Bloemfontein – Minister in the Presidency and former finance minister Trevor Manuel said investors will not run away if South Africa does implement a new special tax on mining.
The new proposed tax is part of the discussions at the ANC Mangaung conference.
He said he does not believe such a tax will threaten investors.
“We had a problem [threats that investors would go away] at the beginning when we introduced the royalties tax.
"We had it when we said we will transfer the ownership of the mineral resources to the people as a whole, the state becomes the holder and you have to secure a licence for prospecting and for mining.
"That was the big change and people said investors would go away. But they didn’t. They need what we have.
“You need to be fair (and) transparent and you need to be predictable. But beyond that, I think in the (mining) arena you’re going to be part of a world that changes in this way and you’ve got to accept it,” Manuel said.
Manuel said the proposals are not through yet.
“We have to wait for the proposals to be formally on the table before we can (properly) talk about them.”
- Fin24
*Follow James-Brent Styan on Twitter at @jamesstyan.
The new proposed tax is part of the discussions at the ANC Mangaung conference.
He said he does not believe such a tax will threaten investors.
“We had a problem [threats that investors would go away] at the beginning when we introduced the royalties tax.
"We had it when we said we will transfer the ownership of the mineral resources to the people as a whole, the state becomes the holder and you have to secure a licence for prospecting and for mining.
"That was the big change and people said investors would go away. But they didn’t. They need what we have.
“You need to be fair (and) transparent and you need to be predictable. But beyond that, I think in the (mining) arena you’re going to be part of a world that changes in this way and you’ve got to accept it,” Manuel said.
Manuel said the proposals are not through yet.
“We have to wait for the proposals to be formally on the table before we can (properly) talk about them.”
- Fin24
*Follow James-Brent Styan on Twitter at @jamesstyan.