SOEs spent R138bn in 2016 – stats

State-owned entities Eskom, Transnet and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) were the largest contributors to the R284 billion capital expenditure by the public sector in 2016.

Statistician-General Pali Lehohla released the public sector expenditure results in Pretoria yesterday, stating that public corporations spent and contributed R138 billion of the total expenditure.

The statistics were based on expenditure incurred in the acquisition or improvement of land, buildings, engineering structures, machinery and equipment.

Eskom and Transnet contributed a large R73 billion and R34 billion respectively, Lehohla said. “Eskom spent R70 billion on the power generation projects at Kusile, Medupi and Ingula for power generation. Transnet [contributed] R11.1 billion on the expansion of infrastructure and equipment and a further R18.5 billion for maintenance capacity in the rail and ports division,” he said.

About R8.5 billion was spent by South African National Rail Agency Limited on strengthening infrastructure, improving roads and highway monitoring equipment.

Prasa spent R5.9 billion on upgrading and maintenance of rolling stock infrastructure, as well as a modernisation programme.

“It’s important to mention what this capital was spent on, so should there be irregularities, someone can be held accountable,” Lehohla said.

He said the figures, however, were not linked to recent allegations of unauthorised expenditure and kickbacks between the Gupta family, Eskom and Transnet, saying the statistics were based on money already spent.

“We only looked at what was spent and on what can be answered by the auditor-general,” he said.