The ANC Youth League does not want academic research on the nationalisation of mines, and it does not want the research to be independent of the ANC.
This is according to its spokesperson, Floyd Shivambu, who, when asked to clarify a statement reacting to the ruling party’s announcement that two independent researchers would be appointed, said the youth league was not interested in “so-called independent views”.
“We are not that naive … How can they be independent if they are researching an ANC political programme?
“No, that one, it can’t be independent of the ANC. It does not make sense,” he said.
Shivambu said all the league wanted the researchers to find out was “detail of what is the best way to handle this [nationalisation]”.
He said the researchers needed to keep “political realities” in mind.
” … a depoliticised research outcome, which ignores the politics of the national democratic revolutionary agenda will not find resonance in the African National Congress,” he said in the statement.
Politics ‘smuggled into the ANC’
“We raise this point because neo-liberal politics and economics were previously smuggled into the ANC through what is called independent research and expertise.”
He was responding to an announcement by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Monday that two researchers would be appointed to look into state involvement in mines.
This was decided by the national executive committee (NEC), as a direct result of discussions held at the ANC’s national general council (NGC) meeting in September.
Mantashe said: “The NEC has resolved to appoint two senior researchers and a project manager to investigate successful models that could be considered on the role of the state in mining.
“We are engaging the research institutions to provide researchers [for] the project … we are going to try and get researchers who are independent of the ANC,” he said, according to SABC radio news.
But the youth league, which has been at the forefront of pushing for the nationalisation of mines, said in the statement it would support the research on certain conditions.
“The ANC Youth League will support all research on nationalisation of mines which is not depoliticised and taken out of its original political context and strategic vision of the ANC, the Freedom Charter,” Shivambu said in the statement.
“Nationalisation of mines by the ANC-led government is neither a technocratic, nor academic exercise, but a political and economic transformation programme expressed in the Freedom Charter.
“We hold a strong view that the researchers who will be appointed should not re-invent the wheel and ignore the essence of what NGC commission on Economic Transformation established greater consensus on.”
Chamber welcomes resolution
Chief executive of the Chamber of Mines Zoli Diliza said on Monday he was particularly pleased that the ANC had resolved to use researchers who were independent of the ANC.
“This approach will not only increase the credibility of the findings but will also ensure a wider support of those findings once the investigation has been completed.
“We hope that, once appointed, the researchers will investigate all the potential roles of the state in mining. These could, for instance, include the role of a state mining company and identifying the necessary conditions that are conducive to the rapid growth and transformation of the industry.”
Diliza said the chamber had already undertaken a “significant amount of research” into the role of the state in mining and would make this body of research available to the researchers.
“The chamber will also engage with the ANC on how the mining industry can assist with the investigation.” – Sapa