Over the next few weeks, online publisher South Africa – The Good News will be promoting the content of its new book South Africa @ 20: For better or for worse? by using some of the articles written by 42 contributors.

CEO Steuart Pennington speaks to Polity about the reasons behind the book's publication.

"Our narrative is bedevilled with conventional wisdom madness. Rumours, half-truths and sensationalist reporting are so much part of the way we talk. In this new publication, the 10th in our ‘good news’ series, we have selected 25 such topics, such as:

• our university standards are dropping
• it’s not ‘if’ we will end up like Zimbabwe, it’s ‘when’
• our global competitiveness is terminally in decline
• SA remains one of the most unequal societies in the world
• our trade unions are out of control
• SA will run out of water
• our productivity is the worst in the world
• our pay gap remains one of the worst in the world
• ex-pats slag us off at every opportunity."

Some of the 42 prominent South Africans to contribute to the book include Pali Lehohla (Statistician General), John Robbie (702), Rowan Philp (ex-pat USA), Thulani Nzima (CEO – SA Tourism) and Arno van der Merwe (Mercedes Benz SA), among others.

They tell us the truth, show us the facts, and expose the rumour, say Pennington.