Patriots & Parasites

Patriots & Parasites

By Dene Smuts

Quivertree Publications. R295

Patriots & Parasites, completed just days before Smuts' unexpected death in 2016, is her account of the momentous period known as the Transition Era, through the lens of her 25-year career as a key opposition MP and a respected legislator. With ambitious breadth and rare insight, she examines the arduous but exhilarating work of writing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the great experiment in catharsis that was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the reinvigoration of racial polarisation under the Thabo Mbeki administration. In addition, she addresses the entrenchment of cronyism under President Jacob Zuma, and the fight to protect the crucial balance of accountability enshrined in the freedom of the media and the independence of the judiciary.