The opinion article by Cde Jeremy Cronin, a renowned analyst and poet is
openly reactionary, clothed in quasi-Marxist rhetoric, with potential to
make a sorry and sad reflection of the true character of the South African
Communist Party's ideological steadfastness. What is worrying though is that
Cde Cronin's anti development and counter progress sentiments are projected
as views of South African Communist Party. It is highly unlikely that Cde
Cronin represents the views and true character of the Communist Party
because the Communist Party we know is one that was able to mould Nelson
Mandela from an anti-communist radical into a true revolutionary who did not
only embrace the Freedom Charter, but was willing to take up arms to defend
it.

Communist Party activists played an important role in the ideological,
political and organisational configuration of the ANC Youth League in the
early 1940s and early 1950s, despite the hostility they encountered from the
Youth Leaguers, particularly Nelson Mandela. When Nelson Mandela rebuked the
Communist Party and physically disrupted its meetings, it was the longest
serving General Secretary of the Communist Party, Moses Kotane who paid
particular attention to the ready to fight anti-communist militant (Mandela)
and transformed him into fighting nationalist revolutionary against the
white bourgeoisie and the British imperialists. William Nkomo, Walter
Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Joe Matthews and many of our predecessors in the Youth
League matured within the revolutionary national liberation movement to
accept the ideological guidance from the Communist Party. Practical joint
programmes of what is now understood to be the alliance between the ANC and
the Communist Party were pioneered by the founding generation of the ANC YL
amidst condemnation by the Senior and older leadership of the ANC.

These realities about the Communist Party and many others make us to
earnestly believe that Jeremy Cronin could not be writing about the ANC YL's
call for the Nationalisation of Mines in the manner he did if he truly
represents the Communist Party. But because Jeremy Cronin chose to write
about the Nationalisation of Mines in response to the ANC YL, we are left
with no choice but to respond and expose the reactionary undertones that
characterise his input. It is very sad that Jeremy Cronin decided to isolate
me from the ANC YL 23rd National Congress resolution that "the State should
be custodian of the people in its ownership, extraction, production and
trade of mineral wealth beneath the soil, monopoly industries and banks". We
thought that it is only rightwing Newspapers and their attendant analysts
who recurrently isolate me from the organisation, and indeed amazed that
Jeremy Cronin has joined the band.

*Socialisation vs. Nationalisation*

Cde Jeremy Cronin takes issue with the fact that the ANC YL has called for
Nationalisation of Mines, instead of socialisation. He says "this is why the
SACP also prefers in general to refer to "socialisation" rather than
"nationalisation". This is quite odd because in the same opinion article,
Cde Cronin re-asserts the Communist Party's call for the Nationalisation of
SASOL. The SACP 12th National Congress resolved amongst other things, "to
campaign for and ensure the re-nationalization of companies in strategic
sectors such SASOL and Mittal Steel with an ultimate aim of nationalizing
and socializing the commanding heights of the economy in line with the
vision of the Freedom Charter". It appears from this resolution and many
others that contrary to what Cde Jeremy says, the SOUTH AFRICAN Communist
Party has never preferred socialisation as opposed to nationalisation, and
neither did it narrowly prefer nationalisation as opposed to socialisation.

In August 2009, the ANC YL released a Nationalisation of Mines conceptual
framework on what our understanding of Nationalisation is, so as to avoid
the confusion and misinterpretations that seem to dominate Cronin's input.
In the conceptual framework, we amongst other things said, "Nationalisation
is not a panacea for South Africa's developmental challenges, but it should
in the manner we are proposing it, entail democratising the commanding
heights of the economy, to ensure they are not just legally owned by the
state, but that they are thoroughly democratised and controlled by the
people". What is vital and important in the immediate is that
Nationalisation of Mines should happen and the question, methods and
approach of socialisation is directly consequent of the decision to
Nationalise. Comrade Jeremy does not appreciate such, he instead
philosophises the entire question so that he can reach reactionary
conclusions.

In the ANC, "transfer of mineral wealth beneath the soil, monopoly
industries and banks to the ownership of the people as a whole" was
correctly understood as nationalisation if the government that nationalises
can justly claim authority and based on the will of the people. In the
aftermath of the ANC's adoption of the Freedom Charter, the leadership of
the ANC recurrently affirmed "transfer of ownership to the people as a
whole" as amounting to a legitimate government's control and ownership of
the commanding heights of the economy. Various evidence points to the fact
that ownership by the people as a whole was construed to be meaning
Nationalisation. Cde Jeremy Cronin is the one speaking English, not
politics, and does not even provide a conceptual foundation of what is meant
by socialisation.

