CORPORATE AMAZONS OR EMPOWERMENT SPICE GIRLS?: …

CORPORATE AMAZONS OR EMPOWERMENT SPICEGIRLS ELITE BLACK BUSINESSWOMEN AND

TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Okechukwu C Iheduru

ABSTRACT

This study attempts to map the consequences of elite black womenrsquos mobi-lization for capitalism in South Africa in the context of the literaturedealing with the role of women in post-revolutionary politics Although ascion of the on-going quest for ldquoblack economic empowermentrdquo eliteblack businesswomen also see corporate entrepreneurship as a platformfor fighting gender inequalities and white racial privilege Five of the mostsuccessful black women-owned businesses were evaluated based on on-site research conducted between January and June 2001 Although somepioneer activist women went into corporate business following the transi-tion from apartheid to black majority rule on their own initiative theirascent owes much to the government with occasional cooperation fromwhite business A preliminary review shows evidence of achievements thatqualify these businesswomen as ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo However theirstrategic partnerships with corporate South Africa their fields of accumu-lation and their familial attachments appear to have exposed them tocharges of ldquoempowerment Spice Girlsrdquo facilitators of wealth accumula-tion by captains of industry and beneficiaries of patriarchal institutionsSuggestions for further research fleshing out the implications for womenrsquosmovements are made

Introduction

Black economic empowerment (BEE) the process of integratingblacks into the mainstream economy of South Africa from whichthey were previously excluded by law and social convention hasbeen the subject of immense media commentary and a number ofscholarly discourses since 1994 Much of this discourse particu-larly those focusing on the emerging black business elite has lackeda gendered perspective By treating the black business elite as amonolithic group the role of professional and activist elite black

Michigan State University James Madison College 362 South Case HallEast Lansing MI 48825-1205 USA

I wish to thank the editor Shivu Ishwaran for his patience and theanonymous reviewers for their invaluable suggestions

atilde de Sitter Publications 2003 JDS 19(4)473-508

women and their business networks in the politics of BEE has notreceived due attention or they are treated as an appendage of blackmen While the African National Congress (ANC) government andmost black business elite see BEE as a program to change corporatecapitalism to reflect the demographic composition of society theelite black businesswomen and their associations claim to be chal-lenging not only white racial privilege but also the institutions thatpromote and benefit from discrimination against women

The rise of this new breed of black businesswomen andtheir mostly women-run businesses at the corporate level and theirbusiness networks represent a potentially powerful use of politicalspace to assert womenrsquos autonomy Some observers have referred tothese women as ldquocorporate feministsrdquo or ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo(Haffajee 1998) Several newspapers heralded their emergencemostly in the mid- to late 1990s with headlines such as ldquoBlackFemale and Richrdquo (Lunsche 1996) ldquoWomenrsquos Groups StormBoardsrdquo (Bridge 1998b) ldquoGrabbing the Reins of Powerrdquo (Beresford1998) ldquoThe Uptown Black Girlsrdquo (Haffajee 1998) ldquoBe a MaterialGirlrdquo (Block 1999) etc Others however question whether an elitemovement based and dependent on the very institutions that oppresswomen (ie capitalism and patriarchy) can contribute to the elimi-nation of gender oppression (Naidoo 1997 Klein 1997 Anon 1999Stein 2000)

Without a doubt capitalist entrepreneurship may have thepotential to further open political spaces however limited withinwhich women especially South African black women could seekand realize autonomy and self-determination in a patriarchal soci-ety However the origins fields of accumulation investmentstrategies and familial attachments of these women suggest thattheir Amazonian ideals have begun to clash with ldquocapitalismrsquosgenius at defusing protest by winning the protesters over to the veryvalues and institutions they once attackedrdquo (Gordon 1983142) Thisraises the possibility that most of the elite black businesswomencould become ldquoempowerment Spice Girlsrdquo or ldquorent-a-tanniesrdquo inSouth African popular parlance That is rather than fighting forgender equality they are being used to guarantee access to statelargess and wealth accumulation for the very capitalists and patri-archs that benefit from gender inequality

Whether or not black womenrsquos challenge to corporate capi-talism and patriarchy has advanced or hindered the fight againstgender oppression is relevant to a critical appraisal of South Africarsquostransition to democracy In fact as the initial optimism over thecountryrsquos ldquogender revolutionrdquo has begun to wane (see Cock 1997

474 OKECHUKWU C IHEDURU

Hassim and Gouws 1998) some analysts have noted the persistenceof gender inequality in many spheres of lifemdashand even rising back-lash against women Quite a number of observers have evensuggested that little has really changed in spite of the unprecedentedlegislative reforms and institutionalization of the demands of thewomenrsquos movement of the early 1990s (see Kadalie 2000 Fedler1997 Jacobson 1999 Daniels 2001 Pandit 2002) Is the entry of anelite group of women into corporate South Africa one of suchmirages or an indication of the opening up of political spaces or ofa narrowing of gender inequality

Obviously the entry of black women into corporate SouthAfrica as owners and managers of their own businesses is relativelynew and evolving and little research has been done on the broadsubject of women and capitalism in post-apartheid South Africa (seeCGE 2000) The claims in this paper are necessarily tentative andexploratory and are not meant to provide all the answers to thequestion of continued or heightened gender inequality Instead itseeks to map an outline from which subsequent studies will need toempirically demonstrate whether or not mobilization for capitalismhas empowered South African women in general not just thosedirectly involved with the accumulation process

Here is the outline of the remainder of the paper I willdiscusses the rationale for focusing on elite black womenrsquos busi-nesses as an arena for challenging gender and racial inequality inSouth Africa I will also explore the concept of ldquocorporate femi-nismrdquo and ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo as synonyms so as to flesh out thesupposed liberating potential of entrepreneurship vis-a-vis the widermobilization of women against discrimination In order to put thestudy in perspective a brief account of the historical role of patri-archy (both traditional African and apartheid) and capitalism inundermining black womenrsquos entrepreneurship until the transitionera is presented in the next section I will then discuss the activitiesof five of the most prominent black womenrsquos businesses evaluatedby the author between January and June 2001 through open-endedinterviews surveys archival research and analysis of news reportsThe final section of the paper presents a brief summary someconclusions and suggestions for further research

Womenrsquos Businesses Corporate Feminism and Black EconomicEmpowerment

One consequence of South Africarsquos ldquogender revolutionrdquo since theearly 1990s is the revival of the terrain of civil society by openingup spaces for alternative discourses involving womenrsquos autonomy

BUSINESSWOMEN AND TRANSFORMATION 475

self-determination and bodily integrity (Cock 1997 Hassim andGouws 1998 Giesela 2000) One economic dimension of this mobi-lization involves various groups of professional black women thathave begun to establish ldquoblack empowermentrdquo corporate businessessome of them entirely women-run Most of these women developedthis activist orientation in the anti-apartheid struggle while somehave lately abandoned well-paying corporate careers to generatewealth that they claim would give black women material independ-ence so as to challenge male and white dominance of corporateSouth Africa (Dlepu 1999 and Qwelane 1998) From its modestbeginnings in the 1990s this mobilization has metamorphosed intoa kind of ldquonew social movementrdquo for business entrepreneurshipcounting over 50 such businesses and investment outfits by the endof 2000 (Sunday Times 25 April 1999 p 11 BWA 2000)

Black womenrsquos entry into corporate South Africa howeverdeveloped as an offshoot of the wider quest for BEE whose manydimensions range from corporate entrepreneurship and boardappointments to employment of black people in managerial posi-tions skills training access to investment loans land redistributionetc The class racial and spatial dimensions of the process havebeen explored even if inadequately (see Randall 1996 Madi 1998Iheduru 1998) Very little however has been written about itsgendered nature except a few journalistic commentaries that areeither euphoric or demonizing There is therefore a need to system-atically evaluate black womenrsquos responses to both the opportunitiesand constraints of seeking economic empowerment within a capital-ist system still steeped in structures of racial privilege andpatriarchy as well as its implications for womenrsquos mobilization inthe country

BEE became an arena of gender politics in the early days ofthe transition when black women realized they were rarely availedof the economic opportunities opening up for blacks and otherpreviously disadvantaged people South Africa was about to followthe worldwide trend whereby women have faced the problem ofldquomobilization without emancipationrdquo in almost all post-revolution-ary and post-transition societies (see Molyneux 1985Bystydzienski 1992) In many of these post-revolutionary situa-tions women mostly surrendered to men without much of a fightover the redistribution of resources following the demise of theancient regime (see Alvarez 1990 Oduol and Kabira 1995 Vargas1991 Wieringa 1995) Black South African women in contrastresponded by mobilizing professional urban and rural women forbusiness entrepreneurship as an arena for challenging an apparent


emerging alliance between patriarchy and capitalism Their activi-ties are also framed as a fight against the oppression of blackwomen through white racial privilege some of them perpetrated bywhite women themselves (De La Rey 1997 Dlepu 1999 Tlhankana1999)

The mobilization of professional women for capitalism isnot unique to South Africa it is part of an emerging African andglobal phenomenon A ldquosecond generationrdquo of female political andeconomic entrepreneurs has begun to emerge as serious contendersin the political and economic scene (see CGE 2000 Bonano 1999Jalbert 1999 and Mirchandani 1999) Qualitatively different fromtheir ldquotraditionalrdquo predecessors these women are taking advantageof the political spacemdashhowever limitedmdashengendered by politicaland economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s especially in Africato express their autonomy from the state and other institutions ofpatriarchal power and control (Tripp 200144-48) Globally notonly are women-owned businesses the biggest source of new jobsthe second-generation women entrepreneurs have generally investedas a collectivity or corporation with the objective of challengingpatriarchal power in the corporate world (see Gordon 1983 Goffeeand Scase 1983 Moore and Buttner 1997) In addition to theirnormal business operations they have begun to create localnational regional and global-level networks and support groups toadvance the entrepreneurial interests of women and to encouragemore women to become ldquocorporate feministsrdquo

