(NEWS24 SA) Malema: Gold mines too expensive to nationalise
2013-12-22 21:06
Mbombela - He was four hours late, but EFF commander in chief Julius Malema was met with ululation and praise songs when he arrived at a fund-raising gala dinner in Nelspruit on Saturday night.
He joked that he could not risking getting another speeding ticket after his arrest on Friday night, then gave an 80-minute speech that ended just before midnight, a Sapa correspondent reported. Malema said the EFF was a government in waiting, and he outlined the party's policies on mines and banks, and land reform.
"An entrepreneur must be able to do business no matter who is in government. A real businessman doesn't lose sleep over whether the [National Party], ANC or EFF is in power. You do not rely on tenders. Tenders are not sustainable business," he said.
Malema said Black Economic Empowerment encouraged the sale of black skin.
"You sell your colour as if black is cheap and can be sold at any time."
He said BEE supported only individuals and their families, and not communities.
"Rather give that money meant for BEE to the community, to build schools and clinics," he said.
Land
He said land should be returned to communities free of charge, since it had been taken without payment. The act of buying back the land was the same as buying stolen goods.
Land beneficiaries should also not be pressured into doing anything with their land, he said.
"You don't have to explain anything to anybody. It's your land. What you do with your land is nobody's business."
He said fears about the nationalisation of the mines were unfounded as the government had proved that it could manage businesses, citing Transet and Denel as examples.
He suggested nationalising only easy, profitable and uncomplicated mines, like platinum, which was found near the surface of the ground.
Gold
"We only want to nationalise profitable national resources. Not gold. Gold is very expensive to mine," he said.
He said the government needed to keep all mineral rights, and that the mines should give 60 percent of their ownership to the state.
Only this would generate enough money to provide free education, healthcare and sanitation.
Nationalised banks would run themselves, and without focusing on maximising profits, would keep their interest rates low so that all South Africans could afford a house and car.
Malema said local industry be protected so it was not undermined by cheap imports, and that the state should help people acquire basic skills.
He accused President Jacob Zuma and his government of not being accountable to the people.
- SAPA
Labels: GOLD, JULIUS MALEMA, NATIONALISATION
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(NEWZIMBABWE, SAPA) ANC trying to silence me: Malema
18/11/2013 00:00:00
by SAPA
EFF leader Julius Malema has accused the ANC of trying to silence him by bringing fabricated charges against him.
"They accuse me of stealing because they are failing to match my thinking capacity," he told his supporters outside the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane on Monday shortly after his corruption trial was postponed to next year.
"They thought arresting me would silence me... They are arresting me with the hope that nationalisation would die... They say we stole money in the department of roads and works, I have never worked there."
Malema said a forensic team had found no evidence against him, and despite this he was arrested for nothing.
He said police arrested him, despite him co-operating and stressing he would appear in court.
"I don't know why they gave me police escorts, I know the direction to court," he said.
'I will never betray you'
Malema has denied stealing from South Africans, saying he has no criminals in his family.
"I will never betray you. I did not steal from you. I will never steal from you. I will never do that to you.
"In my family, I don't have a history of criminals... there is no black sheep."
He described the African National Congress as the "apartheid ANC" and labelled President Jacob Zuma a criminal.
He thanked those who came out to support him at court.
"Comrades who came from all different areas to give me support, I salute you. I don't take your support for granted. I stand before you with humility. I will never be arrogant."
Charges
The former ANC Youth League leader appeared after allegedly making nearly R4m from corrupt activities. He is out on bail of R10 000 and faces charges of fraud, corruption, money-laundering, and racketeering.
Malema's co-accused are his business associates Kagisho Dichabe, Lesiba Gwangwa, Helen Moreroa, and Makgetsi Manthata. They are out on bail of R40,000 each.
The State alleges Malema and the others misrepresented themselves to the Limpopo roads and transport department, leading to a R52m contract being awarded to On-Point Engineering.
According to court papers, Malema had business ties with Gwangwa, a director of On-Point Engineering. Malema's Ratanang Family Trust was an indirect shareholder in On-Point.
The department paid the company R43m. According to the charge sheet, Malema substantially benefited from this payment, using it to buy a farm and a Mercedes-Benz.
His trial has been set down from 30 September to 31 October next year.
Malema, however, will make representations to a judge next Thursday and Friday in a bid to get the charges dropped.
Labels: ANC, ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, JULIUS MALEMA, NATIONALISATION
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(LUSAKATIMES) Mineworkers Union of Zambia wants KCM mining license revoked
Time Posted: November 5, 2013 7:08 am
THE Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) has called on Government to find another equity partner for Konkola Copper Mines (KCM)’s mining operations in the country.
MUZ president Nkole Chishimba said Government should go ahead and revoke the mining license for KCM and with or without the laying off of workers by the mining-giant.
He said this was in view of the unclear roadmap by KCM management which had adopted tactics of blackmailing government.
Mr Chishimba who was reacting to President Michael Sata’s call on KCM not to go ahead with its intention of downsizing labour said the announcement by the Head of State to revoke the mining license should the company lay off a single employee was welcome.
“We are thankful that the president has taken that move of considering revoking KCM’s mining license should the company downsize labour.
“We welcome that move and in fact, Government must still consider our call of finding another equity partner for KCM and this is because of unclear roadmap by the company,” Mr Chishimba said.
The union leader said from the way KCM had been conducting itself in the recent past and cited earlier attempts by KCM in June this year to lay off 2000 miners, it was clear that the company’s operations in the country had ceased to be certain.
Mr Chishimba said it was MUZ’s fear that if blocked from executing its intended action of laying off workers, KCM would only end up subjecting employees to poor conditions of service.
“This is why we are saying Government must take keen interest in the operations of KCM by finding another equity partner for that mine,” Mr Chishimba said.
Labels: KCM, MUZ, NATIONALISATION, STATUTORY INSTRUMENT 89, TAX EVASION
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Panji asks Zambians to judge PF's performance in 2016
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Wed 25 Sep. 2013, 14:01 CAT
TRANSPORT deputy minister Colonel Panji Kaunda says the PF wants Zambians to own Zambia. And Col Panji says senior police officers should once in a while be on police checkpoints to give encouragement to junior traffic officers.
Asked to comment on the PF's performance in the last two years, Col Panji said the PF government would go ahead with various empowerment programmes across the country.
"We want Zambians to own this country. When we say tourism is booming, it is booming for who? We are building roads and we must add value to the roads by putting transport there so that people can move comfortably and safely from point A to point B. So don't judge us now, see what we can do in the next two years then you can judge us in 2016," Col Panji said.
He said he was confident that with policies that had been put in place, the people of Zambia would see a difference in both employment and service delivery as promised to them in the manifesto.
Col Panji said it was difficult for a person to give an assessment of his own government.
He said the PF had used the past two years in government to plan and throw away certain things that were not good.
"I have never been a government minister in my life so this is my second year as minister in government so I have time to learn. Everybody must learn; there is nobody who is born a minister, who is born a general. So the country must be patient with us. There will be a bit of changes in the next two years, what we have planned now will be going into implementation," Col Panji said.
And on the five traffic police officers who were arrested for corruption last week, Col Panji said senior police officers should sometimes be on the road to give examples to the young ones.
He said when junior officers could do anything when left on their own all the time.
"I have seen so many things on the road blocks where senior government officers want to use their weight to bulldoze their way through the road block..." said Col Panji.
Labels: NATIONALISATION, PANJI KAUNDA, PF
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(STICKY) (NEWZIMBABWE, BLOOMBERG) State to market minerals, in new proposals
06/05/2013 00:00:00
by Bloomberg
COMMENT - This is an excellent development. All natural resources in Africa and around the world should be sold to and by the State, so there is no smuggling, tax evasion, and invalidates all the tricks of the likes of Glencore (see elsewhere on this blog). - MrK
ZIMBABWE is considering auctioning mineral deposits, restricting production of commodities deemed strategic and having the state sell the output from all mines, according to a draft policy document.
The proposals are made in a minerals policy prepared by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals, which is yet to be released publicly. The ministry will start discussing the policy with the mining industry on Tuesday, Prince Mupazviriho, permanent secretary for mines, said on Friday, declining to comment on the contents of the draft.
The country needs “an open, transparent and competitive auction procedure for known mineral deposits,” the ministry says in the policy.
“The State of Zimbabwe reserves the right to market the people’s mineral assets, but undertakes to recompense the miner at fair and transparent market prices for mineral exports.”
Miners including Impala Platinum, and Rio Tinto Group are currently free to market their own minerals.
The policy comes after companies including Impala and Anglo American Platinum agreed to comply with an existing law to cede 51 percent stakes in their local assets to black Zimbabweans or the government.
Zimbabwe has the world’s second-largest platinum and chrome deposits after South Africa as well as deposits of coal, gold, diamonds and iron ore.
If implemented the marketing policy will be a reversal of an earlier liberalization of mineral sales, which formerly had been undertaken by the Minerals Marketing Corp. of Zimbabwe and, in the case of gold, a unit of the central bank.
Under the proposal gold and platinum group metals will be sold by a dealer authorized by the Ministry of Finance and all other minerals will be sold by the MMCZ.
In addition to the changes to the marketing of minerals the ministry is proposing auctions of deposits as well as imposing new taxes, the policy shows.
A resource rent tax, defined as a tax on profits in excess of an average national return on investment, is proposed to replace the current additional profits tax. An export tax may also be imposed to encourage local processing of minerals, according to the policy.
“The current free mining colonial mineral regime is inappropriate for using national mineral assets to underpin wider development and industrialization,” the ministry said in the policy.
Mining licenses will be awarded for a maximum of 25 years and minerals including iron ore, coal, copper and limestone may be deemed strategic, meaning that their output can be restricted and their prices of the minerals regulated, the ministry said.
Another state company, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp., may be tasked with producing some minerals to supply industries and given a three-month period to assess new, state- financed geological data to decide whether to develop mines.
Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), MINING, NATIONALISATION
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(BUSINESSDAILY KE) Zimbabwe moves to shut down Stanchart for non-compliance
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe has threatened to shut down British-owned Standard Chartered Bank and two mining companies that have not complied with its indigenisation laws. AFP
By KITSEPILE NYATHI, NATION CORRESPONDENT in Harare
Posted Monday, April 8 2013 at 12:25
Zimbabwe has threatened to shut down British-owned Standard Chartered Bank and two mining companies that have not complied with its indigenisation laws.
According to state media, the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board (NIEEB) has told Stanchart as well as foreign owned mining firms, Metallion Gold and Duration Gold that they will be closed down until they became compliant.
The transacting public was also ordered to stop doing business with the companies with immediate effect.
“Persons, businesses and government departments dealing with these companies are by this statement given notice of the intention of government to shut down these businesses until such time that they comply with the law,” the government owned Sunday Mail quoted NIEEB as saying.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF has been pushing a policy that compels foreign owned companies to cede 51 per cent of their local shareholding to indigenous Zimbabweans.
But the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has resisted attempts to force foreign banks to comply with the law saying the sector is too sensitive.
Dr Gono’s stance has angered loyalists of the veteran ruler who say the criticism would harm his re-election bid as Zanu PF intends to use the empowerment programme to anchor its election strategy.
Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere last week said the government was ready to shut down foreign banks that had not complied with the law despite concerns that Zimbabwe is starved of foreign investment.
“It is essential that any institution working in a given space be the one which is accommodative, which is supportive of the aspirations of the nationals,” he said.
“It would be a terrible thing for us to have institutions which oppose our aspirations in this country.”
Mr Kasukuwere said most banks had submitted empowerment plans to his ministry and they were being assessed.
“The banks must comply with our 51 per cent ownership threshold and they have brought their submissions to us,’ he said.
“Barclays Bank has done that while others are in the process of doing so, others have already submitted,” he said.
“Where we think that their submissions do not meet our expectations we have referred back to them to make the necessary corrections.”
Critics say the policy has slowed down foreign investment in Zimbabwe, a country that is recovering from a decade long economic collapse blamed on a violent land reform programme launched by President Mugabe at the turn of the millennium.
Labels: NATIONALISATION, STANCHART, ZIMBABWE
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ZCCM-IH urged to take over the operations of the embattled Collum coal mine
Time Posted: February 25, 2013 8:02 pm
ZCCM
The Zambia Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( ZACCI ) has urged the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings ( ZCCM-IH) to take over the operations of the embattled Collum coal mine.
ZACCI Vice President –South Chabuka Kawesha says his organization ZCCM-IH should consider taking over operations to ensure continuity of all operations at the coal mine.
“ ZCCM-IH must address the flows that lead to government’s decision being that of repossessing the mine, “ he said. ZANIS reports that Dr. Kabwesha said this in a statement in Lusaka, today.
He explained that operations of Collum coal mine as represented through various media reports over the past years have raised concerns.
“ And we believe the appropriate ministries and other government offices had more detail and information hence the decision taken by Government, “ he said.
He added that his Institute believes that ZCCM-IH may within its powers and in the shortest possible time, appoint or select a small group of local Zambian mining experts to manage the facility by going forward.
“ We believe that ZCCM-IH may within its powers and in the shortest possible time, appoint or select a small group of local Zambian mining experts to manage the facility going forward and bring it to profitable levels with the right framework of employee engagement and sustained visible philanthropic support to the local community, “ he said.
He explained that as a nation we have the capacity to identify local or internationally based professional Zambians with credible credentials to manage the mine and the new managers should go to the local and international finance markets for operational capital for Collum Coal Mine going forward.
Dr Kawesha suggested that the appointed team should first identify a revival strategy for the operations and enable sustainable operations with minimal government support. Thereafter look for equity partners in addition to working with ZCCM-IH.
It is not a secret that foreign run mining companies go for syndicated finance options or to international capital or financial institutions like the IFC, African Development Bank and many others to finance huge projects which are capital intensive, he explained.
“ Therefore, the team of Zambian managers should put up a bankable document and obtain finance from either local or foreign financial institutions so as not to place any burden on the government,” said Dr. Kawesha.
The Chamber says the Ministries of Finance and Mines and the ZCCM-Investment Holding (IH) should appoint a team of professional Zambian in the areas of administration, mining and finance to revive and operate the Munali Nickel mine in Mazabuka.
It adds that the team should also consider restoring national assets at the coal mine in similar lines like at Zambia Railways led by an ably qualified Zambian engineer can be replicated to our mining facilities.
We all know it’s a long stretch for government to finance Professor Chirwa’s positive and well-intended project. And at some stage local or international financial institutions have to come into play by way of financing the national and inter-town rail networks.
The ZACCI Vice President –South has further suggested that the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Mines and ZCCM-IH should appoint separate teams of Zambian experts in the areas of administration, engineering, finance and mining to undertaken the operations of the Collum Coal Mine and Munali Nichel Mine both located in Southern Zambia.
“ Each team should, just like foreign mining operators based in Zambia or elsewhere do, go to the international or local capital markets to raise operational capital or indeed invite in an equity partner or two,” he said.
Alternatively ZCCM-IH should call for “expressions of interest” or “request for proposals” as a matter of urgency for both mines. EOI or RFP opens the playing field and guarantees strong partners, he concluded.
Government recently took over a Chinese-run coal mine where managers once opened fire on its Zambian workers during a labor dispute.
Mines and Minerals minister Yamfwa Mukanga explained that that government had seized control of Collum Coal Mining Industries Ltd.
Mr. Mukanga said the Chinese managers had not addressed safety, health and environmental concerns at the mine, had also failed to declare production and had not paid royalties to the government.
There has been a history of problems at this mine. Two Chinese managers were accused of shooting coal miners there during a labor dispute in 2010.
Clashes at the mine in August reportedly saw one Chinese worker killed and two others injured.
Labor conflicts at Chinese businesses in Zambia are pointed to as examples of problems with Chinese investors across Africa.
ZANIS
Labels: CHABUKA KAWESHA, COLLUM COAL MINE, NATIONALISATION, YAMFWA MUKANGA, ZACCI, ZCCM-IH
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Government takes over Collum Mines
Time Posted: February 20, 2013 2:17 pm
Government has with immediate effect cancelled the mining licence for Chinese run Collum Coal Mine. Based in Sinazongwe area of Southern Province, Collum Mine has been the subject of fierce labour disputes between the Chinese managers and the local Zambian workers due to poor working conditions.
In 2010, eleven miners including one onlooker were shot and seriously wounded by Chinese manager at the Collum Coal Mine. Mines Minister Yamfwa Mukanga announced during a news briefing this morning that government has taken over the operations of the coal mine.
Mr. Mukanga said the mine has had a poor history of poor safety, health and environmental compliance which he attributed to the employment of unqualified personnel.
“Collum Coal Mine has failed to consistently provide employees with approved personal protective equipment (PPE’s),” he said.
Mr. Mukanga said the Ministry through the Mines Safety Department has been undertaking regular inspections to assist the mine remedy the persistent beaches adding that in some instances the entire mine has been closed before to allow the mine management to comply with directives but that there has no improvements.
“The Ministry gave a default notice to Collum Coal Mine on August 16 2012 and the company was given 60 days within which to remedy the anomalies cited in the default letter failure to which the licence would be cancelled. The 60 days expired on October 16 2012 without any response to the notice or remediation of all anomalies cited,” Mr. Mukanga stated.
The Mines Minister said Collum Mine failed to meet statutory obligations such as the declaration of mineral production and royalty to government.
Mr. Mukanga has since appealed to workers at the coal mine to remain calm assuring that there will be no disruption of normal operations.
Collum Coal Mining Industries Limited holds three small scale mining licences in Sinazongwe district of Southern province which were granted on 31 May 2002, July 5 2002 and May 7 2003 respectively.
Labels: COLLUM COAL MINE, NATIONALISATION, YAMFWA MUKANGA
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COMMENT - The ANC needs to immediately turn it's back on the neoliberal school of economics. People need to own property, including land. They already own the country's natural resources like gold, diamonds and platinum, and they are not getting paid for them. Nationalize or tax them extremely heavily, but that is where the money is going to come from, to invest in agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, and free education and healthcare. 'Just jobs' isn't a policy that is going to do it, especially when the labour conditions are terrible and wages are low in order to appease foreign ownership. It is the government's job to expand the middle class to 90% or more of the population.
Mining and agriculture must change to survive, says Ramphele
06 Feb 2013 12:18 - Staff Reporter
Mamphela Ramphele has warned unrest in the mining and agricultural sectors would continue if efforts were not made to change the industries' dynamics.
Speaking at the mining indaba in Cape Town on Wednesday, the Gold Fields chair and struggle stalwart said: "It's time to think differently … the mining industry has no option but to make a fresh start [if it hopes to survive]."
Ramphele said it was important for business government and labour to heed the wake-up call of the unrest and the "bombs in South Africa waiting to go off".
Many workers in the mining sector have been striking since last year August.
In one of the most controversial tragedies last year, 44 people died at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine after violence during a labour strike, 34 of which were miners who were killed after shootout with police at the mine. The incident resulted in an inquiry into what happened at the mine.
Meanwhile, workers at Anglo American Platinum embarked on a two-month wildcat strike after the company said it wanted to close four of its shafts, shedding about 14 000 jobs. Government has since been in talks with the company and workers in an attempt to alleviate the effects.
The miner's profit also plummeted by 180% for the year ended December 31 2012 from a R7.9-billion gain in 2011.
Ramphele added on Wednesday the government needed to produce high-quality social infrastructure, education and a good legislative environment, while business needed to ensure that its actions took into consideration the needs of communities around the mine and the labour sourcing areas.
