Since 1994, South Africa has had five presidents who have varied greatly in style and character, despite all coming from the same political party. How do they compare? How did they handle the crises they faced? What effect did they have on the country?

As the ANC’s next elective conference approaches and Cyril Ramaphosa seeks a second term as president, the country is reeling from the effects of state capture and the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupled with an ailing economy and record unemployment, the need for good political leadership to steer us through the morass is more urgent than ever.

It is, therefore, a perfect time to think critically about the role that presidential leadership plays in our lives and in history. To this end, The Presidents provides an honest assessment of the five post-democracy presidents – Mandela, Mbeki, Motlanthe, Zuma and Ramaphosa – examining their strongest qualities and greatest weaknesses in the context of the momentous challenges they faced.

When the World Cup circus came to town it jolted South Africa out of its insular navel-gazing and roused a nation. Defying the sceptics and the Afro-pessimists - both at home and abroad - we put on a great show not just for South Africa, but for the whole continent. The Vuvezela Revolution is the definitive account of Africa's First World Cup ... definitive because it captures not only the big questions about South Africa's handling of the global mega-event, offering serious and insightful answers about the legacy of 2010, but also because it reveals the vivid granularity of this beautiful country during that extraordinary month - Jabulani, vuvuzelas and all. Thirty days that changed and built a nation ... or did it? Was it all just an act?

South Africa supposedly has one of the best Constitutions in the world, one which is intended to control and constrain the exercise of power by the state so that it does not threaten the liberty and security of citizens. But, in reality, does the Constitution contribute more to the security of some groups than others? Does it help to ensure certain types of security but not others? And does it have greater impact on some institutions than others? The book is based on the assumption that the Constitution has a significant impact on the security of South African citizens and communities but that this impact is differential. The chapters in the book explore what kind of differential impact the Constitution has, explain what accounts for the differences, examine the consequences of the different impact and consider whether there are any general observations and hypotheses that emerge from comparative perspectives.

For nearly ten years - indeed more if we include his period of influence under Mandela's presidency - Thabo Mbeki bestrode South Africa's political stage. Despite attempts by some in the new ANC leadership to airbrush out his role, there can be little doubt that Mbeki was a seminal figure in South Africa's new democracy, one who left a huge mark in many fields, perhaps most controversially in state and party management, economic policy, public health intervention, foreign affairs and race relations. If we wish to understand the character and fate of post-1994 South Africa, we must therefore ask: What kind of political system, economy and society has the former President bequeathed to the government of Jacob Zuma and to the citizens of South Africa generally? This question is addressed head-on here by a diverse range of analysts, commentators and participants in the political process. Amongst the specific questions they seek to answer: What is Mbeki's legacy for patterns of inclusion and exclusion based on race, class and gender? How, if at all, did his presidency reshape relations within the state, between the state and the ruling party and between the state and society? How did he reposition South Africa on the continent and in the world? This book will be of interest to anyone wishing to understand the current political landscape in South Africa, and Mbeki's role in shaping it.

Democracy in the time of Mbeki, third in IDASA's democracy index series, is a scorecard of the current state of South African democracy. Drawing on our organisation's experience and expertise, and using our unique 100-question Democracy index, this title sets out to measure how much progress has been made in South Africa's democracy-building project. This is not an attempt to judge the government of the day; it is way to assess the extent to which we all are contributing to our country's wellbeing. Including contributions from leading commentators who applied the index in their areas of expertise, this volume invites you to measure South Africa's democracy yourself, using the Democracy index included in this title. How much control do South African citizens have over the actions of their government? How equal are they in that process? Do the people rule, and do the people rule equally?These are the core questions that this volume attempts to answer.

The right to access information is explored in this book. The focus is on the South African law – said to be the "strongest access to information law in the world" – but there is an international perspective, with contributions from India, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom and the United States. This title argues that for the right to information to be meaningful it must extend beyond nation-state governments to transnational corporations and multilateral organisations such as the World Bank. The right to access information is not only an important civil and political right. It is also a socio-economic right, enabling the full realisation of other socio-economic rights such as the right to welfare, housing or education.