Then one of the papers yesterday quoted fellow miner Bridgette Radebe saying she’d be happy to have her mines nationalised so they could become the property of something called “our people”. Her brother, Patrice Motsepe, has also indicated in the recent past that he’d be open to the prospect of nationalisation.With all that kind of money and clout behind him it is no wonder Malema feels he can do pretty much as he pleases.Still, I don’t understand why Radebe (or any other beneficiary of empowerment in the mining industry) would think like this. BEE has been good to her. In fact she’s the epitome of BEE success — a woman, connected, clever and black . If ever you objected to this kind of thing, you were a racist or a coconut. Like all miners she would have had her ups and downs, but to try and have herself bought out during a “down” like now at taxpayers’ expense is just breathtaking.Business is always hard and always unforgiving. If you don’t like waking up in the morning with a knot in your stomach then do something else. If we are genuinely trying to grow an entrepreneurial class of black people in SA then Radebe’s reported remarks in Durban set the worst possible example.
I have isolated the most significant paragraphs. Please read the whole article – this is a VERY different spin on mine nationalisation that seems to follow a certain perverse logic.