An independent RDP government department was soon closed, its duties being assumed by the ofce of (then) Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. For it now seems that a change in emphasis had already begun (in 1992–3) towards an ANC position more compatible with a ‘realistic’ position that more closely resembled the neoliberal, rather than the demo- cratic, ideal. In the early 1990s, South Africa had come under increasing scrutiny from the IMF and the World Bank.