Superpower or Neocolonialist?

South Africa is undeniably the continent's powerhouse. Local corporates like MTN, Standard Bank and Shoprite are African business giants; South Africa is the only African member of BRICS; and a South African heads the African Union Commission. Yet the country is often perceived by other African states as a bully that punches above its weight. Does South Africa have the moral standing, and economic and military capacity to call itself a superpower? In twenty years of reporting on Africa, Liesl Louw-Vaudran has travelled with South African heads of state and met business leaders from across Africa. In this book, she tries to answer accusations that South Africa behaves like a neocolonial power by examining key events – from Thabo Mbeki's reforms of the African Union to the disastrous peace-keeping mission in the Central African Republic in 2013 under President Jacob Zuma.