[miningmx.com] — THE nationalisation debate will probably head into a new direction when the dust settles over the disciplinary hearing of ANC Youth League President Julius Malema and his mouthpiece, Floyd Shivambu.
Just a year ago Malema and the ANC Youth League managed to get the ANC to appoint a commission to investigate possible nationalisation in the mining industry. Malema and the Youth League want the state to nationalise 60% of all mining companies, without compensation.
If Malema’s looming disciplinary hearing puts an end to Malema’s political career, it will probably also end his militant proposals for the mining industry.
But last week Cosatu made it clear that it would not be the end of demands for quicker transformation of the mining industry. It would bring about a shift of focus in the ANC’s investigation of state intervention in the mining industry and will probably sharpen the focus of the commission doing this investigation, Cosatu sources said.
This could regenerate attention on mining interests in government hands, such as mining shares held by the Industrial Development Corporation, as well as the 21.4% of mineral rights held in the Sishen Mine, the ownership of which is being contested.
During the ANCs National Council meeting in Durban, Malema and his cohorts stormed onto the platform when it seemed that his nationalisation proposals would be swept off the table. Today his opponents in the ANC still experience ill-will on this score, as well as huge concern that a repetition could lead to decisions being similarly forced on future ANC policy congresses.
This issue will probably be raised in his disciplinary hearing and will play a role if his political connections are severed. But what Malema has managed to do was to heighten the spotlight on transformation in the mining industry. He has proved that there was great dissatisfaction within the broad populace, especially in mining communities, about the limited benefits that this affluent sector holds for ordinary people.
Over the past two months Malema has also managed to elicit support from unexpected quarters, including other trade unions and leadership figures within Cosatu, who are starting to think that he could prove a trump card in efforts to oust President Jacob Zuma.
But Cosatu members have recognised the writing on the wall for Malema. Those who previously supported him were silent as the grave at a Cosatu’s national executive committee meeting in the trade union federation’s head office in Johannesburg which ran from Monday to Thursday.
“Very little was said about the nationalisation of mines – it was more about land reform and land expropriation, with an emphasis on the fact that no nationalisation could take place without fair compensation,’ sources said afterwards.
The charge for the three-man commission appointed by the ANC was much broader than an investigation into possible nationalisation. The commission is required to investigate state intervention in the minerals sector.
This commission is in line with the objectives of the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) – Cosatu’s largest trade union.
The Youth League is relying on clause three of the Freedom Charter for its nationalisation demands. The paragraph reads as follows: “The national wealth of our country, the heritage of all South Africans, shall be restored to the people;
The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and the monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole.’
Num believes that the demand was already met in May 2004, with the coming into force of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, when the state became the owner of all mineral rights in the country.
But that’s not where the matter ends – Num reckons that that did not bring about the achievement of a fair distribution of mineral wealth. That is why, at the ANC’s previous National Congress – the 2007 Polokwane Congress – the union managed to get the party to approve the establishment of a state mining company.
Malema’s anticipated downfall will probably give the state mining company new impetus. Num will press for it, especially as government has so far dragged its feet on the issue.
– Sake24
