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TheThe EconomicEconomic LegacyLegacy ofof ApartheidApartheid

John Shingler able and inspiring act did not overcome cal leaders who were steeped in the idea the terrible problems which and art of compromise and realised that, created. The harsh reality facing South at the end of the day, they had to leave OUTH AFRICA’S NEW POLITICAL Africa’s new rulers is that apartheid con- something on the table for each other as leaders confront a difficult situa- tributed to the forging of a legacy which well as the rest of the country. The cul- S tion. They govern a country which will take generations to overcome. tural compromise—epitomised in the is ostensibly normal, but where in In the years leading up to the 1994 elec- claim and hope that South Africans are fact much of the economic struc- tion a broad consensus emerged on three “the rainbow people of God”—has its ture of apartheid remains intact. issues: apartheid was a catastrophe; roots in the dreams of Christian brother- ’s various peoples could be hood and Enlightenment egalitarianism Agreeing to Differ? brought into a “rainbow nation”; and the which underpin the ideology of the Many people—in South Africa and apartheid state should be replaced by a African National Congress (ANC), and abroad—believed that bringing apartheid law-governed constitutionalist order. But which ultimately may be acceptable to formally to an end would be like waving this was basically a political consensus; it Afrikaner nationalists, Zulu exceptional- the Fairy Godmother’s magic wand, turn- did not include a fully articulated, shared ists and supporters of Black conscious- ing the pumpkin immediately into a car- economic vision of the country. ness alike. riage. Not so. In one of the great The platform from which Nelson Man- It is the third pillar, the tacit agreement volte faces of this century, apartheid was dela now governs rests on three pillars: a to modify only slowly an economy built declared legally dead—but that remark- constitutional settlement; a cultural com- upon racially based privilege and exclu- promise; and a problematic and contest- sion, which is the source of the challenge Investment strategist with Brockhouse & Cooper, Inc. ed economic accommodation which confronting the Mandela government— in Montreal, Canada, where he specialises in South leaves much of the status quo ante intact. that is, to define and establish an eco- Africa. From 1967 to 1996, he was a Professor of Polit- The first two pillars need not detain us. nomic vision which will inform and ical Science at McGill University in Montreal. His South African passport and citizenship were restored The constitutional settlement was based inspire all South Africans as they seek to in 1994 after a 30-year hiatus. on extensive negotiations between politi- overcome the legacy of apartheid.

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A Useful Comparison factors—but in the 50 years since World racism and English jingoism, it was rela- One way of putting this challenge in War II the implementation of the policy of tively easy for the dominant Whites— international perspective is by comparing apartheid has been central to South owners and workers—to put in place a South Africa to Canada. Both countries Africa’s malaise. system of White supremacy based on the are colonial in origin, settled initially by I remember as a boy the shocked exclusion of native Blacks from almost all the Dutch and the French, respectively. It atmosphere in my school’s playground skilled work—a policy variously called was the British, however, who gave them the day after the election which brought “the colour bar” or “job reservation”. their basic founding features in the Nine- the Afrikaner nationalists to power in The long confrontation between the teenth century. Both overwhelmed native 1948. Within months the country was and the British culminated in the peoples and imposed European institu- plunged into tension and conflict as the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. The result- tions and practices on them. Both started new cabinet pushed aggressively ahead ing turmoil coincided with the urbanisa- and remain active in the extraction and with its programme of racist legislation, tion and impoverishment of the Afrikan- exploitation of natural resources. Both and the country sank into its “forty lost ers, a process which laid the foundations have developed sophisticated modern sys- years” as Dan O’Meara called them in his of a political revolution in South Africa in tems of administration, recent book by that title. As the first half of the 20th century—the har- financial services, research things turned out, I was to nessing of Afrikaner nationalism to racial and development, transport If South Africa spend three of those four exclusiveness and domination. and communications, man- decades abroad—a political This development has to be seen in the ufacturing, and resource had pursued an émigré in an exile only part- context of the prevailing Anglo-South development. open political ly of my own making. African hegemony in the economy, a sit- Since World War II, how- If South Africa, in the uation against which the