22 Jun.
Business Leadership SA criticises a state takeover of mines and banks.
CEO Michael Spicer says Business Leadership SA — which represents larger, established companies — had been quiet on the nationalisation debate but has realised the need to speak up.
Big business broke its silence on nationalisation yesterday, when the lobby group for SA’s larger companies criticised a state takeover of mines and banks as “a bad idea, emphatically”.
Business Leadership SA — which represents larger, established companies — had been quiet on the nationalisation debate but realised the need to speak up, CEO Michael Spicer said yesterday in Johannesburg.
“The old business adage, ‘it is self-evident’, no longer works,” Mr Spicer told a media briefing.
“Business has a responsibility … in this debate to get information into the public arena — hard competitive data internationally — to have a real debate.
“Some people may want to follow political polemics. What we’re saying is we’re going to be more proactive.”
The intervention follows the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League’s weekend conference, which adopted nationalisation and land expropriation as policy and re-elected Julius Malema as president. Mr Malema made clear the league would only support leaders who backed its plans at ANC elections next year.
Yesterday’s comments by Business Leadership SA reflected a realisation that business needed to demonstrate why nationalisation would not solve SA’s problems of youth unemployment or insufficient growth. The policy does not work, as Zambia’s mines minister said last week, of the two-decade nationalisation set-up that cost the copper-rich country $1m a day .
Yesterday, Business Leadership SA took up the argument.
“It’s a bad idea, emphatically. There are much better ways to address the issue of growth and unemployment. The youth league needs to come and enter these national debates and listen to other people’s ideas,” chairman Bobby Godsell said.
“South Africans have got to enter this debate. The debate cannot be monopolised by any one organisation.”
Youth league spokesman Floyd Shivambu said yesterday that nationalisation would become reality. “The business community must accept that nationalisation is going to happen in SA.
“The ANC already has got greater consensus on the nationalisation of mines. The business community must not be misled by people who do not know what they are talking about.”
The ANC said on Monday that youth league positions were not those of the party. “We want to state unequivocally that the resolutions remain those of the league and do not alter ANC policies being implemented at government level. Pronouncements by the league on such matters as the nationalisation of mines and land redistribution — among others — form part of ongoing discussions in the movement,” ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said.
The failure to challenge talk of nationalisation has scared off investors . “What (the government) cannot pretend is that this can just carry on for another 18 months in a way that has no consequences on investment decisions,” Mr Spicer said.
Source: Business Day
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