As used here corporate feminism generally seeks change ingender inequality within the capitalist system not because capital-ism is not problematic but because it supposedly offers the bestpotential for womenrsquos emancipation (see Gordon 1996) Corporatefeminists therefore affirm the radical potential of womenrsquos corpo-rate entrepreneurship in eliminating or minimizing genderdiscrimination They contend that setting up a business ldquodoes notnecessarily constitute a personal reaffirmation of the principles ofcapital accumulation on the contrary it can represent an explicitrejection of the exploitative nature of the capitalist work process andlabor marketrdquo (Goffee and Scase 1983627) Secondly even thoughbusinesswomen are committed to the virtues of private ownershipand profit their position may query the traditionally definedgender-based division of labor Thus women who both own andmanage business enterprisesmdashespecially those in male-dominatedsectors of the economymdashserve to undermine conventional andstereotyped notions of ldquoa womanrsquos placerdquo Womenrsquos corporate entre-preneurship therefore has a symbolic importance that explicitly


questions popular conceptions of the position of women in societyThis is especially significant in South Africa where strong patriar-chal rules and years of white racism and apartheid have confinedmost black women to the margins of social and economic life

More importantly corporate ownership can enable womento enjoy some material independence and group solidarity and inmany circumstances the opportunity to control the products of theirown labor especially in traditional South African black familieswhere women are still regarded as legal and economic minorsStudies in other parts of Africa show a high degree of material inde-pendence which entrepreneurship often fosters even for womenmarket traders in many parts of Africa (Ghana Nigeria KenyaZimbabwe etc) and the rest of the developing world (see House-Midamba and Ekechi 1995) Womenrsquos entrepreneurship at smallerlevels micro- and medium enterprise and especially at the corpo-rate levels tends to foster collective action (see Mirchandani 1999)

For the elite black businesswomen therefore the centralissues of gender and feminist politics in South Africa ie patri-archy race and class are more fundamentally linked in theirmobilization for capitalism According to one proponent

Womenrsquos economic empowermenthellip[has] two fundamentalelements first is the element of class and race and secondis the crucial element of self-affirmationhellipgender oppres-sion in South Africa has also been coloured by the racefactorhellipwhite women due to their skin colour have foundthemselves enjoying massive economic benefitshellipour owndifferences as women were primarily defined by the linkbetween race and resources (Dlepu 199946)

It should be noted however that sole reliance on the liberat-ing potential of capitalism to fight gender discrimination and racialoppression in South Africa is inadequate (see Naidoo 1997Booysen 1999 38) According to one critic

It is the system not the sex that determines values andbehaviorhellipputting a corporate feminist in charge wonrsquot curethose ills [of capitalism] shersquoll simply perpetuate themmdashthough her rhetoric will be more gentle Women cannot do itdifferently because theyrsquore not allowed to They cannot liveby the values of radical feminism (or any other ismmdashexceptof course capitalism) in the business world because no onein [the] corporate [world] has the freedom to live by values


other than those of [the] corporate [world]hellipWhenwomenmdashor men for that mattermdashenter the business worldthey must shed their politics their emotions and their idealsand they must standardize their attire their attitudes theirbehavior and even their skills (Gordon 1983147)

Besides the potential for capitalism to create inequalityamong people particularly to the detriment of poor women is veryhigh and ldquofor these reasons activism on the part of African womenis vital to assure that efforts to promote equity for women under acapitalist regime include minimizing class inequality as socialistand radical feminists have arguedrdquo (Gordon 199610) Neverthelesssuch activism is likely to be more effective if more women attainedfinancial and material independence and self-determination ofwhich corporate feminism is the most optimal engine

Obviously this paper cannot resolve these ideologicaldisagreements given its goal of offering more exploratory insightsinto the successes and failures of South Africarsquos ldquogender revolu-tionrdquo The present study should however advance the literature onwomenrsquos businesses and entrepreneurship and their implications forthe womenrsquos movement The extant literature predominantly focuseson informal sector or ldquosurvivalistrdquo activities (see Ndziba-Whitehead1993 Bolanle-Awe 1993 House-Midamba and Ekechi 1995)Others have also discussed womenrsquos savings and investment tradi-tions in South Africa such as stokvels burial societies and othertypes of informal revolving credit associations (see Verhoef 2001)Professional and elite businesswomen investing as a corporate bodyand appropriating feminist solidarity discourse to accumulatewealth and challenge patriarchal control and racial oppression is anew phenomenon that should enrich gender studies generally SouthAfricarsquos case would make more sense if situated within its history ofpatriarchal and racial oppression against women which is the focusof the section that follows

Black Women and Black Entrepreneurship in South African History

Entrepreneurship among Africans is very low compared to otherracial groups in South Africa and is even much lower amongAfrican women compared to women in west central and eastAfrican countries This is primarily the result of centuries of colo-nialism and apartheid during which blacks were systematicallydispossessed and pushed into the fringes of South Africarsquos economy


at times to protect whites against competition with black entrepre-neurs (Motsuenyane 19785) The Natives Urban Areas Act (1923)later replaced by the Native (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act(1945) for instance only permitted black business in the townshipsthat provided nothing more than the daily essentials of living suchas milk bread or vegetables Blacks were barred from owning andoperating dry cleaners bookshops garages pharmacies liquorstores etc because businesses that satisf ied more than the barestdaily necessities remained the defended preserve of white entrepre-neurs and were located in white urban areas More than 80 Acts ofParliament aimed at assisting the white commercial farming sectorso that it would never face any competition from the African farm-ers were passed between 1910 and 1948 With the rise to power ofthe National Party in 1948 a barrage of racially discriminatory lawswere enacted and relentlessly enforced by the apartheid regime untilthe mid-1970s further inhibiting black participation in the econ-omy In all there were more than 500 laws and over 800 localbylaws and regulations that restricted the activities of black entre-preneurs (Horrell 1977 Robertson 1986 Williams 1989)

These restrictions impacted African women significantlymost of whom were confined to the rural areas through influxcontrol laws and the Group Areas Act (see Poinsette 1985Ahwireng-Obeng 1993) They were further marginalized bydiscriminatory civil and customary laws and practices that deniedthem contractual rights by rendering them perpetual minors subjectto patriarchal institutions and dependent on their male relativesMany women were barred from owning land family planninginheriting money or participating in political and social strugglesAbsence or paucity of basic infrastructure and economic activity inthe rural areas because of lack of access to land water marketsfinance communications infrastructure and flows of informationled to massive rural-urban migration by men This meant that ruralareas weremdashand still aremdashpopulated mainly by women the youngthe old the sick and the unemployed

Women who migrated to the townships and urban centersfound work as maids and nannies (Cock 1981) while some engagedin survivalist informal economic activities to supplement familyincome or as the only source of income (Poinsette 1985) With theirhusbands some engaged in new kinds of entrepreneurship in suchtrades as small restaurants retail shops tailoring carpentry andmotor mechanic workshops bicycle shops and funeral parlors(homes) Others were also involved in the sale of all types of home-made drinks (especially sorghum in the shebeens) and the


much-needed entertainment business by promoting cultural andsocial activities of all kinds Success for many of these entrepre-neurs however entailed adapting to racial segregation bycircumventing the law living in the informal economy or acquiringa powerful patronmdasha chief or a white person (see Mazwai 1994 andHetherington 1998)

Other than a handful that were well-established and wealthyin their own right before the transition such as the late Mrs MarinaMaponya (Mazwai 19945) almost all black women who enteredbusiness did so because of their status as the relatives of men aswidows as wives and as mothers and they generally held thefamily properties intact until a son or son-in-law was able to takeover Many were not ldquoentrepreneurs and risk-takersrdquo in a liberalcapitalist sense to the extent that they did not act ldquoas individuals butas dependents and economic caretakers who engaged[ed] in lsquoriskybusinessrsquo not for individual gain but for family prosperity andsurvivalrdquo (see Kwolek-Folland 19988-9 for an elaboration of thisconcept) It was against this background of racial economic oppres-sion and patriarchal control that a handful of professional womensought to redefine black womenrsquos economic status in the post-tran-sition period by becoming corporate entrepreneurs

From the Kitchen and ldquoBra-Burningrdquo to Corporate Boardrooms The Genesis

In 1996 one euphoric observer claimed that the transition of blackSouth African women from the kitchen and ldquobra-burningrdquo to thecorporate boardrooms signified that ldquoour country has at last caughtup with the rest of the civilized world on womenrsquos economicempowermentrdquo (Enterprise August 1996 p16) How did blackwomen go from being fringe economic actors to occupying corpo-rate boardrooms as owners and managers in the post-apartheidperiod The first two years of the ANC government was character-ized by ambivalence about using state resources to foster a blackcapitalist elite who might not be different from white capitalists thatsustained and benefited from apartheid Given this ambivalencewhite corporate South Africa seized the initiative by defining andfinancing their own concept of ldquoblack economic empowermentrdquowhich entailed corporate board and management appointments andselling (or ldquounbundlingrdquo) some of their non-core business on creditto prominent black business and political activists Through thisform of co-optation corporate South Africa sought to preemptfuture redistribution of the countryrsquos wealth by the ANC government


Not surprisingly most of the ldquoempowerment dealsrdquo thusconsummated went to black men or in a few cases included womenonly as an afterthought and as mere tokens While many womensimply complained about the apparent emerging alliance betweenpatriarchy and capitalism a few decided to go into business at thecorporate level and used it as their own political space to challengethe racial and gender oppression of black women Four blackwomen Wendy Luhabe Gloria Serobe Nomhle Canca and LouisaMojela blazed the trail and founded the Women InvestmentPortfolio (Wiphold) in 1994 now headquartered in Houghton asuburb of Johannesburg According to Ms Mojela the ExecutiveChairperson

Wendy [Luhabe] and I were attending a workshopconducted by Tito Mboweni then head of the ANCrsquoseconomics division [and now Reserve Bank Governor] Hewas bringing black professionals and business people up tospeed on the changes in South Africa emphasizing that theymust wake up and take advantage of the opportunitiesWendy and I moaned that nothing ever seemed to come outof these sessions for women But we decided that we shouldstop moaning and that the challenge was up to us to do it forourselves (Mojela 2001)

The pioneers saw ldquothe need for women to begin to play acentral role in wealth creation rather than remaining on the fringein activities such as selling apples at street cornersrdquo (Sunday Times25 April 1999 p11) Their objection to racialized capitalism wasstated by Dr Bernie September of Femvest another black women-run ldquoempowermentrdquo company based in Cape Town who said hercompany was formed ldquowith the realization that nearly all blackempowerment initiatives are dominated by a few black men and thatso often all black empowerment means is swapping the white facesof those at the top with those of a new black eliterdquo (Bisseker 1998)Some of the women even considered learning how to play the gameof golf to help them penetrate this male bastion (Sikhakhane 1998)

