Social Capital and Empowerment in South Africa Before and After 1994: A Case Study of Iscor (now ArcelorMittal South Africa) Vanderbijlpark

ABSTRACT Iscor Vanderbijlpark, now ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), is a former state-owned enterprise that was used by the Afrikaner nationalists to advance the political, economic and social interests of poor white Afrikaners. However, since 1994, there has been wide debate about why black empowerment has not happened under post-apartheid South Africa. This article compares the role of various types of social capital in the empowerment of poor whites during apartheid and black people under post-apartheid. The perceived relationship was measured by various networks, trust and the relationship between family members, neighbours and colleagues, as well as with governmental, private sector and civil society organisations (CSOs). The sample of 26 participants, comprising former and current employees of Iscor/AMSA, trade union representatives and members of the community, were assembled using purposive random sampling for the study. My doctoral study found that there was a strong connection and positive relationship between the state, business and CSOs under Afrikaner Economic Empowerment (AEE), and that social capital played a role of bonding and linking communities while under Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) the connection between the state and CSOs was weak and social capital did not contribute to empowerment. This paper attempts to address the current gap in the post-apartheid BEE literature—that is, the role of networks and CSOs in BEE.