JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday called for broader debate around the nationalisation of mines, saying that a standard model should be developed that could be implemented across all sectors of the country’s economy.
NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka told Mining Weekly Online that the union believed that the current debate around nationalisation of mines were too narrow and should include a standard policy and property clause that could be implemented across the different sectors, including the manufacturing, financial and all other relevant sectors.
“If we only have the debate around the nationalisation of mines, a new model would have to be developed for every occasion, and we will basically be wasting our time in 2012 [at the African National Congress (ANC) policy conference].
“Also, this way the different sectors could join the debate and decide if such a policy would work for them, and government could deliberate on where the funds would be sourced from, ” he added.
Seshoka pointed out that the significant difference between the NUM perspective and the ANC Youth League, which is driving the nationalisation debate, was based on the premise that the union wanted the governing party to take a resolution on nationalisation as an economic policy option of the ANC and government, then the issue of which sectors should be nationalised would not be a resolution but an implementation plan of the nationalisation resolution.
The second difference was on the property clause, which the union said should not be specific to the mines, but also include other monopoly industries to ensure that, in the future, the state did not have to alter legislation to implement expropriation for each sector.
Specifically considering the nationalisation of the mining sector, Seshoka noted that the union did not support “blanket” nationalisation of mines, but preferred a model based on strategic fund and strategic equity.
“In terms of this model, a State mining company should be operationalised and used as a government vehicle to invest only in strategic minerals especially in the energy sector, which includes coal and uranium.”
Further, Seshoka said that the gold-mining industry was a “sunset” industry, and that the call for nationalisation of gold mines could only be seen as a bail-out for “ANCYL friends” that were experiencing “troubled times” in the industry.
The union emphasised, that commodities such as platinum would be a much better investment for a State-owned mining company. “The development and implementation of a beneficiation strategy in South Africa, will see the country using platinum to develop more capacity on manufacturing of component parts for cars and jet engines, which means that this will provide a good opportunity for nationalisation.
“Iron-ore is also a good option and the nationalisation of monopoly companies, such as the steel business, ArcelorMittal [South Africa], will also be favourable for the country, as the State could then mitigate and cushion steel prices which will be beneficial in South Africa’s industrialisation programme,” said Seshoka.
Importantly, the union said that proceeds gained from such mining activity should not go to the National Treasury, but that 60% should be ring-fenced for education, health and rural development, while the balance was ploughed back into the mining company.
“All-in-all, if the ANC is serious about nationalisation, a broader model needs to be deliberated,” concluded Seshoka.
