The Black Diamonds

They are the new breed of nouveau riche in South Africa, oozing wealth with their opulent houses, luxury cars and designer labels. They are young and black and taking full advantage of the opportunities made available for them in democratic South Africa. They are the so-called black diamonds, a term coined by Unilever researchers investigating the marketing and economic gaps that emerged as a result of a rising black middle and upper class.

And Mulalo Nemavhandu is no doubt among the top of the black diamonds, earning at one stage a minimum of R120 000 a month and being only one of three people in the country to drive a particular imported sports car.

His book, says Nemavhandu, is designed to enlighten black diamonds about their reckless spending, and encourage them to invest and think of their futures. About half the book is dedicated to exploring who the black diamonds are and what their spending power and lifestyles are like.

But to do so, Nemavhandu for the most part regurgitates the data from the Unilever research and media reports, often repeating information in different chapters and offering no new insight into this group.

Save for snippets of anecdotal stories which reveal the kind of power people with money can wield (like the fact that Nemavhandu never has to stand in a queue at a bank but instead is welcomed through a private door to the manager's office where he conducts his transactions over coffee), this book is a frustrating read. Perhaps if I were a black diamond, I would have appreciated it more.