Issued by: North West Communication Service
ADDRESS BY NORTH WEST PREMIER MR POPO MOLEFE AT A SEMINAR ON RESTRUCTURING OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES HELD IN MMABATHO, NORTH WEST, ON 23 NOVEMBER 1995:
Restructuring of public enterprises leading to the loss of jobs had never been the intention of the North West Government, the provinces premier Mr Popo Molefe said in Mmabatho on Thursday morning.
He was addressing a workshop on rationalisation and restructuring of public enterprises in the province. The workshop is being attended by local and international experts on rationalisation of public services.
The lack of reliable information systems in place has precipitated the belief in certain quarters that restructuring would necessarily involve the loss of jobs.
This has never been the intention of the new government, nor has anyone lost or is going to lose their jobs in the process, if we can help it, said Premier Molefe.
Restructuring of public enterprises and government-supported institutions (GSIs) had to be guided by the principles of the RDP.
These were: - to derive maximum benefit from existing budgets, to eliminate financial wastage and to maintain fiscal discipline; - to reorient the mission of the relevant institution and to redirect the financial and human resources to meet the basic needs of the people, namely in the provision of essential services such as water, electricity, education, public works and fast-track job creation; - to kick-start the in development and service delivery. developing small and medium enterprise sector; and, - to couple transformation with the development of human resources and capacity-building.
However, Mr Molefe added, it would be unfair to judge certain institutions on their performances in terms of the norms and standards of the RDP when these criteria were not in existence before.
Nevertheless, the restructuring and rationalisation process had been completed in some institutions, were still continuing in others, while the process was being managed by national departments in a few.
When the provincial government came into office about 18 months ago, it inherited 41 public enterprises or government-supported institutions, which were directly or indirectly involved in development and service delivery.