In 1994, what had been “inconceivable” in South African economic policy-making came to pass. At a gathering of the world's political and economic leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Nelson Mandela committed his country to wide-ranging economic reform that, far from moving in the direction of nationalization, pledged to advance privatization.

This is a striking outcome in a country where the new black majority government, described as “quite far left of centre,” had every reason to be hostile to a predominantly white business community. Business was tainted by its association with apartheid. In addition, the ANC was considered to be under pressure from the majority black population to end years of white economic privilege and increase state spending on welfare and poverty alleviation. Reinforcing these pressures was the ruling Congress' formal political alliance with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), both of which explicitly advocated leftist economic policies. Yet, by the end of the 1990s, the ANC government had consolidated a moderate – even conservative – set of economic policies.