Witness to Power

Mathews Phosa has been an eyewitness to the changing strands of political power in South
Africa.
He was involved in the Black Consciousness Movement, the UDF and the ANC, before fleeing
into exile in 1985 and becoming an Umkhonto we Sizwe commander in Mozambique. A lawyer
by training, he was one of the first ANC members to return to South Africa to prepare the way for
negotiations.
He was premier of Mpumalanga during the presidency of Nelson Mandela, with whom he had
a strong relationship. Under Thabo Mbeki, whom he had known in exile, Phosa was pushed to the
sidelines, with false accusations that he was involved in a ‘plot’ to overthrow Mbeki. Phosa had
served under Jacob Zuma as an MK field commander in Mozambique, and he became treasurer
general of the ANC when Zuma became its president at Polokwane. But Phosa later became a vocal
critic of Zuma, and they didn’t speak for years, until the night before Zuma’s resignation. Phosa and
Cyril Ramaphosa studied law together at the University of the North in the 1970s, and Phosa
played a key role in advising him over the Phala Phala report that threatened to end his presidency.
Frank and honest, Witness to Power is a gripping story of a courageous life, and an insider’s
account of South Africa’s ruling party and its leaders.