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By Frank Chikane
"Eight days in September" refers to the eight-day period in September 2008 when Thabo Mbeki was removed from office as the President of South Africa. At the time, Frank Chikane was Secretary of Cabinet and Head (Director-General) of the Presidency and in that capacity he was responsible for managing the transition from Mbeki to Kgalema Motlanthe and then on to Jacob Zuma. He thus had a front row seat to the unfolding drama and was one of very few insiders to be party to the transition in such a unique way.
In July 2010 Chikane published a series of articles with Independent Newspapers that came to be known as the "Chikane Files". These form the basis of some of the content of this book (about a quarter of the book's total contents), which Chikane says he feels compelled to tell from his perspective in an effort to provide an insider's account of this key historical period.
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