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Raw materials mined in South Africa should remain in the country, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said on Tuesday.
Presenting the outcomes of the provincial lekgotla, ANC provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala said the party wanted government to establish an economic policy review panel to investigate and establish how "beneficiation patterns" were distributed in the province.
"The issue of economic distribution was discussed at length at the lekgotla . . . without negating the principle of a mixed economy, the ANC should ensure that any company that trades through minerals and any raw materials in SA, should build its plants in the country. No raw materials should leave the country without being processed into final products," Zikalala said.
He said the KwaZulu-Natal ANC would "push this view" at the National General Council. It wanted to see this implemented within the next three years.
"These minerals are taken out of the country and sold back to us at exorbitant prices. We know that this process will create jobs. There are many other proposals that we are going to be presenting at the council.
"We will raise many other issues that pertain to land and to industrialisation. At the end of the month we will hold a general council where we will finalise our submissions to the National General Council."
Deputy provincial secretary Nomusa Dube-Ncube said: "The issue of beneficiation is really about the capacity of the State to deliver, as opposed to outsourcing things.
"There is a lot of mining that gets done in various areas in KZN and we are saying that those factories should be here in KZN or in South Africa so that we don’t have to take raw materials out of the country."