“We have answered this question many times, we are very clear ... nationalisation is not ANC or government policy,” he said in answer to a question during a televised breakfast briefing. “Our policy is mixed economy,” he added.   

Senior members of the Zuma administration have been trying to quash the idea — raised by the radical youth league of the ruling ANC — of mine nationalisation in the world’s largest platinum producer.  

Two cabinet members told a global mining conference in Cape Town this week that nationalisation was not a viable option.   

A mining sector study submitted to the ANC leadership this month rejected nationalisation as an “unmitigated disaster”. It proposed a 50% tax on mining profits as a way to help the poor better benefit from South Africa’s mineral riches.