Other experts don't take such a doomsday approach, giving the ANC-led government credit for bringing South Africa so far along the democratic road in such a short amount of time. "South Africa probably has the fastest-growing middle class in human history," said Lawrence Schlemmer, the director of Mark Data, a consumer and social research organization based in the nation's capital, Pretoria. "I doubt any other society has achieved what we have."

According to Schlemmer, roughly 10 percent of medium to large businesses are owned by blacks, even if the majority belong to a select few. The working class is also accumulating some wealth, he said, if at lower levels. But like Terreblanche, he agrees that conditions for the underclass continue to plummet, telling me the poorest barely stay afloat through government welfare grants.

Colin Reddy, the research director at Business Map Foundation in Johannesburg, says that if companies want to win business from the government and the growing black middle class, they'll be inclined to bring in black partners. But he believes it's too early to gauge whether the economic transformation will be successful across the board. "I always say that society, like the Roman and Ottoman empires, and now the West, took centuries to develop and went through a learning process," Reddy, a former KPMG management consultant, said. "Ten years is a short period to make a judgment call on failure or success." But like his counterparts, he noted that change, however small, must take place for the nation's poor. "If you don't have water, and suddenly it's there, that itself is a huge boon," he said. "Your short-term aim is not to drive a BMW; it's to get that running water and moving from a shack to a concrete house."

Back at Joburg City Auto, Mayekiso takes pride in his newfound privilege. "We're no longer apologetic because we can afford to go out and can afford to pay for things. Traditionally we always kept away from the [white] suburbs because of [apartheid's] Group Areas Act, but now we can eat out wherever we want," he said. "This black emerging middle class aspires to all things quality, and BMW lends itself to this market. This is something a few years back you could never imagine."

As the poor continue to toil and hope for better jobs, more homes and a brighter future, the young buppies will undoubtedly continue to gain power on the South African scene as they come of age. Unless the ANC, which won a landslide victory during April 14 national elections, addresses the growing inequality, the buppies could face increased animosity from those excluded from their good fortune. For the time being, Mayekiso is optimistic.

"We all see ourselves as people who can play a role in the arts, fashion, business, politics, you name it. We also see ourselves as the next wave of leadership in moving our democracy forward," Mayekiso said as he grabbed his cellphone on his way to network with customers. "We all want to be successful so the young ones who come next can have role models."

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