Capitalist crusader: Fighting poverty through economic growth

Herman Mashaba is a self-made entrepreneur who started his business Black Like Me in the dark days of apartheid. He has told the story of his journey from the poverty of Hammanskraal to the comfort of a successful business in his book Black Like You. When Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s president in 1994, Mashaba thought his struggle for personal and economic freedom was over, the battle was won. Twenty-one years later, he has had to question that assumption as his hard won freedoms are eroded and economic controls tighten. Mashaba is committed to freeing South Africans from poverty. In this book Mashaba outlines his crusade for economic freedom for all South Africans - through a firm commitment to capitalist principles. He describes the changes in his political affiliations and maps out the route South Africa needs to follow to escape entrenched unemployment and poverty.