[YCLSA Discussion] Malema sings new tune on nationalisation

[Dominic Tweedie]

Malema sings new tune on nationalisation     Karima Brown, Business Day, Johannesburg, 23 February 2010   IN AN apparent climb-down yesterday, African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema — against a background of his unexplained wealth — told a media briefing the league’s push for the nationalisation of mines in SA amounted to “public-private partnerships”.   But this stance sits uncomfortably with the expropriation model for state ownership that the league punts in its position paper: “The manner in which nationalisation will be approached will neither be generalised compensation nor generalised expropriation without compensation. Expropriation without compensation should apply for mines that are not profitable, laying off huge numbers of workers and in financial crises.”   Malema, who defended his right to be involved in private business after weekend newspapers reported how his companies had benefited from construction contracts in Limpopo to the tune of R130m, said the youth league’s position paper on nationalisation did not call for “total” state ownership.   “We are saying the state must have majority shareholding and we want the formation of a state-owned mining company. We are not in Stalin’s Soviet Union,” he said.   Yesterday Malema was on the back foot and had to explain how he engaged in business for private gain in areas like construction while being at the forefront of arguing for state ownership of SA’s mineral wealth.   “Some people call it public- private partnerships, we call it nationalisation,” he said.   Malema saw no contradiction between encouraging the league’s constituency to engage in private enterprise in all fields and its nationalisation push. He said the league remained optimistic it would get all role players to accept the need for a policy shift on the issue. But Malema conceded that nationalisation was not government policy.   While the Congress of South African Trade Unions has supported the league’s drive, the South African Communist Party (SACP) has cautioned against nationalisation turning into “state capitalism” that benefits just a few well connected black business people.   Malema said they would engage the SACP and hoped to convince them on the issue. “The SACP is also a potential ally in nationalisation. In fact we are going to engage them on their resolution which calls for the renationalisation of Sasol and Mittal Steel,” Malema said.   But the SACP has raised several questions about the league’s nationalisation efforts. These centre largely on their concern that the league’s version of state ownership could end up benefiting narrow black middle- class interests which have become dominant in the state. Instead, the SACP has called for an amendment to the Petroleum Resources Development Act in order to ensure the socialisation of SA’s mineral wealth beyond formal state control.   From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=94437   -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to yclsa-eom-forum@googlegroups.com or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email yclsa-eom-forum-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): yclsa-eom-forum-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com .