Afrikaner intel- ever, the two countries have and economic years following World War ligentsia led a White working-class revolt. followed increasingly diver- strategy, II, had pursued an open Banking, insurance, the civil service, the gent paths. Canada has political and economic strat- professions, education, mining, manu- become prosperous and perhaps it egy—educating its popula- facturing, wholesale and retail com- egalitarian, and ranks at the might today tion generously and with merce, and much of agriculture was in top of recent UN surveys. In have been an vision, training the labour the hands of English-speaking South contrast, South Africa is force, welcoming fresh ideas Africans—most of them of British descent demonstrably unequal and, African “Lion” and modern technology, and and unabashed in their contempt for widespread reports of its comparable to exploring new opportuni- . wealth to the contrary, very ties—perhaps it might today The South African government of the poor. the Asian have been an African “Lion” 1920s, in an attempt to protect the Elementary data speak for “Tigers” of the comparable to the Asian nascent manufacturing sector which had themselves. Canada’s popu- “Tigers” of the Pacific rim. emerged during World War I, introduced lation is 29.6 million and Pacific rim. Why this turn to exclusion an import-substitution policy which was South Africa’s is 41.2 mil- in South Africa at a time kept in place until the final GATT round lion, yet their respective when the rest of the world and South Africa’s admission to the World GDPs in current US dollars are $566 bil- was embracing the more generous out- Trade Organisation. This protectionist lion and $134 billion. Their per capita ward-looking vision of the post-World outlook coincided with the so-called GDPs are thus concomitantly disparate at War II era? A grasp of its historical back- “civilised labour policy” introduced at $19,100 and $3,240. Canada’s unemploy- ground is essential to an understanding that time. These two policies reflected the ment hovers around 9.5% whereas South of what the great historian C.W. de country’s fortress mentality and basically Africa’s official rate is in excess of 30%. Kiewitt called “the anatomy of South performed the same function—protecting Canadians think in terms of declining African misery”. White South Africans from the competi- house prices and housing starts, whereas tion of others, whether foreign workers South Africa has a homeless population The Roots of Apartheid abroad or Black workers at home. variously estimated at between 8 and 12 Prior to the discovery of diamonds in The National Party came into office in million people. Canada has well over 200 1867 and in 1884, and the opening of 1948. In introducing the slogan and prac- post-secondary educational institutions, the Suez Canal in 1869, South Africa’s tice of apartheid it built upon the oppres- South Africa perhaps 40. One is the dar- place in the British-dominated global sive and complementary strategies of ling of the G7, and the other, with the economy of the day was limited to the preceding generations—White supremacy waning of the euphoria following the provisioning of East- men, tea clip- and segregation. These policies were in 1994 election, draws increasing criticism pers and whalers at Cape Town, and to a fact largely British in origin. Parentheti- from international commentators. marginal international trade based on the cally, note that there is a tendency in the Why so great a discrepancy? In the case export of animal products (ivory and analysis of South Africa to blame all the of Canada, its success can in large part be wool) and the import of manufactured misery on the Afrikaners. But this is inac- attributed to its proximity to the United goods (tools and guns). curate; it was the British who laid the States—as a source of capital and as a The rapid expansion of its mining foundations of the system which the market; but its inclusive economic and industry in the late 19th century brought Afrikaners later inherited and, in their social policies have also been very impor- South Africa into the modern world in a turn, consolidated. tant. In the South African case, the strangely perverted way. Because the The goals of the fervent Afrikaner absence of either a large neighbouring emergence of South Africa’s economy nationalism which led to the 1948 elec- market or major source of capital were coincided with the rise of European toral victory were twofold: to contain

