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FF+ Member of Parliament Corne Mulder was reacting to a National Treasury report on consolidated financial information of government for the year ended March 31, 2004 which shows that 18 major public entities had a collective net asset value of R124.1bn - only marginally up from the previous year's R123.4 billion.
Six of the 18 larger public entities - including the transport parastatal, Transnet - declined year on year. Transnet's net asset value dropped from R17.5bn at the end of the financial year 2003 to just R8.83bn in 2004. Denel, the State arms technology company, dropped from R1.3bn to R834m in this time.
'Bite the bullet'
"All these parastatals were founded by taxpayers' money and are from time to time bailed out - such as South African Airways - by taxpayers' money," said Mulder.
"The general public as a whole has a direct interest as to how these entities perform or not perform. The figures with regard to Denel clearly confirm that this entity is in serious trouble. Whether it can be turned around remains to be seen.
"It is time that the government bites the bullet and privatises these entities as soon as possible. It is obvious that State-owned parastatals can't compete with privately-owned companies. By selling these entities, the necessary inflow of capital to get the economy growing in a different gear will be realised. The sooner this is done the better," said Mulder.