Sustainable job creation
She said labour also needed to move away from short-term wage goals and understand the importance of sustainable job creation.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant on Monday announced a new minimum wage for farmworkers of R105.
The new rate, R36 more than the current minimum wage of R69 a day, was due to take effect from March 1 after countrywide public hearings on a new minimum wage for the agriculture sector was prompted by violent protests by farmworkers across parts of the Western Cape.
At the indaba Ramphele also took a swipe at black economic empowerment, saying it failed to realise its objective of empowerment of the masses, instead it resulting in the empowerment of a few.
Ramphele was rumoured to start her own political party after reports that she thought stronger opposition was needed when President Jacob Zuma was re-elected ANC president at the party's elective conference in Mangaung in December. - additional reporting by Sapa
Labels: ANC, MILDRED OLIPHANT, MINING, NATIONALISATION
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Nationalisation of mines won't happen, says Shabangu
05 Feb 2013 11:29 - Chantelle Benjamin
The mines minister has told delegates at the mining indaba that the ANC and government are not interested in making mine nationalisation policy. Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has taken a reconciliatory approach at the 2013 African Mining Indaba, taking special effort to reassure investors that Africa, and South Africa in particular, is a lucrative investment.
Shabangu said on Tuesday she was aware that investors worldwide were looking with interest to government for indications about their positions on nationalisation and whether government would assist in creating an environment that allowed for mining industry, following the
very public spat between the minister and Anglo American Platinum over its decision to close four shafts and retrench about 14 000 staff members there.
The minister started her speech by recognising outgoing Anglo American chief executive Cynthia Carroll and incoming chief executive Mark Cutifani in the audience, Shabangu said South Africa was putting in place legislation that was intended to assist the mining sector and consequently the economy and government's job creation plans.
She told about 7 000 investors that nationalisation was not on the cards and was not being considered by the ANC or government. "Nationalisation is not an option for our country," she said.
The minister said the mining sector and government would need to work together to ensure that the social and structural problems that led to the unrest at the end of last year and into 2013 did not happen again.
"I am requesting that the mining sector work together to avoid a repeat of what happened last year. We cannot afford another Marikana," she said, referring to the violence that took place at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine in August that left 44 people dead.
Shabangu acknowledged some challenges facing the mining sectors, including lower metal prices and higher energy costs. The platinum sector in particular was highlighted by her. She said a committee was set up last year June to look into the platinum sector.
A more coordinated strategy was being developed by government around the awarding of mining licenses to ensure faster turnaround for mining companies when it came to the approval and to ensurance that quality licenses were awarded.
Skills shortage
Skills shortage in the mining sector was recognised by government and it was actively working to address that, Shabangu said.
"I am very encouraged by the number of learners who are enrolling as engineers," she said.
Shabangu said the growth in the number of mines from 993 in 2004 to 1 000 in 2013 and employment now at 530 000 – down slightly in quarter four – was encouraging and indicated the value of South Africa as a mining destination.
She said it was important for all stakeholders to "be flexible to changes" and to ensure long term sustainability. Shabangu added it was vital for the country to have a sustainable tax regime that ensured South Africa's mining sector became the sector of choice.
Cape Town's mayor Patricia de Lille on Monday told delegates at the mining indaba that it was time for South Africa to see the benefits of being a mineral rich country.
"This indaba comes at a critical point in mining in South Africa. SA seems to have drawn little benefit from the commodity boom," she said.
Giving back
Taking government's line, De Lille told about 4 000 mining industry and subsidiary services that it was time to give something back after years of benefitting from the resources.
She said that there was a need at the indaba for meaningful debate around how to ensure that the country benefitted directly from its resources through beneficiation.
This year's conference is the largest ever held, with over 7 500 delegates, including mining executives, ministers, foreign investors and analysts.
Labels: CYNTYIA CARROLL, JOBS, MARK CUTIFANI, NATIONALISATION, NEOLIBERALISM, SUSAN SHABANGU
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ANC gets decisive on economy, integrity and governance
21 Dec 2012 00:00 - Niren Tolsi, Charles Molele, Matuma Letsoalo, Mmanaledi Mataboge
Jacob Zuma's new ANC leadership has taken its most decisive move to end uncertainty about economic policy by flatly rejecting nationalisation. In a week in which it also embraced billionaire Cyril Ramaphosa as its deputy president, the party has continued its trend to talk left but decidedly move to the right.
The move has been slammed by trade union federation Cosatu, but it will be music to the ears of the local and international business community.
Zuma has encouraged trade union leaders to join the party to use their influence, but it is clear they are unlikely to change its course.
His own re-election also sent a message of continuity and stability. The ANC resolved to take measures to deal with corruption and grow the party in a qualitative fashion by introducing strict criteria for leadership positions.
Here are some of the main resolutions:
Nationalisation out
The national conference has rejected the proposal to make nationalisation its policy and has brought the youth wage subsidy back on the agenda, a factor that is likely to further deepen tensions between the ruling party and its one alliance partner, Cosatu.
ANC policy head Enoch Godong-wana said on Thursday that, instead of nationalisation, the party had resolved to increase state ownership in strategic sectors where it deemed it appropriate “on the balance of evidence”.
He said the conference favoured the tax regime model to raise money for the fiscus from mining companies, instead of nationalisation.
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said: “The national conference has refused to be drawn into the word ‘nationalisation’ or not. We opted to reaffirm our historic position on the economy.
“There might come a moment when a particular sector of the economy needs to be nationalised. It happened in the United States during the recession. The issue is not arising when we talk about mining, but we say the state will increase its strategic ownership in strategic sectors.
“There should not be the expectation that from here the ANC will start thinking when and who we are going to nationalise. We believe in a mixed economy. That’s the view the conference took.”
Gigaba said the ANC was deeply concerned about the level of unemployment among the youth.
“The mechanism we adopted until now has been wholly inadequate. The ANC has not ruled out a youth subsidy,” said Gigaba.
Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers, rejected the ANC’s decision to do away with nationalisation and put the youth wage subsidy on the agenda.
“The problem is not investors,” he said. “There are no investors that fear nationalisation, but there [is a] leadership that fears investors.
“We have strategic sectors such as chrome, iron, steel, platinum. We must take ownership of those sectors. We can explain to investors once we have taken those sectors. The problem of leadership that is not decisive cannot be the problem of investors.”
Integrity and the fight against graft
The ANC has resolved to establish an integrity committee within the next three months to fight corruption and uphold its integrity.
Delegates adopted the resolution during a commission on organisational renewal. The proposed committee would comprise party veterans and is expected to have powers to subpoena any member accused of misconduct to appear before it.
The ANC’s Gauteng general secretary and a member of the commission on organisation renewal, David Makhura, said the committee would assist the organisation to hold members accountable and protect the image of the party.
Makhura said the committee would ensure that the party took a proactive stance against ANC members accused of corruption. He said the ANC would follow the example of the strict stance that the central committee of China’s Communist Party has against party members engaged in corrupt activity.
“It is going to be an important organ of the organisation,” Makhuru said. “It will help us to nip corruption in the bud. The ANC wants to hold its members accountable and wants them to respect the laws of the country.”
He said the committee would also “encourage” members to step aside if they were facing serious allegations of impropriety and misconduct.
However, it is unclear how the proposed integrity committee would respond if the National Prosecuting Authority was eventually forced to reinstate fraud and corruption charges against Zuma. The Supreme Court of Appeal has ordered the NPA to provide the Democratic Alliance with the documents that former NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe used to discontinue the prosecution of Zuma.
Delegates also resolved that members had to declare their business interests to the ANC if they decided to go into business.
The proposal to reduce the size of the national executive committee from 80 to 60 was rejected by the delegates, who agreed to maintain the status quo.
Delegates further resolved that a member had to serve in party structures for at least 10 years before they could be eligible for nomination to the national executive committee.
The commission also resolved to introduce a cadre policy and a literacy campaign to build the “transformative and adaptive capacity” of the ANC in the next 10 years.
Internal discipline
The ANC has conceded that its leadership decision that members who take the party to court automatically expel themselves would “not pass muster in any court”.
It made the concession after extensive discussions at conference commissions.
Collins Chabane, an ANC national executive committee member who also chairs the subcommittee on constitutional amendments, said party members charged under its disciplinary rules would no longer have the privilege of top leadership representing them at hearings.
ANC leaders appear to have been so irked by former treasurer general Mathews Phosa representing expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema that they put through a constitutional amendment disallowing top leaders from representing those in trouble.
An amended disciplinary proceedings clause reads: “Members of ANC executive committees to whom the disciplinary committee reports or a executive committee at a higher level cannot represent charged members”.
Added to the constitution is that ANC members representing their comrades at internal disciplinary hearings “shall not be entitled to charge any fee for such representation, or levy a disbursement for costs associated with such representation”.
ANC members will now need to be ordinary members in good standing for at least 10 years before qualifying to be elected leaders, a change from the initial five years.
This is part of the ANC’s effort to ensure the party is led by what is seen to be genuine cadres shaped by years of learning the party’s culture and values.
Chabane said the party would soon introduce leadership qualifications as part of conditions of accepting nomination for the position.
“Some years to come, you’ll have to produce a certificate to say ‘I’ve been to an ANC political school and this is a course I’ve passed’,” he said. “We must get to a level where we say if you want to be a leader in this structure, you must have passed this course.”
Legislature and governance
The ANC resolved to set up an “independent commission” to investigate the functioning of provinces and whether there was a need to reduce their number. The commission would finalise its findings and report back to the ANC’s national general council in 2015, said Nomaindia Mfeketho, chairperson of the ANC subcommittee on legislature and governance. She said that the commission’s proposals would be implemented in time for the 2019 general elections.
The conference had resolved to “review, reform and strengthen” provinces, Mfeketho said.
The ANC also resolved to urge more national government intervention in municipalities that are “unviable”. These municipalities with low revenue bases will be pulled into district municipalities and assisted from the national fiscus, whereas those with larger revenue bases “that can be taken out of district councils” would be pulled out to stand alone.
