The New South Africa (review)

Reviewing this book early in 2003 leaves me regretful of the long lead time for the publication and reviewing of books intended to be timely.

Guy Arnold, a capable journalistic writer on international—and particularly African—topics, provides a detailed review of political and economic developments in South Africa between the all-race elections of April 1994 and 1998. He is a careful observer of a wide range of issues, and the pivotal nature of the period he covers gives this book lasting interest, even as events increasingly overtake it.

Arnold tells of the early challenges faced by South Africa as it moved away from racially determined privilege and deprivation and resulting isolation from the outside world toward the challenges of equalization and reengagement with its neighbors. The Mandela administration set important models for the future, but it will be difficult for his successors to manifest Mandela's saintly touch.

The book appears aimed toward a somewhat specialized readership with a more detailed treatment and a considerably higher price than most undergraduate or general-interest readers will find enticing. The writing is appealing, however, and Arnold has a knack for lighting up broad-brush discussions with telling examples and illustrations.

Arnold's writing is objective and well informed, if not particularly analytical in any academic sense. Even so, he is not shy to make his political stance clear—as, for example, when he notes how curious were de Klerk's assertions that the new South African constitution lacked commitment to moral values, given that his party's "application of moral judgments over the preceding 40 years had turned the country . . . into an international pariah state" (p. 39).

For such a short book, the coverage is extensive. In a short review, one can barely mention the range of political, economic, and foreign-policy issues touched upon.

As Arnold examines the political problems still facing South Africa, he expresses concern about persistent white racist attitudes. He gives a balanced assessment of the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, even while leaving open the question of how much reconciliation has been achieved through its efforts. He gives a good treatment of the major parties' attempts to sort out their roles, asking how well the African National Congress (ANC) can make the transition from liberation movement to governing party, whether the National Party (NP) will survive at all, and how much of a spoiler role Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) will play. I was perplexed to see so little mention of the role of the 1994 "Coloured" vote in the National Party's early post-1994 showing, but the treatment of the role of IFP was enlightening, to say nothing of the discussion of early appearances of corruption in the ANC, even as the 1994 elections took place.

Arnold gives considerable detail on the economy of South Africa, examining the backlog of just about everything having to do with quality of life among the newly enfranchised people of color—health, education, employment, land, and freedom from crime, to name just a few of the obvious ones—and the feeling of betrayal beginning to arise among the most disadvantaged as the years pass with little visible improvement. He examines instruments the government put in place to deal with the problems, as well as the tensions between the government and its erstwhile ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). He provides a strong review of developments, sector by sector: in investment, industry, mining, finances, and agriculture, finding some grounds for optimism (in its "refreshingly buoyant" banking and stockbroking systems) and many grounds for concern (tourism hampered by fears of violence, mining hit by the weakening of the diamond cartel and by the troubles of gold mining, and difficulties in agriculture, given the huge racial inequities in landholding with consequent resentment).

Finally, Arnold examines South Africa's emerging role in the world, now that it is no longer an international...