The Minister of Public Enterprises, Ms Lynne Brown, appeared before the Committee today to brief the Committee on the challenges that state-owned companies are faced with. Briefing the Committee, Ms Brown gave an overview on state-owned enterprises such as Alexkor, Denel, Safrol, SAA, SAX, Transnet and Eskom. At the centre of her presentation were the recent developments at the power utility Eskom. Ms Brown said: “For the next coming two years the country will be facing load shedding”.
In her presentation, Ms Brown said one of her challenges was that she was hamstrung by the relevant legislation and the shareholder compact that stated there should be no political, operational and managerial interference. She added that after a Cabinet Lekgotla, the department was then mandated to develop an overarching legislation to run-state owned companies
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Public Enterprises, Ms Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, said the Committee was concerned that Eskom as a strategic asset was experiencing serious problems. “There seems to be no stability at a board level within Eskom you need to assist in stabilising the leadership challenges that are experienced,” said Letsatsi-Duba.
She added: “The current issues that are emanating from the power utility are raising questions that the government is unable find a solution. We need to engage and interact further with the department so that we come up with recommendations that will assist Eskom”.
Following media reports on the recent termination of the contract with Alstom, the Committee asked if the company would be charged penalties on the incurred backlogs. Members of the Committee requested an update and progress that had been achieved in the war room in dealing with the power utility. The Committee said the establishment of the war room was to deal with the energy crisis facing the country.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Yoliswa Landu
Tel: 021 403 8203
Cell: 081 497 4694
E-mail: ylandu@parliament.gov.za
