- Why can multinationals build Africa's largest dam, and price water at levels that many Johannesburg residents can't afford? - Why are illegal electricity connections so common in Soweto? - Why is South Africa amongst the world's worst emitters of greenhouse gases? - Critical perspectives on post-apartheid South Africa's 'sustainable development' experience, and on the neo-liberal, market-oriented strategies adopted by central government and most municipalities since democracy dawned in 1994. Bond and his co-authors have researched and campaigned on behalf of social and environmental justice for years: offering alternatives to a huge minerals smelter at Nelson Mandela Metropole, opposing the Lesotho mega-dams, helping township activists end electricity/water disconnections and advocating free lifeline services. The hope lies with grassroots protest movements rising everywhere: against globalisation, privatisation, unemployment, poverty, the denial of healthcare and social services, and ecological degradation. In South Africa, what de-commodifying alternatives do they present? Unsustainable South Africa is an eye-opener.
Patrick Bond provides a vivid account of the tragedy of contemporary South Africa, which got rid of apartheid only to succumb to the forces of global neoliberalism. The ecological, social and economic consequences have been devastating and are presented here in raw detail. John Bellamy Foster, author, Ecology Against Capitalism