Subcommittee member Lynn Brown said that, if required, there would be more intervention by the national legislature in provinces and by the provincial legislatures in local government to address problems and fulfil the requirements of a developmental state.
The introduction of a single public service was still “a work in progress”, but the conference resolved that the president appoint a remuneration committee to investigate public sector salaries. The commission will report back in six months.
National anthem
The ANC will from now on sing the country’s full national anthem, including Die Stem, in an effort to encourage nation-building. Paul Mashatile, a member of the subcommittee on social transformation and arts and culture minister, said: “The ANC needs to lead by example.”
Mashatile said that although the conference had not yet made it compulsory, the government would encourage schools to sing the anthem every day.
Labels: ANC, IRVIN JIM, NATIONALISATION, NEOLIBERALISM
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ANC gets decisive on economy, integrity and governance
21 Dec 2012 00:00 - Niren Tolsi, Charles Molele, Matuma Letsoalo, Mmanaledi Mataboge
Jacob Zuma's new ANC leadership has taken its most decisive move to end uncertainty about economic policy by flatly rejecting nationalisation. In a week in which it also embraced billionaire Cyril Ramaphosa as its deputy president, the party has continued its trend to talk left but decidedly move to the right. The move has been slammed by trade union federation Cosatu, but it will be music to the ears of the local and international business community.
Zuma has encouraged trade union leaders to join the party to use their influence, but it is clear they are unlikely to change its course.
His own re-election also sent a message of continuity and stability. The ANC resolved to take measures to deal with corruption and grow the party in a qualitative fashion by introducing strict criteria for leadership positions.
Here are some of the main resolutions:
Nationalisation out
The national conference has rejected the proposal to make nationalisation its policy and has brought the youth wage subsidy back on the agenda, a factor that is likely to further deepen tensions between the ruling party and its one alliance partner, Cosatu.
ANC policy head Enoch Godong-wana said on Thursday that, instead of nationalisation, the party had resolved to increase state ownership in strategic sectors where it deemed it appropriate “on the balance of evidence”.
He said the conference favoured the tax regime model to raise money for the fiscus from mining companies, instead of nationalisation.
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said: “The national conference has refused to be drawn into the word ‘nationalisation’ or not. We opted to reaffirm our historic position on the economy.
“There might come a moment when a particular sector of the economy needs to be nationalised. It happened in the United States during the recession. The issue is not arising when we talk about mining, but we say the state will increase its strategic ownership in strategic sectors.
“There should not be the expectation that from here the ANC will start thinking when and who we are going to nationalise. We believe in a mixed economy. That’s the view the conference took.”
Gigaba said the ANC was deeply concerned about the level of unemployment among the youth.
“The mechanism we adopted until now has been wholly inadequate. The ANC has not ruled out a youth subsidy,” said Gigaba.
Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers, rejected the ANC’s decision to do away with nationalisation and put the youth wage subsidy on the agenda.
“The problem is not investors,” he said. “There are no investors that fear nationalisation, but there [is a] leadership that fears investors.
“We have strategic sectors such as chrome, iron, steel, platinum. We must take ownership of those sectors. We can explain to investors once we have taken those sectors. The problem of leadership that is not decisive cannot be the problem of investors.”
Integrity and the fight against graft
The ANC has resolved to establish an integrity committee within the next three months to fight corruption and uphold its integrity.
Delegates adopted the resolution during a commission on organisational renewal. The proposed committee would comprise party veterans and is expected to have powers to subpoena any member accused of misconduct to appear before it.
The ANC’s Gauteng general secretary and a member of the commission on organisation renewal, David Makhura, said the committee would assist the organisation to hold members accountable and protect the image of the party.
Makhura said the committee would ensure that the party took a proactive stance against ANC members accused of corruption. He said the ANC would follow the example of the strict stance that the central committee of China’s Communist Party has against party members engaged in corrupt activity.
“It is going to be an important organ of the organisation,” Makhuru said. “It will help us to nip corruption in the bud. The ANC wants to hold its members accountable and wants them to respect the laws of the country.”
He said the committee would also “encourage” members to step aside if they were facing serious allegations of impropriety and misconduct.
However, it is unclear how the proposed integrity committee would respond if the National Prosecuting Authority was eventually forced to reinstate fraud and corruption charges against Zuma. The Supreme Court of Appeal has ordered the NPA to provide the Democratic Alliance with the documents that former NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe used to discontinue the prosecution of Zuma.
Delegates also resolved that members had to declare their business interests to the ANC if they decided to go into business.
The proposal to reduce the size of the national executive committee from 80 to 60 was rejected by the delegates, who agreed to maintain the status quo.
Delegates further resolved that a member had to serve in party structures for at least 10 years before they could be eligible for nomination to the national executive committee.
The commission also resolved to introduce a cadre policy and a literacy campaign to build the “transformative and adaptive capacity” of the ANC in the next 10 years.
Internal discipline
The ANC has conceded that its leadership decision that members who take the party to court automatically expel themselves would “not pass muster in any court”.
It made the concession after extensive discussions at conference commissions.
Collins Chabane, an ANC national executive committee member who also chairs the subcommittee on constitutional amendments, said party members charged under its disciplinary rules would no longer have the privilege of top leadership representing them at hearings.
ANC leaders appear to have been so irked by former treasurer general Mathews Phosa representing expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema that they put through a constitutional amendment disallowing top leaders from representing those in trouble.
An amended disciplinary proceedings clause reads: “Members of ANC executive committees to whom the disciplinary committee reports or a executive committee at a higher level cannot represent charged members”.
Added to the constitution is that ANC members representing their comrades at internal disciplinary hearings “shall not be entitled to charge any fee for such representation, or levy a disbursement for costs associated with such representation”.
ANC members will now need to be ordinary members in good standing for at least 10 years before qualifying to be elected leaders, a change from the initial five years.
This is part of the ANC’s effort to ensure the party is led by what is seen to be genuine cadres shaped by years of learning the party’s culture and values.
Chabane said the party would soon introduce leadership qualifications as part of conditions of accepting nomination for the position.
“Some years to come, you’ll have to produce a certificate to say ‘I’ve been to an ANC political school and this is a course I’ve passed’,” he said. “We must get to a level where we say if you want to be a leader in this structure, you must have passed this course.”
Legislature and governance
The ANC resolved to set up an “independent commission” to investigate the functioning of provinces and whether there was a need to reduce their number. The commission would finalise its findings and report back to the ANC’s national general council in 2015, said Nomaindia Mfeketho, chairperson of the ANC subcommittee on legislature and governance. She said that the commission’s proposals would be implemented in time for the 2019 general elections.
The conference had resolved to “review, reform and strengthen” provinces, Mfeketho said.
The ANC also resolved to urge more national government intervention in municipalities that are “unviable”. These municipalities with low revenue bases will be pulled into district municipalities and assisted from the national fiscus, whereas those with larger revenue bases “that can be taken out of district councils” would be pulled out to stand alone.
Subcommittee member Lynn Brown said that, if required, there would be more intervention by the national legislature in provinces and by the provincial legislatures in local government to address problems and fulfil the requirements of a developmental state.
The introduction of a single public service was still “a work in progress”, but the conference resolved that the president appoint a remuneration committee to investigate public sector salaries. The commission will report back in six months.
National anthem
The ANC will from now on sing the country’s full national anthem, including Die Stem, in an effort to encourage nation-building. Paul Mashatile, a member of the subcommittee on social transformation and arts and culture minister, said: “The ANC needs to lead by example.”
Mashatile said that although the conference had not yet made it compulsory, the government would encourage schools to sing the anthem every day.
Labels: ANC, NATIONALISATION, NEOLIBERALISM
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Mugabe targets 100 percent black ownership
08/12/2012 00:00:00
by AFP
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe on Friday vowed to overhaul business laws to require 100 percent black ownership of foreign firms, up from the current 51 percent.
In a pre-election address to the Zanu PF party faithful, Mugabe said the government would press ahead with controversial indigenisation policies, despite protestations from foreign investors.
"The notion that capital is more important than any other factors is nonsense," Mugabe told 5 000 delegates in the central city of Gweru. "That philosophy is dirty, filthy and is criminal."
The government passed a controversial indigenisation law two years ago, forcing all foreign-owned firms to cede a 51% shares to locals, arguing it would reverse imbalances created during colonial rule.
"I think now we have done enough of 51%. Let it be 100%," he told the last party conference before 2013 polls, which could well see the 88-year-old's name on the ballot for the last time.
In typically bombastic style, Mugabe's comments plotted a clear populist platform for his re-election campaign.
"If you don't want to abide by the rules go away."
Mugabe and Zanu PF face an uphill struggle to win over voters, many of whom are angered at the poor state of the economy.
The party must also patch up the damage done by internal splits that cost the party dearly in the 2008 general elections.
In that election, for the first time since independence in 1980, Zanu-PF lost its majority in parliament.
That helped force the veteran leader into a shaky power-sharing government with long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, whom he will face at the polls.
Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), NATIONALISATION, ROBERT MUGABE
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'We'll bring mining companies to their knees'
13 Sep 2012 14:41 - Sapa
A leader of a major protest by platinum miners has called for a national strike in the sector "to bring the mining companies to their knees".
Miners gathered at Blesbok Stadium, where they demanded a gross salary of R16 070. (Madelene Cronje, M&G)
"On Sunday, we are starting with a general strike here in Rustenburg," protest leader Mametlwe Sebei told a crowd of several thousand striking workers at a soccer stadium near Rustenburg in the heart of the platinum belt.
Striking Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) mineworkers demanded pay of R16 070 a month at Blesbok stadium on Thursday.
Gaddafi Ndoda, who described himself as a member of a newly formed workers' committee said: "To us, R12 500 is just a basic salary," he said, referring to the amount raised as a demand among many mineworkers over the past weeks.
