Ever since the 1970's, and even more so after the end of the Cold War, neoliberalism has begun to dominate the economic relations in the world. Neoliberalism as an economic theory is often described as emphasizing concepts like free trade and free market, resulting in the deregulation, privatization and denationalization of national economies . According to some neoliberalism posits a way to integrate national economies more effectively into the global economic system, others however argue that neoliberalism is nothing more than an ideological facade for a new form of economic imperialism, favored and implemented by the West .
The perception of neoliberalism as economic imperialism is widely shared among postcolonial scholars. It is seen a system that has indeed contributed to the growth of
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This influence has also left its trace into the Republic of South Africa. In the post-apartheid era the South African government, mainly dominated by the African National Congress(ANC), has pushed for major economic reforms which started a liberalization of both the regulated and race-based economy and the exchange rate. This period of neo-liberalism began after the 1994 election when Nelson Mandela was elected president. It continues till today but we have seen a change in attitude towards the ANC’s economic policy during the 2013 election when the ANC lost its two-third majority and a new party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, were elected into parliament. So far, this paper will only look at the period between 1994-2013. This timeframe marked the beginning of a difficult political chapter in the history of South Africa. The change from an exclusive white government to a democracy has proven to be difficult and also changed the economic situation in South Africa drastically. This paper assumes that the South African government’s economic agenda between 1994-2013 was