A new book describes South African President Thabo Mbeki as a paranoid control freak whose ruthless silencing of critics of his policies on Zimbabwe and AIDS risks a backlash of the left and disenfranchised poor.
In an uncompromising critique, South African journalist William Gumede paints a picture of a highly effective cut-and-thrust politician behind the urbane pipe-smoking statesman who often charms Western leaders and businessmen.
Mr Gumede's book "Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC", which hits bookstores this week, charts the rise of Mr Mbeki, whom he says was catapulted into pole position to succeed Nelson Mandela as party and national president by the murder of Communist Party leader Chris Hani by rightwingers in 1993.
South African journalist William Gumede, on South African President Thabo Mbeki
Mr Mbeki then sidelined rivals like now-businessmen Cyril Ramaphosa, Mandela's favourite, and Tokyo Sexwale "in a series of rapid and ruthless political manoeuvres behind the scenes".
"Never was his paranoia more apparent than when he announced that his former rivals - Ramaphosa, Sexwale and (Mathews) Phosa - were conspiring to oust him in 2001," Mr Gumede writes.
Gumede is scathing of Mr Mbeki's refusal to take neighbouring Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, to task over human rights abuses and the collapse of that country's once vibrant economy.
"For Mbeki, 'quiet diplomacy' means abstaining from public rebuke of Mugabe while telling him privately, over a cup of tea, that some people are a little annoyed with him," he writes.
"It would be foolish to pretend anything except that the universally reviled Mugabe had outplayed the silky Mbeki at his own game. Quiet diplomacy has failed abysmally to stop the rot in Zimbabwe, but it is not in Mbeki's make-up to admit defeat."
Mr Mbeki's spokesman dismissed Gumede's criticisms, saying it had become fashionable to publish "fanciful claims" about Mr Mbeki.
"The facts speak for themselves: The country under the leadership of the president stands high in the community of nations and his positions on crucial issues such as the fight against HIV/AIDS are well known and have been widely hailed by the UN and serious observers internationally," he added.