Of all the promises that sustained the anticolonial struggles for liberation
across southern Africa, perhaps none has been as elusive as the one
expressed so ecoÂ�nomÂ�icalÂ�ly in the fourth proclamation of South Africa’s
Freedom Charter.1 The ringing declaration has inspired generations with
its clear assertion that liberation must entail not just new po�liti�cal rights
but also a new distribution of resources. Yet how such a result might be
obtained remains underspecified. What exactly does it mean for “the
people” to “share in the country’s wealth”?