Transnet expansion, airlines provide opportunities – Brown
PLANS to attract private investment into state-owned companies are gaining momentum‚ with proposals for Transnet and the airline sector under development‚ Public Enterprises Minister Lynn Brown said yesterday.
Such private investment in state-owned assets has been a thorny issue for the ANC and its allies for more than a decade after the government canned its privatisation programme following internal political opposition.
In February‚ President Jacob Zuma indicated a policy change that would promote private participation in stateowned companies.
And yesterday, Brown told parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises that Transnet was looking at attracting private investment in new ports planned for Buchu Bay and Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape‚ as well the construction of new inland terminals that could be run by the private sector.
In the airline sector‚ a proposal to place South African Airways‚ SA Express‚ SA Airlink and Mango Airlines under the structure of a holding company was under consideration.
Each company would continue to play its role as it had recently been defined, but the creation of a holding company structure “would provide greater leverage in attracting a strategic [equity] partner”, Brown said.
Legislation limits foreign ownership of SAA to 25%.
State-owned companies were also looking for opportunities to expand markets in Africa‚ with Transnet setting its sights on opportunities in Tanzania‚ Kenya and Burundi.
Eskom was seeking business in the Democratic Republic of Congo‚ Mozambique and Uganda, while SA Express was looking at going to Ghana.
Brown said a committee including the Department of Public Enterprises‚ the Treasury and the Presidency had drawn up a framework for private participation in state-owned companies‚ a framework for board appointments and a draft performance appraisal scorecard.
While Brown had previously said that the tabling of a Shareholder Management Bill was imminent‚ “this cannot be brought now” as questions were still being discussed.
The minister described the reorganisation of state-owned companies as being highly contested terrain.
Reporting briefly on Eskom‚ Brown said that due to new capacity from the Ingula pumped storage project coming on line‚ no load-shedding was expected this winter.
Additional new capacity was expected by the end of the year from Ingula‚ Medupi and Kusile‚ she said.