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English-speaking capital and, by means of They were willing to abandon their global economy, as the government failed apartheid (in an intensely interventionist political position and to focus their ener- to respond to the emergence of highly use of state power), to secure the interests gies almost exclusively on the preserva- competitive technology-based export of the White working class. tion and promotion of their economic economies in Europe and Asia. Given its Afrikaner nationalism sought, through interests outside the public sector. The parochial, ethnocentric view of the world, the development of state capitalism, to constitutional settlement and cultural the narrowly focused Afrikaner political circumvent the English-speaking monop- compromise, with its concomitant eco- élite had no notion of the economic prob- olies in finance, insurance, mining, man- nomic accommodation, are clear evi- lems it was setting up for future genera- ufacturing, and the upper reaches of dence of this willingness to retreat from tions of South Africans. the civil service. This strategy includ- the political arena and to focus on the As apartheid was introduced and con- ed the establishment of partially economic sphere. solidated in the first decades of Afrikaner autonomous capitalist institutions, What led to this extraordinary change, nationalist rule, South Africa ignored called “parastatals”, which were funded and what are its implications for gover- developments in the global economy from the public purse and provided not nance and development in South Africa? while Europe and the Asian Tigers just political power but economic oppor- became increasingly competitive across a tunity and security to Afrikaners. ISCOR The Rise and Fall wide range of manufacturing activities. (Iron & Steel), ESKOM (Electricity), of Apartheid Despite a brief spurt of exceptional TRANSNET (the transport system), The years between 1948 and 1990 were growth in the 1960s—a phenomenon that SASOL (oil from coal), ARMSCOR a roller-coaster ride for South Africa. was shared by many other countries at (armaments), to mention just the main Domestically it became mired in conflict the time—the South African economy vehicles, entrenched the position of this and ultimately paralysed; internationally expanded only hesitantly and far less vig- state-created and state-supported tech- it became a political pariah, a social out- orously than might have been the case nocracy. Afrikaner capitalist institutions cast and an economic laggard. What had with more liberal international trade and in the private sector, such as SANLAM been introduced so dogmatically in the domestic free-market policies. (life insurance) and VOLKSKAS By the end of the 1970s, govern- (banking), also played an impor- ment appointed commissions of tant role in the emergence of the inquiry led to the lifting of some new Afrikaner élite. restrictions on Blacks, paving the Apartheid also addressed the per- way for both the unionisation of ceived threat to White (largely Black workers and the abolition of -speaking) workers by the pass laws—the severe restric- competition from Black labour. It tions on movement and settlement regulated virtually every aspect of against which Black political leaders Black participation in the econo- had battled for a century. These steps my—residence and ownership, were a recognition that the econom- occupation, education and training, ic and social forces leading to indus- health and welfare. It also excluded trialisation and urbanisation were Blacks from the political arena relentless, despite the attempts of the which was by then an exclusive apartheid social engineers to prevent White preserve. and even reverse the process. Apartheid thus brought into exis- These reforms, introduced some tence a class of privileged and pro- 30 years after the inception of the tected White workers and managers; apartheid era, reflected a defection it turned a largely Afrikaans- by Afrikaner intellectuals from the speaking White working class into goals and ideals of Afrikaner nation- a middle and upper class of bilin- alism and concomitantly a partial gual, bicultural South Africans, abandonment of apartheid. thereby widening and entrenching South Africa: An emerging Lion? With the banning and subse- the great racial divide in South quent exile of the ANC in 1960, a Africa. 1950s and enforced so tyrannically in the variety of local initiatives saw the emer- By the late 1980s, however, after 40 1960s, started to falter in the 1970s and by gence of Black resistance movements to years of apartheid giving them every the 1980s was in uncertain and disorder- apartheid, especially during the 1970s advantage, Afrikaners as a group were ly retreat against a background of des- and 1980s. These included a Black trade- willing to forsake the nationalism and perate state repression and increasingly union movement under a new labour abandon the political goals and symbols violent popular resistance. A key to under- leadership which established the Con- of their parents and grandparents. A standing South Africa’s evolution over the gress of South African Trade Unions remarkable social transformation had past half-century is to look at its econom- (COSATU) in 1985. After three genera- by then taken place. The political vehicle ic development and the related social tions of exclusion, Black labour had of apartheid had been so radically suc- changes which eventually overwhelmed emerged as a major economic and polit- cessful in its goal of protecting Afrikan- apartheid. ical force. Within a few years, COSATU ers that they could now afford to jettison South Africa’s protectionist policies became an important factor in South the very vehicle which had nurtured (international and domestic) contributed African politics—essentially represent- them. to the deterioration of its position in the ing ANC ideas at the union level.