Responding to a critique of the Freedom Charter by a Jordan K. Ngubane, who
was against the economic clause of the Freedom Charter, President Albert
Luthuli said in June 1956 that, "In modern society, even amongst the
so-called capitalistic countries, nationalisation of certain industries and
commercial undertakings has become an accepted and established fact. Only
the uninitiated and ignorant would suggest that the Union of South Africa is
going to Moscow because its Railways, Broadcasting and Post Office services
are nationalised". President Luthuli further illustrated that
nationalisation as called for in South Africa and in the Freedom Charter did
not amount to the Moscow style command economy, and this point is
categorically stated in the July 2009 ANC YL's conceptual basis on
nationalisation.

Again in 1956, a leader of the ANC, Nelson Mandela said, "It is true that in
demanding the nationalisation of the banks, the gold mines and the land the
Charter strikes a fatal blow at the financial and gold-mining monopolies and
farming interests that have for centuries plundered the country and
condemned its people to servitude. But such a step is absolutely imperative
and necessary because the realisation of the Charter is inconceivable, in
fact impossible, unless and until these monopolies are first smashed up and
the national wealth of the country turned over to the people". There is
absolutely no confusion on the understanding the leadership of the ANC had
on the Freedom Charter, and the contemporary interpretations should not
confuse us.

Former ANC President Oliver Tambo said in the 1969 political report to the
National Consultative Conference in Morogoro that, "At the moment there are
vast monopolies whose existence affects the livelihood of large numbers of
our people and whose ownership is in the hands of Europeans only. It is
necessary for monopolies which vitally affect the social well-being of our
people such as the mines, the sugar and wine industry to be transferred to
public ownership so that they can be used to uplift the life of all the
people". In his first public address after release from prison, former
President Nelson Mandela said, "nationalisation of the mines, banks and
monopoly industry is the policy of the ANC and a change or modification of
our view in this regard is inconceivable". Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu,
Chief Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela played critical role in the
consultation for the Freedom Charter and adoption by the ANC, and they could
not be mistaken.

*Beneficiation of Minerals *

Again, Comrade Jeremy deliberately provides incomplete information about the
Minerals that are beneficiated in South Africa, clearly with the hope that
we will not have information to disapprove him. Indeed COAL is used for
electricity generation; SASOL uses certain Minerals to produce oil and the
Aluminium Smelters smelt Aluminium. The Mineral Wealth in South Africa that
is not beneficiated locally far exceeds the ones that are beneficiated in
ESKOM, SASOL and the Aluminium Smelters. South Africa is home to vital
minerals reserves in the world, and this includes Platinum Group Metals
(70%), Gold (40%), Manganese (70%), Chromium (70%) and 54 other minerals.
What exactly happens to these Minerals is not known, yet Comrade Jeremy
knowingly avoids this question because his main interest is centred on
protecting and defending the existent property relations. The only thing we
can do, as he suggests, is to transform the pattern of capital accumulation,
not change it. We will never say that Comrade Jeremy is reformist because
the Youth League will be considered as and labelled BEE funded
anti-communist, only obsessed with shiny objects.

We said before that, "Our call for nationalisation is based on the Freedom
Charter, but also on the fact that such will enhance and harness the State's
capacity to create jobs and open economic opportunities for majority of our
people. The State control, ownership and expansion of our mineral processing
and beneficiation will play a critical role in labour-absorption of many
other workers into the South African economy. Buttressed by a comprehensive
social security strategy and industrial policy, South Africa needs high
labour-intensive programmes to decisively deal with the unemployment and
poverty challenges". This call in Comrade Jeremy's books is reduced to the
ANC YL's obsession with bling to the extent that we can never think anything
developmental, but bling. It is sad that previously, those who look like us
were considered intellectually inferior by the white supremacists, and today
Comrade Jeremy reflects the same sentiment, even before he interacts with
the views of the ANC YL.

