Minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan told parliament that he was not alienating directors of state-owned enterprises and that these directors had his support in turning around troubled parastatals.
Gordhan was replying orally to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon. His appearance at the legislature came after the resignation of SOE directors including Eskom chair Mpho Makwana, former Transnet Group CEO Portia Derby and former Transnet Freight Rail CEO Siza Mzimela.
“The shareholder’s role is to hold board members to account. The boards have a responsibility to ensure that a turnaround strategy is in place and that project management is taking place,” said Gordhan.
Gordhan was replying to a question by EFF MP Omphile Maotwe, who asked whether Gordhan had investigated the circumstances that lead to black executives leaving state-owned enterprises without completing their terms.
Gordhan said in the government’s efforts to restore capacity to troubled SOEs, non-performance of entities means that the board and its directors must take action where necessary. He said challenges including load-shedding at Eskom and logistics constraints at Transnet must be attended to.
He said there was “no bigger problem” and that the boards of SOEs had a clear mandate from the government as the shareholder.
ANC MP Jabulile Mkhwanazi asked the minister how to the government hoped to give previously disadvantaged professionals the skills they need to address the challenges of SOEs. She asked if there was a plan to retain professionals with required skills rather than lose them to the private sector or career opportunities abroad.
“The numbers indicate that we have a number of previously disadvantaged professionals in SOEs who make great contributions to our SOEs,” Gordhan replied.
Gordhan said the government was drawing back professionals who have left South African SOEs to work abroad. He said the government must focus on creating an environment that attracts them and ensures people outside these entities cannot bribe them.
“But there are those few who are either not performing or are engaging in activities that we could refer to as state capture. And if they are found to be doing that then they must pay the price,” Gordhan said.
DA MP Farhat Essack asked Gordhan if the exodus of directors from SOEs was as a result of political meddling by the minister and if Gordhan would consider resigning on this basis. Gordhan likened the question to the early launch of an election campaign.
“You have tried to say once before to ask if I will go. I am not going anywhere until the end of this term. We are improving levels of performance because the level of performance we are seeing now is not good for these entities or for the country,” he replied.
Gordhan challenged Essack to think critically about what he would do differently to fix SOEs if he was the minister.
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