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In 1990, President F.W. de Klerk By the middle and late 1980s, many hybrid—in some sectors highly efficient, unbanned the ANC and ordered Nelson people predicted that the country would in others unproductive and incompe- Mandela’s release. These two actions did explode in a “bloodbath”. I would note tent—is today undergoing changes that not take place in a vacuum, but reflected that it was not unusual for commentators are sometimes welcomed and often resist- the national and international changes in to be overwhelmed by their own ed, but are crucial to South Africa’s future which South Africa was caught up. metaphors as they struggled to come to prosperity. Domestically, many apartheid laws had terms with South Africa’s complexity. Shifts in the relative strength of the dif- either been repealed or were being The literature of that period was full of ferent sectors reflect the changes in the ignored; the labour force became increas- apocalyptic visions of revolution and civil economy of the past 20 years, but through ingly Black as Whites either moved up the war; but instead of the anticipated holo- it all runs the unique character of South ladder or fell through the cracks. Interna- caust, a negotiated settlement led to a Africa—the great racial divide. Manage- tionally, the sanctions campaign reached peaceful transfer of public authority in an ment, corporate leadership, financial ser- a new intensity. At this juncture the Sovi- election which captured the world’s atten- vices, the professions, the print media, the et Union collapsed and the ANC lost one tion and admiration. academy and, to a lesser extent since the of its strongest international allies. With To sum up, a fortunate conjunction of 1994 election, the civil service, are over- the end of the , so ended the fear factors made change possible: apartheid whelmingly White. In contrast, labour in (which seems so absurd today) that South as an experiment in social engineering agriculture, mining, manufacturing, Africa would become a Marxist-Leninist failed catastrophically; the White minor- transport, wholesale and retail commerce dictatorship, a client state of the Soviet ity realised that it could no longer govern is almost entirely Black. The problems Union. Mr de Klerk took the great leap the country except as a besieged fortress, confronting South Africa’s developing hoping that his bet was right—that the and then only briefly; international criti- economy are in one sense typical; but in ANC would abandon the armed struggle cism and sanctions were intensifying; the another sense they are unique. It is policy, which it had followed with scant Soviet Union could no longer serve as a against this backdrop that we turn to the success and little effect since its banning strategic ally and socialist mentor of the question of change and the economic con- in 1960, and instead sit down to talk a ANC; and was able to ini- dition of the Blacks. deal. He was proved correct. tiate and pursue a compromise strategy The status quo cannot be allowed to The ANC, which had advocated the from prison, despite the misgivings of continue intact. Changes are not just almost complete nationalisation of the radicals within the ANC leadership. And desirable—they are essential. In seeking South African economy, and was appar- perhaps most fundamental of all was the to show the challenges which South ently dominated by its social- Africa faces, we look briefly ist wing, had during its exile at three salient areas: inter- years seen the failures of national investment; the socialism at first hand. In the financial sector; and privati- decade of secret contacts and sation. “talks about talks” which led ● International Invest- up to the negotiated settle- ment. International direct ment of the 1990s, the ANC investment in South Africa economists were taken in since the 1994 election has hand by the captains of been less than hoped for or South African capitalism anticipated. Archbishop and introduced to the emerg- Tutu, who assumed moral ing orthodoxies of the 1980s: leadership of the sanctions the free market, privatisa- campaign in the 1980s, has tion, balanced budgets. The found that, whereas his ear- economic accommodation lier pleas for disinvestment was at hand. worked (perhaps for reasons During these years of ideo- The handshake of hope: paving the way for South Africa’s first all-race elections. that he did not fully grasp, logical retooling, however, such as the self-interest of the ANC maintained its alliance with the fact that apartheid had transformed the the governments of Australia, whose coal South African Communist Party and “poor whites” of the 1920s into a com- exports benefitted considerably during COSATU. And as the ANC leadership con- fortable middle class, in some cases a this period, and Canada, whose “maple tinues to come to grips with South Africa’s wealthy élite, which could rely on bank leaf” coin gained something of an advan- limited international competitiveness, it accounts, rather than apartheid laws, for tage over the “krugerrand”), his calls to re- is clear that this alliance will come under protection against Black competition. invest, like those of President Mandela increasing strain. The recent statements and Deputy President Mbeki, have been of Sam Shilowa, COSATU’s leader, point A Hybrid Economy ineffective. to the prospects of a showdown between The South African economy thus devel- The very factors that contributed to the an ambivalent ANC leadership and its oped uneasily under the policies of segre- demise of apartheid—such as the collapse more militant allies in the unions. In the gation and later apartheid into a unique of communism—have also provided alter- long run, protectionism worked for nei- edifice in which a racially exclusive state- native investment opportunities in Russia ther the embattled minority of Afrikaners capitalism co-existed in uneasy partner- and Eastern Europe. South Africa’s new nor the Whites as a whole. It is unlikely to ship with a tightly circumscribed quasi- leaders are learning the hard way that work for the new South Africa either. free-market counterpart. This complex investment decisions are made around

