JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) political party says that nationalization of private businesses is "off the table."
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba made the announcement Thursday at the party's Mangaung conference, being held in the city also known as Bloemfontein.
Addressing a news conference televised live, Gigaba said: "There shouldn't be from here, forthwith, any expectation that the ANC will move out of here and start deciding who and where we are going to start nationalizing."
There have been calls from the ANC's youth league for the mines to be nationalized as the only way to equitably share the country's rich resources.
There also has been recent unrest, wildcat strikes and violence at the nation's mines, one of the country's main economic engines.
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.