* ANC wants windfall tax on mining firms
* Economists question ANC’s model for growth
By Jon Herskovitz
JOHANNESBURG, March 5 (Reuters) – South Africa’s
ruling ANC wants greater government control over Africa’s
largest economy, a windfall levy on mining firms and a rapid
expansion in the services offered by postal banks, it said in
policy documents released on Monday.
The documents from the party that has ruled the country
since apartheid ended 18 years ago will be used to frame debate
when the African National Congress holds a policy meeting in
June. Since it commands a comfortable majority in parliament,
its policy recommendations are often turned into legislation.
“We need to ask ourselves whether simply more of the same
will help us transform the economy so as to address the
challenges of unemployment, poverty, inequality and growth,” the
party said.
The ANC did not offer a great deal of detail but said it
wants to see state-owned enterprises be centres of job growth.
It backs the government’s plans to spend billions of dollars
over the next several years on infrastructure projects to
increase the enterprises’ output and create employment.
Economists have said the ANC is looking in the wrong
direction and should be doing more to support the private
sector, which is subject to a raft of labour regulations seen as
stifling job growth and ranked as among the globe’s most
restrictive by the World Economic Forum.
Almost all the state-owned enterprises have had management
crises and financial difficulties in the past few years, raising
questions about their ability to be drivers of growth.
Continued…
