Who are the 50 most damaging, deadly and disastrous people in South African history? Who are our greatest villains, direst leaders, foulest corrupters and most offensive personalities, be it through politics, war, sport, culture or just their general idiocy? Well take your pick …

From Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 to Julius Malema in 2010, via Basson, Botha, Shaka and Shaik, 50 People Who Stuffed Up South Africa is filled with the nastiest names to have besmirched our past. These are men of infamy (and three women) who have steered the good ship South Africa firmly in the wrong direction by virtue of their ruinous megalomaniac (Mbeki), twisted loyalty (Tshabalala-Mismang), irrepressible greed (Blatter), prime evil (De Kock) or utter incompetence (Erwin). But the obvious political gangsters and historical heavy-hitters are just the half of it: there’s also the colonial warmonger (Lord Milner), the national embarrassment (Rudolf Straeuli), the social delinquent (The minibus taxi driver), the unexpected sports villain (Richie Benaudi), the criminal (Ananis Mathe), the Euro-chancer (Mark Thatcher), the traitor (Kevin Pietersen) and the twat (Kevin Pietersen). Morons and militants, rogues and racists, together they tell a fascinating collective tale. The result is a book that is part popular history, part social commentary, and all entertainment.