Ben Turok

If we are to talk of a 'new' intellectual movement, the question is begged: what happened to the 'old' intellectual movement? What happened to the thinkers who inspired and led our struggle against colonialism, apartheid and exploitation? What has happened to the thinkers who gave substance and guidance and, in many cases, practical leadership to our attempts to undo the past and forge a new future? In pursuit of answers to these questions, the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), in partnership with the Liliesleaf Trust, hosted a roundtable in March 2015 on the theme 'The Role of Intellectuals in the State-Society Nexus'. The roundtable received inputs from a range of thinkers, including Ibbo Mandaza, Ben Turok, Ari Sitas, Ayanda Ntsaluba, Xolela Mangcu, Joel Netshitenzhe, Tshilidzi Marwala and Nomboniso Gasa, as well as provocative and piercing inputs from the attendees. This publication aims to put the contributions and debates at the roundtable further into the public domain and records the input of the main speakers, the respondents, as well as the discussion from the floor. The rigorous debate at the roundtable spilt out of the boundaries of the event itself and encouraged a number of thinkers to provide additional material for this publication: Z. Pallo Jordan, David Moore (with Tshilidzi Marwala) and Desiree Lewis.

This title begins from the standpoint that new thinking is needed if South Africa is to generate sustainable economic growth, provide employment and decent work and promote rural development. As comparisons with other developing economies, particularly South Korea and Brazil, show, it is possible for the so-called developmental state to direct and plan economic activity and achieve developmental objectives. At the same time the title warns about the perverse impacts of black economic empowerment, particularly the growth of a rentier class of well-connected entrepreneurs.

Ben Turok, a former anti apartheid activist and veteran ANC MP, played a key role in the writing of the Freedom Charter, in particular its chapter dealing with economic equality. In November 2011, he broke party ranks and did not vote for the controversial Protection of Information Bill, also known as the Secrecy Bill. As cochairman of Parliament's ethics committee, he enforced strict compliance among MPs with the asset disclosure policy and presided over two controversial cases—those of former communications minister Dina Pule and ANC MP Yolanda Botha, who faced charges of fraud and corruption. With My Head above the Parapet is a record of Ben Turok's experience as a participant in the political life of South Africa since 1994. It is also an insightful account of the ANC's decline and current malaise, told by an insider intent on holding his party to its historical mission of liberating South Africa from poverty, inequality, and discrimination.