S Africa’s ANC divided over land, mines in policy talks

Bloomberg

Opposing factions in South Africa’s ruling party battled to reach consensus on contentious policy proposals, including land seizures and mine ownership, at a six-day meeting that ended on Wednesday. They will continue sparring ahead of a December conference, where it will finalize its policies and elect new leaders.
The African National Congress’s branches will continue debating whether legislation needs to change to allow the government to expropriate land without compensation, or whether existing laws are adequate to effect land reform, Enoch Godongwana, the head of the party’s economic policy committee, told reporters in Johannesburg. While the party is in agreement that the mining industry needs to be transformed, there is disagreement about the design of a new Mining Charter which seeks to compel companies to maintain a minimum 30 percent black shareholding, he said.
President Jacob Zuma, who’s due to step down as head of the ANC in December and then of the country in 2019, has been leading calls for “radical economic transformation” to give the nation’s black majority a bigger stake in the economy and address racial income disparities dating back to apartheid rule. His detractors have warned that ill-considered policy changes could undermine investor confidence and curb growth.
The debates about policy proposals have largely served as proxy battles between Zuma and his allies who want him to be succeeded by his ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, 68, and those who back Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, 64.
“You don’t have any concrete proposals because members are too far from each other,” said Ralph Mathekga, an analyst at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, a Johannesburg-based research group.