About Bayanda Mzoneli
Bayanda Mzoneli is a public servant. He writes in his personal capacity.
Below is an interesting conversation I just had with a friend NOW on Gmail Chat. We were typing very fast, so excuse the spelling and sequence of the conversation. You welcome to participate by way of comments. ‘me’ is Bayanda Mzoneli and ‘Zama’ is Zama Magagula
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me: Hi, I’m supposed to leave now but I dedicate the next 5 minutes to clarifying any aspects of nationalisation of mines that may not seem clear.
Sent at 4:07 PM on Thursday
Zama: khuluma nami
yazi ayikho clear ngempela kumuntu onjengam
Sent at 4:10 PM on Thursday
me: government currently has one Alexkor, which is not doing well
the view of the ANCYL is that this is because of its bad business model
Zama: is it not doing well because of iCorruption?
me: not exactly
it has been affected by reccession lately
Zama: has someone spent time doing feasibility studies on the reasons behind ukungenzi kahle kwayo?
Zama: Has it been considered that these mines will not be repossessed but will need to be bought by the state?
me: yesterday the CEO was here in parliament to brief the Portfolio Committee on Mining about the challenges they face and the remedial actions that they have put in place
Zama: then why rush into nationalising if we have one “model” that we use as a test that we can focus on for now and compare to see if the projected idea is practical
me: the current ANCYL position is 60% state and 40% private ownership
the problem is the mines are being mined as we chat here
the Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955
we have waited for many years already
we need to move now
Zama: either way a feasibility study will need to be conducted, kubonakale if this will benefit the state and the countries citizens not abantu abathile
me: there are already existing state companies
including Petro SA and ACSA
which are doing well and both profits and tax accrue to the state
Zama: but it doesn’t look like that is the direction the state will like to take.
me: the issues is that currently with mines, only tax goes to the state
Zama: Looking at 1st world countries, capitalists are running the show. the economy is booming
me: obviously there is a lot of resistance
Zama: I guess the resistance is based on previous failures
me: part of that booming is how the entire continent continues to export raw material
that is why Africa remains in catching up mode, with worst poverty
partially it is previous failures
Zama: True, but are we at that stage where we are ready to take the mines and run with them?
me: but there are also previous successes including in Venezuela
Zama: there are already mines owned by South Africans, why aren’t we subsidising these
me: the view of the ANCYL is that we have reached that point
we can’t subsidise profit that accrue to individuals
profits got to got to free education, better health care and so on
not to make rich people even more richer
Zama: but so far you have mentioned on one mining company that is not doing well
me: you asked about the government owned company
Zama: again, have we reached that point or should we first make corrections and prove that we are capable before going ahead with nationalising one company at a time?
me: business have been generally bad in mining until about April 2010
there are other mining companies that are already recovering and were doing well before the recession
the ANCYL view is that 50% unemployment among the youth can not be allowed to co-exist with huge profits that go to multi-nationals
Zama: What about corruption, people have dragged government entities to the ground ngenxa yeCorruption
me: mining and processing has got to remedy the unemployment situation
Zama: Mining and Agricultural sectors are our back bone, are we willing to gamble?
me: put differently, are willing to have those owned in England, forever?
Zama: Unemployment, are we not kidding ourselves masithi we will increase jobs. Bazoshonaphi labantu abakhona manje?
me: Corruption is a cancer that government and society in general should continue to deal with
Zama: People like me are not resisting, but at the same time we need to have a clear plan of action explained to us. How will this be archived
me: I understand what you mean
Zama: Where has there been results within the country
i.e. people need to have faith in the POA before giving it uElethu
me: I am not sure if you have read the ANCYL document on the issue, it is quite lengthy and covers a lot of issues
Zama: Otherwise if it is not clear we will end up giving our natural resources away ngeMassive discount like Zimbabwe is about to
Can you email it to me. I have heard about it but angikayifundi
me: I doubt that we will come to that
Zama: if we don’t have a proper plan of action sikhuluma ngamaWishes neTheory……….that will happen
me: South Africans are a very courageous people
Zama: will be interesting to see how they will be repossessed, where the funding will come from, how and who will be running the mines
me: but one of the weaknesses have been extreme caution when dealing with the economy
this has led us to unacceptable levels of poverty
people everywhere look to government for jobs
government with its department can only do so much
Zama: We have also won with empowering developing Black companies which is great
me: government has been begging the private sector to come to the party on the matter
without adequate success
Zama: This is a massive transformation and will indeed need to be closely looked at
We will be playing in the capitalists ground
me: The issue of BEE has proved to not yield the desired results at a desirable scale
Zama: brave, but has to be realistic and a goal we can achieve
me: which necessitates additional measures such as state participation in the market
Zama: I think the BEE (if not driven by greed) would have been very successful by now
me: the capitalists market has collapsed before our eyes
proving that it unsustainable even without being pushed
Zama: I doubt they have collapsed, it is the game they play. win or lose
me: Capitalism cannot not be driven by greed
the Recession was the downfall of capitalism
Zama: I still believe that it is driven by greed
me: the graphs were pointing down
Zama: That brings us back to the topic yangelinye ilanga………..how did recession come sbout
me: we cannot continue to do things the same way expecting different results
Lol
I think your 5 minutes is over
Zama: I had a very interesting chat with one of my directors about this
me: Can we pick on that sometime tomorrow
I have to go
Zama: thanks for a 5 min chat
I missed chats like these, ndlelanhle
me: Do you mind if I publish this chat on my blog
?
Zama: no problem, will be great to see i-insight yabanye abantu
me: Cool!
Cheers!
Zama: sure
Sent at 4:32 PM on Thursday
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