Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan has been summoned to Luthuli House, headquarters of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to explain her thinking on perennially loss-making state companies, including airline South African Airways (SAA) and arsenal Denel.
This comes after rebukes from the chair Parliament`s public enterprises portfolio committee, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and the National Union of Mineworkers.
Hogan, health minister from September to May earlier this year apologised to Cabinet after saying government had been wrong to deny the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a pre-event to the FIFA Confederations Cup that starts Sunday.
Business Day reported this morning Mantashe`s the rebuke is the strongest indication yet that the ANC intends keeping President Jacob Zuma`s administration “on a short leash to ensure it carries out the party`s wishes as expressed by its watershed Polokwane conference in December 2007”.
Ministers are regarded as the party`s “deployees” in the government, the paper`s political editor Karima Brown adds.
Mantashe said that Hogan`s warning, that the government could not bail out unprofitable entities indefinitely, did not reflect the party`s thinking on the matter.
Asked if Hogan was perhaps not “thinking out aloud”, Mantashe said: “Any thinking out aloud must be done in the subcommittees of the ANC. Robust debate must be brought to the ANC structures and proposals on policy must be forwarded there.”
Portfolio chair not amused
Portfolio committee on public enterprises chairwoman “Vytjie” Mentoor said there was “no basis” for Hogan`s statement. “There was no consultation. This is a policy shift and therefore it cannot be entertained without proper consultation.”
Mentoor said Hogan had not raised the matter when she met the portfolio committee, and it was not discussed by the ANC study group, Business Day says.
“It will be appropriate for the minister to explain her statements. Ministers are political heads of departments. They implement government policy, and are accountable to Parliament,” she said.
Mentoor separately told Engineering News Online she “upset” about the manner in which the matter had been raised.
While she indicated the committee`s willingness to “engage” with changes in policy, she argued that Hogan needed to use the correct channels and, in this instance, needed to explain her statement.
The ANC regards state-owned enterprises as a key contributor to economic growth.
Mentoor said the global economic downturn proved that the market without state intervention was “disastrous”. “It would then be folly of us to sell these state-owned enterprises merely because they`re facing challenges which we strongly believe are manageable.”
Union dismayed
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) also lambasted Hogan, saying it was “dismayed” and “perturbed” by her suggestion.
The union argued that her stance was in direct contradiction with “the progressive policies” of the governing ANC, which remained in alliance with the South Africa Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU), to which the NUM is affiliated.
Engineering News says the union went so far as to suggest that Hogan`s utterances reflected a “bias” towards the opposition`s agenda.
In a thinly veiled threat to her position, Frans Baleni suggested that it would be “difficult for her to implement what she does not believe” and that she should “find an appropriate platform and vehicle which is in tune with her remarks and ideology”.
Hogan made her reputation as a tough MP while heading the portfolio committee on Finance from 1999 to 2004.
NUM argues that the disposal of State-owned enterprises would be in opposition to the “developmental goals” adopted at the ANC`s Polokwane conference.
Business, opposition, pleased
But Business Unity SA said it welcomed “the opening of this important debate” on the role of public corporations, saying it should be “driven by pragmatism”.
“Given the changed economic circumstances in South Africa resulting from the global recession, Busa believes that the present tough economic conditions do require a fresh look at the functioning and efficiency of State enterprises on a case-by-case basis,” the organisation said in a statement.
It called for enhanced competition and the interrogation of different business models, saying that debate around the future role of State corporations should be driven by “pragmatism” and not “dogmatism”.
The major Parliamentary opposition party, the Democratic Alliance also welcomed Hogan`s comments. Party public enterprises spokesman Manie van Dyk described her approach as “a breath of fresh air”.
