South African Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has rejected the use of US courts in settling issues of apartheid reparations and justice.
A number of European and US multi-national companies that operated or were linked to South Africa during apartheid are facing a lawsuit in New York brought by US lawyer Ed Fagan on behalf of South African claimants.
Commodity giant Anglo American Plc (Anglo, AGL) and South Africa’s second largest gold miner Gold Fields (GFI) are both facing the possibility of legal action under Fagan’s lawsuit.
Mlambo-Ngcuka endorsed South African president Thabo Mbeki’s report in parliament where he said that ”the South African government is not, and will not, be party to such litigation”.
”It is unacceptable that matters that are central to the future of South Africa should be adjudicated in foreign courts, which bear no responsibility for the well being of South Africans,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
The South African government recognised the rights of citizens to take civil action, but wanted to involve all South Africans, including corporate citizens, in a co-operative and voluntary partnership to reconstruct and develop South Africa, she added.
The government does not believe that it would be correct to impose the once-off wealth tax, Mlambo-Ngcuka said. – I-Net Bridge