‘What's gone wrong?’ This is the question posed by Alex Boraine. A question on the lips of millions of South Africans.

Boraine attempts to answer this urgent question from the vantage point of wide experience as churchman, parliamentarian and the co-founder of IDASA. He digs deep into the history of the ANC in exile and as the governing party for two decades and concludes that in exile and today the ANC is slavishly committed to the party as the dominant factor. All else – the Executive, Parliament, the Judiciary, civil society and the media – take second and third place. The ANC seeks to control every institution.

‘Seizure of Power’ was the ANC’s watchword and battle cry in exile and it remains the aim of most of the leadership of the ANC. Control. Intolerance and corruption are the hallmarks of the governing party which has brought South Africa to be defined as a failing state.

Boraine goes beyond strong criticism and offers a number of proposals, including the re-alignment of politics as a way of preventing South Africa becoming a failed state.

Boraine was elected to Parliament for the Progressive Party in 1974 but resigned in 1986 and, together with Frederik van zyl Slabbert, founded IDASA. Boraine was one of the main architects of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and, in 1995, was appointed as its deputy chair. In 2001 Boraine co-founded the International Center for Transitional Justice. He is the author of two previous books: 'A Country Unmasked' and 'A Life in Transition'.

'What's gone wrong? On the brink of a failed state' is published by JonathanBall Publishers