5 minutes with Prince Mashele

04 March 2014 - 02:02 By Michael Titlestad
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I write because it deprives me of peace to observe the public being misled by dishonest politicians.

Why do you write?

I write because it deprives me of peace to observe the public being misled by dishonest politicians. I fulfil my social responsibility through written words.

What's the first book you read that made you think differently?

Proposed Roads to Freedom by Bertrand Russell.

If you had more time in your day how would you use it?

I would crisscross South Africa to urge citizens to think and act freely.

Where is your favourite place to write?

My office at the Centre for Politics and Research in Pretoria.

Who are your literary heroes?

Frantz Fanon, GWF Hegel, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Bertrand Russell, Immanuel Kant, Karl Popper, Friedrich Nietzsche, Herbert Marcuse, Niall Ferguson, Vladimir Lenin, Wole Soyinka, Francis Fukuyama, Martin Meredith.

What books are on your bedside table?

The Map and the Territory by Alan Greenspan.

Tell us something few people know about you?

I own a car wash.

What are you working on?

I am researching the history of white people in South Africa to discern lessons for black people.

  • Mashele co-authored 'The Fall of the ANC' with Mzukisi Qobo, published by Pan MacMillan. Available at Exclusive Books for R212
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