"Anglo is the most-paying [sic] mine in the country, so our demand is different from other mineworkers," said Ndoda.
He said they wanted "nothing to do" with AngloPlats' Mageu beverage, and wanted their refreshment allowance to be R30 a day.
On Wednesday workers there complained about the quality of the Mageu, an energy drink made from fermented grains.
Ndoda said currently workers were not entitled to a safety and transport allowance.
"We want our transport allowance to be R60 daily and [our] safety allowance to be R1 500."
They also wanted the increase in their living-out allowance to be R2 000 – up from R1 700.
Song and dance
An "executive committee" of six members representing workers outside formal union forums had been formed and they were expected to take a memorandum to the mine's management in Klipfontein near the stadium, he said.
While heading towards the nearby offices, about half the workers who had been in the stadium accompanied the committee, singing and dancing, amid tight security.
As in the past week, the police had Nyalas stationed in the area and a helicopter overhead. Amplats security vehicles and security guards were also on alert, and a Netcare911 ambulance was on standby.
Workers carried knobkerries, sticks and whips. Some also carried umbrellas.
It appeared that a group of striking workers from Lonmin Platinum did not join them as hoped.
Amplats said it suspended operations on Wednesday out of concern for the safety of its employees and said there was no strike at the mine.
Chief executive officer Chris Griffith said the situation in the Rustenburg area was volatile and that people who wanted to go to work could not because of threats of violence.
"Anglo American Platinum has decided to suspend its operations in the Rustenburg area with immediate effect," he said.
"The suspension will continue until such time as operations can be safely resumed."
Peaceful resolution
Amplats' chairperson Cynthia Carroll said the company was in touch with authorities "at the highest level" to identify ways of working with government and the recognised labour unions to achieve a swift and peaceful resolution.
She said the company's Rustenburg platinum operations were already under financial pressure and the suspension of operations on Wednesday risked their long-term viability, the longer the situation lasted.
A strike at Lonmin entered its second month this week. Workers at Gold Fields' KDC West mine were also on strike on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has said it has been seeking an opportunity to engage with President Jacob Zuma and senior government officials to resolve the unrest in South Africa's mines.
President of Amcu, Joseph Mathunjwa, told reporters in Rustenburg that the union's formal requests were being considered.
"From day one of the [Marikana] massacres we are on record, asking for a meeting with the office of the president. They are still thinking of when they are going to meet us; they have acknowledged that our letter was received and said the president would respond soon," said Mathunjwa.
"We are still waiting. We have written to the Minister of Mineral Resources [Susan] Shabangu, Police Minister Nathi [Mthethwa] and the Labour Minister [Mildred Oliphant]. We have done all that and have copies of the letters ... [as] proof," he said.
Mining indaba
The union called on Zuma to intervene and stop the ongoing unrest in the South African mining sector. Mathunjwa said Zuma had to convene an urgent, all-inclusive mining indaba.
"We believe that he is the high office in the country. We could share the direction on how to curb these sporadic work stoppages. It is in the interest of the country for him to intervene," said Mathunjwa.
He said the mooted indaba would have to deal with issues including minimum wages, housing, skills development and a mining victims fund for the sector.
Mathunjwa said Amcu had repeatedly denounced all the violent activity recently seen around the mines.
"As we have said in the past, Amcu denounces any violent conduct by any member, official or office bearers of the union. We have never encouraged our members to embark on any illegal or unprotected work stoppages," he said.
Amcu national treasurer Jimmy Gama said the ability to rectify the situation in the mining sector lay with Zuma.
"This seems to be an emergency situation where nobody seems to be winning the battle. In a country, the only person with power to summon everyone is the president. Hence Amcu is taking [the] initiative to request the president to deal with the matter," he said.
"It is high time that somebody speaks out and makes it loud and clear [to Zuma] to say 'president, this is time that you act'," said Gama.
Uninvited
Earlier, freelance journalists were told to leave the venue where Amcu was holding its "state of the mining industry" media briefing.
Before the briefing started, all journalists in the room were asked to introduce themselves and the media organisations for which they worked.
Gama, sitting next to Mathunjwa, told a cameraman who introduced himself as "a freelancer" to leave the premises because invites had been sent to media houses.
"We are not comfortable with a person who comes as a freelancer, because we haven't invited you. We would like you, sir, to excuse us," said Gama.
Two other journalists joined the cameraman as he walked out of the room.
Mathunjwa later said an Amcu media briefing at Melrose Arch, in Johannesburg, had once been "infiltrated by other [rival] unions". – Sapa
Labels: ANGLO-AMERICAN, MINING, NATIONALISATION, PLATINUM
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More trouble for Glencore in Bolivia
Frik Els | September 9, 2012
Three managers from
Bolivia's state-owned mining company were taken hostage by residents of a village in the region of Potusi, who are demanding a 15% stake in the region's silver mine
part-owned and operated by Glencore. The three were later released La Razon reports.
Commodities giant Glencore operates and holds a 45% stake in the Potusi mine and four others in the South American nation under an August deal with Comibol, which owns the remaining 55%.
Glencore's Sinchi Wayra subsidiary in Bolivia were outright owners of the five mines, but after about 1,000 miners seized control of the Swiss-based company's flagship Colquiri silver and tin mining operations following violent clashes a new "partnership agreement" was signed.
Bolivia has nationalized a string of assets in the energy and mining industries since President Evo Morales (pictured) took office in 2006 including Glencore's zinc and antimony smelters which prompted the company to suspend any new investment in the country.
Labels: BOLIVIA, GLENCORE INTERNATIONAL AG, NATIONALISATION
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South African miners' families back Julius Malema's call for nationalisation
Jacob Zuma is criticised as former ANC youth leader says
the president sided with mine owner when 34 were killed* David Smith Marikana
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 18 August 2012 20.36 BST
Julius Malema, former leader of the youth wing of the ANC, spoke at a rally outside the Marikana mine to demand nationalisation. Photograph: Themba Hadebe/AP
They were there in their thousands, leaning against tin shacks or sitting in the dusty veld: miners and their wives still looking for answers after a massacre by South African police that left 34 striking workers dead. A red T-shirt worn by a rally organiser seemed to offer one, stating: "F*** capitalism."
The huge crowd erupted as a charismatic young politician, Julius Malema, took the microphone. He is seen by some as a dangerous demagogue, but to the grieving, angry community at the Lonmin mine in Marikana he came as a messiah offering a radical future.
"The British are owning this mine," he said. "The British are making money out of this mine ... It is not the British who were killed. It is our black brothers. But it is not these brothers who are mourned by the president. Instead he goes to meet capitalists in air-conditioned offices."
Malema was expelled this year as president of the youth wing of the governing African National Congress after falling out with President Jacob Zuma, whom he accuses of failing to challenge "white monopoly capital". He has since been in the political wilderness; once contemptuous of the media, he now courts it. As the Marikana tragedy lays bare discontent over inequalities 18 years after apartheid, he senses his moment.
"President Zuma said to the police they must act with maximum force. He did not say act with restraint. He presided over the murder of our people and therefore he must step down. Not even apartheid government killed so many people ... From today, when you are asked 'Who is your president', you must say 'I don't have a president'."
There were cheers from people whose votes the ANC can no longer take for granted after 18 years in government.
It was the promises of a militant union that stirred violence at Marikana, where the ANC-aligned National Union of Mineworkers has been losing support. Malema hopes this will be mirrored on the national stage, where he accuses the ANC of failing to pursue economic freedom as it did political freedom, leaving millions of black people poor and disenfranchised. He wants mines to be seized from private companies and nationalised. The call appears to be gaining traction in Marikana, where workers are demanding from Lonmin, whose HQ is in London, a wage increase from 4,000 rand (£300) to 12,500 rand a month.
"Lonmin treat us like dogs," said Thembelani Khonto, 24. "When you're underground, it's like you're a slave and they don't know you. But on the surface people who don't do anything in offices are earning more than us."
Siphiwo Gqala, 25, said he sometimes spends up to 14 hours a day underground but does not receive overtime pay. "It's dangerous work," he said. "Sometimes you go down there and a rock falls and you die. Big vehicles can come and kill you." Recalling Thursday's massacre, he said: "I've never seen something like that: people killed like chickens. One of my friends is still missing. I don't know if he's in the hospital or the mortuary."
The impact on the community will be far-reaching, added Gqala, who lives in a shack because house rentals are too high. "Women come here from Eastern Cape with their husbands, who are the breadwinners. If someone has five children, how will they live? I have two young brothers depending on me. What if I die? Who's going to look after them?"
The conditions leave people like Gqala looking for radical solutions. "The mine must be nationalised. We support Julius Malema and the youth league for saying the mines must be nationalised. Now they're starting to shoot us. If we die today, all of us must die: we no longer want to work here."
Two days after the shooting, in which 34 people died and 78 were injured, many families are still waiting to learn the miners' fate. A casualty list has still not been published and there is little information on who is dead, injured or under arrest. Wives have been turned away from local clinics and hospitals.
A 22-year-old woman, who did not wish to be named, had lost a loved one in the shooting. "He was shot in cold blood," she said. "My tears have not dried; I cried all day. I'm worried about things like who's going to feed the kids he left behind. No one is going to give the love to his children like their father."
Elizabeth Makana, 48, a widow whose brother-in-law was wounded, said: "They treat the miners like dogs. The miners take the risk to dig platinum, but the people who sit in offices make the money."
Lonmin defended its treatment of mine workers. A community development brochure published by the company describes extensive health, education, infrastructure and economic projects in the area. Spokesman James Clark said: "We absolutely recognise the hugely positive relationship we have with communities living in the area and doing the best we can for them and their families goes to the heart of our business. It's why we do so much around health and education, but we're not complacent. We do the best we can and try to do better every time."
That will not satisfy Malema and his constituency, however, who argue that the ANC has been too moderate for too long, bending the knee to western corporations. Flashpoints like Marikana expose the fissures in a party that contains capitalists and communists.