WORLD ECONOMIC AFFAIRS ● WINTER 1997 52 FORUM issues like stability, productivity, efficien- control. The JSE regulates the activities of ● Privatisation. The activities and ser- cy, and return on capital. South Africa has just under 50 stock brokerage firms, only vices which were developed in the paras- to compete with economies whose labour one of which is Black, and that was estab- tatals between the 1920s and the 1970s forces, infrastructure and social climate lished only in 1996. were essentially a set of Afrikaner fiefs. are every bit as competent and attractive As it is with the private sector, so it is Proposals to privatise these started in the as its own. with the most important institutions of 1980s, at the same time as the movement There is an irony in all of this: an public policy—the central bank and the away from statism occurred in Latin instrument (sanctions and disinvestment) Ministry of Finance. The South African America and Europe. But some within the which contributed to the collapse of Reserve Bank, established after World ANC leadership believed that it was too apartheid now stands in the way of South War I, has a reputation for cautious com- convenient—it redounded to the advan- Africa’s reconstruction and development. petence. A succession of Governors tage of the same élite which was closing It is perhaps worth noting that a vigorous through the 1970s to the present—de down these institutions or shifting them and uncomprising critic of apartheid Kock, Brandt and now Stahls—are seen into corporate hands. such as Helen Suzman, the great Pro- as disciplined and thoughtful. This élite, The debate on privatisation is an inte- gressive Party parliamentarian, had pre- like central banks everywhere, is closed, gral part of the disagreement on the char- cisely these apprehensions about their distant and tends to be above the fray of acter of the economy—above all on the long-term consequences when she “mere” politics. Not surprisingly, this sta- respective roles of state and market. The opposed sanctions. You did not ANC-led cabinet tends to support have to be in favour of apartheid to privatisation as a way of bringing be strongly opposed to sanctions. capital into the country, reducing ● The Financial Sector. In the the debt and the deficit and as well financial-services sector, South as cutting costs and improving effi- Africa is clearly on a par with its ciency in the delivery of services. counterparts in the North Atlantic However, this view is not shared by world. Its infrastructure and com- the leadership of COSATU whose munications technology are sophis- pronouncements through the ticated and modern. But this devel- course of 1995 and 1996 have been opment has again been exclusive. unequivocally opposed to privati- The major financial institutions sation—under whatever name. today remain entirely in the hands of a White élite. This exclusiveness Opening Up the Oligarchy does not mean that the sector is Today, the economic élite of racist or acting against the interests South Africa is far from the exclu- of the population as a whole; it does sively English-speaking domain it mean that interesting and chal- was in 1948 when the Afrikaner lenging careers in this area are not nationalists came to power with yet enjoyed by Blacks in any sub- their policy of racial socialism. But stantial numbers, and that an that élite has remained almost important element in the country’s exclusively White. Though the economic structure is not demographical- tus does not sit well with ANC activists Afrikaans and English-speaking business ly representative. who feel they must be, and must be seen leaders have in recent years taken a variety The Financial Services Board (FSB), to be, in control of all aspects of South of steps to address the exclusion of Blacks which regulates the banks, insurance com- Africa. The doctrine of Reserve Bank from the private sector, with some hon- panies and pension funds, is comprised of independence, especially when it is in the ourable exceptions these efforts have been seasoned civil servants—mostly Afrikaners hands of an exclusive White priesthood, very limited and very late. appointed in earlier years. The FSB over- makes some of the more radical members Precisely because they are so few in sees 50 banks, an equivalent number of of the ANC very uncomfortable, and may number, the small new business leader- insurance companies, and nearly 16,000 well be a source of conflict in the future. ship can virtually be mentioned by name. pension plan contributors in South Africa South Africa has had three Ministers of Among the older generation, Sam Mot- with accumulated assets of approximately Finance since 1994, only the most recent suenyane is the doyen of Black business- $100 billion (US). Of the latter, almost all of them Black and a member of the ANC. men. Starting in the 1960s, when dis- are of a scale and size where the asset The initial appointment of Derek Keyes— crimination against Blacks was in some management is given over to the larger a successful executive with no background ways at its worst, he built a business in institutions—banks and insurance compa- in politics—was reassuring to domestic the retail sector, his career an epic of nies. Again, these serve a primarily White and foreign observers, and his resignation courage and determination. Another clientele under a White leadership. shortly after the 1994 election was unex- leading figure is Dr Nthato Motlana; ini- Like the financial-services sector, the pected and disturbing. Chris Liebenberg, tially doctor to the Mandelas, he moved Stock Exchange (JSE) pro- CEO of Nedbank, followed Keyes, only to from medicine to business and is now vides a sharp look into the South African resign early in 1996. His replacement by focused almost entirely on finance. economy. The JSE is capitalised at about Trevor Manuel has been met with snide Enterprise magazine, a new monthly, $250 billion (US). It trades in the shares of comments and a depreciating rand. Inter- reflects the interests and describes the some 640 public corporations, of which national investors, particularly currency activities of this emerging Black business less than 20 are under Black ownership or speculators, remain jittery. class in South Africa. But the group is

