ABSTRACT
Environmental policy initiatives in the recently democratized South Africa (since 1994) are attempting to strike a delicate balance between two urgent sets of political issues. The first are the pressing needs and aspirations of previously disenfranchized, but now politically powerful, majority of black people (90 per cent of the 44 million population). 1 The second are the requirements of the highly politicized but equally powerful global environment. Having been marginalized for nearly a century, the previously disenfranchized constituency now derives power from their vote or potential subversive actions, both of which can be used to unseat politicians. To avoid this, livelihoods must be improved as a matter of urgency. Already there is a plethora of appealing terms, such as ‘black economic empowerment’ and ‘fast-tracking development’, that act as constant reminders to politicians about the promises they made during elections. Indeed, the lesson of history in decolonized African states is that democratization must mean more that just creating new political institutions; increasingly, it must bring about the trickle-down of ‘visible’ economic benefits to the broader constituency. However, since the ‘peaceful’ transition to majority rule, South Africa has shed more jobs than it has created and the local currency has lost over 100 per cent of its value. This situation does not augur well for a country that is dependent on imports.
