South Africa's Democratic Transition Under Colonist Shackles

The thesis in this book is that, it is critical to properly understand the mindset of the Apartheid nationalist leaders in order to appreciate the reality of the legacy of the deeply embedded and racialized socio-economic inequalities and inequities that define South Africa now, and the enormity and complexity of the challenge to build a new and transformed non-racial society and credible socio-economic justice as articulated in the Constitution.

The Apartheid system used a White supremacist racial fallacy and prejudice, backed by violent state power to create and sustain exclusive White privilege. Can this deeply held belief, and the expressed attitudes, be eliminated without changing the reality of racial wealth disparity? The emotional clamor for non-racialism is too often naïve and sadly ignores the deep-seated belief in White supremacy that formed the emotional foundation and philosophical rationale for the Apartheid system and its racialized inequality that it was designed to achieve.

In other words, South Africa's transition to constitutional democracy will remain meaningless and inadequate for the Black majority population unless the issues of material economic and social justice occupy a central position and attention in the unfolding democratic governance and policy rollout that underpin it.

This limited de-racialization has created a class of a ruling political elite, a small and politically highly connected group of Black economic empowerment (BEE) crony capitalists, and an expanding bureaucratic bourgeoisie that is bent on material consumption rather than inclusive socio-economic upliftment. The outcome of this strategy is a dualistic economy that retained its Apartheid patterns in which the White dominated capitalist enclave exists side-by-side with an African-dominated poor neighborhoods that are confined to the periphery.

A persistent feature of this dualistic economy is its dangerous failure to grow the economy and create sustainable jobs in reasonable numbers to absorb its increasing labour force. This has sadly resulted in the highest youth unemployment rate globally. South Africa remains 'a country of two nations' as former President Thabo Mbeki declared in 1998. Looking back from 1994, the thesis argues that the ANC and its alliance, while preparing to assume political power, failed to grasp the profound complexity of the transition and its intergenerational challenges. As a result, they did not develop a comprehensive, long-term counter-transformation strategy with pragmatic, executable plans to achieve the key objectives of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) as outlined in the 1969 Morogoro Conference.

What is argued in the book is that South Africa needs to develop a robust economic mission statement.

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