South Africa’s post-apartheid transition has proven disastrous. It is marked by the emergence of a black elite of enriched capitalists out of the globalisation, neoliberalisation and financialisation of the economy in general and of its Minerals-Energy and Financial Complex in particular. By contrast, inequalities, poverty and failing social provision have persisted. Recent attention has shifted to how this disastrous trajectory was initiated, some suggesting a lack of available alternative policy options at the time of transition. This is shown to be false with a full range of progressive alternatives being rejected with corresponding consequences, from “state capture” to electoral defeat.