Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that his attempts to improve the efficiency of South Africa's state-owned entities (SOEs) are not an attempt to get more votes in the 2016 Local Government Elections.

He was updating the National Council of Provinces on his plans to improve the efficiency of key state-owned entities (SOEs) such as South African Airways (SAA), Eskom and the South African Post Office (Sapo).

Answering a question from Democratic Alliance NCOP leader Elza van Lingen, Ramaphosa assured her that his focus on SOEs was not a strategy to win votes in next year’s Local Government Elections.

“It has nothing to do with local government elections,” he said. “It’s the African National Congress doing its job. If you think it’s being done to win votes, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick.”

Ramaphosa was assigned by cabinet in December 2014 to develop turnaround strategies for parastatals, to enable them to play a meaningful role in contributing towards South Africa's growth and development.

Lessons from China, Japan trips to help SOEs - Ramaphosa

Ramaphosa said the delegation he led to China and Japan will benefit the improvement of SOEs in South Africa.

“I said before, that when we went to China, it was to learn how they manage their SOEs,” he said. “Recently, we found out the same in Japan.”

Ramaphosa led a high-level delegation to China in July and Japan in August, where they promoted investment with South Africa and had fact-finding meetings.

“Many people dismiss our visits to China,” he said. “But we can learn from our friends, from those who can teach us things, we welcome that.”

SA not alone in SOE challenges

Ramaphosa said many countries around the world were facing the same challenges that this country’s SOEs were experiencing.

“These entities all operate in very challenging and complex industries,” he said. “This is even more so now that the world economy is facing great difficulties.

“Those that operate in post office-related businesses are facing great challenges and difficulties,” he said. “Those operating in the airline sector are facing headwinds both literally and figuratively.”

He said South Africa had over 700 state-owned entities at a national, provincial and local level. “Many of them are running efficiently and effectively,” he said. “You may never hear of them because they are not facing the same challenges.”

Ramaphosa said that the challenges currently facing Sapo, Eskom and SAA will be forgotten in 18 months’ time. “You will forget the challenges ever existed,” he said.

News24.com