The ANC's 52nd National Conference resolutions re-affirm that "the use of
natural resources of which the state is the custodian on behalf of the
people, including our minerals, water, marine resources in a manner that
promotes the sustainability and development of local communities and also
realises the economic and social needs of the whole nation". This requires
resolute leadership and decisive intervention into South Africa strategic
economic sectors. There are lots of industrial beneficiation programmes
South Africa can initiate and/or cause to happen despite jewellery. We are
very aware that value can be added to Minerals not through jewellery only,
but through various labour absorptive and developmental programmes.

The ANC YL said in August 2009 that "One of South Africa's greatest
challenges is its high levels of unemployment. Added to the low skills
reality, the South African economy is not sufficiently labour-absorptive to
the extent that even if the entire workforce would be skilled, the economy
would not absolve all workers into decent employment. So the creation of
various labour absorptive job opportunities is vital to deal with the
unemployment and poverty challenge. Mining as a critical component of the
South African economy should necessarily be used to expand and industrialise
the South African economy in a more developmental, instead of parasitic
mechanism pursued by the current owners of Mining activities in South
Africa". Comrade Jeremy did not read this, and instead suspects that myself
as President of the Youth League "and others are missing this bigger
systemic picture because when they speak of mineral beneficiation they are
thinking of bling...sorry, jewellery". Can it be possible that we dedicating
our struggle against prejudices elsewhere whilst they exist within the
organisation?

Black people and particularly Africans in Mining do not own anything above
10% of the Minerals extraction, production and trade in South Africa. Even
those who think they own, do so on behalf of white owned and controlled
Banks. It is an open secret that majority of shareholder capitalists in
Mining are heavily indebted, and why is it that the main concern for Comrade
Jeremy is the Youth League's imagined efforts to save blacks and Africans in
the economy through Nationalisation.

Cde Jeremy's silence on the wealth that will be transferred from the white
minority to the black and particularly African majority is very loud. It
appears that the only concern Comrade Jeremy has is that these black
indebted shareholder capitalists will be saved by the call for
Nationalisation and nothing else. The Nationalisation that should happen
should never be a blindly driven programme, but extremely cautious as it
might impact on the government fiscus and disable the ANC government's
capacity to build better lives for all. If Indeed Gold Mining will cause
more cost instead of benefit South Africa, then we will not concentrate our
energies on Gold. Platinum, chrome, manganese, diamond, coal, and most of
the other 54 minerals continue to be strategic minerals and their
extraction, production and trade should benefit the people as a whole.

*Expropriation?*

* *

The question of expropriation does not arise and squarely falls within the
conceptual framework we previously raised, that "depending of the merits of
the each case based on "balance of evidence", nationalisation may involve
expropriation with or without compensation". This is vital and should be
decided on a case by case basis. Part of the models we are considering as an
approach to Nationalisation of Mines is the Botswana model where De Beers is
a 50% partnership with the Botswana government and still pays royalties and
tax. None of the Mining Licence Holders in South Africa currently have more
than 30 years licence, and a substantial part of the country's platinum and
other vital minerals is not mined, entailing that if the partnership model
is the one endorsed by the ANC National General Council in September 2010,
the people of South Africa will be benefiting from as soon as new
partnerships are entered into.

*Conclusion*

The Constitutional Court will not be involved in all these because our call
for Nationalisation and its ultimate realisation will never violate the
Constitution. We have sufficient political power and the question is whether
we have the capacity, courage and will to use political power for the
benefit of the people as a whole. Whilst important for the life of the
organisation, debates should not seek to undermine the intellectual capacity
of other comrades, but should be used as contribution to the development of
our movement. Ideologues of the movement should never be tempted to fall
into an arrogant trap and believe that they are the only ones capable of
expressing views, and completely not care about engaging with (or at least
read) official perspective positions of the component organisations of the
National Liberation Movement.

The ANC YL will interact with all discussion documents of the movement,
including the SACP Special National Congress documents, but will never agree
to be co-opted to reformist programmes and projects of anyone. South Africa
in 2009, more than in other period in its history, is strategically in a
space and period to Nationalise Mines. The Communist Party should in this
instance always seek to enrich the debate and discussion on the
Nationalisation of Mines and avoid joining reactionary and
counter-revolutionary forces who believe the status quo in terms of property
relations is acceptable. No amount of bickering from both Right and
fake-Left forces will diminish our efforts to ensure that Mines and other
strategic sectors of the South African economy are nationalised. We also do
not need the permission of white political messiahs to think.