[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa’s mining industry breathed a sigh of collective relief on Thursday in the wake of news the African National Congress (ANC) has finally buried nationalisation of the country’s mining sector.
In a statement from the Chamber of Mines (CoM), the sector declared that a key area of uncertainty for foreign investors had been removed.
“The chamber welcomes the ANC resolution that wholesale nationalisation is not a reasonable or sustainable option and that it has now firmly ruled out nationalisation of the mining industry,” said BDLive, citing the CoM.
“We are hopeful that this will create some certainty amongst investors and once again encourage investment in the country’s mining sector.”
Cadiz Corporate Solutions analyst Peter Major told Business Day: “It’s come out a whole lot better than any of us thought it would”. “It has defused the Malema-type guys in the party.”
The national conference has refused to be drawn into the word nationalisation or not,’ public enterprises minister, Malusi Gigaba, said on Thursday.
“The issue of nationalisation is off the table, but the NEC (national executive committee) reaffirms its position that there should be strategic ownership where deemed necessary, based on the balance of evidence,’ he said.
Gigaba therefore did not rule out that there “may come a time’ when a particular economic sector could be nationalised for particular purposes.
“It happened in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world with the global financial crisis,’ he said.
