adminnationalisation of the mining sector was hurting investment and job creation, but stopped short of dismissing the idea.
Instead, Shabangu used a breakfast meeting of mining executives to repeat the mantra that nationalisation of the mines in Africa’s biggest economy was “not government policy”.
“I am aware that the investors, and equally members and supporters of the ANC who want to see investments and jobs in the mining industry, will be disappointed because they want certainty and clarity,” she said.
Julius Malema, leader of the African National Congress’s Youth League, has been leading the charge for state ownership of the mining sector, and has forced the issue onto the agenda of a major policy conference next year.
Shabangu said the industry was itself partly to blame for the political pressure because of the “abject failure” of some firms to accept more black managers and shareholders, in line with the wider “black economic empowerment” push to redress the imbalances left by decades of white-minority rule.
She described this sluggish reform by the industry as “fertile ground giving impetus to the current debate about nationalisation”. – Reuters.
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