Fighting for the dream

RW Johnsons bestselling book How Long Will South Africa Survive? was described by Alec Hogg as a masterpiece in unblemished reality. Published at the height of the Zuma presidency it offered a chilling warning: the ANC appeared determined to drive South Africa into the abyss. Since then, Cyril Ramaphosa has taken over as president and there have been some attempts to clean up government. But the brief period of Ramaphoria is over and the threat to both the economy and the dream of a non-racial democracy is as real as ever. As national elections loom, Johnson examines the state of the nation with pinpoint accuracy. On the one hand state-owned institutions are near collapse, municipalities are defunct and civil strife is rampant. On the other, Ramaphosa and his team have come up with a plan to curb corruption and create growth and prosperity. But will it work? Johnson, in trademark style, picks it apart and, while doing so, offers some ideas of what he thinks is required to get us out of this morass.