LETTER: Zero conception of how great firms are built
Moferefere Lekorotsoana’s article is the ridiculous reaction of a worker-socialist empathiser
05 May 2024 - 13:09
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
An Anglo American worker at its Los Bronces copper mine in Chile. Picture: ANGLO AMERICAN/REUTERS
I refer to Moferefere Lekorotsoana’s article (“BHP’s bid for Anglo is a chance for an economic reset,” May 2). For the record, Anglo American shares have been majority owned by foreigners since its day one, and at the time of the merger with BHP, Billiton was a sub-lightweight.
Lekorotsoana may be “chief of staff at the mineral resources & energy ministry”, but he lives in a dreamland where great companies are built not by the brilliance, far-sightedness and courage of their directors and senior executives but by the suffering of the labour force.
In his world, the wealthy and institutions invest in a company's shares not to grow their investment but for some feelings of socialist altruism: “It is unthinkable that any reasonable South African with an interest in the country’s economy and future development would be excited by BHP’s bid for Anglo.”
Not even the long-suffering shareholders?
This is the ridiculous reaction of a worker-socialist empathiser who reveals absolutely zero understanding of how great companies are built. Or how they are destroyed by people like him. Zero mining rights were granted by his “ministry” in a year of 2,500 applications. No wonder the SA mining industry is facing extinction.
Ryckard Blake Via BusinessLIVE
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Zero conception of how great firms are built
Moferefere Lekorotsoana’s article is the ridiculous reaction of a worker-socialist empathiser
I refer to Moferefere Lekorotsoana’s article (“BHP’s bid for Anglo is a chance for an economic reset,” May 2). For the record, Anglo American shares have been majority owned by foreigners since its day one, and at the time of the merger with BHP, Billiton was a sub-lightweight.
Lekorotsoana may be “chief of staff at the mineral resources & energy ministry”, but he lives in a dreamland where great companies are built not by the brilliance, far-sightedness and courage of their directors and senior executives but by the suffering of the labour force.
In his world, the wealthy and institutions invest in a company's shares not to grow their investment but for some feelings of socialist altruism: “It is unthinkable that any reasonable South African with an interest in the country’s economy and future development would be excited by BHP’s bid for Anglo.”
Not even the long-suffering shareholders?
This is the ridiculous reaction of a worker-socialist empathiser who reveals absolutely zero understanding of how great companies are built. Or how they are destroyed by people like him. Zero mining rights were granted by his “ministry” in a year of 2,500 applications. No wonder the SA mining industry is facing extinction.
Ryckard Blake
Via BusinessLIVE
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
MOFEREFERE LEKOROTSOANA: BHP’s bid for Anglo is a chance for an economic reset
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
Glencore said to be considering a bid for Anglo American
Top BHP execs in SA to argue for merger
BHP responds to critics as senior execs head to SA
HILARY JOFFE: A long game ahead for BHP and Anglo
Mondi notes improved demand in first quarter
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.