ABSTRACT
Former liberation movements control dominant party governments in several Southern African countries and are aiming at transforming the region’s political and economic landscapes. How to transform the legacy of extremely uneven capitalist development remains a salient and volatile issue following political transitions to majority rule. New capitalist elites have emerged across Southern Africa, promoted by government policy and taking advantage of the removal of laws barring black Africans from the (economic) ‘commanding heights’. Old capital, prospering under colonial and apartheid rule, has accommodated itself to new realities and in many cases played key roles in moderating, and arguably ‘subverting’, political transitions across the region.1
