Julius Malema in Zuma face-off

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has taken on President Jacob Zuma, going so far as to suggest he is not a disciplined member of the ANC by insisting that the nationalisation of the mines was not official policy of the ruling party.

Malema’s comments at the Mining for Change conference in Sandton on Tuesday come after Zuma’s apparent bid to curb the firebrand youth leader at the weekend, when he said “junior” members of the ANC had to listen to their “seniors”.

“We have been listening to people who call themselves leaders of the ANC and who know the ANC better than all of us - who have been saying nationalisation is not the policy of the ANC,” Malema told delegates, a clear reference to Zuma’s repeated assurances since the youth league first issued its call for mines to be nationalised.

“They are correct to say it is not the policy of the government. But it is the policy of the ANC, and we want to reactivate it so that it becomes policy of the government,” he said.

“If you say it is not the policy of the ANC you are denouncing the Freedom Charter. And you can’t be a disciplined member of the ANC who speaks against policies, but who speaks about discipline all the time.

“Discipline means you must respect the policies of the ANC, including the decisions of the ANC. So everyone – junior and senior – must respect the policies of the ANC,” Malema said.

This was a clear reference to Zuma’s address to the ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial general council at the weekend.

Relations between Zuma and Malema have soured since the president backed disciplinary charges against the youth leader, and support from the party’s influential youth wing for the president they once declared they would kill for is waning. There is talk in youth league ranks to push for an end to Zuma’s presidency at the ANC’s national general council (NGC) in Durban later this month, while some suggest they are poised to launch a bid for Zuma’s deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, to take over the reins.

Some ANC leaders, however, are determined to prevent the mid-term policy review gathering from being derailed by succession lobbying. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said in Joburg on Tuesday the NGC should not descend into a leadership contest, although he said delegates should also not be prevented from discussing succession.

Malema also took a dig at Zuma’s son Duduzane and nephew Khulubuse, who recently benefited from multimillion-rand mining deals. He stressed that a narrow BEE focus had so far failed “dismally” to transform South Africa’s mining-based economy, benefiting only a small, well-connected elite.

“Individuals must be empowered not because they are individuals who are going to open the door for you to see the president,” Malema said.

Asked later whether the comment referred to the furore over the Zuma family’s deals, Malema denied knowledge of the details of the transactions. Zuma has defended his family members’ right to do business.

Malema dismissed suggestions that the nationalisation debate would discourage foreign investment.

“Why would investors disappear from a country wherever we are holding a democratic debate?” he asked.

“Are they scared of democracy? We are not talking about grabbing mines? Investors must contribute to this debate.”

He said South Africa would not go about nationalisation in the “wrong” way, as Zimbabwe had done.

Warning that South Africa should be careful that food riots did not occur here as they had in Mozambique recently, Malema asked: “How can people be poor if South Africa has the richest mineral resources?

“If bread becomes expensive, we will see here what happened in Mozambique, a revolution without a leader. It is important we avoid what happened in Mozambique... and to avoid Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe did it wrong... by beating up people.”

Land also had to be redistributed to the poor, Malema said.

“People are going to be shocked when there is an uprising. The terms of ownership have not changed,” he added.

“In 2014 we (democratic South Africa) are turning 20 years and people are going to ask why. The Oppenheimers do not contest elections; we do.

“They are just one family at the expense of many families in the name of investors. When we are out of power, the Oppenheimers will continue to be in business.”

Listening to Malema on Tuesday were a range of politicians and business analysts, who called for state-owned mining companies to be set up in areas where the state could add significant beneficiation and create jobs, as well as derive benefits, such as coal for energy, minerals for fertilisers, and iron and steel for rolling out infrastructure projects.

Malema appeared to agree that nationalisation should not be pursued as an end in itself, but that the most important consideration was how to use the country’s mineral wealth for the benefit of its people, especially the poor and marginalised.

He said the ANC still subscribed to the Freedom Charter, which he said calls for the “minerals of the country to be transferred to the ownership of the people”.

Speakers at the conference included former Presidency policy chief Joel Netshitenzhe, SA Communist Party deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin, and speakers from the Young Communist League and National Union of Mineworkers.

Cronin again cautioned against blanket nationalisation as this could simply boil down to bailing out struggling BEE mining companies, something he said the government and ANC had been lobbied hard for for some time now.

Netshitenzhe suggested that a strategic national plan for the mining sector should first be developed before deciding on whether to nationalise mines. – The Star

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