Bongani Hans
IF THINGS were to go the ANC’s way, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan would be hauled before President Cyril Ramaphosa to account for the scathing report by the Auditor-General that reveals his department’s contribution to the collapse of state-owned enterprises.
This was the view of ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu when he rejected the DA’s call for Gordhan to fall on his sword.
The official opposition made the call for Gordhan to resign because it believed Ramaphosa lacked the guts to fire him.
The AG’s report found that the Department of Public Enterprises had failed to support the ailing SOEs, including Eskom, whose ongoing load shedding is threatening to collapse the economy.
“If I was Minister of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Maropene Ramokgopa, I would say: ‘Here is the AG’s report, Minister Gordhan. What do you have to say to it?’
“And then he (Gordhan) needs to respond as to what actually happened, and then the advice needs to be given to the president about the state of public enterprises,” Bhengu said.
She said Gordhan could not resign at the DA’s behest.
Gordhan is currently on an official visit to China to fast-track the delivery of locomotives and spare parts by that country’s state-owned CRRC e-Loco to Transnet.
He and his communications team have not responded to a request for comment.
DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia blamed Gordhan for the AG’s negative report, saying he should step down of his own accord.
Cachalia likened the Department of Public Enterprises under Gordhan to a plane that does not have a pilot, saying the SOEs had continued to deteriorate while their performance was on a downward spiral, with poor financial management being the order of the day.
“Gordhan should tender his resignation as soon as he lands at OR Tambo International Airport,” Cachalia said.
He doubted whether Ramaphosa had the guts to take a stand and fire Gordhan, as he was primarily concerned about unity within the ANC.
“If Ramaphosa was a firm president, not the weak appeaser he is, who puts party unity and pay-offs before the interests and fortunes of the country, he would have long ensured that the minister and department responsible for these key SOEs attended to the failures with a firm hand, opening the door to the private sector where required,” he said.
The AG’s senior manager, Bongumusa Thabethe, revealed that the department was not delivering on its mandate to support the improvement of the SOEs in terms of financial, commercial and operational performance.
He said the department was also not contributing to transforming the economy in line with the National Development Plan.
“If we looked into what we have observed over the past (few) years, are we seeing that alignment? Are we seeing the DPE doing that?”
Thabethe said the department had instead presented a misleading picture of its performance.
“The first reflection on their performance is that we notice when we evaluate their performance year in and year out that they seem to present a performance reporting that says: ‘We are achieving our target.’
“But there is something that is agape there when you look to the mandate, which is about looking into improving the financial, commercial and operational performance of the SOEs. You will see that when you ask yourself about the state (of SOEs), (the situation) is not improving, but is deteriorating.”
He expressed concern about the department’s misleading report on the state of the SOEs.
“Hence we say there is a greater need for us to ensure that there is an alignment between what DPE is saying they have achieved in relation to their mandate, so that we can be able to talk the same story when we say they have performed and we see the result.”
Thabethe said the department’s annual performance plan was not in line with Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address, which focused on rescuing the SOEs.
“The first concern is that there is not really a correlation between the annual target and the desired performance. For example, you will find that (is the case) when they are mentioning that they are measuring a number of reports on the intervention provided to reduce the SOEs’ infrastructure vandalism. Here the aim is to reduce the vandalism that is taking place in SOEs like the rail (operator).
“When you read the performance, (you find) that it (vandalism) is not reducing, (but) is increasing,” he said.