WORLD ECONOMIC AFFAIRS ● WINTER 1997 53 FORUM miniscule in comparison with its White the manner in which they will create, pur- For those of us who were appalled by counterpart. sue and share wealth. Is it to be on the apartheid and who participated in the In 1988, the Consultative Business basis of the market or regulated by the disinvestment debate of the 1980s, a new Movement was founded under the leader- state, collectivist or individualist? South challenge has emerged now that sanctions ship of Kennedy Maxwell of Johannesburg Africa will have to correct its skewed pat- are behind us: to seek, find and act upon Consolidated Investments (JCI). It has terns of wealth and income, expanding economic opportunities in South Africa— attempted to play an important role in the and transforming the country’s business opportunities which serve not only our transition that is necessary if South Africa élite from its traditional White enclave own interests but contribute to the recon- is to flourish. Its 1994 booklet, Building a into a multi-racial entrepreneurial lead- struction and development of a country Winning Nation, was based upon extensive ership open to the majority—Black, poor generally recognised as being crucial to consultations between government, labour and frustrated. The government will have sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. and business, and was aimed at contribut- to reduce its own bloated civil service ing to the self-transformation of South while at the same time Africanising it. The Debating and African business. educational system will have to produce Making the Future In tandem with this development it is trained professionals and managers, and There is, unsurprisingly, a general con- noteworthy that JCI has been “unbundled” help mould a disciplined, industrious and sensus that the goal of the South African by Anglo-American (a gigantic economic system is a prosperous conglomerate founded and run by South Africa in which poverty has the Oppenheimer family and gen- been eradicated. The disagree- erally regarded as “South Africa ment is about how this goal will Inc.”) and is undergoing a trans- be attained. The Reconstruction formation of leadership. In June and Development Programme 1996, Cyril Rhamaposa, who was (RDP) brought out by the ANC an important leader in the nascent was generally accepted, but itself union movement in the 1970s and was so short on specifics as to be played a major role in the negotia- innocuous. tions of the early 1990s, South Africans are now announced his shift from politics engaged in debate about the eco- to the private sector. Today he is a nomic accommodation which dominant figure in JCI. was cobbled onto the constitu- That Blacks play an important tional settlement and the cultur- role in the economy is obvious— al compromise. Skewed though it it is also obviously a markedly is, the economy is firmly in place. subordinate role. Blacks consti- It does seem to provide a base tute the mass of miners and of from which to address the coun- agricultural and industrial work- try’s challenges. How much tin- ers. They are strikingly absent in kering, manipulation, restructur- the boardroom, the executive ing and making-over can it take? suite and the professions. Black How much can it deliver—either economic empowerment there- reformed or unreconstructed? fore is about the access of ever That the economy is a bastion larger numbers of capable, of white minority privilege is not trained Black men and women to Finally… a voice for Nelson Mandela. seriously contested. But there is a positions of leadership. In short, conundrum. Is South Africa’s South African business and the South thrifty labour force. At the same time, economy capable of self-transformation African business élite must be trans- South Africa’s leadership will have to take through some process attendant upon its formed. steps to preserve and protect the country’s own growth and development? Or is fragile and damaged natural environ- intervention by the state required? And if The Challenge of ment. This issue is a particularly difficult intervention is needed, how much and in Economic Transformation one because it, like so much else in South what areas? Can the leaders of the new South Africa, has a racial element. To some The new Black political élite is in a dif- Africa achieve the same success in the extent the concern with the environment ficult position: clearly “office” and “power” economic arena which they achieved in is a White issue, often involving a tension in South Africa today are not synony- striking the constitutional settlement and between the claims of conservationists mous. For the forseeable future the White the cultural compromise? Over the next and the search for Black advancement. élite will exercise considerable influence, 30 years South African leaders and soci- All these changes must be achieved even where it does not hold office or exer- ety will have to address a wide range of while the country attempts to catch up cise power. To remove that élite, or to issues as they attempt to participate effec- with the technological and communica- attempt to subordinate it, will undoubt- tively in the highly competitive global tions revolution which bypassed it over edly cause grave harm to the economy. economy of the 21st century. the last half-century when, tragically, the President Mandela and his colleagues South Africans will have to engage in energy of most South Africans was know all this very well. And they are gov- business while endlessly examining and focussed on apartheid—attacking it, erning the country—and their own criticising that same activity—namely, defending it, or just endlessly debating it. actions—accordingly.ࡗ

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