Themes
William Gumede, 46, a South African economist and political scientist, from a modest Cape Town family, is Associate Professor in the Public and Development Management Department at the Graduate School of Business Administration, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He was formerly a student union leader at the time of the fight against apartheid, is former assistant editor of the Black daily newspaper The Sowetan, and in 2014 set up the think tank Democracy Works, which has been designed as an Internet platform and research laboratory on democracy in Africa. He is the author of several essays, including the best-seller Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC (2008, Zed Books, London & New York), has co-signed, with Leslie Dikeni, Poverty of Ideas: South African Democracy and the Retreat of the Intellectuals (2009, Jacana Media, Johannesburg) and published critical reflection on South Africa’s place in the group of emerging markets, South Africa in BRICS: Salvation or Ruination? (2013, Tafelberg, Cape Town).