Book Title: The Deferred Dream
Author: Mark Gevisser
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
The Dream Deferred is a valuable biography of Thabo Mbeki, the longest-serving president of post-apartheid South Africa (1999-2008).
The book is both a polished scholarly work and a fascinating story of a man who succeeded international icon Nelson Mandela to lead South Africa. By tracing the path of Mbeki’s life, it sheds new light on the creation of both the man and the new South Africa founded in 1994. He seeks out and succeeds in the transition to the new South Africa and its initial problems. of rebirth It is part biography (of Mbeki) and part the story of the long international struggle of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to end apartheid.
The author, Mark Gevisser, spent seven years reconnecting the dots in Mbeki’s life. He traveled to places where Mbeki spent his formative and exile years: Transkei, Angola, Swaziland, Tanzania, London and Moscow, among others. He interviewed figures from the anti-apartheid movement from around the world, ANC activists in exile, academics, historians, family and friends. He also navigated through a mountain of documentary evidence, archival material and, of course, interviewed his main protagonist, Thabo Mbeki. The result of Gevisser’s work is a rich contemporary look at the current state of South Africa using historical lenses as a guide and sounding board. The story is told in a fascinating way, making it accessible to a wider audience.
The Dream Deferred follows Mbeki from his early birth in the hinterland of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province to his time as president of the country. It refers to how he dealt with the challenges of providing services and the country’s re-entry into the international arena. Gevisser brings to life the voices and places that made Thabo Mbeki in a way devoid of bravado. Gevisser is critical of, but empathetic towards, his main character (Mbeki), whom he believes to be a tragic figure. He examines in great detail the meaning of home and exile for Mbeki. He asks rhetorical questions about whether Mbeki’s dream of bringing South Africa into a modern state was deferred, if at all. If it was, Gevisser seems to wonder if this was due solely to Mbeki’s shortcoming as a person or part of an intricate web of attempts to pull a country back from the abyss of violent conflict less than two decades after he was born with scant resources. .
The book’s central argument: South Africa’s renaissance is fraught with complex challenges that will require significant time, resources and energy to traverse and overcome. It exposes Mbeki’s concern about the levels of anger among black sections of the population while the government’s service delivery machinery continued to move at a snail’s pace. Gevisser speaks of this anxiety without judging the man. It seems to suggest through a narrative of Mbeki’s refusal to reconnect with his birthplace in the Eastern Cape that the Chief (Mbeki’s political nickname) has yet to understand the meaning of home.
In his analyzes of Mbeki’s speeches, favorite quotes, and poems, Gevisser was able to discern a man who was not comfortable with himself. Gevisser argues that Mbeki could be a prisoner of his favorite Shakespearean character, Coriolanus. Caius Maroius Coriolanus is shown in the work as an aggressive, tactless and antisocial man. He is very unfriendly, hateful, and very open about how he feels towards others. He is, on the other hand, admired for his strength and directness, but his old qualities make it impossible to love him. In fact, in 2008, Mbeki’s party lost faith in him and decided to call him as president. He resigned six months before the end of his term. He remains a member of the ANC and is active in his pet project of the African Renaissance and peacebuilding in Africa.
To this end, Dream Deferred is a sociological study of a society in transition and how key political figures, by action or omission, can derail or accelerate the political and economic development of a newly independent state. The book is a collector’s item and a must-read for policymakers, students of sociology, politics, and philosophy. It makes an important contribution to the body of thought on key figures in Africa who brought many attributes to the table besides war and famine.