Much has been said about the economic emancipation of South Africa after decades of oppression. And much of the spotlight has been cast on the bedrock of our economy: South Africa's mineral wealth and the exploitation thereof. One cannot overstate the ghastliness of the role that mining played in establishing and entrenching the abhorrent apartheid system. However, we appear to have relegated to the background the parallel role that economic apartheid played - on the back of colonialism - in defining South Africa's economic future. White-on-white subsidisation helped create local monoliths, some of which became multinational companies listed abroad. A case in point is the rise of Afrikaner-led mining house Gencor, the product of a merger in 1980 between industry heavyweights General Mining and Finance Corporation and Union Corporation, both of which were founded in the late 1800s and were steeped in early South African mining history.Fast forward to the watershed '60s when the count...
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