Architects of Poverty - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1770101616 ISBN 13: 9781770101616

Publisher: Pan Macmillan, 2009

Synopsis

Of an estimated 1 billion people in the world who are trapped in a cycle of grinding poverty and despair, a disproportionate number live in sub-Saharan Africa. In this account, Moeletsi Mbeki analyses the plight of Africa and concludes that the fault lies not with the mass of its people but with its rulers - the political elites who contrive to keep their fellow citizens poor while enriching themselves. Concentrating mainly on South Africa, his country of birth, and Zimbabwe, his home when he was in exile, Mbeki tells a tale of lost opportunities and extinguished hopes. Yet Mbeki is no Afro-pessimist. Along with his candid expose of the problems, he poses some suggestions about what needs to be done to break the stranglehold of the African elites on political power and to set sub-Saharan Africa once more on the road to development.

About this title

About the Author

Moeletsi Mbeki is a journalist, private business entrepreneur and political commentator. After returning to South Africa from exile in 1990, he was appointed Head of Communications for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and Media Consultant to the African National Congress (ANC). Today Mbeki is a political analyst for Nedcor Bank and the Deputy Chairman of the South African Institute for International Affairs, an independent think tank based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He is a member of the executive council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which is based in London. Mbeki is a director of several companies, including Endemol South Africa (Pty) Limited and African Resources & Logistics Corporation (Arelco) (Pty) Limited.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1770101616
• ISBN 13: 9781770101616
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216