State-owned enterprises removed from Public Enterprises

Political analyst Dr Dale McKinley says under the Department of Public Enterprises, State-Owned Enterprises did not have a regulatory authority outside of the department that could hold them accountable for over-expenditure and mismanagement.

Ramaphosa has assigned shareholder responsibility for each SOE to the respective line-function ministries.

McKinley elaborates on the potential benefits of this new arrangement: “So I think the governance and the managerial authorities is supposed to, at least theoretically tightened and individual line managers in this case ministers would be held responsible. That is the key potential benefit, but easily remains to be seen whether or not it becomes enforceable.”

“I think that is where the state-owned enterprises company comes in, which is something that is supposed to be set up with the new Bill would come into play,” adds McKinley.

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