The four women who founded Wiphold christened ldquotheWiphold Fourrdquo by the media decided to put together an investmentconsortium of prominent black women most of who eventuallybacked out So the four women contributed a total of R500000from personal and family sources and established the first blackwomen-run company that grew to R750 million in assets and amarket value of R12 billion by 2000 (Wipflash Newsletter 2000


p2) Despite tremendous initial obstacles that ranged from lack ofname recognition to sexist and racist doubts about the capabilitiesof black women lack of capital investment decisions that wentsour etc Wiphold became so successful that it eventually waslisted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 1999 as thefirst women-run company on the bourse It became an instant rolemodel for other business-minded women who were also consciousof combating race and gender discrimination against black womenGiven their unprecedented achievements no one would havedescribed these women as anything other than ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo(Haffajee 1998 see also Bridge 1998b Beresford 1998 and Block1999)

The growth of these ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo was howeverfacilitated by the ANC government In 1996 the governmentadopted a neoliberal Growth Redistribution and Employment(GEAR) program that made the cultivation of a black capitalistclassmdasha ldquopatrioticrdquo black bourgeoisiemdasha state priority (see ANC1996 Mbeki 1999) Furthermore the National PreferentialProcurement Policy gave additional preferential points to govern-ment contractors (who supply about R120 billion a year inprocurements) that had womenrsquos groups as ldquoempowerment part-nersrdquo Similarly government-owned corporationsrsquo R40 billion andR60 billion procurement contracts per year must also be awarded tothose contractors with similar preference for women (especiallyblack) businesses (see Monama 2001)

This aspect of the governmentrsquos ldquogender-mainstreamingrdquopolicy inevitably led to an explosion in the number of black women-owned corporate businesses flaunting their ldquoblack empowermentcredentialrdquo and seeking to take advantage of the state-mediatedaccumulation process Consequently by the end of 2000 there wereabout 50 investment companies owned andor run by black womenincluding the Black Housewives League of Soweto andMalibongwe Womenrsquos Investments Holdings owned by the ANCWomenrsquos League (Sunday Times 25 April 1999 p11 BWA 2000)The growth of black women-owned businesses in mining sector isillustrative The adoption of a mining ldquoempowerment charterrdquo in2002 that pledged 25 percent of the industry to blacks in 2015 ledto the formation of the Women in Oil and Energy South Africa(Woesa) with 396-member ldquoblack empowermentrdquo companies seek-ing to take advantage of the opportunities created by thegovernment-mediated charter (see Mail amp Guardian 1 November2002) Acknowledging the pivotal role of the government on thefortunes of the elite black businesswomen Gloria Serobe of


Wiphold conceded ldquoItrsquos not so much that the four of us [founders ofWiphold] woke up one morning and decided we were bright It wasalso because the environment was rightmdashespecially with the newgovernmentrsquos emphasis on womenrsquos equality It has to be empha-sized that Wiphold was not a response to hatred for men We lovethem totallyrdquo (Financial Mail [Corporate Report Supplement] 23July 1999 p14 emphasis mine)

Despite white business cooperation (which is often ques-tionable) and the statersquos commitment to their development many ofthese businesses are still comparatively very small and entrepre-neurial ldquotoddlersrdquo while some have suspended operation or mergedwith more established ones Yet others never got off the groundbecause of a lack of capital to even hire office space and paid staffand an inability to access state and white business largesse1 Of theones in existence at the end of 2000 three broad categories werediscernible the first and most prominent being the business andinvestment consortia that had listed in the Johannesburg StockExchange (JSE) The second category is made up of those invest-ment consortia that are unlisted but buy and trade in shares ofcompanies listed on the JSE as well as in privately held stocks Thethird category includes small to medium scale enterprises most ofwhich are also owned by groups of women Table 1 gives a partiallisting of the first two groups

The rest of the paper will make a preliminary evaluation ofthe extent to which these business owners could be called ldquocorpo-rate Amazonsrdquo or ldquoempowerment Spice Girlsrdquo

Elite Black Businesswomen as ldquoCorporate Amazonsrdquo

The claim that elite black businesswomen sought to fight for changein gender and race politics from within South Africarsquos corporatecapitalist culture has some merit if we examine how they framedtheir business goals and the changes they have sought to introduceinto the countryrsquos corporate culture

Feminist Goals and the Politics of Labels

Although these pioneers of black womenrsquos corporate entrepreneur-ship do not necessarily see their activities as a ldquofeministprojectrdquomdashand almost all of those interviewed by the author rejectedthe feminist labelmdashthey appropriated mainstream feministlanguage and demonstrated acute awareness of and genuine desireto eliminate gender inequality in their pronouncements and busi-


ness activities According to the executive chairperson of Wipholdthe companyrsquos strategy is to use its large shareholder base(discussed below) to develop a mutually beneficial relationship withthe companies in which they invest and to work from within totransform companies into promoting the interests of women Inlobbying government and big business for a more sustainable andquicker BEE they also seek to ensure that black capitalist develop-ment policies and programs of both the state and big business aregrounded on a gendered perspective (Mojela 2001)

The women also see themselves as role models for futuregenerations of black South African women inspired to use theircollective economic power to fight gender and racial oppression


Table 1 Some Black Womenrsquos Investment ConsortiaCompanies in South Africa

Company amp Location Year Founded

Listed

Aganang Basadi Business Association (ABBA) N A No Akhona Trade amp Investments Durban 1995 No Black Housewives League Soweto N A No Dyambu Holdings (Pty) Ltd Parktown Johannesburg 1996 No Enterprising Womenrsquos Investment Group N A No Femvest Investments Diep River Western Cape 1998 No Free State Womenrsquos Investment Group (Pty) Limited N A No Kensani Consortium (Pty) Ltd (ldquoKenCordquo) Sandton 1996 No Khomanani Investment Group 1998 No Letlotlo Investment Holdings N A No Luthando Investments (Pty) Ltd Clairemont W Cape 1995 No Malibongwe ANC Womenrsquos League Investment Co 1996 No Mpande Investment Group N A No Mwangaza Investment Holdings N A No National Association for Womenrsquos Empowerment N A No Nombasa Traditional Garments N A No North-West Womenrsquos Investment Company N A No Nozala Investments (Pty) Ltd Brynston 1996 No Phahmanag Investment Holdings 1996 No Pontso Investment Holdings 1996 No Sedibeng Investments Sandown Johannesburg 1997 No Sechaba Womenrsquos Institute Trust (SWIT) 1996 No South African Womenrsquos Investment Holdings N A No Ughubu Investment Limited N A No Western Cape Womenrsquos Investment Forum NA No Womenrsquos Empowerment Investments N A No Women in Capital Growth Gallo Manor Gauteng NA No Womenrsquos Development Bank Investment Holdings Johannesburg

1995

No

Womenrsquos Development Board Investment Holdings N A No Womenrsquos Investment Portfolio Houghton 1994 Yes 1999

Yakani Properties Port Elizabeth N A No Source BusinessMap 2001 Sunday Times 25 April 1999 BWA 2000 Businesses in bold print are the primary subjects of this study

The chairperson of Nozala Investment Holdings another highprofile black womenrsquos business thus said ldquoI wish that more andmore sisters could replicate our efforts so we could attack the busi-ness environment in numbers Unless we do that we will miss out onbreaking the corporate glass ceilings faced by womenrdquo (Dakile-Hlongwane 2001 see also Kobokoane 1997) Her message to youngwomen was ldquoIrsquom just a girl from Soweto and I made it If I can doit others canrdquo (quoted in Wackernagel 1997) Table 2 shows howthese feminist goals have been framed in the black women-run busi-nesses evaluated for this study

A careful evaluation suggests that some serious effort atleast initially was made to extend the dreams of ldquomaterial independ-encerdquo and ldquogroup solidarityrdquo to other women especially the poorand rural dwellers First of all many of the founders went aroundthe country and as far as Botswana Lesotho and Swazilandprompting rural and urbantownship women involved in stokvelssavings associations burial societies self-help schemes churchgroups and community organizations to change from saving forshort-term needs to investing long-term As Table 2 shows throughWipholdrsquos public offering in 1997 for instance about 1265 individ-ual women and some 30 womenrsquos groupsmdashaltogether about 18000women shareholders from every walk of lifemdashwere given the firstopportunity to own shares in the pioneer black women-runcompany They later became direct holders of stocks traded on theJSE for the first time when Wiphold was listed in 1999 Other blackwomen-run companies similarly recruited beneficiaries from civilsociety groups and private operators in sectors of the economy witha large representation of black women2 Despite the inevitable elit-ist management and boards of these corporations this brand ofldquodemocratic capitalismrdquo was hitherto alien to South Africarsquos male-dominated nepotistic and closed capitalist culture

Secondly due to centuries of ingrained racial attitudesmany whites tend to be uncomfortable in dealing with black entre-preneurs while some do so only if blacks could be used asldquoempowerment partnersrdquo to access government contracts and subsi-dies (Bate 1997 Madi 1998) This type of institutional racism iseven more debilitating for black businesswomen already disadvan-taged by patriarchal control Consequently black womenrsquosmobilization for corporate capitalism is also framed as a mission todisprove white racial prejudices especially against black womenThe experience of three university-educated black women in theirlate 20s and early 30s who left their lucrative careers in stock-broking and advertising in corporate South Africa in 1999 to start a



Table 2 Womenrsquos Empowerment Objectives of Black Women-Run Companies

Company Empowerment Objectives Extent of Womenrsquos Involvement

Akhona Trade amp Investments Durban

ldquoAkhonardquo is Zulu for ldquowomen are hererdquo The company seeks to adapt the idea of an investment trust to meet the peculiar needs of KwaZulu-Natal by harnessing womenrsquos saving potential and business ability It invests in the stock market and business enterprises to create wealth and position women to play meaningful role in the economy

Founded by 3 professional women now has 14 directors 40-50 member empowerment Investment Trusts of 1000 women in greater Durban area each trust investing around R5000 a month in the business

Femvest Investments Diep River W Cape

Seeks to empower the poorest of the poor women Its goal is to eventually mobilize 6000 women to join Femvest seeks not only to grow their investment but also to provide the women with basic business skills and job opportunities through the investments that it makes

