LETTER: Chessboard pawn

The BHP/Anglo American saga highlights the extent to which SA has lost control of its mining industry.

SA is now a mere pawn on the international chessboard of the mining industry, where the chess masters in London and Melbourne make the moves. No longer are decisions made in Johannesburg and our mining industry is now a shadow of its proud former self.

Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since 1990, which was the beginning of the decade when most of the domestic ownership of our mining industry was transferred to London through the head offices and primary listings of our two largest mining houses, Anglo American and Gencor (taken over by Billiton).

Radical changes in the domestic and international political and economic landscape during the 1990s had placed the domestic mining houses under severe pressure and it was easy for the new generation of executives at Gencor and Anglo to persuade the government to grant permission to move to London on the pretext of facilitating the raising of capital.

Raise capital they certainly did, but not to spend on new projects in SA. On the contrary, the move to London precipitated an inexorable process of disinvestment and they had no scruples about selling unwanted SA assets such as Samancor and Highveld Steel & Vanadium to disreputable Russian and East European oligarchs.

However, the architects of the move to London can be proud of themselves — they have become multibillionaires and live in security and luxury in London while having presided over the disinvestment from the country of their birth.

Ian Robinson
Parkhurst