The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) was seeking regional partnerships and opportunities for South African State-owned enterprises (SoEs), Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Thursday.

The Minister, who led the DPE’s first trade mission to Ghana with South African Airways (SAA), South African Express, Broadband Infraco, Transnet and Denel this week, said regional cooperation and strategic relationships with other African countries could provide significant growth benefits for South Africa and the continent as a whole.

This was an opportunity for SoEs, including SAA, to grow its customer base and increase revenue, he said.

The five SoEs sought new business and partnerships in Ghana and Gigaba said they had identified where the country could form public–public partnerships with other African SoEs.

Speaking at a transport forum, in Johannesburg, he said Africa held the opportunity for continent-wide economic restructure and shared growth, particularly through integrated infrastructure projects.

The entry into other African countries could set a precedent for State-owned companies to become instruments of continental development beyond national boundaries.

“South Africa has a strong interest in seeing the African continent grow and opening up regional trade.”

It was critical to increase trade relations with neighbouring countries, he said, noting that regional inter-African projects, for instance, had greater scale than one country embarking on a project singularly.

“We in Africa, despite being in Africa, do not know Africa. We need to get to know Africa,” said Gigaba. There was much to learn from the rest of Africa, particularly on the back of their “great entrepreneurial spirit”.

Gigaba also called on the private sector and South Africa’s Brics counterparts to get involved in the DPE’s engagement with Africa, to further pursue economic restructuring on the continent.