Nationalisation not government policy: Motlanthe

19 November 2011 - 11:42 By Sapa
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Kgalema Motlanthe. File photo.
Kgalema Motlanthe. File photo.
Image: Avusa

The nationalisation of mines is not government policy, says Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

"The views of individuals on these questions do not amount to policy," he told a presentation at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg.

The African National Congress would look at the findings of a team researching nationalisation, he said.

The ANC has appointed three economists to investigate the success and failure of nationalisation in 12 countries, after calls from its Youth League to nationalise mines and banks.

The outcomes would be discussed at an ANC policy conference next year.

Motlanthe said South Africans were more inclined to listen to sound-bites and individuals, than to refer to government policy on nationalisation.

"South Africans give prominence to sound-bites more than policy," he said.

"Policy gets repeated over and over again but what South Africa hears... is the sound-bites from individuals."

Motlanthe said it was like a Chinese proverb about how the sound of one tree falling in a forest is far louder than those left standing – hinting at comments made by disgraced ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema on nationalisation.

ANC policy was "never taken on the hoof by individuals", he added.

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