Today's Labour News

BusinessLive reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office has seized control of the restructuring of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), putting the weight of expectations on the shoulders of the Minister of Monitoring & Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa.

This follows Ramaphosa’s dissolution of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), which was responsible for five SOEs in its portfolio, in line with the government’s aim of consolidating the shareholding of strategic SOEs into a state asset management company. In announcing his newly reconfigured cabinet on Sunday, Ramaphosa said the co-ordination of the SOEs that were housed in the department would be located in the Presidency during the implementation of a new shareholder model. Eskom and Transnet – the backbone of SA’s energy and transport infrastructure – will, however, report directly to their respective departments. Ramokgopa will be responsible for setting up the holding company. The state will be the sole shareholder of the asset management company but the door is open for strategic equity partners to be brought into the underlying SOEs. The National State Enterprises Bill, introduced in January by Pravin Gordhan, former DPE minister, is at the heart of this transformation. Ramokgopa is likely to be responsible for reintroducing the bill to parliament after it lapsed in May. State companies from SAA and the SA Post Office to Eskom and Transnet have been financial sinkholes over the past three decades, draining billions in guarantees and bailouts. Transnet is implementing a major turnaround plan in which the private sector will be roped in to help run port terminals and rail operations.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thando Maeko at BusinessLive

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