Xolela Mangcu

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.

Dr Xolela Mangcu has earned a reputation as one of South Africa's most vibrant and engaging public voices. This new book is a collection of his columns written for local and international newspapers over the past fifteen years. Vivid, polemical and poignant, it records the initial excitement - and growing disillusionment - of a leading black intellectual about post-apartheid government, notably the administrations of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, and the growing realisation that achieving real liberation in South Africa will require an even longer struggle than he had once believed.

Xolela Mangcu is well known for the incisive social commentary that characterises his regular newspaper columns. In ""To the Brink"", Mangcu turns his focus to the state of South Africa's evolving democracy. From policy controversies surrounding HIV/AIDS, Zimbabwe, corruption and the constant labelling of black critics as 'foot lickers' of the white man, no relevant issues escape his analysis of the racial insider/outsider dynamic that has evolved under Thabo Mbeki's rule. Drawing on the intellectual history of the Eastern Cape as well as his own life experiences, Mangcu contrasts damaging racial exclusivity with the adaptation, renewal and tolerance that has characterised the best traditions of South Africa's liberation movements. He discusses how black and white people could build a joint culture and, finally, examines the ANC's choice of president and its implications for the future of democracy in South Africa.