POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GROWTH AND ASCENDANCY OF THE FINANCE SECTOR IN THE POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

In the Post-apartheid South Africa we witness both the growth and ascendancy of the finance sector. The growth of the finance sector is, in part, a manifestation of the structural and systemic problems of the apartheid economy. Furthermore the very nature of the South African transition and the consequent compromises between the new and old elite underpinned and shaped the neoliberal policies that clearly favour the finance sector in the current period. The broader intemational neoliberal political economy undoubtedly influenced the shift in the South African economy towards favouring the finance sector at the expense of the productive sector. Central however to understanding the ascendancy of the finance sector in the democratic South Africa, is the role of the ANC-Ied government and its building of a New Black Elite.