The Gauteng government wants to "ram through" a new law giving it more powers in selecting and paying board members on provincial companies shortly after appointing State Capture Inquiry-implicated persons to its corporate entities.

On Friday, the Gauteng legislature will hold public hearings on the proposed Gauteng Provincial Laws General Amendment Bill, which wants to remove the multiparty legislature's involvement in appointing, disciplining, removing, and paying board members at seven state-owned entities. 

If enacted, power will now rest with the executive council - or the provincial cabinet - without the legislature's inclusion.

The provincial entities include the Gautrain Management Authority, Gauteng Gambling Board, Gauteng Liquor Board, and Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, among other Gauteng companies. 

Suspensions and remuneration of board members at entities - as the law currently reads - is done "after consultation with the standing committee of the provincial legislature responsible for finance and economic affairs," which has representatives from different political parties. 

The ANC has a slim majority of 37 of the legislature's 73 seats, followed by the DA with 22. 

The mooted law changes come hot on the heels of the Gauteng government appointing former government minister Des van Rooyen and Papa Leshabane, a former executive of controversial services firm Bosasa. 

Van Rooyen and Leshabane - both appointed on the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller and Gauteng Tourism Authority boards, respectively, in September - were implicated in Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's State Capture Inquiry report in a raft of findings.

The findings included the Gupta family playing a role in Van Rooyen's December 2016 finance minister selection that tanked the local currency, while Leshabane - as a former Bosasa frontman - "sought through the ANC to influence unspecified or unnamed office bearers in the departments and state organs with which the company did or sought to do business with."

Ironically, in justifying the law changes, the Gauteng government said it adhered to a March 2019 Cabinet decision and wanted to "avoid a repeat of state capture, as appointments of members of boards or hiring of chief executive officers were found not to have followed or complied with a transparent process due to a lack of a central unit or authority to institutionalise appointment processes." 

But DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimang said the law changes were the governing ANC's aim to have "autonomy in the appointment and firing [of board members and senior managers]."

Msimang called it interesting the Gauteng government "wanted to ram through the amended legislation" ahead of next year's elections, saying the ANC knew it "won't come back into power." 

"So, it is an issue of trying to consolidate and make appointments before you lose power, which is something that is on our radar." 

He added the DA wanted a transparent process with how boards were appointed and paid, including greater oversight by the provincial legislature, which the proposed bill intended to remove.

"Yes, they [the ANC] want to appoint tainted people to boards. You look at the latest appointments made to the boards [Van Rooyen and Leshabane]; that tells you that this is an aim of cadre deployment to ensure that their comrades do not lose out. These are people who have been found wanting; people, when you look at their skills, they are also found wanting," Msimang said.

His views were supported by Stefanie Fick - the executive director for accountability and public governance at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse - who said centralising power impacted good governance.

Fick asked whether there was political will within Gauteng to ensure the best people were appointed to provincial companies or was it a way of rewarding party loyalists.

"If you centralise power, it will always be the ruling party [of the time] appointing people.

"Coalition governments [at the municipal level] are a problem, and it is the people on the ground who are most affected.

"So, why should the executive council have this power?

"In Cape Town, it's going to be the DA [choosing boards], but here [in Gauteng], it is going to be the ANC. Shouldn't the best person - not the best ANC member or DA member - be responsible?"

The public hearing on the law changes will be held in the legislature and is expected to begin at 10:00 on Friday.