Business
South Africa will not nationalize mines
Nationalization is not an option for South Africa’s troubled mining industry, the country’s mining minister told an international audience Tuesday.
A nationalization debate within mining minister Susan Shabangu’s governing African National Congress (ANC) is said to have made foreign investors wary, depriving a key industry of capital.
According to the text of her speech opening an international meeting on the mining industry in Cape Town, Shabangu said a report by an ANC task team concluded “that nationalization is not a viable policy for South Africa.”
“This is not a surprise,” added Shabangu, who has at times appeared frustrated that her repeated pronouncements against nationalization have been drowned out by other ANC figures who have less influence on policy.
Nationalization has been pushed in particular by Julius Malema, the vocal and populist leader of the ANC’s youth league. Malema’s profile has been diminishing, in part because of accusations linking him to corruption in the awarding of government contracts for building roads and other projects in his native Limpopo, a northern South African province.
And over the weekend, ANC officials affirmed a party disciplinary committee’s early finding that Malema is guilty of serious violations, including challenging President Jacob Zuma’s leadership. He will get a chance to argue against a five-year suspension.
South African officials have repeatedly expressed concern the country’s mining industry is underperforming. Observers blame crumbling infrastructure, mismanagement and the specter of nationalization.