Mobilized 380 disadvantaged women in groups that contributed up to R1000 each to provide down-payment for the companyrsquos take off

Nozala Investments

ldquoNozalardquo means ldquobirth and expresses the ability of its founders to create and to nurturerdquo The company seeks to ensure that women in business in particular entrepreneurs are universally fostered in South Africa to ensure economic advancement for women by promoting constructive business partnerships with leading business entities labor unions and leaders in commerce and industry to maximize existing shareholder wealth and facilitate greater direct shareholder participation for women

Nozala extended share ownership to black empowerment groups whose membership is predomi-nantly or all women They include workersrsquo groups (with 342000 members) rural womenrsquos groups church groups and stokvels (500000 members from the three groups) The Nozala Trust was set up for the advancementtraining of rural women in business The founding individuals and black economic empowerment shareholders donate 20 of their dividends to the Trust which will provide lending facilities to women

Womenrsquos Development Bank Investment Holdings

Seeks to empower poor rural women through loan facilities to encourage them to start micro-enterprises

WDB Investment Holdings is the business arm of the bank that makes micro-finance facilities available to about 8000 rural women on the condition that women form groups using peer pressure as collateral If one member fails to repay the loan the remaining members are prevented from further loans unless there is a valid reason

Womenrsquos Investment Portfolio

Strives to create wealth for its shareholders enable women from all levels of society to participate in economic empowerment initiatives be an active and operationally influential shareholder through representation of interests of women on the board of directors of companies in which it has invested seeks to utilize womenrsquos purchasing power as leverage for equity participation

About 18000 women (1265 individuals and 30 womenrsquos groups) were invited to purchase shares in 1997 as first time investors in stocks Wiphold conducts quarterly road-shows to explain business activities to women investors holds bi-annual congresses to reinforce the companyrsquos entrepreneurial educational role for women Wiphold Trust was set up to receive 20 of shareholdersrsquo profit distributed as grants to NGOs that specifically assist South African women and children

Source Company and program profiles interviews of program coordinators by the author at various times between March and July 2001

small meat distribution company supplying meat to catering compa-nies and retailers in the Johannesburg metropolitan area isillustrative They contended that their primary motivation was toldquochallenge stereotypes about women and perceptions that blackbusinesses do not meet their delivery obligationsrdquo and undauntedthey recognized ldquothe meat trade [was] pale and malerdquo (Sikhakhane200136) Almost all the women interviewed for this study claimedthat when they first approached big business for capital or otherbusiness opportunities many of the mostly white male loan officialsquestioned their capacity to conceive of business ideas let alonemaking good on their commitments and contractual obligations

The stance of these women on race and gender conform withAfrican women writersrsquo rejection of mainstream feminismrsquostendency to emphasize ldquoglobal sisterhoodrdquo despite the fact thatblack and white or Third World and Western women do not havemuch in common other than their gender (see Amadiume 1990Oyeronke 1997 Okeke 1999)3 Many black South African business-women are resentful that white women who benefited more fromapartheid despite the systemrsquos gender oppression have tended to bethe primary beneficiaries of affirmative action and womenrsquosempowerment programs in the post-transition period They point tostudies showing that in both the public and private sectors womenare climbing the corporate ladder faster than before The number ofdirectorships held by women doubled since 1994 but 65 percent ofthese positions went to white women These appointments arehowever still generally made along racial lines while white womenare often used as a buffer against the progress of black women andmen (see Booysen 200022-28) White women are also allegedlygiven ownership of traditional ldquowhite businessesrdquo which they use totender for government contracts since they are also included in thedefinition of ldquohistorically disadvantaged individualsrdquo in the countryMany have also allegedly recruited some black women as fronts togain access to state largesse (Smith 2003 Loflin 1996) Onecommentator therefore contended that because the economicempowerment of women is a racialized and gendered project

Black women should refuse to become fronts for white busi-nesswomen because sharing the cake without the structuralalteration of the economic base cannot bring about realtransformation (Dlepu 199946)

Recognition of racial differences in womenrsquos oppressionhowever has not precluded their framing of their activities as a


ldquocollective endeavorrdquo to engage the enormous powers of corporateSouth Africa and ingrained patriarchal attitudes They have createda wide array of business networks and associations such as theExecutive Womenrsquos Club whose aim is social betterment makingmoney and ldquoBig Sisterrdquo mentoring Partly as a result of pressurefrom the government to forge a ldquounited voicerdquo for business and alsothe desire to reach across racial barriers to their white counterpartsa multi-racial Business Womenrsquos Association (BWA) was formed in2000 BWA is an amalgamation of three organizations theExecutive Womenrsquos Club the National Association of WomenBusiness Owners and the Professional Womenrsquos LeadershipDevelopment Organization Other multi-racial networks include theCape Business Womenrsquos Forum and Sheba (also in the CapeProvince) as well as several informal networks in many parts of thecountry (Finance Week 22 September 2000 p46 Beresford199834)

Giving Capitalism ldquoa Human Facerdquo

In 1999 one newspaper headline read ldquoMojelarsquos Giving Capitalisma Good Namerdquo (Business Times 29 August 1999) The banner head-line captured a novel trend of black women-run companiesintroducing unprecedented changes in the way corporate SouthAfrica viewed black women and black womenrsquos savings and invest-ment culture According to Christine Qunta a Cape Town-basedlawyer and member of South Africarsquos Competition Commission

Womenrsquos investment companies have a different feel theyrsquoremore down-to-earth Women have been saving successfullythrough the worst repression in stokvels and burial societiesThese companies can bring about a radical change in theeconomy especially if women continue to be self-reliant andraise their own money You donrsquot have to rush off to amerchant bank to raise money (Haffajee 199736)

One important ldquoparadigm shiftrdquo engineered by the eliteblack businesses therefore is a strategic shift in the savings cultureof black South African women For the first time there is a shiftfrom a system of short-term saving (in stokvels burial societiescommunity associations etc) that allowed individuals to come andgo (see Verhoef 2001) to new structures demanding the disciplineof long-term investment The country is littered with the carcassesof numerous get-rich-quick and pyramid investment schemes that


have caused immense misery for a lot of poor women and theirfamilies since the end of apartheid (see Webb 2000) Initially thishistorical baggage made it a Herculean task to convince blackwomen to believe in the ldquoradical ideasrdquo being preached by the newinvestment groups One female lecturer at the Pretoria campus ofVista University confirmed as much ldquoMy society (an informalsavings club) did not want to get involved because of previous badexperiences with get-rich-quick schemesrdquo and the executive chair-person of Wiphold Louisa Mojela recalls ldquoIt [was] a difficult taskto convince older people of an idea when you are youngrdquo especiallyas people would not trust ldquothese youngsters from Joburgrdquo (quoted inSikhakhane 1998)

As thousands of women embraced this paradigm shift theculture of savings and investmentmdashand indeed capitalism itselfmdashhas begun to gain community respect and legitimacy in black SouthAfrica An enthused Baptist Minister whose congregants boughtinto Wiphold in 1997 exclaims ldquoWe cannot talk about St Matthewor St Luke on an empty stomach We must preach the gospel ofeconomic empowerment as well One day we will be billionairesrdquoEven though the dream may not be a reality in her lifetime ldquoshewould have left the next generation a foundation upon which to laythe next building blocks towards that billionrdquo (Sikhakhane 1998)

The brand of ldquograssroots capitalismrdquo spearheaded by theelite black businesswomen may have opened alternative vistas forthe countryrsquos closed capitalist and patriarchal culture For instanceprior to the founding of Wiphold few black women if any investedin the stock market even though there was no legal prohibitionsagainst their participation not even under apartheid On the otherhand the white men who worked in the stodgy halls of the JSE thatbastion of exclusive white privilege did not consider black womena real or potential market Indeed the South African Chamber ofBusiness the mostly English-speaking white male business cham-ber said it had never considered women in business an issue andtherefore had no research or data on the subject not even for whitewomen (see Beresford 1998)

Table 2 also shows that these women have popularizedldquodeeprdquo corporate social responsibility as opposed to the window-dressing publicity and image laundering characteristic of corporateSouth Africa Their priorities extend to teaching poor women basicskills and providing them with job opportunities and income-improvements through strategic investments financed through ldquoanempowerment trustrdquo Nozala Investments in particular is creditedwith initiating training and skills transfer among women investors


In 1998 it partnered with a recruitment and training firm thattrained thousands of semi-skilled staff required to operate theMonte Casino in Fourways near Johannesburg A BEE group TsogoSun Investment Holdings in which Nozala also had a stake hadacquired about R12 billion stake in the casino by 2001

All five womenrsquos investment companies in this study havecreated a ldquotrustrdquo to ensure that empowerment of women remainscentral to these companies after listing on the stock exchange Thetrusts exercise such control through ownership of ldquoArdquo (preference)shares with super-voting rights compared to ldquoBrdquo shares Forinstance although Wiphold Trust (which had 18000 beneficiaries)held a direct stake (economic power) of only about seven percent inWiphold it controlled the appointment of directors By the firstquarter of 1999 the trust had a value of R71 million distributedamong those women (who acquired notional shares through the twoearlier public and preferential offers) and a selected group of NGOstargeting poor urban and rural women On the other hand theWomenrsquos Development Bank Trust had between 1998 and 2003disbursed R20 million in loan capital to rural women leading to thecreation of 16000 jobs (Mahabane 2003) Similarly about 20percent of the dividends earned by Nozalarsquos directors and empower-ment groups were earmarked for the Nozala Trust Since 1999Nozala Trust has worked with Motsheo Trust an organization thatspecializes in financing micro-enterprises to fund three womenrsquosmicro-enterprise projects in Welkom (Free State) while its alliancewith the Mafato-A-Bokgoale Trust also sponsors three projects inrural Tsimanyane (Northern Province)4 Although patriarchy andcapitalism in South Africa are unlikely to be challenged by thesechanges a pattern of behavior that could give black women adistinct voice seems to be emerging

