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This paper evaluates the evolution and the implementation of the ANC government's commitment to fostering a black capitalist class or black economic empowerment (BEE) as a non-racial nation-building strategy. A substantial black bourgeois i.e. and other middle classes begun to emerge over the last decade, contrary to popular perceptions. The legitimating role assigned to the emergent black bourgeoisie by the ANC and the government is, however, threatens to turn the strategy into a nepotistic accumulation. This development is paradoxically threatening to re-racialise the country, widening black inequality gaps, and precluding the rise of a black bourgeoisie with a nurture capitalist agenda. Other equally powerful social groups have begun to challenge the prevailing strategy, compelling the government to explore a more accommodating strategy exemplified by the recent introduction by the government of 'broad-based economic empowerment'. Should a less patrimonial, less racially and ethnically divisive BEE strategy emerge from this quasi-pluralist power play, such a change holds prospects for the creation of a 'growth coalition' capable of sustainable capitalist development and true empowerment of the black majority. That would be a positive development in terms of establishing and consolidating democracy in South Africa.

This study attempts to map the consequences of elite black women's mobilization for capitalism in South Africa in the context of the literature dealing with the role of women in post-revolutionary politics. Although a scion of the on-going quest for "black economic empowerment," elite black businesswomen also see corporate entrepreneurship as a platform for fighting gender inequalities and white racial privilege. Five of the most successful black women-owned businesses were evaluated based on on-site research conducted between January and June 2001. Although some pioneer activist women went into corporate business following the transition from apartheid to black majority rule on their own initiative, their ascent owes much to the government with occasional cooperation from white business. A preliminary review shows evidence of achievements that qualify these businesswomen as "corporate Amazons." However, their strategic partnerships with corporate South Africa, their fields of accumulation, and their familial attachments appear to have exposed them to charges of "empowerment Spice Girls," facilitators of wealth accumulation by captains of industry and beneficiaries of patriarchal institutions. Suggestions for further research, fleshing out the implications for women's movements are made.

In South Africa, one of organized labor's most revolutionary responses to globalization & an emerging social concertation regime is the frenzied establishment of union-owned investment companies by almost all black-majority labor unions. Labor's resort to wealth accumulation, encouraged & facilitated by the state & segments of corporate South Africa, threatens to transform workers into both labor & capital, employees & employers. An evaluation of the fields of accumulation of these union investment companies shows their limited potential to advance the government's goal of creating a black capitalist class. However, a "concertation regime" that gives organized labor a significant material stake in the economy has the potential to enhance cross-class compromises that are necessary for the consolidation of democracy in postapartheid South Africa. Labor's wealth accumulation endeavor is shown to have contributed to the adoption (by labor leaders) of innovative industrial relations & handling of recent strikes & strains in labor's relations with the government. 3 Tables. Adapted from the source document.

In South Africa, one of organized labor's most revolutionary responses to globalization & an emerging social concertation regime is the frenzied establishment of union-owned investment companies by almost all black-majority labor unions. Labor's resort to wealth accumulation, encouraged & facilitated by the state & segments of corporate South Africa, threatens to transform workers into both labor & capital, employees & employers. An evaluation of the fields of accumulation of these union investment companies shows their limited potential to advance the government's goal of creating a black capitalist class. However, a "concertation regime" that gives organized labor a significant material stake in the economy has the potential to enhance cross-class compromises that are necessary for the consolidation of democracy in postapartheid South Africa. Labor's wealth accumulation endeavor is shown to have contributed to the adoption (by labor leaders) of innovative industrial relations & handling of recent strikes & strains in labor's relations with the government. 3 Tables. Adapted from the source document.