ANC sends back report

The ANC has sent the nationalisation research report back to the task team that compiled it for refinement because it did not cover enough case studies.

ANC general-secretary Gwede Mantashe said at a press conference at Luthuli House in Johannesburg yesterday that the party's national executive committee was also not satisfied with the manner in which the report was written.

The report was submitted at the ANC's national executive committee meeting in Bloemfontein at the weekend.

"We said to them: Don't just write a blended report. Give us the case studies and say: In this country, this is what has happened, and in this country this is what has happened. Then, at the end, give us options rather than just give us a blended review," Mantashe said.

"We want to see those case studies boldly so that we have space to take decisions structurally as a movement."

On Friday party spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the task team had "almost finished its work".

This was confirmed by Mantashe yesterday when he said: "The first draft is complete. The report is finished, but it is just being drafted and refined."

The team was tasked with studying how nationalisation functioned in countries such as Chile, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Zambia, Brazil, Venezuela, Namibia, Botswana, Malaysia, China and Australia.

Mantashe said the team had visited all those countries before compiling the report.

Mthembu said on Friday that, to the best of his knowledge, the team would complete its report by year-end, as earlier agreed.

Also sent back for refinement was a report on beneficiation , which was reportedly also presented to the committee .

Mantashe also spoke at length about the ANC's centenary celebrations and the Protection of State Information Bill, which was recently voted for in the National Assembly.

"The Protection of State Information Bill is a security bill, it's not a media bill. That's why it's about classification of state information; that's what it is. It's more about information pedlars than it is about whistleblowers," Mantashe said.