Finally most evaluations of empowerment as a concept tendto adopt a realist masculine or ldquoobediencerdquo definition of poweraccording to which one group (men white people propertiedpeopleelites) predominantly has power over another group (womenpeople of color working-class people) Applied to women suchldquoneutralityrdquo precludes analysis ldquonot only ofhellipgender power dynam-ics but also of how one set of such dynamics can interact withothers to produce complex power relationshipsrdquo (Rowlands199813) In contrast the feminist or ldquoenergyrdquo definition of powerpermits the concept to take other forms such as power to powerwith and power from within all of which allow the construction ofa very different meaning (or set of meanings) for ldquoempowermentrdquoAccording to Nancy Hartstock this is power that does not involve


the domination of power over but is a power that is generative forexample ldquothe power some people have of stimulating activity inothers and raising their moralerdquo (1985223) For Rowlands(199813) ldquoone aspect of this power is the kind of leadership thatcomes from the wish to see a group achieve what it is capable ofwhere there is not necessarily any conflict of interests and the groupis setting its own agenda It is a form of power that can persuadeothers into positive changehellipor open up new possibilities withoutdominationrdquo (Rowlands 199814-15) Viewed from this perspectivehowever embryonic and fragile the structures they have created theelite black businesswomen deserve to be called ldquocorporateAmazonsrdquo because of the social transformation they have initiatedamong women and in South Africarsquos corporate culture

Empowerment Spice Girls A Critique of Elite Black Womenrsquos Businesses

One major criticism of ldquocorporate feminismrdquo is that women who tryto change capitalismrsquos oppression of women (in alliance with patri-archy) by working from within always become easy prey toco-optation by forces of capitalism In the case of South Africathere are indications that some of the elite black women have notonly collided with this corporate brick wall but many also face thedanger of being used mainly to open up access for white business tostate-mediated capitalist accumulation process

First of all although the women generally seek to disprovecenturies of ingrained racial attitudes against black women some ofthe deals and the directorships accumulated by some black busi-nesswomen are allegedly ldquorent-a-tannierdquo transactions Asldquoempowerment partnersrdquo they facilitate or ldquospice uprdquo the path ofcorporate South Africa that has been repositioning to gain access tostate-mediated accumulation meant for blacks (see Bate 1997 Madi1998) A case in point is the origin of one of the leading blackwomenrsquos ldquoempowerment companiesrdquo in the Western Cape ProvinceFemvest which came about by chance In early 1998 Dr BernieSeptember proprietor of Development Dynamics (a managementand skills training consultancy) and Linda de Vries a senior lecturerin management sciences at the University of the Western Cape wereapproached by Stocks amp Stocks a multi-billion rand JSE-listedand white-owned corporation with the suggestion that they form awomenrsquos business group to take a ldquocommunity stakerdquo in the CapeMillennium Casino At the time Stocks amp Stocks was bidding forthe casino rights and was desperate for black female partners as


required by government Eventually it bank-rolled a two percentholding of R15 million that enabled Femvest as a womenrsquosldquoempowerment companyrdquo to purchase a stake in the casinocompany (Bisseker 1998)

Some of the businesses that have shown unquestionablecommitment to rural womenrsquos empowerment appear to have bene-fited similarly from their ldquoblack empowerment credentialsrdquo In1998 for example Zanele Mbeki (then deputy president Mbekirsquoswife) and some of her business associates in the well-respectedWomenrsquos Development Bank Investment Holdings (whose directorsincluded her husbandrsquos legal adviser and a director-general in theDepartment of Agriculture) were accused of fronting for white busi-nesses in the controversy over the privatization of tourismparastatal Aventura (Eveleth 1998) There have been several othersimilar high profile allegations of fronting as the government inten-sifies the enforcement of preferential procurement policy and itsprivatization program in favor of the ldquopatrioticrdquo black bourgeoisieTheir lobbying networks are similarly dependent on corporate andstate sponsorship For instance Nedbank one of the four majorbanks in South Africa is the primary sponsor of the multi-racialBusiness Womenrsquos Association formed in 2000 as the umbrella bodyfor all businesswomen (Finance Week 22 September 2000 p46)

Irrespective of the source of their wealth these women havebeen described as ldquothe future [Harry] Oppenheimers and [Anton]Rupperts Theyrsquore getting rich quickly and each one counts at leasta fistful of coveted directorships among the many feathers in theircapsrdquo (Mail amp Guardian 12 June 1998 see also Lunsche 1996)Although this euphoric description does not apply to all of them thenumber of elite black businesswomen who fit this profile is grow-ing rapidly For example black women outnumbered whites for thefirst time in the shortlist of candidates for the countryrsquos prestigiousldquoBusinesswoman of the Yearrdquo award in 1999 This award recognizesserious players in the corporate world in South Africa and also thosewho have played important roles in ldquogiving capitalism a humanfacerdquo in the country5 Black women also make up a third of themembership of the newly formed multi-racial Business WomenrsquosAssociation (BWA 2000)

Secondly elite black businesswomen generally do not createjobs and paradoxically may be perpetuating racist employmentdiscrimination against fellow blacks With few exceptions mostblack womenrsquos businesses like all ldquoblack empowerment compa-niesrdquo rarely employ black management professionals not evenblack women despite the growing number that graduate every year


from the countryrsquos best institutions including its world-class busi-ness schools Instead their offices are filled mostly with white staffand managers or executives ministered to as always by the blacktea lady and desk-dusting specialist now joined by a slightly darkerreceptionist6 Visitors to the offices of some of these companieswould be excused if they thought they were in corporate offices stillrestricted by the apartheid laws This is not just because of thealleged skills scarcity among blacks that makes the employment ofexperienced white professionals imperative but in many cases itrepresents ldquoracism by proxyrdquo In South Africa and elsewhere blackbusinesses that have white clients often lose business unless theyhave white staff to reassure a white clientele so distrustful of theabilities of black professionals (see Cashmore 1992)

The contradiction between the quest for ldquothe bottom linerdquoand ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo fighting for gender equality is furtherexacerbated by their fields of accumulation as shown in Table 3 Itshows that ownership of the media information technology enter-tainment leisure and financial services sector assets are the mostfavored areas of investments These are sectors of the economywhere few black women have the requisite qualifications and expe-rience to seek employment Nozalarsquos CEO explains ldquoIt wouldnrsquotmake sense to gamble on a new business we have to concentrate onestablished companies that are obviously going somewhere Thatrsquoswhy wersquore targeting the financial services hospitality and mediasectors Thatrsquos where the growth will come fromrdquo (Wackernagel1997)

Black womenrsquos lack of access to capital and managerialresources to start or expand their operations have however oftenforced them to form ldquostrategic alliancesrdquo across the color line(Dlepu 199946) Although a normal businesses strategy their rela-tionships with corporate South Africa often raise the questionwhether the women have true economic ownership rather thanpaper ownership of these companies Because most of thesecompanies except Wiphold (which was later de-listed from thestock exchange in 2003) are privately held it was not possible toobtain data to answer this question conclusively What is certain isthat most ldquoblack empowermentrdquo businesses in South Africa wereinitially financed through ldquospecial purpose vehiclesrdquo (SPVs)designed by white financial institutions with little cash contributionby black ldquoownersrdquo That is they borrowed money from these insti-tutions as down payment for the shares they acquired with the hopeof repaying the loans with profits generated in a bullish stockmarket With the collapse of the stock market in 1998 many black


empowerment companies have seen their share value depreciate insome cases by more than 60 percent Many of them were also forcedto give up their shares to the creditors while hundreds of blackshareholders lost much of the money they invested as some of thecompanies went into receivership

Although black womenrsquos businesses were not as deeplyexposed as their male counterparts their profitabilitymdashhence theirability to give women financial independencemdashhas also beenseverely affected by the resulting ldquobearrdquo market Even though thesecompanies have investments in unlisted stocks or companies it is


Investment Portfolio Consortium Some Positions (as at 2000) MarketAsset Value

Akhona Started off with a stake in a small hotel franchise 3 of National Empowerment Consortium 5 stake in Giantrsquos Canning Company 6 stake in Dolcast Investments (which holds 31 in Afrisun KwaZulu-Natal a gaming consortium)

N A

Wiphold Forbes Group (18 of Wiphold portfolio) Theta Capital Alliance Africa Media Entertainment Bidvest (19 percent of Wiphold portfolio) Specialized Outsourcing (10 of portfolio) Carson Holdings (black hair care maker) Boabab (an investment trust) and 25 of New Africa Investments Ltd Non-listed investments include stakes in Afrisun and a 10 stake (R10 million) in Ericsson SA 51 of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings Asset Management formed a partnership with Bidvest in office-cleaning Bidwip and also invested in the Brait Technology and Innovation Fund and Rubico Holdings

R12 billion in market value in 2000

Nozala Investments

605 (R165 million) in Johnnic 333 stake in Fedics 65 of National Empowerment Consortium 10 stake (R140 million) in Educor the private educational and personnel placement company 35 stake in Tsogo Sun (owns 32 of Montecasino in Fourways near Johannesburg stake in Airports Company of South Africa 85 stake in Punt Media 42 stake in Radio Jacaranda (it also owns 10 of New Shelf Consortium that won the license for Radio Jacaranda)

R700 million in 1999

WDB Investment Holdings

15 stake in CTP directories (printers of phone directories) stake in Global Resorts Casino in Secunda 10 stake in Lithographics Company

Femvest Investment Company Invests in telecommunications information technology and property sectors (a) 2 percent stake (R15 million) in Cape Millennium Casino

R6 million in total portfolio in 1999

Table 3 Fields of Accumulation of Black Women-RunInvestment Consortia

unclear why womenrsquos financial independence should be predicatedon a highly volatile stock market The depreciation of Wipholdrsquosstock price from R7 in 1999 to just R325 in June 2002 at least inthe short-term means substantial financial loss not financial inde-pendence for the 18000 poor women who supported the companyin 1997

Finally the women in this study have become embedded insome of the very institutions that promote patriarchal genderdiscrimination They tend to be married to elite men with childrenand are strong defenders of the family and heterosexual marriageAlthough some of them protest that ldquoWe donrsquot want to be validatedin any way by our husbandsrdquo (Financial Mail 23 July 1999 p14)they also attribute much of their business success to support fromtheir family members Indeed many of them have husbands andfathers or other close family members who are either prominentbusinessmen or powerful and highly placed politicians (see Table 4)

Of course it would be unfair to belittle the business andrevolutionary foresight of these women and their successful careers


