Friday 20 April 2012

What would it mean for South Africa to nationalise the mines?

Maybe we should get clarity on what the nationalisation of mines would do for our country?! It a question of how able are we as a country to sustain what belong to us as South African. I am certainly not a fan of Julius Malema but I have to say that he definitely has point on the fact that mines should be nationalised. The constitution of this country states that each and every citizen of this country has a right to land and minerals of this country.
Firstly allow me to explore around the meaning of the nationalisation of mines this country, South Africa since this blog is aimed at informing and creating an on-going dialogue. When South Africa was involved in a whole lot of protests, campaigns and many other things that led this country to becoming what it is today the purpose was to have a free and fair South Africa and this includes the distribution of land and minerals to the people for this country belongs to all who lives in it.
The nationalisation of mines means that the control of ownership and mining activities such as extraction, production, processing and trading to other countries will benefit the whole country ANCYL . Though nationalisation of mines has its own advantages and disadvantages to it but from the research that I have made the advantages weigh more to the disadvantages and they are as follows:

Disadvantages of the nationalisation of mines are as follows:

  • Inefficiency due to lack of competition.
  • Kills the private sector.
  • Begins to acquire the greater control over the lives of the people.
  • Leads to complete centralisation of economic power in the hands of the state.
Hence the paragraph above argued that the advantages out weigh the disadvantages, I believe that we should carefully consider what it would mean for us as a country. What makes me wonder is that our minerals are being exported to the foreign countries and making them benefit more than us. I know the worry for most of us is that this will give the government more power to keep corruption going within the government sector, but there is more to it than we know. Let us carefully understand what it would mean for our economy to make the right decisions...therefore should we nationalise or not??

19 comments:

  1. well i think this is a serious matter that needs to be thoroughly researched before making any drastic decisions. if this is a good initiative then it should not only benefit individuals but the society as a whole.

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    1. Year I think that is why the matter is still on hold and from my perssective and the reading that I did with this nationalisation issue it would be a very good thing provided the government does things according to the law and their promises and which is not a guarantee at all.

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  2. The nationalisation of mines poses as good idea however I agree with SS Nqwaba that it needs to be thoroughly researched, so that we as a the citizens can know the impacts before agreeing or even disagreeing to it. People need to be well-informed firstly.

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    1. Year its part of the reason why I decided to write a blog about this issue because I believe that we do not have a thorough understanding of what it would mean for this country.

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  3. I agree with Julius on this one nationalisation is a NO NO because it will deprive people many things more especially jobs

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  4. Nationalisation will help create more jobs but I do not like the fact that government has to own everything, I ALSO WANT SHARES IN THASE MINES YOH.

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    1. Though the private sector has a lot of influence on our economy and many other things I trully believe that South Africa has a very right to own those minesa because from the research that I have made nationalisation goes with democracy and that is what this country is all about.

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  5. Then the mines should be nationalised but then it shouldn't mean that people be deprived of jobs and rights in the mines because this should be a benefit for all.

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    1. No never I doubt it will cause this nationalisation according to the research that I have made it will help create more jobs and education will also be a key thing to advance in this country if it goes well. Have you realise that the private sector benefits a lot from these thing such as mines?

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  6. How will it create jobs because i think that it will run with the same positions just that it is taken away from their owners or there will be a way to creat jobs,i do not understand.please elaborate.

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    1. No Moimane, the private sector does not own those mines, the mines of South Africa belong to South Africa because a lot of these private sectors are owned by the international companies such Anglo American, ect so they benefit the out side countries because we export them and they come back again in a form of imports so clearly South Africa is losing a lot money.

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  7. Well am also not a fan of Malema but have valid point on the fact that mines should be nationalised. Nationalisation of mines wasn't just political but also what is good for the country, this investors are hear to make money and go leave poor people with less developments.

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    1. Well said Thembanator hey, I mean these investor when they are done with what ever they were looking for they head to their countries. I can still remember in 2007 when this country was in recession a lot people lost their jobs and thrie pension funds so we don't want that same mistake to be repeated again guys.

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  8. I am not also a fan of Malema, he did have a vaild point we as a nation deserves what belongs to us.

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    1. Year he really had a point I support him on that.

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  9. Nationalisation of mines will make the industry have less competion, meaning that there will be less choice for consumers and that is not a healthy thing.

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    1. Yes that is one of the reason but I think we should try to look at a bigger picture here...we can still make it.

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    2. The Nationalisation of the mines would not drastically decrease competition in our market, as it is only the mines that are being state owned, it does however create a competitive market when the local manufacturing industry can get hold of lower cost mineral resources and that would create growth and thus create jobs, something that our country needs. also this would detach us from the puppet strings of foreign investors who dont care if they exploit our country, as long as they make money. i believe that Nationalisation would be a great helping hand for our country but the real issue is if our government, which is known to be corrupt, can pull it off correctly and not just buy another presidential jet with the peoples money

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  10. A simple example, to nationalise the mines will cause the Government to lose all the tax income it currently receives from the mining companies. For the nationalisation to be a sucess the government will first need to regain the lost tax take before the process starts to become profitable. Since it cannot make any of the existing state-owned companies like SAA profitable, how in the name of the nationalization will it be able to generate the lost tax income and then make a profit?

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