Nicky Oppenheimer, De Beers chairman, gave a U.S. audience his forthright views on the future of Africa's mining sector and that of South Africa and its BEE legislation.
According to www.mineweb.com, De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer told a Washington audience that Africa has a bright future if its leaders embrace globalization and allow the private sector to flourish. "Globalization is a huge force for good," he said. An open and accessible world economy is vital for African growth.
"Speaking as a proud South African," the 65-year-old Oppenheimer told members of the Council on Foreign Relations that Africa needs leaders of character, "who learn from the past and do things differently." Greed and cronyism, he said, have failed, and embracing the global economy is the best way to boost living standards.
Predicting that the current boom in commodity prices won't last, Oppenheimer heaped praise on the government of Botswana, which he said has used its diamond and resource wealth to build for the future. Botswana, he said, "has been prudent and sensible," using its earnings to build schools, roads and essential infrastructure.
Recalling being on a panel when former president Festus Mogae was asked why there was so little corruption in Botswana, Mogae replied, ‘we were poor and there was nothing to steal, and now we find that we have gotten into the habit of being honest." Africa's true leaders, said Oppenheimer, don't get the credit they deserve. Ethical capitalists must join African leaders in a coalition for growth.
South African planning minister Trevor Manuel, said Oppenheimer, would be a "real, credible and serious" candidate to head the International Monetary Fund. It is regrettable, he suggested, that Manuel's name has not been put forward by the South African government. The ruling African National Congress and President Jacob Zuma, he said, are struggling, torn between protecting the poor and promoting the private sector. The goal of creating half a million new jobs, said Oppenheimer, won't be met unless South Africa's restrictive labor laws are changed. That said, Oppenheimer was quick to add that since the end of apartheid and the advent of democracy, "South Africa has done unbelievably well."
Oppenheimer doesn't view nationalization of the mines as a real threat. "We're happy to have that debate because it is really a no-brainer," as nationalization has been rejected in most parts of the world, including China. Professing not to be worried by nationalization, Oppenheimer pointed to lack of efficiency in the parastatals, the government-run firms in southern Africa.
On Zimbabwe, where De Beers and Oppenheimer personally have considerable holdings, Oppenheimer is hopeful that the Mugabe era will soon be over. "We're close to a tipping point," he said, expressing the hope that "Zimbabwe will be a country of opportunity," and again have an exemplary educational system and be able to feed itself.
Asked about Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa, Oppenheimer said it is understandable and right that everybody should have an economic stake in the country. But, he said, "it hasn't worked," making a few people rich and the rest jealous and cynical. It was, he said, "the right thing with the wrong outcome." Such a program, he said, must be continually improved and adjusted so that it achieves the results of broadening prosperity.
As to the diamond business, Oppenheimer said "any natural resource business is a limited life business." De Beers, 100 years from now, he said, will look very different than it does today. In the Washington audience, 42-year-old Jonathan Oppenheimer, Nicky's son, said he will be actively involved in De Beers going forward. The company, 40% owned by the Oppenheimer family, recently named Phillippe Mellier its new chief executive officer. Mellier's entire career has been in transport, including 20 years at Ford Motor Company.
