Repositioning SOEs within government won’t work, says analyst

A political analyst from the North West University, Professor Andre Duvenhage, says the repositioning of State Owned-Entities, will not address the problems they face.

This amid calls for Eskom to be placed under the Mineral Resources and Energy Department headed by Minister Gwede Mantashe for oversight. There is also a call from certain quarters for the other state-owned enterprises to be consolidated into other government departments. Duvenhage believes SOEs should instead, operate independent of the state.

“I cannot see any solution coming from this. This may contribute to a higher debt within your state environment and I think this will definitely contribute towards getting South Africa to the level of junk status with far reaching implications,” says Duvenhage.

On the call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to recall Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, Professor Duvenhage says,“I think for the President at the moment it is a catch twenty-two situation. Pravin is a right-hand man and I cannot see him taking him out. What may happen is that he repositions Pravin in a position where he can still use him which is not directly connected to Eskom or maybe other SOEs.”

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Source: SABC News (sabcnews.com)