Johannesburg — WHAT a pity we've now become a civilised lot. Otherwise I would recommend that we round up all those who are calling on the African National Congress (ANC) to adopt nationalisation as a policy and send them to Robben Island, where they can be gainfully employed by giving tourists an experience of a real-life prison environment.

The proponents of the nationalisation of Sasol and the country's mines are a treasonous bunch. Only agents of a foreign government would advocate a policy that would result in SA paying billions, if not trillions, of rands to local and foreign investors -- and then hand the best brains in those companies to countries that are many times richer than her.

China, a country that has more financial resources than SA, would benefit the most from the nationalisation of Sasol and the mines. China is rich in mineral resources including coal, but lacks the technology and the expertise to exploit these resources efficiently, an area where SA has done well.

Were the South African government to nationalise Sasol, as the South African Communist Party (SACP) has called for, and the mining industry, as the ANC Youth League has proposed, China and other multinational corporations would descend here and pick the best brains in Sasol and the mines to build or enhance their own capabilities.

China would love to get Sasol's technology to reduce its dependence on imported oil by converting its abundant coal reserves into petroleum and chemical products for domestic and export markets. China would also love to grab SA's mining technology, which it urgently needs, for example, to reduce the number of deaths, which remain high by world coal mining standards.

Contrary to SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande's belief, Sasol is not a petrochemicals company. It's a science and technology company. It took untested German technology and turned it into the envy of the world, especially now that the world is getting concerned about the high cost of buying crude oil and the prospect that oil reserves will run out earlier than expected.

Sasol's technology, which converts coal and gas into petroleum and chemical products, is being seen increasingly as the answer.

The nerve centre of Sasol's operation is a research and development facility in Sasolburg, where the company employs more 600 scientists and engineers. It complements this with alliances and collaborations with more than 100 research institutions, consortiums and universities worldwide.

It's the knowledge generated by these centres, as well as the ability of its employees to use that knowledge to produce petrochemical products profitably, that accounts for the bulk of the company's market value of more than R185bn, based on Friday's closing share price. It's not, for example, the mass of steel pipes that make up its plants in Secunda or Sasolburg.

Sasol needs to continue attracting other highly skilled scientists, engineers and other employees to replace and increase its pool of talent. It's been successful thus far. But, as the company has warned in its annual reports, the demand around the world for the people with the range of capabilities and experience the company requires is high.

"The risk exists that our scientific, engineering and project execution skills base may be depleted over time because of, for example, natural attrition and a shortage of people being available in these disciplines in the jurisdictions in which we operate," Sasol has said.

The uncertainty that would accompany the process of nationalising Sasol would push some of Sasol's skilled personnel to seek opportunities elsewhere in the world. Also, given the way the successive administrations have abused state-owned enterprises, a nationalised Sasol would find it difficult to attract new talent. In time, Sasol would become a shadow of its current self.

Bereft of its highly skilled scientists and engineers, Sasol would lose its edge; its technology would fall behind that of its competitors. In a few years, all that SA would own would be shining pipes of metal in Secunda, a reminder of what once was.

And by then SA would have become an importer of oil from coal from China. China is ruthless in its pursuit of its economic development goals. It takes no prisoners.

Even as China stripped SA bare of its scientists and engineers, it would pledge solidarity with its comrades here and contribute generously to the coffers of the ANC and SACP. The sooner that the ANC and its alliance partners understand that, the better for SA's future.

And talking of prisoners, the proponents of nationalisation might just be the spice that Robben Island -- and the local tourism industry -- need to attract more tourists and create more jobs.

Sikhakhane is editor-in-chief of Destiny Man and a freelance writer.