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Aug 19, 2013 Ray Hartley rated it really liked it

Written by one of South Africa's most original and fearless thinkers, Moeletsi Mbeki's Architects of Poverty is essential reading if you want to understand what's wrong with the national economy. His chapter on South Africa's elites is a tour de force of analytical thinking, tracing the rise of the mining "oligarchs" and how they cut a deal with the ANC which led to black economic empowerment. Its a tragedy that Mbeki has been twice dismissed - first because he is the brother of Thabo Mbeki and Written by one of South Africa's most original and fearless thinkers, Moeletsi Mbeki's Architects of Poverty is essential reading if you want to understand what's wrong with the national economy. His chapter on South Africa's elites is a tour de force of analytical thinking, tracing the rise of the mining "oligarchs" and how they cut a deal with the ANC which led to black economic empowerment. Its a tragedy that Mbeki has been twice dismissed - first because he is the brother of Thabo Mbeki and secondly because he has been smeared as a traitor. Neither caricatures are valid, as this book demonstrates. Its almost five years old now, but it still holds its own. ...more

Jan 24, 2013 Margitte rated it it was amazing

Moeletsi Mbeki is not known for tiptoeing through the tulips and does not waste time in expressing his honest opinion about the current developments in South Africa. The book is an easy read about different issues crippling the South African political landscape. A very welcome voice of reason.

Aug 04, 2020 Deepa Daya rated it really liked it

Amazing book loved it. Although this book was published nearly 10 years ago, Mbeki's views are still very relevant. The book focuses on how African elites have played a role in keeping their citizens poor. And the blunt nature of Mbeki's writing kept me coming back for more.

In this book Moeletsi highlights how the political elites in Africa sell off the continent's assets to the rest of the world. In return for this service these political elites receive crumbs from foreigners who make their fortunes by processing Africa's resources.

He focuses a lot on South Africa and Zimbabwe and provides insightful critique of the rulers of these two countries and how they led their countries to poverty.

This is a very informative book; and an easy read. Some of my favourite sect

In this book Moeletsi highlights how the political elites in Africa sell off the continent's assets to the rest of the world. In return for this service these political elites receive crumbs from foreigners who make their fortunes by processing Africa's resources.

He focuses a lot on South Africa and Zimbabwe and provides insightful critique of the rulers of these two countries and how they led their countries to poverty.

This is a very informative book; and an easy read. Some of my favourite sections are:
1. The section where Moeletsi explains how BEE was invented by the South African oligarchs.
2. The section where he touches on the two negotiation forums that led to SA's new democratic order (Codesa + Codesa II).
3. When he explained what happened to Zimbabwe

...more

Jun 08, 2017 Imz rated it liked it

Most of the 1 billion people who live in poverty are in sub-Saharan Africa. Why is this so?

Mbeki argues that the issue lies with political elites who are concerned with enriching themselves at the expense of the poor.

He argues that capitalism in Africa - his main focus being on South Africa - is based on mercantile capitalism - and it needs to change.

He opens up with a discussion on slavery and colonialism and the 'Scramble for Africa' (Africa's history of been a breeding ground for the extrac

Most of the 1 billion people who live in poverty are in sub-Saharan Africa. Why is this so?

Mbeki argues that the issue lies with political elites who are concerned with enriching themselves at the expense of the poor.

He argues that capitalism in Africa - his main focus being on South Africa - is based on mercantile capitalism - and it needs to change.

He opens up with a discussion on slavery and colonialism and the 'Scramble for Africa' (Africa's history of been a breeding ground for the extraction and exploitation of raw material at cheap prices). He argues that this system is still continuing today. In fact he goes as far as suggesting that Africa is deindustrialising - there is a resurgence of a scramble for natural resources and not enough production going on. For example he used South Africa as an example of a country that exports too many raw materials but not enough manufactured goods. This is contrast to developing countries such as China.

He touches on a number of subjects that seek to uncover why Africa's economic challenges but the main argument that is in this book is that the political elite are responsible for the plight of Africa today.

...more

Jun 18, 2015 Itai Gurira rated it it was amazing

Lords of Poverty deals with those who manipulate the existing poverty in the so called third world into an instrument of acquiring masses of wealth, political and economical power for themselves and their organisations in countries they claim to be helping. . . .this book on the other hand focuses on Afrika and how the political elite instead of helping us move from the trenches of Poverty use funds and state policies to enrich themselves and their cronies as well as using resources to quell dis Lords of Poverty deals with those who manipulate the existing poverty in the so called third world into an instrument of acquiring masses of wealth, political and economical power for themselves and their organisations in countries they claim to be helping. . . .this book on the other hand focuses on Afrika and how the political elite instead of helping us move from the trenches of Poverty use funds and state policies to enrich themselves and their cronies as well as using resources to quell dissension thereby maintaining our state of dependence. . .the book just does not stop at highlighting their criminal acts and their repercussions but also goes on to suggest realistic solutions which could see especially sub-Saharan Afrika, develop home grown solutions that put us on similar growth patterns as the rest of the world ...more

