I THINK MINING

   More sobering and indeed scary news from South Africa about Julius Malema.   I quote a new article, which states, in part:

Today, Julius Malema removed a BBC journalist from his Africa National Congress Youth Leage press conference, calling him a “bastard” and an “agent.”   Malema, fresh off of a meeting with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, has said he will follow his neighbors policy of land seizure, if his rise to power continues.   And, most concerning to foreign investors, he has called for the nationalization of South Africa’s mines.   Malema is young in the world of South African politics, but at the age of 29, he is already being considered a vocal threat to the ethnic stability established through Nelson Mandela’s Rainbow Nation movement.  If Malema uses the ANC Youth Congress as a stepping stone to government he couhttp://www.businessinsider.com/south-africa-mining-julius-malema2010-4ld become a real threat to metals markets.

This young man is dangerous–a new Mugabe or Hitler on the rise.  Now is not the time for the Chamberlains of this world to seek “peace in our time.” 

Either he is stopped, or you should divest yourself of all your investments in South Africa, including mines, houses, shares, and real property.

  Consider:  if he lives as long as Mugabe or Castro, he still has fifty or so years to make trouble.  Madela and Zuma will be long dead, maybe revered, but certainly ignored as Malema marches to power and his thugs take whatever they want for their own greedy gratification. 

I would love to be optimistic about South Africa; but I am not and I cannot be so, when a charismatic and dangerous young man like this is spitting venom yet succeeding with the masses.  Let us be honest: this is Africa and the tribal system of rule by and benefit for the STRONG MAN, is a long-established way of life, hardly interrupted by the colonial period—whatever its ill may have been.  We have seen all too often a peaceful African nation with potential and promise fall prey to the African culture of rule by one strong man and the dispossession of other Africans, white, Matable, or immigrant. 

   You must make your own decisions about investment in South African mines.  But take a relatively long-term view in so doing.  Even Anglo America has left and is seeking its new fortunes in Alaska as it tries to develop the Pebble Mine.

If you doubt me on how fascist this all is, go to this link which quotes Malema as saying:

“We hear you are now going straight to the mines. That’s what we are going to be doing in South Africa.  We want the mines. They have been exploiting our minerals for a long time. Now it’s our turn to also enjoy from these minerals. They are so bright, they are colorful, we refer to them as white people, maybe their color came as a result of exploiting our minerals and perhaps if some of us can get opportunities in these minerals we can develop some nice color like them.”

The link I quote is muddled and mudied thinking at best.  But it end with this black support for Malema:

Malema has opened the door to a new conversation on empowerment and the response has to be considered and informed by history; performance, financing and other risks associated with any economic development enterprise.

The issue for the white, western investor is: do you want to be part of a new conversation and other risk associated with economic development enterprises in Zimbabwe and the new South Africa?

It is worse if you live in South Africa.  I echo this plaintiff cry:

For any other South Africans who are reading this who are still living in SA – I speak to you with a sincerity of a South African who has lived here all his life.  I was born here, I have been schooled here. Yes, South Africa is a beautiful country. But you see what has been happening in our land, politically and racially. You see how little there is left of our country. There is no hope for our children and in fact any young adult wishing to make a success out of his/her life. What type of a life are we living in if we are having to watch over our shoulders at every turn?   I urge you – get out while you still can, even if it means starting over. Do not become a statistic that is reported on the news.

Then there is the law student from the University of Cape Town who tries to reason all this away in a puerile piece that includes this appologia and “feel good” exhortation:

In Julius Malema the ANC has an efficient medium through which it can tell the working class exactly what it wants to hear (just like a boytjo on the prowl in Tiger). Through Malema, our population is constantly being reminded of what parts of the ANC are doing for their very many and real needs. Of course this doesn’t mean that their needs are actually going to be catered for – it’s not clear that it really matters that they are. What matters is that government can have some respite. After all they do face an uphill battle running the country. Service delivery, or particularly housing, healthcare, social security and education are prime examples of this. We live in a young democracy with a Constitution that is extremely demanding of the government. There is no group of leaders (not even South Park’s globally offensive ‘Super Best Friends’) anywhere in the world that wouldn’t struggle to meet what our people, our Constitution and our country’s history demand. This task was made even more difficult by Mbeki’s ‘head in the sand’ stance on HIV/AIDS.

Malema’s role is to redirect responsibility for the difficult burden of delivery away from the government… toward anyone else. The more feathers he ruffles along the way, the better job he is doing keeping up the facade. And the best part of it all? What is the cost to the image of the ANC? Not much. Supporters of Malema’s comments think more of the party because of his allegiance to it. Critics are appeased by the occasional, tamely-worded, public reprimanding that is handed down to Malema, and are reminded that Malema does not speak for the ANC leadership. Now I don’t know any of this for sure, of course. Maybe it’s a little conspiracy theory of my own. But I think it’s a fairly logical possibility made all the more striking for its absence in public comment on everything Malema-related. The ANC leadership are not stupid: they are not to be underestimated by their supporters or their opposition. Concluding that they’re ignorant because of Malema’s antics is overly simplistic and downright foolish.

Problem is that the current ANC leadership, bright or stupid, will be dead by the time Malema comes to power and the deluded masses cast their final democratic vote.   And the student writing the quoted blog will have long emmigrated.  You could be left holding the nationalized bag.