Aubrey Matshiqi, a research fellow at the Helen Suzman Foundation, said: "I think the people of Marikana, particularly the miners, see themselves as the manifestation of the gap between mineral wealth and socioeconomic conditions. The death of so many miners has amplified the extent to which Julius Malema's views on mine nationalisation resonate with the people in the area."
He added: "You have the ANC that some people believe has been too pragmatic and sold out and bent over backwards for foreign capital at the expense of the people. Julius Malema suggests that a better life for all would be possible under someone like him. If he is wrong, you will have populism and disappointment that will lead to conflict."
Labels: JULIUS MALEMA, MASSACRE, MINING, NATIONALISATION
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COMMENT - Let's see if Tendai Biti is going to go after Anglo-American too, though I doubt it.
Rhodes an angel compared to Anjin: Biti
26/07/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has again laid into the China-controlled diamond mining firm, Anjin Investments, claiming the company was ripping the country off adding its murky operations were reminiscent of settler-colonial exploitation.
Biti told legislators that although diamond production had increased from 2,5 million carats to 4,5 million carats this year, revenues had been stagnant at US$41 million and singled out Anjin for particular criticism.
He claimed that the Chinese firm, the largest of the five companies operating in the reputedly rich diamond fields at Marange, was taking most of the revenues out of the country.
“It can’t be a one way traffic of extraction (without benefits to Zimbabwe) that would make Cecil John Rhodes look like an angel…we are going to continue speaking about diamonds,” he said.
Biti said while Mbada Diamonds – a much smaller company - had contributed US$2 million in Pay As You Earn, Anjin brought in just US$200,000.
“Where we got US$41 million we should have got US$285 million. To accept US$41 million it means we are stupid, we are fools; we are idiots,” he said.
“The Chinese are saying to themselves that we found our fools in Zimbabwe. In other countries they are building freeways, dams, real development and not these hotels they are building here.”
Biti was reacting to concern from MPs over the state of the country’s economy after he was forced to cut his growth forecast for the year and concede that the US$600 million expected from diamond sales would no longer be realised.
But Anjin has previously dismissed Biti’s criticism, accusing the Minister of over-estimating potential revenues from diamonds when he presented his 2012 budget.
“It is either he is untruthful, incompetent or illiterate. He made the blunder and miscalculated. He must be man enough and admit that he made a mistake,” Anjin board member Munyaradzi Machacha said last month during a visit to Marange by EU envoys.
“He (Biti) is scapegoating companies like Anjin for his miscalculations. He is persecuting a cash cow because he made a blunder.”
Still, MPs urged the government to find ways of ensuring diamond revenues were not diverted away from Treasury.
Said Bulawayo East MP Tabitha Khumalo: “The money from Chiadzwa must go to Treasury, Chiadzwa must be owned by the State, We have money but we have misplaced priorities.
“If the Cabinet does not want to deal with the question of Chiadzwa then I am going to urge the people of Zimbabwe to go and invade Chiadzwa.”
Anjin Investments is one of the five companies presently operating at the Marange diamond fields.
Deputy Mines Minister Gift Chimanikire recently revealed that the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has a 40 percent interest in the company while the state-run mining firm, ZMDC, owns 10 percent. The balance is controlled by the Chinese Defence Industries.
Labels: CHIADZWA, NATIONALISATION, TENDAI BITI
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COMMENT - Newmont Mining is one of the original financiers of Anglo-American Corporation.
As Mining Conglomerates Target Haiti, Latin America Rises Against Them
by Roger Annis and Kim Ives
Global Research, July 19, 2012
Haïti Liberté - 2012-07-18
People and governments across Latin America are rising up against foreign mining companies in a wave of revolt that is generating alarm among investors and their political operatives in the imperialist governments.
In Haiti, U.S. and Canadian gold mining companies are rubbing their hands over the riches that they believe await them. A recent study by Haiti Grassroots Watchestimates up to $20 billion, at gold’s current price of $1,600 an ounce, lies in the ground.
So it’s no coincidence that Washington has used its proxy, the Organization of American States (OAS), to illegally install a compliant regime – that of President Michel Martelly – whose operative watchword is: “Haiti is open for business.” Washington and Ottawa, which represent most of the international mining firms in the Americas, are adopting an increasingly interventionist response throughout the continent.
Nationalizations grow
“From expropriations in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Argentina to violent opposition in traditionally mining-friendly jurisdictions such as Peru and Chile, the rising political tensions pose a risk to a decade-long bonanza mining companies have enjoyed,” reports the Canadian national daily Globe and Mail on Jul. 11.
The previous day, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced his government would expropriate the Vancouver-based South American Silver Corp. According to the company, its claim in Bolivia’s Mallku Khota region contains one of the world's largest undeveloped silver, indium, and gallium deposits.
...
In May, Bolivia nationalized a Spanish-owned electrical generation company. That followed by several weeks a highly-publicized nationalization of a Spanish oil company’s operations in Argentina, the largest oil company in the country. Then in June, the Morales government nationalized the Colquiri tin and zinc mine owned by the Swiss global mining giant Glencore International PLC.
The mine nationalizations were prompted by inter-Bolivian conflicts that the Bolvian government accuses the companies of stoking. Tensions have arisen at mining sites between employees of the operations of large companies, artisanal miners who have a long tradition of working through cooperatives, and local Indigenous residents. The stakes are further fueled by sky-rocketing prices for minerals in international markets.
As well, nationalization of resource industries has been a key demand on the government by social movements in Bolivia, though this demand had apparently not been a large factor in Mallku Khota.
"Unfortunately, the so-called transnational companies…pit brothers, in-laws, cousins, neighbors, brothers from the same ayllu (community) against one another,” said President Evo Morales about the decision to nationalize South American Silver.
Some Latin American populations are standing up to the mining transnationals without their government’s backing. That’s increasingly the case in Peru. Five people were killed by police during the first week of July at protests against the multi-billion dollar Conga gold and copper project, which would be the largest mine in Peru’s history if it goes ahead. The project’s owner is the U.S.-based Newmont Mining Group.
Area residents do not want the Conga mine, saying it will damage local water supplies. A string of protests against mining projects have occurred in Peru in recent years.
In Chile, similar concerns over water supply and quality as well as the effects of mining on electrical supply are driving protests. The Council of Canadians released a detailed report in March 2012 looking at recent developments and concerns in Chile’s Patagonia region.
“If social movements in opposition to mining are now part of the landscape, and if mining is creating increasing intense competition for water and energy, the real question now is how, institutionally, politically, and legally Chile will accommodate the citizen voice in mineral development,” wrote the U.S.-based Sustainable Development Strategies Group in a 2010 study on mining in the country.
Interventionist responses
According to the Vancouver Sun, Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast wrote to his Bolivian counterpart on Jul. 11 expressing "deep concern" with reports that Bolivia was preparing to nationalize South American Silver. Fast's spokesman Rudy Husny said the minister has instructed officials to "intensify their engagement with the Bolivian government to order to protect and defend Canadian interests and seek a productive resolution of this matter."
The paper reported that Canadian officials were expected to meet with the Bolivian government and with Bolivia's ambassador to Canada.
President and Chief Executive Officer of the South American Silver Corporation, Greg Johnson, appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) Radio One’s The Current on July 12 and argued that his company has been wronged. He reported, with satisfaction, that the Canadian government is pressuring the Bolivian government to reverse its decision.
The CBC host of the program sounded like a public relations spokesperson for the company. In an accompanying interview, he hectored Bolivia’s ambassador to the U.S., asking if South American Silver would be compensated. He also took offense at Evo Morales’ statements accusing foreign mining companies of “looting” Latin America’s wealth for generations.
Evidently, the radio host has not read The Open Veins of Latin America, Eduardo Galeano’s classic history of the continent. Galeano describes how Latin America became “a huge mine.” The book details the unbelievable human toll and suffering and the environmental destruction perpetrated over the centuries starting with Spanish conquistadors until today’s European and North American mining companies.
"The metals taken from the new colonial dominions not only stimulated Europe's economic development; one may say that they made it possible," Galeano writes. The book is appropriately sub-titled, "Five centuries of the pillage of a continent."
The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada estimates there are 20 Canadian mining companies operating in Bolivia.
A recent series of articles translated into French and published by the Belgium-based Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM) examines the role of the British-Australia aluminum mining giant Rio-Tinto in the parliamentary coup d’etat against Paraguay’s President Fernando Lugo on Jun. 22.
The company had been lobbying heavily for a long-term agreement for cheap electricity prices as an incentive for it to establish aluminum smelting operations. Paraguay shares several very large hydro-electric dams with Brazil and Argentina. It has substantial installed electrical generation capacity, approximately equal to 5% of all of Canada’s. In 2007, Rio Tinto acquired the Canadian-owned Alcan and its large aluminum operations in Quebec and British Columbia.
The coup has returned to power Paraguay’s traditional economic elite, who, not coincidentally, are amenable to making a long-term deal with Rio Tinto. Among the few countries to recognize Paraguay’s coup government is Canada, which, with the U.S., was also quick to recognize the Honduras coup d’etat in June 2009.
In the weeks ahead, Washington and Ottawa will inevitably heighten sharpen their rhetoric against the Morales government as they contemplate how to further intervene in Bolivia.
Haiti’s situation
In February 2004, Washington and Ottawa worked with Paris to carry out a coup d’etat against the elected and socially progressive government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. As Wikileaked diplomatic cables released last year by Haïti Liberté showed, those three governments worked hard to keep Aristide in exile in South Africa for seven long years.
During his triumphant return to Haiti on Mar. 18, 2011, Aristide gave a speech to the nation at the airport. “To honor [Haiti’s founding father] Jean-Jacques Dessalines, we come to bring you our little bit of help,” Aristide said in his metaphor-laden Kreyòl. “With the little ball of education centered in the court of dignity, we will kick exclusion off the field and this way, the new generation will begin to benefit from the wealth that slumbers deep within Haiti: gold, copper, uranium, bauxite, silver...
