South African President Jacob Zuma said on Friday nationalising mines was not the policy of his African National Congress (ANC)government, as he sought to lay to rest speculation over government intentions for the mining industry.
"We have answered this question many times, we are very clear ... nationalisation is not ANC or government policy," he said in answer to a question during a televised breakfast briefing. "Our policy is mixed economy," he added.
Senior members of the Zuma administration have been trying to quash the idea - raised by the radical youth league of the ruling ANC - of mine nationalisation in the world's largest platinum producer.
Two cabinet members told a global mining conference in Cape Town this week that nationalisation was not a viable option.
A mining sector study submitted to the ANC leadership this month rejected nationalisation as an "unmitigated disaster". It proposed a 50 percent tax on mining profits as a way to help the poor better benefit from South Africa's mineral riches.
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