Johannesburg - Nationalisation is going to happen; it is just the manner in which it will be implemented that needs to be decided, Cosatu said on Thursday.
"If you say business needs certainty to make investments ... this is the certainty you need to have, that what is being discussed now is models," Cosatu economist Chris Malikane said at a debate on nationalisation.
He said the task team established by the ANC to examine nationalisation was not looking at the feasibility of the policy, but exploring the most appropriate model to implement.
Cosatu had encouraged the ANC Youth League to place nationalisation firmly on the agenda, he said.
Malikane said all the parties represented at the last ANC national executive committee meeting supported nationalisation.
If the ANC task team produced a study that looked only at the feasibility of nationalisation, it would be rejected outright, he said.
Nationalisation referred to state ownership of all means of production including mines, banks and mineral wealth. Compensation would be paid, but not for land.
"We'll have to compensate in the interests of the public, but not in a way that will cripple the South African state... there has to be a balance."
He said land was a natural asset that should be owned by the state and used by farmers, and that no compensation should be given for land.
