This Bachelor's thesis is conducted with semi-structured interviews and texts and is analyzing how the concept empowerment is represented in South Africa. More specifically, this case study investigates, (1) how do the national South-African policy of empowerment, Fairtrade South Africa, and the target group describe what the goal of empowerment is? (2) How do the national South-African policy of empowerment, Fairtrade South Africa, and the target group describe the problem, causes and solutions in relation to empowerment? (3) What are the similarities and differences of the actors' representations of empowerment, and what implications may potential conflicts have for the prospect to successfully achieve the national goal of black empowerment? This research has a qualitative approach and uses implementation theory in relation to representation. The content analysis of our data illustrates that the representations of empowerment made by the different actors in the implementation process have many differences and yet not many similarities. The analysis illustrates that three main conflicts are evident when comparing the different actors' representations of empowerment. These are related to critical thinking, the conflicting individual and collective perspectives, and if the problem of disempowerment is caused by past or present structures. These conflicts in the three actors' representations of empowerment can cause bias and delay or possible failure in the policy implementation of black empowerment, yet all actors agreed on the goal of empowerment to be self-determination.