“The calcium carbonate to be found in Miragoâne is valued at more than U.S. $23 billion. The petroleum reserves are no doubt larger than estimated.”
This thinly-veiled nationalist message is precisely why U.S. and Canadian governments backed Aristide’s ouster and maintain the ensuing UN military occupation of Haiti to this day. In his place, Washington and Ottawa have placed Martelly’s “Open for business” regime.
Newmont Mining is partnered with the Canadian Eurasian Minerals in seeking to open gold mining operations in Haiti’s three northern departments. The Haiti Grassroots Watch study, “Gold rush in Haiti: Who will get rich?,” published in May, examines how Haitian law has already been circumvented by the gold-mining companies as they forge ahead with exploration. HGW Co-Director Jane Regan spoke to Democracy Now on June 1 about the study. Among its findings are:
? Haiti’s former Minister of the Economy and Finances is now a paid consultant for Newmont.
? Two Haitian ministers recently signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with Newmont and Eurasian that says – in violation of Haitian law – the companies can begin drilling at one of their exploration sites. Haitian legislation states no drilling can occur without a mining convention.
? Nobody appears to be telling the communities in Haiti’s north what is going on, and what deals have been made behind closed doors.
? Haiti has the lowest mining royalties (production taxes) in the hemisphere.
The UN military occupation of Haiti is what the imperialists hope will ensure that Haiti’s mineral wealth can again be plundered like in the days of the conquistadors.
Eduardo Galeano spoke last September at an event at Uruguay’s National Library discussing Haiti’s current plight and its place in Latin America. “The military occupation of Haiti is costing the UN more than $800 million yearly,” he said. “If the United Nations dedicated those funds to technical cooperation and social solidarity, Haiti could receive a good boost to its creative energy. Then they would be saved from their armed saviors who have a certain tendency to violate, kill, and deliver fatal illnesses.”
“Haiti doesn't need anyone to come and multiply its misfortunes,” Galeano concluded. “But Haiti does need solidarity, doctors, schools, hospitals, and a true collaboration that makes possible the rebirth of its alimentary sovereignty, killed by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other philanthropic societies.”
If the transnational mining companies get their way in Haiti, that will surely “multiply its misfortunes.”
Roger Annis is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Roger Annis
Global Research Articles by Kim Ives
Labels: HAITI, NATIONALISATION, NEOCOLONIALISM
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Bolivia’s Mine Nationalization of South American Silver Corporation
by Celia Garces
Global Research, July 17, 2012
Socialist Project
On July 7th, 2012 the Bolivian police launched a rescue operation to recover hostages that were being detained by some indigenous community members opposed to South American Silver's exploration operations in their territories.
Despite initial claims made by the police and government about the nature of the death and the other injuries that resulted, it has been determined that the indigenous activist died from a bullet wound to the head, and others endured bullet wound injuries during the execution of the operations.
Preceding the violent intervention, the Bolivian government emerged expressing their willingness to cancel the contract with South American Silver, and revert the concession rights to the state. In order to understand the final actions of the government it is important to understand the recent unfolding of escalations between community members in the context of the transnational presence of South American Silver.
March to La Paz: Mallku Khota
In 2006, South American Silver Corporation (SASC) a Canadian junior mining company, was transferred the rights to the mining concessions of Mallku Khota, a silver and indium deposit located in the north of the department of Potosi, Bolivia.[1] Mallku Khota and the surrounding area is comprised of approximately 46 indigenous communities who hold indigenous territory rights over their land which are guaranteed in the New Political Constitution of the State of Bolivia. Working through their subsidiary Compania Minera Mallku Khota (CMMK), SASC continued with the exploration work previously undertaken by General Minerals Company and began working on signing community agreements for the surface rights.
Over the years SASC encountered resistance from members of the 46 communities that the project directly affects their indigenous territories. They hired sociologists and NGOs to work with community members to help them understand the benefits that the project could bring to them.[2] Despite these efforts they were unable to assimilate and purchase complete consensus, a fact which revealed itself on May 5th of this year when police officers entered and gassed the homes of the dissenting community of Mallku Khota,[3] the community that lies within the exploration zone and in the very near vicinity of the proposed mining operations.[4]
The Takeover
Following the gassing, members of the community detained two of the police officers involved in the operations that morning of May 5th. This incident led to the detention of indigenous leader Cancio Rojas (in opposition to the company's operations) who, despite not having been in the area, is being charged for attempted murder. In light of these events, and increasing tension within the community regarding the company's continued work in the area several violent events unfolded, first in Acasio, then in Mallku Khota, and finally with the most recent violent erruptions: the kidnapping of company engineers, and the taking over of the colonial mine in Ovejeria by community members opposing the company's continued operations.
Despite the government's insistence to dialogue over the past two months, the government's primary politic was to protect the operations of SASC. Despite the government recently claiming that they had the intention to nationalize the concession rights for over a year, on July 9th, their actions previously guaranteeing the company's operations argue something different. Any meetings that did take place almost always took place with those communities in favour of SASC's continued presence in Mallku Khota, and failed to resolve the internal conflicts that were bubbling between community members which resulted in those against the company's presence escalating their measures. The government continued to support the company's rights to explore in the territory. On May 28th the Government of Potosi and the Minister of Mining met to sign an agreement with communities in favour of the operations which guaranteed that South American Silver would continue its operations and that communities would enter into the consultation process prior to the completion of environment and baseline studies, and explorations.
Instead of questioning the role of the Canadian company in Bolivia, and debating the importance of the project in Bolivia, the government commenced an “anti-cooperativista” campaign against the dissenting community members, which served to redirect what was central to the conflict: the dividing presence of a transnational mining company in indigenous communities. It is true that some of the opposition communities are just as concerned with cooperative exploitation of the minerals in the zone. This was used both by the government to reject the wider demands to cancel the concessions, and also by SASC to justify the police intervention and undermine the opposition as coming from “a select few of illegals.”[5]
Cooperativistas, Gold, and the Particulars of Mallku Khota
Over the past few months, it is important to acknowledge the complications that have become increasingly visible in the Mallku Khota conflict. The groups of actors in this conflict can roughly be divided into three groups. The first are the community groups in favour of the company's continued operations in the area, figures that hover about 43 of the affected communities. This group demands the protection of the company's rights to the concession and their guarantee that operations will continue. These community members are often accompanied by members of the company's subsidiary “Compania Minera Mallku Khota”, and are those who most frequently have met with government officials.[6]
The second two groups have similar demands of the government with opposing interests. The first group is comprised of various communities that do not lie in the direct vicinity of the operations are interested in the cancelation of the contract with SASC and it's reversion to the community. The main objective is to then extract the mineralization via an empresa originaria comunitaria[7], which essentially will take the form of a cooperative, and allow mineral extraction without the payment of sector-based taxes. The third is in favour of the cancellation of the contract with the company and the reversion of the concession to the state. Both of these groups were continuously ignored or discounted in favour of utilitarian arguments, or by simply stating they were all cooperativistas, which does not recognize the diversity or complexity of the conflict.
Cooperatives washing gold: Mallku Khota
Upon visiting the zone in May, we noticed that some community members were washing gold with mercury in small groups. According to SASC's latest economic update, the concentration of gold that exists in the community is much less than what was originally estimated in the first exploration studies.[8] In fact, according to the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) 2011, there are “minimal levels of gold mineralization”[9] that are to be found for exploitation. Gold is present within the concession, and from our field observations, the community members are extracting and washing gold in small quantities. That being said, since its presence is minimal, its exploitation will be short lived, and as such the “economic benefits” that it would offer to the groups engaged in its exploitation.
What the PEA 2011 does tell us about the mineralization of Mallku Khota is that there exists a large abundance of Silver and Indium, along with other important minerals like Gallium, Copper and Zinc.[10] Their composition, however, is such that it does not exist in one large vein, if not in various mineralized pockets throughout the various zones that they have been exploring most frequently. The silver concentrations with grades between 10-1000 gpt are found at a depth of up to 500m in a zone that is 4 kilometers long, and 20-200m wide. Its exploration requires further chemical processing, through chloric acid leeching, which, according to the plans of the study can operate with a 40,000 tonnes/day extraction rate and will allow for the separation and maximum recuperation of not only silver, but indium and gallium, metals which have high market demand and value with increasingly technological production. In order to recover up to 30 per cent of the anticipated brute revenue from the exploitation, the leeching is essential for recovering the “secondary” minerals described above.[11]
This suggests it is quite impossible to imagine that the extraction and recovery of the potential reserves identified in the PEA could be accomplished by small-scale community cooperative production, especially while guaranteeing safe working conditions and efficient production capacity. According to the PEA, the investment required to get to the initial operational phase, that is to say, the investment in fixed capital, in infrastructure and employment is approximately $411.4-million (U.S.).
It is important to remember what emerged as the central popular demands in 2003 after the gas wars was nationalization of natural resources to gain increased benefits for Bolivians. The problem with the cooperativista question is that it can end up re-producing an individualistic entrepreneurial model of production. It does not contribute to the growth and development of the nation, or the betterment of all Bolivians. Instead, it enables the expansion of capital through “small-scale production” and can contribute to exacerbating poverty while enriching a few elite interests.
South American's Strategic Silence
Up until the detention of the engineers, South American Silver was silent on the conflict in Mallku Khota. In their update released on May 24th, they argued that things were stable in the area, and that they were continuing to improve their relations with community members. As a junior exploration company with a capital value of $45-million and a project projection investment of over $400-million (excluding the costs they will incur in the final exploration stages), they are dependent on increasing their share value in the exchange. The company must maintain the appearance of stability for current and potential investors. Between May 5th and June 14th, the company kept quiet on the conflicts that were erupting and managed to maintain very subtle coverage on the potential insecurity. The major Canadian press also failed to cover the conflicts that were erupting, including the police intervention, which left community members injured, and lead to the detention of Cancio Rojas.
