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In South Africa, a country subjected to the system of apartheid until 1994, a major swath of the business community gradually started to support the dismantlement of apartheid discreetly in the late 1970s. This support culminated in the creation of the Consultative Business Movement (CBM) in early 1989. This organization began to break down the barriers between the different actors (mainly the African National Congress and the United Democratic Front) and even acted as a mediator when the Inkatha Freedom Party (ICF) threatened to withdraw from the elections in 1994. Its credibility and impartiality gave the business sector a preeminent role during much of the process due to the importance of the economic issues involved in maintaining and resolving the conflict. The CBM was also a business instrument for maintaining economic stability throughout the transition process, offering both local and foreign companies a certain degree of security. In any event, the CBM forged a dialogue with the African National Congress (ANC) when it was still in exile, was one of the instigators of the formal peace process by actively supporting the Multi-Party Negotiating Process set up the National Economic Forum in 1992. It also actively participated in the policy of changes and the application of an ambitious post-apartheid socio-economic programme (Reconstruction and Development Programme).

Later on, in 1995, the business class’ support in the post-apartheid era took shape in the National Business Initiative (NBI), which, with the clear support of President Mandela, developed two important initiatives: Business Against Crime (BAC), an organization created in 1996 to deal with issues linked to the security and stability of the new democracy, and the Business Trust (BT), founded in 1998 with the goal of designing economic growth strategies, training future workers and creating jobs. Both initiatives were an active alliance between the business sector and the government and are examples of the incorporation of peace-building considerations into different actions in classic CSR policies. Starting in 1999, the economic development programme was going slowly and so it was politically replaced by a call for a better redistribution of economic power in favour of the black population and other minorities. In fact, this was one of the key factors in the reconstruction of the country which should make it possible to avoid a return to the previous economic status quo. Companies then had to respond to the new political needs that required a greater redistribution of the economic power on equal terms. Ten percent of the population of South Africa, the white population, continued controlling the majority of the important businesses in the country. This tendency was even captured legislatively in the controversial Black Economic Empowerment Act 53/2003, which obligated greater equality in employment and an equitable redistribution of the property of some companies among the white and black populations.

In a more recent phase, President Mbeki mentioned the role of the state in the transformation of South Africa as the “Development State”, based on the idea that market forces alone could not resolve poverty and inequality. Therefore, a counterweight is necessary, in this case the State, through redistribution. Later on, a new interpretative criteria, “broad based” (BB), was added to the principle of redistribution of economic power to the black population (black economic empowerment, or BEE) seen above, because its implementation did not reach the poorer echelons of society and only brought wealth to the black upper classes. The new criterion coined is broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE). However, these policies are thwarted by the impossibility of raising public spending and the lack of qualified staff. It is unquestionable that broadly speaking companies’ participation in peace-building in South Africa was crucial to the success of the transition towards a democratic regime. However, parallel to these initiatives, it is worth noting that numerous companies present in the country during apartheid are currently facing lawsuits in United States courts because of their presumed complicity with the regime and with human rights abuses.