Abstract
Although South Africa is regarded as an “economic powerhouse” in Africa and has a strong modern industrial and financial base, it faces severe developmental challenges: poverty, high level of inequality, unemployment…” (Fourie and Burger 2003: 4). The Human Development Index for South Africa is 0.653 which gives the country a rank of 121st out of 127 nations (United Nations 2007). In this way, the South African economy faces two main issues: to ensure sustainable development, which is defined as “… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland Commission 1987:43 cited in Fourie and Burger 2003:2) and to globalize successfully (Fourie and Burger 2003: 10).