Table 4 Some Characteristics of New Black South AfricanBusiness Women 2001

Name Age Current Organization

Education Corporate Experience

Former Employer

Marital Status

Thembi Myeni Thokozile Gulube Nomhle Canca Wendy Luhabe Gloria Serobe Louisa Mojela Salukazi Hlongwane Lorato Phalatse Dawn Mokhobo Zanele Mbeki Fikile Buthelezi NonkululekoGobod Hazel Ralefeta Kgomotso Moraka Ursla Skosana Nomsa Mazwai Patricia Gorvalla Naledi Pandor Bernie September Linda de Vries Anna Mokgokong

NA NA 35 43 42 45 50 38 --- NA --- 40 42 --- --- --- 71 58 46 --- ---

Akhona Akhona Wiphold Wiphold WipholdTransnet Wiphold Nozala Nozala Nozala WDB Inv Holdgs WDB Inv Holdgs PontsoEl Shaddai PontsoViamax Pontso Pontso Ladies Invest Co NozalaLuthando Luthando Femvest Femvest MaleselaHoldings

MBA MSW BA (Politics) BCom MBA BCom MA DevEcon MA DevStds BA Soc Sc PhD --- BCom Acct High School BProc ---- MBBCh Teacher MA Linguist MSc PhD MBA BSc MBBCh

10 Years 8 Years + 4 Years 8 Years 14 Years 10 Years 12 Years+ 5 Years+ 5 Years + 5 Years + 10 Years 10 Years+ ----

----- 5 Years + 10Years + 10 Years+ 10 Years+ 5 Years+ ---- 12 Years

HR Mgt HR Mgt Smith Barney BMW SCMBExxon SCMBWB ADB DBSA Gauteng Govt Ex- Journalist UNHCR ---- KPMG BMF ----- ---- Hospital Ex-Schl Tchr UCTSA MP Dev Dynamics Univ W Cape Hebron Med

NA NA Yes (ch) Yes Yes Yes (R) Yes Yes (ch) ---- Yes ---- ---- Yes Yes Yes ---- --- Yes Yes ---- Divorced

ch = has a young child R = re-married Source Company annual reports BusinessMap and business publications

before going into business Besides powerful relatives can helpkick start both menrsquos and womenrsquos careers but that alone does notaccount for success Nonetheless the array of business dealsgarnered by elite black womenrsquos businesses could not have occurredwithout vigorous support of some of South Africarsquos most influentialmen The list of their ldquoinstitutional investors reads like a Whorsquos Whoof the investment communityrdquo (Financial Mail 22 October 1999)As Wiphold for instance combined ldquothe allure of gender withhistorical disadvantagehellipdoors were opened that would otherwisehave remained closed Women voted with their savings fundmanagers rushed to buy into a company that offered access to well-regarded stocks at modest discountsrdquo (Financial Mail 29 October1999) A director of Wiphold admitted as much in an address to theannual general meeting of shareholders in 1999 ldquoWe really workedhard for the Wiphold community We produced four marriages[among the directors] two babies and a terrif ic portfoliordquo(Financial Mail [Corporate Report Supplement] 23 July 1999 p 14)

Some Preliminary Observations and Conclusions

The entry of black women into corporate capitalist accumulation isa fascinating and an unfolding story that also enriches our under-standing of South Africarsquos celebrated ldquogender revolutionrdquo Thisstudy has attempted to map and explore the consequences of theseelite black womenrsquos mobilization for capitalism as a platform forfighting gender and racial inequality in the country Five of the mostsuccessful such businesses were evaluated based on on-site researchconducted between January and June 2001 Although a scion of theon-going quest for black peoplersquos integration into the economicmainstream elite black businesswomen also see corporate entrepre-neurship as a platform for fighting gender inequalities and whiteracial privilege And though the pioneers took the initiative to gointo corporate business following the transition from apartheid toblack majority rule their ascent owes much to the ANC governmentwith occasional cooperation from white business A preliminaryreview shows evidence of significant achievements that qualifythese businesswomen as ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo that have providedfinancial benefits to less fortunate women and have begun to intro-duce positive changes in corporate social responsibility in SouthAfrica However their strategic partnerships with corporate SouthAfrica their fields of accumulation and their familial attachmentshave raised concerns as to whether many of the women may havebeen ldquoempowerment Spice Girlsrdquo that primarily facilitated wealth


accumulation by captains of industry and beneficiaries of patriar-chal institutions Further research should clarify these ambiguities

Despite the tentative nature of this evidence some observa-tions can be made First is the need to pay serious attention toldquocapitalismrsquos genius at defusing protest by winning over the protest-ers to the very values and institutions they once attackedrdquo (Gordon1983142) That some progressive fractions of patriarchal and capi-talist institutions became allies in the womenrsquos quest for space toredefine their own identity however selfish also calls for pragma-tism As Gloria Serobe of Wiphold puts it ldquoIn our lifetime we havenot quite managed to break through this gender nightmare in anysignificant way As we attempt to create gender balance our strate-gic game as women has to take into account that for a long time ourcounterparts are going to be menrdquo (quoted in City Press 29 April2001 p11) While opposition to patriarchy remains central to thewomenrsquos movement it should not always pit men against women insuch a way that precludes resolution According to Joan JoffeNozala Investments director ldquoOne big mistake that women make isto try to shut men out We have to work alongside each other I lookforward to the day when we donrsquot have women in business groupsbut just bodies for business peoplerdquo (Beresford 199834)

The study also highlights the continuing debate aboutwomenrsquos objective and subjective interests and their implications forthe womenrsquos movement (see Molyneux 1985 1998 Moser 1989Wieringa 1994) in view of the diverse class and racial backgroundsof the women analyzed Is there a common interest between eliteand poor black women or is the elite taking advantage of poorwomenrsquos eagerness to improve their economic status This is anempirical question though perhaps a question largely contingentupon theoretical perspective thus affecting the very possibility ofempirical investigation Such research should of course bear inmind that poor and elite black South African women share commoninterests and experience of racial and gender oppression that ishistorically and culturally constituted Such a study must recognizethat what may appear initially as shortcomings of the womenrsquoseconomic empowerment reflects a fundamental dilemma of thepolitical transformation in post-apartheid South Africa where thesocialist option has quickly faded and those desiring change mustnecessarily compromise with corporate capital It is a battle inwhich few especially ldquoliberated womenrdquo will engage without severeideological bruises

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to black womenrsquos empower-ment in South Africa is more in the countryrsquos sluggish economic


growth and less in capitalism and patriarchy per se Future researchmust look at the impact of economic growth on the ability of theseblack empowerment groups to attain their stated goals Equallyimportant is the vexing question of the high visibility of ldquoeconomi-cally empoweredrdquo black women or ldquothe black super-bitch problemrdquo(Mimela 2002) and the attendant male backlash resulting in highrates of violence against black women A typical example of thisldquosuper-bitch problemrdquo can be seen in the words of a newspapercolumnist

Yes lobola [bride wealth] might have worked back in 19-voetsek [century] although I donrsquot see howmdashitrsquos soone-sided it definitely worked for the man As for me atwenty-first century gal I work I have my own money Ihave my own car and I can afford my own house I will hireand pay for a nanny who will look after the kids I will hirea domestic who will look after my house and the hubby Ifanything I should pay lobola for him (Mametse 2003)

Some writers consequently attribute the rise in violence againstwomen to men who have not seen much improvement in theireconomic situation since the dismantling of apartheid According toTemba Sono

As envy and anger of men who see themselves eclipsed bywomen rises the black gender relations [has] becomefraughthellip[This] new situation has disjointed the long-settledgender relations of black men and women As the status ofwomen rises men who have not economically kept up withtheir womenfolk are now seized with envy jealousy andanger and some of the women are bloated with arroganceA weak-character man grapples with his own hostility tosuccessful womenhellipThis may explain a rising tide of theabuse of black women by black men Their sense of impo-tence aggravates their aggression and anger and the sight ofsuccessful women merely increases their irrationalityBeastly emotions being aroused lead some men to dischargethem on more available vulnerable women (Sono 199910emphasis mine)

Is the upsurge in violence against black women related to theldquograssroots empowermentrdquo movement engineered by elite business-women Moreover how do we reconcile the class alliance between


black businesswomen and male captains of industry and the anti-women backlash from less fortunate men Does this confirm thecontention ldquopatriarchy in Africa is not a monolithic reality nor is itdivorced from class and cultural influences The same is true forwomen and womenrsquos interestsrdquo (Gordon 199611)

Another question that arises from this study is whether femi-nist solidarity is compatible with the quest and investor pressurefor the ldquobottom linerdquo As growth has slowed black economicempowerment in general and black womenrsquos businesses in particu-lar have come under stress despite increased state intervention tocultivate their ascent Future studies may have to ascertain theimpact of protracted sluggish growth and the stock market collapseon some of these women-run businesses especially on their socialresponsibility programs The parting of ways by the celebratedldquoWiphold Fourrdquo in 2002 due to disagreements over profit motiveand commitment to womenrsquos empowerment may be a pointer to thefuture (Gqubule 2002)

Finally there is need for studies that empirically try to estab-lish the assumed liberating potential of entrepreneurship for blackwomen in South Africa Under capitalism minority groups in manyparts of the world have succeeded in ldquoescapingrdquo from conditions ofsubordination and achieved a measure of self-determinationthrough business entrepreneurship What proportion of blackwomen has similarly experienced true economic empowerment as aresult of their participation in these programs This question is veryimportant because in addition to enforceable constitutional guaran-tees a meaningful challenge to gender discrimination would requiremore and more women embracing wealth-creation Whether blackwomen will play a meaningful role in South Africarsquos transformationprocess will depend among other things on their economic cloutnot only as individual consumers but also as corporate actors ingender-conscious associations and networks

NOTES

1 Interview with Ms Poppie Baloyi of Khomanani WomenrsquosInvestments Holdings on 8 June 2001 in her office at DenelCorporation (the state-owned arms sales organization) inPretoria Although this consortia acquired a stake in TsogoSunrsquos shares in the Monte Casino in Fourways nearJohannesburg-its only investment so far-it had no office orstaff


