South Africa ruled by cartels to protect white privilege even today

South Africa has always been defined by monopolies since 1652, whether  it’s a monopoly on violence or political economy, these hegemonies have never disappeared in South Africa even after the adoption of a non-racial voting franchise in 1994.

Cecil Rhodes and his De Beers mercenary organisation created the initial model of cartels in South

Africa using a monopoly on violence to attain a diamond cartel which later became a weapon for

political power in the Cape Colony.

After the death of Cecil Rhodes a man called Ernest Oppenheimer, with the help of the Rothschilds,  managed to take over De Beers and later formed Anglo American in 1921 which would run a cartel in diamonds and precious metals until the early years of apartheid.

Anglo American used its dominance in South African economy to buy significant shares in almost

every sector in the economy when international capital fled the evil regime after the Sharpeville

Massacre. Between 1961 and 1999, a South African would buy everything from maize to industrial

machines to cars from the many companies in which Anglo American had significant shares.

The apartheid regime created state owned cartels in transport,heavy industry and mining to uplift

the Afrikaner population since 68% of this population was working class and poor in comparison to the English and Jews.

These state monopolies would industrialise South Africa over a 40yr period under a

policy of racist socialism exclusively for the white minority.The apartheid regime used the same

racist policies inherited from the British to create a huge surplus for Afrikaners as a group by paying slave wages to the majority Black population which created massive wealth for the British in the colonial era.

When it became apparent that white minority rule was unsustainable, the Afrikaner and British elite

closed rank and decided to prepare for a black majority government They then joined forces and

created new cartels in the economy to keep economic power within the white minority.

During the transition to black majority government the threat of nationalisation of

mines,banks and strategic sectors of the economy remained a great threat to white minority rule.

Anglo American and Afrikaner elite hatched an idea to lure “liberal” elements among blacks into the “free market” system which had become dominant after the collapse of the Soviet Union.These

“liberal” blacks were in the upper echelons of various organisations with ANC having the greatest

number.

The white eilte together with the black elite would later create Black Economic

Empowerment (BEE) led by Marinus Daling from Sanlam which was another monopoly controlled by Afrikaners. 

BEE would later be used as a motivation to privatise state controlled monopolies which were the back bone of Afrikaner nationalism but in reality these state owned firms would end up with the same private cartels which controlled apartheid and colonialism in the private sector.,

In 1994 Anglo American,Rembrandt,Sanlam,Liberty Life controlled 84% of JSE market capitalisation as reported by Who Owns Whom.Foreign capital has flowed into the country in post apartheid South Africa but blacks have never had influence on listed firms although blacks comprise 91% of the South African populace according to STATS SA.

The British and Afrikaner owned cartels in the economy transferred shares to black political elite

using union pension funds and state investment funds as collateral for massive loans later dubbed

BEE.These cartels going back to early 1900s have remained part and parcel of South Africa that the World Bank in February 2016 came to a conclusion that part of the poverty, unemployment and

inequality problem is due to their prevalence.

As Cecil Rhodes said “The native is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise” the policy has remained intact since Glen Grey Act of 1894 where blacks remain children whether as employees or gloried managers called BEE shareholders.