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President Cyril Ramaphosa held brief discussions yesterday, Tuesday 13 March 2018, with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of a number of state-owned companies.

In his February 2018 State of the Nation Address, President Ramaphosa said government would intervene decisively to stabilise and revitalise state-owned companies and would take further measures to ensure that all state-owned companies fulfilled their economic and developmental mandates as important catalysts through which government creates public value.

Corporate governance challenges, fragmentation of the work of the SOCs and lack of alignment between the SOCs and delivery priorities of government - these being decisively dealing with poverty, unemployment and inequality - were some of the issues raised by the President.

The Chief Executives have presented proposals on initiatives for economic recovery including advanced manufacturing; creating meaningful employment in the agricultural sector; monetizing digital capabilities to boost the economy, and the development of logistics systems to enable and accelerate economic growth.

They have further committed to key actions to leverage the power and scale SOCs as a cohesive and effective group contributing to economic growth through improved governance, economic recovery, SOC reform and transformation (encompassing procurement practices, develop finance and support for women in skills and business development).

President Ramaphosa has welcomed the commitment of CEOs to reposition SOCs as enablers of growth, driven by a common vision and higher levels of cooperation and synergy.

President Ramaphosa will meet with different SOC chief executives in due course.

Issued by the Presidency