This book alerts readers to the dangers of tradition as a formal, structured politics, which enriches a narrowly elite minority while overriding democratic rights, effecting a 'state of exception' for the governance of millions who are rendered as 'subjects' in South Africa. Gerhard Maré sets his focus on three powerful men - Goodwill Zwelithini, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Jacob Zuma - to illustrate how, from different social locations, each has relied on claims to Zulu tradition to occupy powerful and financially rewarding positions.

Print edition not for sale in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Gerhard Maré is Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. During his tenure, he served as Chair of Sociology and was Founding Director of the Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity. He is the author, most recently, of the award-winning Declassified: Moving beyond the Dead End of Race in South Africa.