Political commentator Prince Mashele received a boost when his controversial book, The Death of our Society, was well received when he presented it to an audience at a packed hall at the University of Venda on Friday (19 August).

Several speakers, including pupils from neighbouring high schools, commented favourably on the book, although several said the book needed further elaboration on several points. Mashele is also the executive director of the Centre for Politics and Research in Pretoria.

In the book, Mashele says South African society is on the decline and the quesionable morality of its leaders has had a lot to do with it. Other contentious issues in the book include corruption in tendering processes and development indicators from the World Bank that have shown the country to be degenerating in a number of areas.

As an indication of degeneration of morality, he gives the example of the President Jacob Zuma’s rape case. He says the case leaves the president´s image tarnished. He also says public hospitals are now not comparable to private hospitals. The same goes for public schools compared to private schools.

Mashele says the book has two sections: the first is the view from outside South Africa, which consists of indicators by the World Bank which show the country to be degenerating in a number of areas, and the other section is his views of South Africa.

In the book, he talks of an imaginary municipality where one cannot get a tender or a job unless one is close to the manager, the mayor or the ruling party. “We said apartheid was rotten because, if you were opposed to it, you were not employed. So, even the New South Africa is rotten if it allows such things to happen,” he says.

Elelwani Nevhuramba, a pupil from Mbilwi High, read a chapter on morality and said Mashele comes out with some convincing statements, but he does not show, in practical terms, how the situation can be turned around.

Mashele says the idea behind the book is to start a debate about the country. He feels South Africa is an intellectual desert, because intellectuals in the country have produced nothing in the form of books to assist the country to solve its problems. He says the problem is the culture of hero-worshipping individuals.