HILARY JOFFE: A long game ahead for BHP and Anglo
Both face numerous obstacles whatever they decide to do
Chances are that BHP thought it would have a quiet conversation with Anglo American about a possible merger, never thinking it would go public. In the event, it leaked just a month before SA’s national election. And it rapidly became a pre-election political football as a chorus of unlikely voices sprung to Anglo’s defence.
ANC detractors have enlisted BHP’s proposal as further evidence of how terribly the ANC has managed the mining sector and the economy. Government has responded with an equally robust defence of the company and the country, in the process giving business a lot more credit than it usually does for the hard work it is doing to try and fix the economy (in partnership with government, of course)...
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