2 For instance Nozala Investmentsrsquo largest grassroots andcivil society shareholders include the Workers InvestmentCorporation Ltd (owned by the South African Clothing andTextiles Workers Union Investment Corporation and theNational Council of Trade Unionrsquos Investment Company)Akhona Trade and Investments Ltd Mmathari Afro Hair ampBeauty Salons the National Movement for Rural WomenKatekani (Proprietary) Ltd Muthande Society for the AgedUmanyano Lwentandazo Lwamanina church group andSequoia Investments cc Women constitute more than amajority in each of these groups (Wackernagel 1997 seealso Bisseker 1998 and interview with Tshepiso Tipe ofNozala Trust 9 July 2001) By 2004 Nozala Investmentsreportedly had 500000 female shareholders (see BusinessReport 12 February 2004)

3 Obioma Nnaemekarsquos edited collection SisterhoodFeminisms and Power From Africa to the Diaspora(Trenton and Asmara Africa World Press 1998) Bookie MKethusile Alice Kwaramba and Barbara Lopi (compilers)Beyond Inequalities Women in Southern Africa Women inDevelopment Awareness (Harare Southern AfricanResearch and Documentation Center 2000) and the journalSAFERE Southern African Feminist Review are perhapsthe strongest counter-critiques by African women whounabashedly embrace the strongest statements of interna-tional feminist solidarity

4 The three projects in Welkom are the Thusanang MotsheoFruit Juice-Making Project the Nkapese Motsheo SewingProject and the Flower Arrangement and CrochetingProject The projects in Tsimanyane (Northern Province) arethe Bakery Project Egg ProductionPoultry and the Brick-Making Project The most successful of these projects so faris the fruit juice-making project in Welkom (Source Projectrecords and interview with Tsepiso Thipe Nozala TrustProject Coordinator 9 July 2001)

5 The 1999 list of finalists included Gloria Serobe and LouisaMojela both of Wiphold and Dr Anna Mokgokong the1998 winner of 50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs in theWorld awarded by United States-based Star Group of theNational Association of Business Women Dr Mokgokongwho eventually won the Businesswoman of the Year Award


for 1999 is the founder and executive chair of the R500million-worth black empowerment investment companyMalesela Investment Holdings and executive director of itsMacmed Health Care (Business Times 4 July 1999)

6 For example the CEO of WBD Investment Holdings is awhite Afrikaner woman Kensani Investments is led by awhite female CEO while WipCapital a subsidiary ofWomenrsquos Investment Portfolio is virtually in the hands ofmostly white male management staff The only exception isprobably Nozala where almost all managers and directorswere black As Table 2 shows however the racial composi-tion of the management is not necessarily a good measure ofthe benefits accruing to the poor from these businessgroups

REFERENCES

ANC 1996 The State and Social Transformation JohannesburgANC Policy Directorate

Ahwireng-Obeng Fred 1993 ldquoGender Entrepreneurship andSocioeconomic Reparation in South Africardquo Review ofBlack Political Economy 22(2)(Fall)151-165

Alvarez Sonia 1990 Engendering Democracy in Brazil WomenrsquosMovements in Transition Politics Princeton PrincetonUniversity Press

Amadiume Iffy 1990 ldquoCycles of Euro-Western ImperialismFeminism Race Gender Class and Powerrdquo WomenrsquosStudies 4(1)

Anon 1999 ldquoMojelarsquos Giving Capitalism a Good Namerdquo BusinessTimes August 29

Awe Bolanle ed 1993 Women Family State and Economy inAfrica Chicago University of Chicago Press

Bate David 1997 ldquoDo You Need an Empowerment PartnerrdquoCorporate Finance June pp1-4

Beresford Belinda 1998 ldquoGrabbing the Reins of Powerrdquo Mail ampGuardian August 7-13 pp34

Bisseker Claire 1998 ldquoDoing It For Themselvesrdquo Mail ampGuardian June 26

Block Donna 1999 ldquoBe a Material Girlrdquo Mail amp Guardian August 6Blondet Cecilia 1995 ldquoOut of the Kitchens and Onto the Streetsrdquo

In The Challenge of Local Feminisms edited by AmritaBasu Boulder CO Westview Press


Bonanno Phyllis 1999 ldquoWomen The Emerging Economic ForcerdquoEconomic Reform Today 32-3

Booysen Lize 2000 ldquoChallenges Facing Black and White WomenManagers in South Africardquo Management Today 16(5)22-28

Bridge Sherilee 1998a ldquoLobby for Black Women ExecutivesrdquoBusiness Times December 13

ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1998b ldquoWomenrsquos Groups Storm Boards EconomicLiberationrdquo Business Times November 22

Business Times 1999 July 4 ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1999 August 29 BWA 2000 Busniess Womenrsquos Association Director 2000

Johanesburg Business Womenrsquos Association ExecutiveDirectorate

Bystydzienski Jill M ed 1992 Women Transforming PoliticsWorldwide Strategies for Empowerment Bloomington INIndiana University Press

Cashmore Ellis 1992 ldquoThe New Black Bourgeoisierdquo HumanRelations 4512-41

CGE 2000 Gender and the Private Sector Cape TownCommission on Gender Equality

City Press 2001 April 29 p 11 [If available please includeauthorrsquos name and title of the article]

Cock Jacklyn 1997 ldquoWomen in South Africarsquos Transition toDemocracyrdquo Pp 310-332 in Transitions EnvironmentsTransitions Feminisms in International Politics edited byJoan Scott C Kaplan and D Keates London Routledge

ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1981 ldquoDisposable Nannies Domestic Servants in thePolitical Economy of South Africardquo Review of AfricanPolitical Economy (MaySeptember)63-83

Coetzee Alice 1999 ldquoRole Models for Other Womenrdquo Enterprise(July)24-25

Daniels Glenda 2001 ldquoGender Gap Gapesrdquo Mail amp Guardian[Workersrsquo Day Supplement] (26 April)1

De La Rey Cheryl 1997 ldquoSouth African Feminism Race andRacismrdquo Agenda 326-10

Dlepu Tenji 1999 ldquoWomen Race and Transformation Road toEmpowermentrdquo Enterprise August p46

Electronic Mail amp Guardian 1998 June 12 Enterprise 1996 August p16 Eveleth Ann 1998 ldquoCall for Probe Into Mbekirsquos Aventura Linksrdquo

Mail amp Guardian April 9Fedler Joanne 1997 ldquoSo Many Signatures So Little Progressrdquo

Electronic Mail amp Guardian August 11


Finance Week 2000 September 22 p46 Financial Mail 1999 July 23 Corporate Report Supplement p14 ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1999 July 23 p14 ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1999 October 22ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1999 October 29Fouche Fidelia 1994 ldquoOvercoming the Sisterhood Mythrdquo

Transformation 23 Geisela Gisela 2000 ldquolsquoParliament Is Another Terrain of Strugglersquo

Women Men and Politics in South Africardquo Journal ofModern Africa 38(4)605-630

Goffee Robert and Richard Scase 1983 ldquoBusiness Ownership andWomenrsquos Subordination A Preliminary Study of FemaleProprietorsrdquo Sociological Review 31(4)625-648

Gordon April 1996 Transforming Capitalism and PatriarchyGender and Development in Africa Boulder CO LynneRienner Publishers

Gordon Suzanne 1983 ldquoThe New Corporate Feminismrdquo TheNation 236(5)142-143 146-147

Gqubule Duma 2002 ldquoWiphold Disagreement at the CrossroadsrdquoFinancial Mail March 15 at httpfreefinancialmailcoza02030315investbecomphtm

Haffajee Ferial 1998 ldquoThe Uptown Black Girlsrdquo Electronic Mailamp Guardian June 12

ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1997 ldquoSisters Share in Doing It For Themselvesrdquo Mail ampGuardian May 9 p36

Hartstock Nancy 1985 Money Sex and Power Towards a FeministHistorical Materialism Boston Northeastern UniversityPress

Hassim Shireen and Amanda Gouws 1998 ldquoRedefining the PublicSpace Womenrsquos Organizations Gender Consciousness andCivil Society in South Africardquo Politikon 25(2)53-76

Hetherington Ian 1998 Heroes of the Struggle Midrand NationalIndustrial Chamber Press

Holland-Muller Susan 1995 ldquoOpening Pandorarsquos Box Reflectionson lsquoWhitenessrsquo in the South African Womenrsquos MovementrdquoAgenda 2555-62

Horrel Muriel 1977 Legislation and Race Relations A Summaryof the Main South African Laws Which Affect RaceRelationships Johannesburg South African Institute ofRace Relations

House-Midamba Bessie and Felix K Ekechi eds 1995 AfricanMarket Women and Economic Power The Role of Women inAfrican Economic Development Westport CT Greenwood


PressIheduru Okechukwu C 1998 ldquoThe Politics of Black Economic

Empowerment in South Africardquo International Journal ofAfrican Studies 1(2)(Spring)27-72

Jacobson Celean 1999 ldquoWomen Still on a Road to NowhererdquoBusiness Times May 16

Jalbert Susanne 1999 ldquoThe Global Growth of Women inBusinessrdquo Economic Reform Today 38-11

Kadalie Rhoda 2000 ldquoEmpowering Women rsquoNot the AnswerrsquordquoCape Times May 4

Klein Marcia 1997 ldquoWiphold Takes a Bold Step forEmpowermentrdquo Business Times July 6

Kobokoane Thabo 1997 ldquoNozala Wants Sisters to Join CorporateRevolutionrdquo Business Times July 27

Kwolek-Folland Angel 1998 Incorporating Women A History ofWomen and Business in the United States New YorkTwayne Publishers

Loflin Christine 1996 ldquoWhite Women Can Learn Not to Call UsGirl Linked Short Stories by a New South African WriterSindiwe Magonardquo Journal of Modern Literature 20(1)109-114

Lunsche Sven 1996 ldquoBlack Female and RichmdashA New Elite BitesOff Its Sharerdquo Business Times November 10

Lewis D 1994 ldquoWomen and Gender in South Africardquo In SouthernAfrica The Challenge of Change edited by VincentMaphai Harare SAPES

Madi Phinda 1998 Affirmative Action in Corporate South AfricaThe Rights and the Wrongs Randburg KnowledgeResources Press

Mametse Dikatso 2003 ldquoMuch More Than Five Cowsrdquo Mail ampGuardian Online April 17 Available at httpwwwmgcozaContents13aspao=13342

Mahabane Itumeleng 2003 ldquoWomenrsquos Development Bank From aMinow to SArsquos Top Empowered Womenrsquos grouprdquo FinancialMail July 18

