Zuma speaks on Zimbabwe's indigenisation

Johannesburg – South African President Jacob Zuma says investors are going to Zimbabwe despite initial nervousness about indigenisation.

"People will always have some nervousness when we say things... When Zimbabwe said indigenisation people jumped all over. Today people go to Zimbabwe to be part of indigenisation."

He said this as he stressed that SA mining industry cannot continue to make "huge profits" without benefiting the country's citizens.

While the mining industry had shaped the country, it had a lot of shortcomings, such as the migrant labour system, he said in an interview on CNBC's Political Exchange.

He sought to allay investor fears about changes to resource rents, mining royalties and taxes. However, things could not stay the same.

"Mining can't make huge profits with no benefits to the people of the country... If you are not addressing the economic need of the country, you must know we are dealing with a problem."

On the land issue he said restitution could be revisited in the interests of socio-economic equality.

"Never shall we allow a situation where that issue will result in chaos," he said. However, the issue could not be ignored either as 2013 marked a century since the introduction of the implementation of the Land Act, which deprived black South Africans of the land and cattle that formed the basis of their livelihood.

Zuma said he felt the law dealing with land restitution was "biased against claimants" and he had come to realise that "even the crafting of the law was biased".

Zuma said the Constitution allowed the government to take action to speed up the restitution process.

"But we are not going to wake up one day and say take this farm... It must deal with the needs of the country."

Zuma said the response of white farmers had been encouraging, as many had showed their willingness to discuss the issue and were eager to help emerging farmers. 

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