely to be substantiated given Mr Pauw's credentials as an investigative journalist with a career trajectory of integrity. After "The President's Keepers", this is arguably one of the most important books on South African politics and society in the country's short history. The only criticism that one can offer is that Mr Pauw seems to use more figurative and emotive language in describing some of the villains, than what we are used to from him (read “Dances with Devils” for comparison). Going on some of the Tweets that he received in response to his previous effort, this will likely put off part of the possible audience, in that it comes across as ad hominem attacks to some senior politicians. But given the levels of frustration with corrupt, country-stealing assholes like Zuma, Trump, Erdogan, Putin and their ilk, this small matter is forgiven, and it remains a fascinating and pleasant read, despite the disturbing fact that it is not fiction, but a summary of sinister activities with an adverse impact on ~60 million people.
February 1, 2023
I have reviewed much of the book’s content in my review of its predecessor “The President’s Keepers”.
Our poisoned land is just a continuation of its predecessor, with the significant addition being the state of affairs under the leadership of president Ramaphosa. Much is still the same, the country is still on the brink of collapse, the elite and politically connected are still ‘cruising nicely’ and all we harbour as its citizens is some hope of a better future.
This is a conscientising book. It reveals the darkness that is holding back the progress of a country that once had the potential to be great.
Our poisoned land is just a continuation of its predecessor, with the significant addition being the state of affairs under the leadership of president Ramaphosa. Much is still the same, the country is still on the brink of collapse, the elite and politically connected are still ‘cruising nicely’ and all we harbour as its citizens is some hope of a better future.
This is a conscientising book. It reveals the darkness that is holding back the progress of a country that once had the potential to be great.
April 20, 2024
Pauw covers well worn ground here with limited original contributions. As an anthology of dysfunction the book does well to collect different elements of South Africa's corruption and mismanagement crises under one cover but without an underlying narrative thread and much original reporting the book feels unmoored; written simply to exist as a follow up to a previously successful book. At the least though its a good overview of South Africa's challenges. That acknowledged, there are better other books / articles covering the areas Pauw focuses on. Accessibly written, though Pauw's over-the-top pugnacious style grates after a while.
January 24, 2023
Reading this book has put me in a state of depression. It is shocking to hear of the demise of this place that I love so much at the hands of the ANC. I am very grateful though for writers such as Jacques Paul who can shed light on the dark shenanigans of these supposed politicians/ civil servants but actually really just criminals.
December 29, 2022
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December 18, 2023
Heart breaking read.
What a book..... It's a must read for everyone that wants to know what is happening to our Great Country.
What a book..... It's a must read for everyone that wants to know what is happening to our Great Country.
September 14, 2025
Nkosi Sikalel\ iAfrica!!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews