3
July
S.Africa's ANC rejects call to nationalise mines
3 July 2009 The Guardian UK
South Africa's ruling ANC party dismissed a call from the party's youth wing on Thursday to nationalise the country's mining and manufacturing industries in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The African National Congress's Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told Reuters nationalising mineral assets was not on the party's agenda, after its Youth League leader was quoted as pressing for state ownership.
Mantashe, a former mine workers leader who chairs the ANC's Communist Party ally, said nationalisation was not likely.
"There is no such plan," Mantashe told Reuters.
South Africa's new President Jacob Zuma has faced pressure from powerful trade union allies to introduce economic policy changes in the midst of a recession and widespread poverty.