The book was published in 2009 and I read it in 2017 with the benefit of hindsight. His diagnosis of the problems experienced especially by South Africa and Zimbabwe have proved to be accurate. I like his analysis from the 1800's to the 2000's and how he connects the dots for the reader. His analysis especially on the failures of inter-regional bodies such as SADC was particularly interesting. This book is an honest critique of the current state of affairs. The book was published in 2009 and I read it in 2017 with the benefit of hindsight. His diagnosis of the problems experienced especially by South Africa and Zimbabwe have proved to be accurate. I like his analysis from the 1800's to the 2000's and how he connects the dots for the reader. His analysis especially on the failures of inter-regional bodies such as SADC was particularly interesting. This book is an honest critique of the current state of affairs. ...more

Nov 05, 2016 Fleur rated it really liked it

Very interesting and written in a clear way. I do not understand enough of the continent to judge what Mbeki is saying, so I cannot really have an opinion on his work. Only that I can only imagine that the problem is much more complex than he lets on. Sure I believe that political elites play an important part in the underdevelopment of sub Sahara Africa but that cannot be all can it?

Apr 01, 2012 Corey Holmes rated it really liked it

from Cairo to cape town. oh if this was possible eastern civilization would have two superpowers. China and Africa

Apr 07, 2012 Cathie rated it really liked it

Extremely interesting view on African politics and development. Should be prescribed reading for all politicians. I trust that the narrow ray of light provided will be seen, and advice followed.

Great. Enlightening. A must read for prospective South African entrepreneurs.

Mbeki provides statistics to support a commentary on the state of affairs in Africa. However, the 'Africa' he describes comprises of South Africa and Zimbabwe. The former is a repeating exception to the arguments he presents while the latter provides no evidence to support his claims.

Namely, that the institutions inherited by the newly formed democracies are the cause of the abhorrent behaviour of many African 'leaders' and their governments.

There can be no doubt that the years of colonialism ha

Mbeki provides statistics to support a commentary on the state of affairs in Africa. However, the 'Africa' he describes comprises of South Africa and Zimbabwe. The former is a repeating exception to the arguments he presents while the latter provides no evidence to support his claims.

Namely, that the institutions inherited by the newly formed democracies are the cause of the abhorrent behaviour of many African 'leaders' and their governments.

There can be no doubt that the years of colonialism have left cavernous scars yet Mbeki's prose masks an oversimplification as to the cause of Africa's problems. The work is unoriginal and entirely devoid of any meaningful recommendations.

...more

Moeletsi Mbeki provides an exhilarating overview of the challenges faced by sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, the book is far too narrow in its focus and provides no practical solutions to the problems that it highlights.

Aug 17, 2013 Esther rated it it was ok

While claiming to be a book on the problems bedeviling Africa, this book actually focuses on the trials of South Africa and Zimbabwe. There are occasional references to other parts of Africa, but the bulk of the book is dedicated to these two countries.

If you are looking to get a cohesive understanding of Moeletsi Mbeki's criticisms of the South African and Zimbabwean leaders, this book will cover what you are looking for. His observations on BEE are particularly interesting.

However, if you ar

While claiming to be a book on the problems bedeviling Africa, this book actually focuses on the trials of South Africa and Zimbabwe. There are occasional references to other parts of Africa, but the bulk of the book is dedicated to these two countries.

If you are looking to get a cohesive understanding of Moeletsi Mbeki's criticisms of the South African and Zimbabwean leaders, this book will cover what you are looking for. His observations on BEE are particularly interesting.

However, if you are looking for a cohesive account on African leadership and are already familiar with these southern African stories, you may find the book frustrating.

...more

Apr 21, 2017 Graham rated it liked it

Some interesting perspectives and learnings.

The book made me ask some questions:
- What are the true reasons why South Africa (and Africa) are impoverished?
- Are African managers in companies overpaid, and is it true that they have no-one to account to?
- Why are the massive investments into education and healthcare not bearing enough fruit?
- How to influence the people of our country to move away from "rent seeking" and towards entrepreneurship?
- How to enlighten people that a middle class lifest

Some interesting perspectives and learnings.

The book made me ask some questions:
- What are the true reasons why South Africa (and Africa) are impoverished?
- Are African managers in companies overpaid, and is it true that they have no-one to account to?
- Why are the massive investments into education and healthcare not bearing enough fruit?
- How to influence the people of our country to move away from "rent seeking" and towards entrepreneurship?
- How to enlighten people that a middle class lifestyle comes along with a requirement to be productive?
- To what degree has South Africa broken away from the colonial/extractive economic model?
- Is land ownership truly a prerequisite to political and economic enfranchisement for the poor?

Many of these questions have been asked for hundreds of years in nations and people groups all over the world.

Mbeki's ideas on how to solve the issues are:
- governments and leaders need to change from being rent seekers into entrepreneurs through peaceful change of power from the current single party/dictatorships typical in Africa (Mbeki seems to think this is inevitable, but I'm not convinced it is)
- people need to be encouraged to save, invest, take risks
- land should be given to the poor
- independent structures should be introduced to encourage, research, fund and protect industries and entrepreneurs, financed by developed nations

The book is easy enough to read, although it was not as "hard hitting" as I was expecting. Overall probably quite a balanced overview of some of the major issues.

Pointers to further reading, resources are a little scarce. I was hoping to be more inspired by the end! Worth the read.

...more

Moeletsi Mbeki is a political economist and the deputy chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs, an independent think tank based at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is the younger brother of former President Thabo Mbeki, of whom he has been a frequent critic, and son of ANC leader Govan Mbeki.

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