(Budget vote debate in Parliament: Public Enterprises)
Public Enterprises in South Africa are riddled with corruption and mismanagement and it cannot go on like this.
The people, who are already struggling due to the current difficult economic circumstances, are the ones who have to fund these enterprises and pay for lifeline after lifeline with their tax money. This happens by, among other things, having to pay exorbitant power tariffs.
It is all well and good for the government to take a stand against corruption, but taking a stand without taking action, or prioritising it, means nothing. Fraud and state capture are not limited to a certain era or president.
A system of looting has been established and that is what makes it all possible. A system in which R800 is paid for an ordinary fluorescent light valued at R60, milk is procured at R56 per litre and a broom for R280 000.
It is a system void of merit where appointments are not made based on experience or qualifications; a system that is letting the majority of South Africans down for the sake of a small, elite group of beneficiaries. This system is intricately interwoven with the ANC.
The fiscus will continue to give money to bankrupt public enterprises. Ordinary people will pay for it and the poorest in the community will bear the brunt. Covid-19 has absolutely nothing to do with the inflated prices at Medupi and Kusile, as they are the result of poor planning, corruption and fraud.
The previous dispensation established the Department of Public Enterprises with the aim of privatising these enterprises and Sasol serves as a shining example of a successful company that is creating jobs, helping to grow the economy and is contributing more to social development than the government is.
Implementing more turn-around strategies and lifelines will achieve nothing. This has proven to be true time and again. Likewise, more plans, reports, promises, councils and committees will do nothing to resolve the current problems. Failed enterprises must be privatised.
Do away with failed ideologies and policy, like Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), de-regulate the business environment to promote healthy competition, allow the private sector to create jobs and develop the economy.
Above all, reject this system that serves as the breeding ground for cadre deployment and corruption. That is the only way to stop the country from declining even further.
;
