ANC would restructure South Africa mining

A draft proposal of the African National Congress (ANC) to restructure South Africa’s mining industry is, in effect, a attempt at “nationalization” and would discourage foreign investors, according to the ruling National Party.

“No foreign investor will invest in a country where mining and mineral rights are nationalized . . . The government already receives a royalty on mineral output and considerable taxation from the mining and mineral industry which contributes substantially to the upliftment of all South Africans,” a party spokesman said in Johannesburg.

“The business community must take note that the ANC is still committed to dangerous economic policies that will destroy the economy of this country.” In its draft reconstruction and development program, the ANC said mineral rights should belong to the nation as a whole, and not the mining houses, Knight-Ridder reports. The ANC also called for restructuring of the mining industry to improve its foreign exchange earnings and employment prospects. The ANC stressed that these reforms would not be achieved through nationalization, though it conceded they could be perceived as a legislative sleight-of-hand form of nationalization.

It is becoming increasingly likely the ANC will win a majority in the country’s first-ever non-racial elections on April 27. Black South Africans, heretorfore denied the franchise, constitute about 75% of the country’s population.

The South African Chamber of Mines, the central co-ordinating body for the country’s six mining houses, was quick to react to the proposals. It said the most important challenge facing the industry is devising the best methods to mobilize the capital and skills required to extract the country’s remaining mineral resources.