Evo Morales and representatives of Aymara Indians sign accord to revoke “all the mining concessions registered in the name of Compañia Minera Mallku Khota.”
None of this press coverage would have a positive effect on the image of the company, and thus would have impacted negatively their share value. But, given that these were indigenous community members that appeared to be fighting amongst themselves, they were able to contain the spread of bad press. However, after the community members detained two engineers who were working for the company in the area on the 28th of June, the company immediately emerged to denounce the activities.[12] It appeared that this would be a good opportunity for SASC to justify the continued police presence in the area and even further intervention to ensure their mining activities. This depended upon being able to portray the actions as only a few dissidents who were preventing development in the area. In fact, the company's July 4th press release claimed that:
“A group of people carrying out illegal artisanal mining on exploration concessions owned by South American Silver has been encouraging confrontations between communities with support from outside groups and attempting to interfere with work on the project in recent weeks.”
SASC continued to “update” their investors with assurances that these were an isolated group of illegals who were trespassing on the concession, and that they were working closely with the government of Potosi and the central authorities to resolve the issue. This position reflects the similar position, which the central government took on the conflict in Mallku Khota. Throughout the months of May and June the government focused its campaign on the specifics of the cooperative and illegal mining practices that were going on in the area. The Minister of Mining, Virreira, announced[13] on May 14th that the cooperativistas were contaminating the lakes with their activities. On May 25th, they emerged saying over 600 families were involved in the extraction.[14]
Washing gold with mercury certainly contaminates; however, it is shocking not to recognize this is exactly what would happen in the event of continued exploration and eventual open-pit mining in the area. The projections in the PEA anticipate that 443,509,800 tonnes of waste material will be removed from the pits over the 15 years of the project; it will be dumped in the areas surrounding the pits located in the vicinity of Mallku Khota, with a projected area 8km long and 2 km wide. From our fieldwork, the distance between the two lakes (between which sits Mallku Khota) is 2 km. In the event that these operations are executed, there is likely to be no lakes, and no community.[15]
Community members opposing the mine continued to release warnings to both the government and company officials, that they would escalate their mobilizations in the event that the company did not cease operations in their territory. According to an interview with Greg Johnson, CEO of SASC on CBC's The Current, when questioned as to whether or not the company made any deliberate attempts to divide the community members of Mallku Khota, he answered:
“...nothing could be further from the truth. My company and my team have spent our careers working with indigenous people, with first nations groups in Canada, in Alaska with the native corporations, and elsewhere, our approach to the project has been one of inclusion, one of talking to the people about the programs, about the local issues be it about agricultural improvement or the water resources that they will need.”[16]
Their “listening” did not include the warnings being made by community members and government officials that the zone was unsafe.
Instead, the company continued repeating that there was unrelenting support from some 43 communities and that they were working with the other groups to reach agreements, while continuing operations. It was only after the death of the indigenous community activist on July 7th that they temporarily suspended operations until the conflict is settled.[17] Following the news that an activist died in police operations from a bullet wound, the administration of President Evo Morales, from the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), was forced to respond. Despite the fact that there is an investigation pending, information and documents have been released by the government which show that Colonel Casio was responsible for making the call to use live ammunition during the operation.[18]
As we have argued in an earlier Bullet, the Canadian Government's international foreign policy is one that requires and supports the militarization of mining camps and the repression of local communities opposing Canadian operations. What is more disturbing with this particular example is that Minister of International Trade Ed Fast's office sent a letter to the Bolivian Government after the death warning the government of their concerns with talks of nationalization, claiming that it reflected poorly on the security of foreign investment.[19]
After news of the death emerged, the options for the Morales administration were radically simplified: continue to support the transnational, which now would be the center of international criticism and intensified community protest; or cancel the contract with the company to quell the protests. On July 8th Minister Santalla announced that Morales was willing to discuss terms of nationalization, with the government claiming on July 9th that it intended to nationalize Mallku Khota for the past year.
Conclusion: What Will Nationalization Mean?
Nationalization in this case is, indeed, favourable, but it is important to identify some of the limitations and restrictions, and the status of the larger mining political agenda of the Morales administration. SASC has repeatedly maintained the position that they felt comfortable with their investment in Bolivia. SASC's Johnson, following the announcements of nationalization, claimed that “Bolivian officials were on record saying that private investment would be encouraged, private investment would be respected and was guaranteed under the constitution. So, I think we are quite surprised.”[20] Nationalization of this mine was not on the agenda for the central government, and instead emerged as the result to come to a solution with the community members of Mallku Khota.
Although there were 43 communities in favour of the company's exploration activities, it does not appear that there will be conflict within these communities once the nationalization is confirmed. Upon our visit to Mallku Khota, we spoke with many of the community members in favour of the company's activities. They were supportive due to the promise of jobs, better services, educational scholarships and improved infrastructure. These are communities that live in conditions of extreme economic marginalization. Whatever the new mineral wealth, there is a larger deficiency of resources and development in the country, and still marginal royalties and taxes on foreign investment in the country.[21]
For jobs and development in these communities, the capacity of the state mining company COMIBOL (Corporación Minera de Bolivia) is crucial. It is not certain it has the capacity to exploit what is projected to be one of the largest silver deposits in the world. The government will have to be politically willing to invest in the project, which is set to commence operations in 2016. Based on COMIBOL's current participation in the industry overall, it is difficult to argue that they would have the capacity at this moment; and it is not clear that the Morales administration has the political will or fiscal capacity as such to undertake the project. Just days following the initial announcement from the government that Mallku Khota would be nationalized, the President of COMIBOL, Hector Cordova, suggested that several foreign companies had voiced their interest in the concessions for a partnership (this would include SASC).[22] Looking not only at the silver, but also indium reserves present, it is likely that a future investment partner might also come from Asian companies, several who are presently also working in Bolivia (and are based in Japan, South Korea and China). SASC's recent offering resulted in the sale of 10 million shares to a conglomerate of strategic Asian partnerships,[23] all interested in the prospect of indium within the reserves.[24]
It is important to note that nationalization comes as the product of months of augmenting tensions, including violence, between campesino and indigenous sectors. There are also similarities to the Colquirri cooperativista-federation battle that lead to the cancelation of Glencore's contract with the Bolivian state in June with its nationalization of the mines (that had been previously privatized). And earlier, the Huauni massacres left several dead, more wounded and resulted in the nationalization of the mine and the silver refinery in 2006. These events come as a result of a larger structural tension in Bolivia's mining sector: heavily dominated by transnational and cooperative mining interests that extract and export primary resources leaving nothing for the Bolivian public, with still limited state capacity to control its exploitation and encourage diversified development, particularly strengthening of the self-government capacities of the indigenous communities.[25]
Bolivians demanded the nationalization of the hydrocarbon industry in 2003 following the violent implementation of neoliberalism and the liquidation of state assets in the 1990s. The Morales administration is still struggling to break from the neoliberal politics that dominated Bolivia when it came into power in 2006. This still acts as a key constraint from the world market. In the mining sector, legislation and economic strategies have not yet mapped out an alternative, even with the nationalizations. The MAS administration still encourages foreign investment and protects the rights to property for foreign interests. The formation of state and community capacities to control and develop mining development still remains limited. The sector continues to be disrupted by inter-sectorial conflicts between campesino and indigenous working-class people fighting over the small scraps which the transnational mining industry leaves behind. The actual state of mining in Bolivia today means nationalization can only be the beginning of a process. Many conflicts will continue to surface. Serious political and structural challenges remain before an egalitarian – and certainly socialist – model of development will emerge. •
Celia Garces is an researcher natural resources at the Center for Documentation and Investigations (CEDIB) in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Notes:
1. For an overview of conflict see this article: Celia Garces, “Mallku Khota,” The Bullet, No. 646, 2012.
2. South American Silver, Updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), 2011.
3. Garces, ‘Mallku Khota.’
4. South American Silver, PEA, 2011.
5. SASC, ‘Update on Mallku Khota,’ July 4, 2012.
6. In fact, on May 28, 2012, members of these communities met with the Minister of Mining and the Governor of Potosi. This resulted in the signing of an agreement that would guarantee the companies explorative activities in the area.
7. Original peoples community company
8. See: K. Katsura, ‘Report on Mallku Khota Property,’ Department of Potosi, Bolivia. Prepared for South American Silver, 2006.
9. South American Silver, PEA, 2011, p.45.
10. Garces, ‘Mallku Khota.’
11. South American Silver, PEA, 2011.
12. South American Silver, ‘Update on Bolivia,’ July 4, 2012.
13. La Razon, May 14, 2012.
14. Erbol, May 25, 2012.
15. Garces, ‘Mallku Khota.’
16. Interview on CBC, The Current, July 12, 2012.
17. South American Silver, ‘Update on Bolivia,’ July 8, 2012.
18. El Potosi, July 12, 2012.
19. ‘Canada steps into mine row; Trade minister challenges Bolivia's move to cancel permit,’ The Canadian Press, July 12, 2012.
20. Interview on CBC, The Current, July 12, 2012.
21. See V. Diaz Cuellar, ‘La vigencia de la legislación neoliberal en Minería,’ Petropress, N. 28, 2012.
22. ‘MALLKU KHOTA despierta interés de la cooperación internacional,’ El Cambio, July 13 2012.
23. South American Silver Corp, ‘South American Silver Announces First Closing of Financing with Asian based High Technology Groups,’ April 20, 2012.
24. Indium is used as coating for flat-panel televisions and LCD screens.
25. A mere ten per cent of today's production in the mining industry is performed by COMIBOL. The remainder is dominated by transnational and cooperative production. See: ‘De los barones del estaño a los dueños de la minería,’ el Diario, June 18, 2012.
Global Research Articles by Celia Garces
Labels: BOLIVIA, COOPERATIVES, NATIONALISATION
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