Author's Forum: William Gumede

CSIS Author’s Forum featuring William Gumede, who will be discussing his new book entitled: Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC. This event will be held on Thursday, September 29, 2005, with a reception beginning at 5:00 p.m. and remarks and discussion from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 1800 K St., NW, Washington, DC, B1-Level. A

Mr. Gumede, a political analyst and commentator in South Africa, is a research fellow at the University of Witwatersrand’s School of Public and Development Management. He is a columnist with South Africa’s Sunday Independent and does work for the Economist Intelligence Unite and the BBC World Service. He was formerly deputy editor of the Sowetan, South Africa's largest national daily newspaper, and senior editor of the Financial Mail. He has won several journalism awards, including the South African Courageous Journalism Award (1997) and South Africa's Sanlam Excellence in Financial Journalism Award (2000).

Mr. Gumede’s new publication, forthcoming in the United States, offers an incisive political portrait of South African President Thabo Mbeki and critically evaluates the ANC’s difficult transition form liberation movement to governing party. The book has been praised as a balanced, comprehensive, and powerful look at Mbeki’s rise to leadership within the ANC and his drive to shape the policy agenda both of the ruling party and of South Africa.