The paper examines the evolution of the racial wage hierarchy in the South African labour market over the period 1993 to 1999. We find evidence that the transition to democratic rule in 1994 was accompanied by an improvement in the wage position of the majority African workforce relative to all other racial groups, but that these gains were not fully preserved through the latter half of the decade. We review the range of policy initiatives that have been taken by the new South African Government to reverse the legacy of apartheid in the light of our empirical findings.