State enterprises not doing as badly as impression created of them – Gigaba

They are critical to economy, doing well

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has defended the performance of state-owned enterprises, saying they create jobs and improve the economy.

Gigaba said without SA Airways‚ tourists and business people would not be able to fly to and around the country.

“Without SAA we would not bring as many people as SAA brings to the southernmost tip of Africa.

“We would not be able to transport business people‚ investors and tourists across South Africa,” Gigaba said.

He was speaking at the Ekurhuleni Investment Summit held at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park yesterday.

The minister said stateowned enterprises played an integral role in SA’s economy and “build critical economic and social infrastructure‚ drive investment and transformation”.

Praising parastatals‚ Gigaba said: “Without South African state-owned companies we would not have the road infrastructure we have.

“We would not have the electricity we have”.

He praised Eskom for having a surplus of electricity‚ which it exports to other African countries.

SAA last made a profit in 2011 and relies on government

Without the SOEs South Africa wouldn’t have the infrastructure it has... We’d not have roads, power

funding to keep it afloat. Eskom had R322-billion worth of debt at March 1.

Standard & Poor’s cited the poor performance of stateowned enterprises as a reason for downgrading SA’s foreign owned debt to junk status.

But Gigaba said of the enterprises: “They are actually functioning very well.”

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan frequently called on state-owned enterprises to be properly run before asking for bail outs from Treasury. –

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