What have been the most significant developmentspolitical social economicin South Africa since 1994 How much has changed since the demise of apartheid and how much remains stubbornly the same Should one celebrate a robust democracy now two decades old or lament the corrosive effects of factionalism greed and corruption on political life Colin Bundy tries to answer such questions while avoiding simplistic or onesided assessments of life under Mandela Mbeki and Zuma. He recognizes real advances under ANC rule but also identifies the limits and contradictions of such progress. Bundy demonstrates too how the countrys past permeates the present complicating and constraining the politics of transition so that genuine transformation has been shortchanged.