No amount of narrow private interests should be allowed to block the long overdue nationalisation of mines in South Africa
Julius Malema has put his cards on the table with a formal proposal to his ANC Youth League's policy conference next month that existing mines should be nationalised - with or without compensation - and that any new mine should be licenced only if the state is given a 60% share.
The ANC has consisently dismissed Malema's campaign for nationalisation, but has agreed to discuss the youth league's call at its policy conference in September.
The league will prepare the ground with a discussion at its own policy conference next month and the likely adoption of a resolution to be taken to the main party meeting a month later.
The league proposes that non-profitable mines should be seized without compensation. In other cases, the state could choose to compensate owners or to take at least a 50% share of the company.
"Depending on the merits of each case based on “balance of evidence”, nationalisation may involve expropriation with or without compensation. The manner in which nationalisation will be approached will neither be generalised compensation, nor generalised expropriation without compensation. Expropriation without compensation should apply for Mines that are not profitable, laying off huge numbers of workers and in financial crisis," the proposal says.
The proposal anticipates renewed opposition, mainly from the current mine owners, but urges the government to ignore the protests.
"The move to nationalise mines is bound to elicit some imperialist backlash... These include the established mining corporations and recent past beneficiaries of mining activities. These interests should altogether be dismissed as they have potential to undermine the thoroughgoing pace of the National Democratic Revolution. No amount of narrow private interests should be allowed to block the long overdue nationalisation of mines in South Africa," the proposal says.
In 24 pages of argument, the youth league suggests that state ownership would allow the government to protect jobs, to increase local beneficiation of minerals and to cut the cost of electricity by providing Eskom with coal at cost price.
It proposes the establishment of a state-owned mining company and a state-owned bank to finance it and says no new licences should be issued until legislation is in place to ensure that the state is given 60% ownership of the venture.
Workers and local communities should be given a significant say in how mines are managed, the proposal says.
"The State Owned Mining Company should legislatively be compelled to recurrently consult and collectively take decisions with mining communities, workers and other vital stakeholders," the proposal says.
The league says Africans should be the main beneficiaries of the plan, adding: "The emancipation of the African majority fundamentally means that they should be capable and empowered to be at the cutting edge and control of the development of the national forces of production."
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