PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has committed his administration to end cadre deployment in state-owned enterprises.
In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa said a capable government started with the people who worked in it. “We are committed to end the practice of poorly qualified individuals being parachuted into positions of authority through political patronage.
“Officials and managers must possess the right financial and technical skills and other expertise.
“There should be consequences for all those in the public service who do not do their work,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s comments came as state-owned enterprises such as Eskom and SAA were struggling to stay afloat.
There have been murmurs that government was planning to privatise failing institutions, but Ramaphosa moved swiftly to ease these fears, saying no SOEs would be privatised.
NEWS24 reported Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan would stay put.
Sources who attended the national executive committee meeting told News24 the anticipated call for Gordhan to be removed as public enterprises minister was met with a lukewarm response.
An NEC member told News24 only two members called for Gordhan’s removal during the NEC meeting.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa has remained mum on these calls and in his newsletter ignored the matter entirely and focused on fixing of SOEs.
“A capable state also means state-owned enterprises need to fulfil their mandates effectively and add value to the economy.
“State companies that cannot deliver services, such as Eskom during loadshedding or that require continual bailouts such as SAA, diminish the capacity of the state.
“That is why a major focus of our work this year is to restore our SOEs to health. We will do this by appointing experienced and qualified boards and managers,” the president said.
