CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Nationalisation of South Africa's mines is not government policy, and is unlikely to be adopted any time soon, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said on Tuesday, rejecting calls from the ANC's youth wing.
South Africa is the world's biggest producer of platinum and the world's number three gold producer, and although the influence of mining on the gross domestic product has declined, particularly as gold reserves become exhausted, the sector remains one of the country's major employers.
The militant youth wing of the ruling African National Congress reiterated on Monday it would push for the nationalisation of local industries starting with mines, saying investors afraid of the process were not welcome.
Shabangu said even though the country's ruling party, the African National Congress, had not discussed nationalisation of mines, it was a sign of democracy to have the debate "out there" as a form of intellectual discourse.
"Nationalisation of mines is not government policy. In my lifetime there will be no nationalisation of mines. Maybe when I'm dead, and rest assured I'm not dying next week," Shabangu told a media briefing at a mining conference.
"Debating nationalisation is healthy, but the ruling party has not adopted nationalisation as a policy and therefore the government has also not taken this up," she said.
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has been one of the most vocal campaigners for a more leftist economic policy under President Jacob Zuma. His demands include that the state should assume majority ownership of mines.
"If Malema wants to engage in an intellectual debate, that is his choice, we are a democracy. If Malema flexes his muscles as a young person, and engages in intellectual and academic exercise, why must we stop him?" Shabangu said.
Talk of nationalisation of mines has not led to panic selling of shares or a planned exit from the country's mining sector, but investors worry that the drive for nationalisation may lead to Zuma giving in to pressure from labour union and communist allies who helped him to power last year.
These allies are demanding a swing to the left, away from existing pro-business policies, as payback.
The nationalisation debate is also likely to muddy the waters even further in South Africa's mining sector, where investors are already grappling with the uncertainty of a recession, job cuts and impending high power tariff increases.
Shabangu told a media conference the state would participate in the mining sector, by running state owned firms and by shareholding in companies such as Anglo American Plc, but such involvement was strategic and in the national interest.
"But (not) nationalisation. You can't say nationalisation is strategic, because nationalisation is about everything, and that's not the route we're taking."
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