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Cape Town - It is a good thing that government seems to be acting on current problems facing some key state owned companies (SOC), said Solly Moeng, MD at Don Valley.
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe announced that cabinet had reshuffled the Eskom board on Thursday and created a five-point turnaround strategy. He said President Jacob Zuma had assigned Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to oversee the turnaround of the three state owned companies: SAA, Eskom and the SA Post Office.
Read: Eskom reshuffle live
“One only hopes that the results of SOC performance reviews will be transparent and that we shall all get to know, for instance, the details of the touted five-point plan,” he told Fin24.
“However, it does seem like all this flurry of activity is done on the back foot; aimed at putting off short-term fires,” he said.
“Government would be well advised to also have a transparent review of the 2010 Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) for energy, in partnership with the private sector and relevant independent bodies, e.g. research institutes, in order to update it with data that is relevant to the country’s changed and projected energy needs into the medium to long-term,” he said.
“All future investment should be based on an updated IRP.
“Tax payers and other observers will only renew their trust in government – whose credibility quotient is fast diminishing - if all is done with utmost transparently, and having the assurance that adequate measures are in place to discourage any form of process abuse which might further impact negatively on the already suffering brand South Africa image.”
