TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – South Africa is unlikely to nationalise its mining sector even though the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is debating the idea, Webber Wentzel partner Manus Booysen said on Sunday.

ANC leadership can’t alienate the organisation's Youth League leader Julius Malema by refusing to consider the merits of nationalisation, but it won’t become policy, Booysen added.

“Perhaps there are enough people in the ANC leadership to know that it won’t work, such as Trevor Manuel and Mathews Phosa,” he said in an interview.

Malema has made repeated calls for government to nationalise the mining sector, and SA paper City Press reported on Sunday he wanted the state to take a 60% stake in mining giant Anglo American.

The ANC has said it will debate nationalisation and could make a decision on it at its 2012 party policy conference.

‘OWN GOAL’

Earlier, addressing a seminar on mining investment in South Africa, Webber Wentzel partner Peter Leon said Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu had been “brave” in her efforts to insist to investors that nationalisation won’t happen in her lifetime.

He said nationalisation would be “calamitous” for the country.

“I think it’s very unlikely that SA will nationalise its mining industry. It would be an own goal,” Leon commented.

Last week, the Fraser Institute announced the results of its survey on perceptions around investing in resources, in which South Africa slipped to 67th place out of 79 jurisdictions.

Leon said this was surprising, not least because of all the efforts the government had undertaken to improve transparency around the issuance of mining rights in the country.

Shabangu has announced the Mineral Resources Department is switching to an electronic system to track mineral rights licences, which will introduce transparency.