R.W. Johnson writes:

Andrew Feinstein’s book has been a great success in South Africa because the country’s notorious $5 billion arms deal (a package involving British Aerospace and several other European suppliers) and its attendant corruption, which are at the centre of the book, have hung for years like a dark cloud over the political system. The 1999 deal saw South Africa re-equip itself with jet fighters and training aircraft, submarines and corvettes, bought mainly from British and German suppliers, but there was never a clear rationale for the deal: South Africa had no enemies; with the exception of the corvettes, its old equipment was adequate; and it now turns out that the country lacks the specialist skills to use either the fighters or the submarines. Without doubt the large commissions the arms companies were willing to pay were a major incentive for various ANC politicians to push the deal through; but the stink of corruption was unmistakeable even as they did so.

(LRB 20 November 2008)

Jonathan Ball | paperback 287 pp. |ISBN: 9781864822623