Political commentator Moeletsi Mbeki struck a raw nerve last week when he slammed black economic empowerment as an elitist process which enriched only the select few.

But who are they?

So sensitive is the issue that black business leaders, asked to identify the black elite, would not name names and all of them asked that their own names not be used when they commented on the issue to Business Day.

The majority of emerging black business figures interviewed say that because they are not personally responsible for the implementation, management and control of the allocation of business projects, they should not be faulted for winning government tenders in a fair and transparent market system.

Black business maintains it is a passenger in a process driven by established white business and government.

It argues that the fact that only a few black entrepreneurs who were pioneers in the early 1990s in certain categories of industry have been repeatedly given opportunities, while others are overlooked, is not a result of political favouritism.

"Established business is refusing to identify new blood and train newcomers. They want to settle on the few names that have already made it," says a black mining investor.

Another argues that established business has no choice but to support government's transformation policies.

One businessman suggests that established business has a political motive for enriching a handful of former activists, labelling it an attempt to stifle the voices calling for a review of government's Growth Employment and Redistribution (Gear) economic policy.

It is part of their business strategy to sustain the status quo by targeting influential leaders within the tripartite alliance to serve on their boards and enrich themselves, he suggests.

One businessman, whose parents were active in the antiapartheid struggle, agrees that many "unknown" potential entrepreneurs find a hostile environment among established business which is reluctant to entertain their proposals unless they have on board politically connected names that might bring influence.

There is general agreement that between 1994 and 2000 only a handful of black business people have been snapping up new business ventures, particularly those involving the restructuring of state assets and the unbundling of conglomerates involved in the country's natural resources.

A former politician turned millionaire says among the elite there is little acknowledgment of the reasons for their rapid rise in fortune.

"That would be like telling established white business and government departments who are sources of our revenue that we no longer want their help and can survive without their business," he says.

He cited the defence industry as an example of blatant empowerment of a handful of politically connected people, but defended this.

When former African National Congress (ANC) guerrillas established their businesses with the honest aim of empowering blacks, the media and opposition parties portrayed their entrance in a negative light. The arms deal was seen to be inherently corrupt and all black companies that won tenders were accused of having used unconventional influence to get a share of the pie.

"It was a taboo for the media and the opposition that former leaders of the ANC's military wing became the beneficiaries of at least R4bn in subcontracts linked to SA's R50bn arms deal," says the businessman.

Even though it has been acknowledged in political circles that the process of creating thriving black business entrepreneurs is stagnating, only Moeletsi Mbeki has publicly blamed this on nepotism.

At a seminar last week at the University of Pretoria, he argued that black empowerment had become a process of transferring assets "to individuals with good political connections".

"We are not creating entrepreneurs ... we are taking political leaders and politically connected people and giving them assets which, in the first instance, they don't know how to manage," he said.

Many black business people say they are not prepared to challenge Mbeki's statement publicly for fear of losing favour with government for having criticised the president's brother.

Prof Adam Habib of the University of Natal's school of development studies calls for the restructuring of processes redressing economic inequality to shift from race and focus instead on class.

"The elite has a tendency to recreate and reinforce itself," Habib says. The few who are appointed to serve on boards, commissions and empowerment structures will remain there and eventually close doors on newcomers. An elite black group has been created and it will continue to get richer until the empowerment system is reconfigured.

Habib says statistics indicate that black empowerment has benefited an elite. Between 1991 and 1996 wealthy blacks grew from a mere 9% of the top earners in the SA population to 22%. At the same time, unemployment increased from 34% to 36%, of which 52% are African women.

"This shows that inequality and poverty has increased even though there are arguably more blacks (Africans, coloureds and Indians) who are much wealthier than before," says Habib.

With acknowledgements to Hopewell Radebe and the Business Day.