National State Enterprises Bill
Is it a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
(legislation)
The National State Enterprises Bill, former minister Pravin Gordhan’s proposal to restructure the entire government service, is so radically different, so uncomplicated and so unlike anything tabled by the ANC in the past twenty-five years that it nearly takes one’s breath away. The one real drawback is that in its simplicity, it is so top-down that three opposition parties, all GNU members, have objected to the presidential function being so all-powerful.
In fact, the legislation immediately conjures up the thought: has not history seen this kind of thing before?
In its favour, not only does this Bill propose a plan to completely reform government operations to improve service delivery — so lacking in its various departments at present — but it also seems to address the issue of cadre deployment and also offers a modest response to the past Chief Justice’s call for a stronger fight against corruption. We like it because it is a system which can easily be mirrored in Parliament for oversight purposes.
Personality change
This “too good to be true” concept was tabled in Parliament unexpectedly in the final days of the Sixth Parliament, without any clarion call or trumpet blowing from former Minister Pravin Gordhan. The timing was distinctly odd, as there was no chance of it being approved before the elections, and unlike the other five Bills being rushed through by the ANC, it contained no promise to the electorate.
This became apparent when, two weeks after Gordhan’s presentation to his former public enterprises portfolio committee, he suddenly resigned, not wishing to be reconsidered for a post in the new government. The Bill still looked like a pigeon’s arrival with a message of some sort, and we commented at the time that someone was trying to say something.
Finally, final answer
The National State Enterprises Bill is the previous government’s response to a presidential council request following the Zondo State Capture Report, which called for ways to overhaul financial controls and oversight in the public service. Gordhan’s proposal, suggesting that South Africa adopt a centralized shareholder model, is intended as an answer to this call.
The draft, which went out for public comment with minimal background, surprised many in business and industry. It details a structure where all government departments and state entities report to one centralized executive shareholder entity, which, in turn, reports to the President’s office.
Each to its own
Following this, each entity would focus solely on delivery and supply according to the appropriation in the State of the Nation Address (SONA), leaving planning, the national budget, treasury, and politics to a shareholding company that houses the ministers, ministry staff, and which “owns” the forty-odd departments and 125 state entities.
Notably, the fact that the Bill has reached the debate stage in Parliament suggests that the Cabinet had agreed to the process at some point before the elections, although absolutely nothing was conveyed.
However, opposition DA members, hearing rumours, tabled a question: “Does the government have any plans to establish criteria for appointing boards and executives for SOEs to improve governance?” An ANC spokesperson cautiously admitted this might be the case, placing great emphasis on the ANC’s desire to control corruption, but there still seemed to be a great deal of uncertainty involved. No mention of legislation, however. Two weeks later, the draft was gazetted of the National State Enterprises Bill with a hierarchical structure showing exactly such
Good landing
Minister Gordhan’s move has been welcomed outside ANC circles for a number of reasons, primarily because it appears to be an attempt to halt uncontrolled spending and provincial conformity on policy. At the same time, most also feel that the National State Enterprises Bill must be recognized as a step toward management control—sorting out who does what, who reports to whom, and whether targets are achieved.
Moreover, with planning already undertaken months ago and Pravin Gordhan’s plan clearly agreed to by President Ramaphosa, the only obstacle has been the purposeful slow-down by Minister Gwede Mantashe, chairman of the SA Communist Party and Chairman of the ANC. This slow-down concerns legislation to break up Eskom as part of the plan, ongoing disputes with him about the ANC’s future direction, and the formation of his oligarch-type fuel and gas ministry as part of the restructuring of PetroSA.
Shuffling the cards
Whilst joining up the mineral resources and the energy portfolios as one some years ago may have been an arrangement to cover Jacob Zuma’s nuclear adventures— to unwind this and to separate out mining from fuel and gas seems now perfectly sensible and back to normal. A sort of ‘as you were’ situation.
We do know that as a fact DMRE has been expecting this split for a number of years. This split has even been provided for in parliamentary budget planning exercise but many now have an uncomfortable feeling whilst past-minister Gwede Mantashe might have put a spanner in the works, the National State Enterprises Bill has been the shape of things to come for a long time.
Also, past minister Gordhan system, some three years ago introduced into parliamentary debate a draft Shareholders Bill with a hierarchy leading to one person at the top, the draft being discarded. Clearly the ANC have been working on this topic for many years and the current Bill has been converted for dual purpose needs as a response to the call to control corruption.
Said in anger
Perhaps also Helen Zille has perceived this in the ANC/DA private talks, a fact which might explain ANC Secretary General Mabula’s outburst recently, accusing her of obstructing the ANC in its drive to achieve a ‘revolutionary socialist state’.
The question also arises; what would happen if the president’s office in such a scenario were not filled by such a genial, unambitious and generally pleasant person as Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa?
Patrick McLaughlin
editor