State 'must back its businesses'
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma's special adviser on business, Sandile Zungu, says the government needs to assure those running state-owned companies that it will appreciate their sacrifice, support them and not unduly interfere.
He said this week there was often no clear line between enthusiastic ministerial oversight and political interference.
His comments come as yet another collapse of the board at loss- making SA Airways (SAA) has highlighted the decay in governance at state-owned companies.
Last week, the SAA board collapsed after four directors resigned.
SAA and its sister airline, SA Express, need a large amount of cash to stabilise their balance sheets.
The situation at the SA Post Office (Sapo) is another example of an institution in crisis.
Sapo workers have been on strike for 10 weeks, its chief executive is on special leave and the Special Investigating Unit is looking into allegations of serious maladministration.
Zungu said any self-respecting professional would want to shy away from the embarrassment and headache that comes with serving in parastatals.
He recently turned down an offer to be chief executive of the struggling SA Broadcasting Corporation because he could "not subject myself and my family to this".
"I do not need it in my life," he said.
In cases involving differences of opinion with the government shareholder and parastatal managements, Zungu said, there should be a framework for dealing with such differences.
But more often than not, the problems ended up in the media when they should have been resolved in a boardroom.
Zungu, secretary-general of the Black Business Council and chairman of investment holding company Zico Group, said state-owned enterprises like SAA had the wrong business model.
They could not win because they were hopelessly undercapitalised.
The state should "just accept that [SAA] will only survive if [it is] run on a perpetual bail-out basis", he said.
The National Development Plan showed that the ANC had abused the appointment of chief executives for state-owned enterprises.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said parastatals were implementing arms of government and could not operate outside the political realm.
Parastatals had been used as dispensers of patronage, which led to constant reports of irregular behaviour. "Certain people in the [ANC] have understood parastatals to be a channel to enrich themselves," he said.
Political analyst Steven Friedman said there was a toxic environment at the SABC and anybody talented would not want to be in that space.
But it was unreasonable to expect the internal environment in the SABC and other parastatals to change if the external environment was not getting better either. - Setumo Stone