Mazwai Thami 1994 Black Business Pioneers Houghton BlackEnterprise Publications

Mbeki Thabo 1999 ldquoChallenge of the Formation of a BlackCapitalist Class a Black Bourgeoisierdquo Accessed on March12 2001 (httpwwwancorgzaancdocshistorymbeki1999tm1120html

Mimela Sandile 2002 ldquoSuper-Women Too Big for Bootsrdquo CityPress July 20


Mirchandani Kiran 1999 ldquoFeminist Insight on Gendered WorkNew Directions in Research on Women and Entre-preneur-shiprdquo Gender Work and Organization 6(4)224-235

Molyneux Maxine 1998 ldquoAnalyzing Womenrsquos MovementsrdquoDevelopment and Change 29(April)219-245

ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1985 ldquoMobilization Without Emancipation WomenrsquosInterests the State and Revolution in Nicaraguardquo FeministStudies 11(2)227-254

Monama Malose 2001 ldquoProcurement Policy for SA Womenrdquo CityPress Finance August 19

Moore Dorothy P and E Holly Buttner 1997 Women Entre-preneurs Moving Beyond the Glass Ceiling Thousand OaksLondon amp New Delhi SAGE Publications

Moser Caroline O N 1989 ldquoGender Planning in the Third WorldMeeting Practical and Strategic Needsrdquo World Development17(11)1799-1825

Motsuenyane Sam 1978 The Development of Black Entrepre-neurship in South Africa Lagos Nigerian Institute ofInternational Affairs

Naidoo G 1997 ldquoEmpowerment of Women in the CorporateWorldrdquo People Dynamics 15(5)30-35

Ndziba-Whitehead Toto 1993 ldquoWomenrsquos Entrepreneurship inSouth Africardquo Agenda 1897-100

Ngidi Sa 1997 ldquoAkhona Women Investing in Womenrdquo Agenda3558-60

Oduol Wilhemina and W M Kabira 1995 ldquoThe Mother ofWarriors and Her Daughters The Womenrsquos Movement inKenyardquo In The Challenge of Local Feminisms edited byAmrita Basu Boulder CO Westview Press

Okeke Philomena E 1999 ldquoPostmodern Feminism and KnowledgeProduction The African Contextrdquo Africa Today 43(3)223-234

Oyeronke Oyewumi 1997 The Invention of Women Making anAfrican Sense of Western Gender Discourses MinneapolisUniversity of Minnesota Press

Pandit Shereen 2002 ldquoWomen and Oppression in South AfricaJournal of Gender Studies 11(1)

Poinsette Cheryl L 1985 ldquoBlack Women Under Apartheid AnIntroductionrdquo Harvard Womenrsquos Law Journal 8(Spring)93-119

Qwelane Jon 1998 ldquoWomen Make Their Markrdquo EnterpriseSeptember pp18-21

Randall Duncan 1996 ldquoProspects for the Development of a BlackBusiness Class in South Africardquo Journal of Modern AfricanStudies 34(4)661-686


Robertson M 1986 ldquoLegal Obstacles to Black Advancementrdquo InBlack Advancement in the South African Economy edited byRoy Smolan Cape Town Juta Press

Rowlands Jo 1998 ldquoA Word of the Times But What Does It MeanEmpowerment in the Discourse and Practice ofDevelopmentrdquo In Women and Empowerment edited byHaleh Afshar New York Macmillan Press

Rumney Reg and Janet Wilhelm 2000 Movers amp Shakers An A ndashZ of South African Business People London Penguin BooksJohannesburg Mail amp Guardian

Sikhakhane Jabulani 2001 ldquoGutsy Trio Cut From Stock Market toStockyardrdquo Financial Mail January 19 pp36-37

ndashndashndashndashndashndash 1998 ldquoWomen Turning the Tablesrdquo Financial MailSeptember 25

Smith Ashley 2003 ldquoWhite Women Slowing Down BlackEmpowermentrdquo Cape Times May 21

Sono Themba 1999 ldquoThe Triggers That Cause Abuse The UpwardMobility of Women Has Affected Gender RetaliationsAmong Blacksrdquo The Star December 21 p10

Spring Anita 2002 ldquoGender and the Range of EntrepreneurialStrategies The lsquoTypicalrsquo and the lsquoNewrsquo Woman Entre-preneurrdquo In Black Business and Economic Power edited byToyin Falola and Alusine Jalloh Rochester NY Universityof Rochester Press

Stein 2000 ldquoWiphold Women Must Prove a Few Things to theSisterhoodrdquo BusinessDay March 20

Sunday Times 1999 April 25 p11 Tlhankana Ipeleng 1999 ldquoWomen Today Time for a Pat on the

Backrdquo Enterprise August p44Tripp Aili Mari 2001 ldquoWomenrsquos Movements and Challenges

to Neopatrimonial Rule Preliminary ObservationsrdquoDevelopment and Change 32(1)33-54

Vargas Virginia 1991 ldquoWomenrsquos Movement in Peru StreamsSpaces and Knotsrdquo European Review of Latin American andCaribbean Studies 507-50

Verhoef Grietjie 2001 ldquoInformal Financial Service Institutions forSurvival African Women and Stokvels in Urban SouthAfrica 1930-1998rdquo Enterprise amp Society 2(2)

Wackernagel Madeleine 1997 ldquoSoweto Girl Makes Itrdquo Mail ampGuardian January 17

Walker Julie 1999 ldquoWipholdrsquos Women Wonrsquot Get SentimentalStatusrdquo Business Times March 14

Webb Boyd 2000 ldquoCops Teargas Miracle 2000 Protestersrdquo


Pretoria News August 18Wieringa Saskia ed 1995 Sub-versive Women Womenrsquos

Movements in Africa Asia Latin America and theCaribbean London Zed Books

Wieringa Saskia 1994 ldquoWomenrsquos Interests and EmpowermentGender Planning Reconsideredrdquo Development and Change25849-878

Williams Walter E 1989 South Africarsquos War Against CapitalismNew York Prager

Wipflash Newsletter 2000 p2

Interviews

Baloyi Poppie 2001 Interviewed by author Tape RecordingPretoria June 8

Dakile-Hlongwane Salukazi 2001 Interview with author TapeRecording Fourways Johannesburg May 15

Mojela Louise 2001 Interview by author Tape RecordingHoughton Johannesburg March 17

Tipe Tshepiso 2001 Interview by author Tape RecordingFourways Johannesburg July 9

Slabbert Tania 2001 Interview by author Tape RecordingAuckland Park Johannesburg June 22


women and their business networks in the politics of BEE has notreceived due attention or they are treated as an appendage of blackmen While the African National Congress (ANC) government andmost black business elite see BEE as a program to change corporatecapitalism to reflect the demographic composition of society theelite black businesswomen and their associations claim to be chal-lenging not only white racial privilege but also the institutions thatpromote and benefit from discrimination against women

The rise of this new breed of black businesswomen andtheir mostly women-run businesses at the corporate level and theirbusiness networks represent a potentially powerful use of politicalspace to assert womenrsquos autonomy Some observers have referred tothese women as ldquocorporate feministsrdquo or ldquocorporate Amazonsrdquo(Haffajee 1998) Several newspapers heralded their emergencemostly in the mid- to late 1990s with headlines such as ldquoBlackFemale and Richrdquo (Lunsche 1996) ldquoWomenrsquos Groups StormBoardsrdquo (Bridge 1998b) ldquoGrabbing the Reins of Powerrdquo (Beresford1998) ldquoThe Uptown Black Girlsrdquo (Haffajee 1998) ldquoBe a MaterialGirlrdquo (Block 1999) etc Others however question whether an elitemovement based and dependent on the very institutions that oppresswomen (ie capitalism and patriarchy) can contribute to the elimi-nation of gender oppression (Naidoo 1997 Klein 1997 Anon 1999Stein 2000)

Without a doubt capitalist entrepreneurship may have thepotential to further open political spaces however limited withinwhich women especially South African black women could seekand realize autonomy and self-determination in a patriarchal soci-ety However the origins fields of accumulation investmentstrategies and familial attachments of these women suggest thattheir Amazonian ideals have begun to clash with ldquocapitalismrsquosgenius at defusing protest by winning the protesters over to the veryvalues and institutions they once attackedrdquo (Gordon 1983142) Thisraises the possibility that most of the elite black businesswomencould become ldquoempowerment Spice Girlsrdquo or ldquorent-a-tanniesrdquo inSouth African popular parlance That is rather than fighting forgender equality they are being used to guarantee access to statelargess and wealth accumulation for the very capitalists and patri-archs that benefit from gender inequality

Whether or not black womenrsquos challenge to corporate capi-talism and patriarchy has advanced or hindered the fight againstgender oppression is relevant to a critical appraisal of South Africarsquostransition to democracy In fact as the initial optimism over thecountryrsquos ldquogender revolutionrdquo has begun to wane (see Cock 1997




























































Listed


1995

No
















Nozala Investments

















































N A



Nozala Investments















Former Employer

Marital Status


NA NA 35 43 42 45 50 38 --- NA --- 40 42 --- --- --- 71 58 46 --- ---


























NOTES










REFERENCES












































































































Interviews

































































Listed


1995

No
















Nozala Investments

















































N A



Nozala Investments















Former Employer

Marital Status


NA NA 35 43 42 45 50 38 --- NA --- 40 42 --- --- --- 71 58 46 --- ---


























NOTES










REFERENCES












































































































Interviews




















Nozala Investments

















































N A



Nozala Investments















Former Employer

Marital Status


NA NA 35 43 42 45 50 38 --- NA --- 40 42 --- --- --- 71 58 46 --- ---


























NOTES










REFERENCES












































































































Interviews














































N A



Nozala Investments















Former Employer

Marital Status


NA NA 35 43 42 45 50 38 --- NA --- 40 42 --- --- --- 71 58 46 --- ---


























NOTES










REFERENCES












































































































Interviews














Former Employer

Marital Status


NA NA 35 43 42 45 50 38 --- NA --- 40 42 --- --- --- 71 58 46 --- ---


























NOTES










REFERENCES












































































































Interviews

























NOTES










REFERENCES












































































































Interviews














REFERENCES












































































































Interviews






































































































Interviews







CORPORATE AMAZONS OR EMPOWERMENT SPICE GIRLS?: …

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Transcript of CORPORATE AMAZONS OR EMPOWERMENT SPICE GIRLS?: …