/ 13 November 2009

Zuma: Govt backs Hogan

The government has ”full-confidence” in Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan and the boards appointed to steer state-owned enterprises (SOEs), President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.

”We will not delve into what happens in the boardrooms of the SOEs, as that is a matter of the boards that run those institutions.

”As shareholder, the government appoints a board which works with the minister responsible, who provides political leadership to the entities,” Zuma said, adding that the government had ”full confidence” in the boards and the minister.

His comments were contained in a letter issued by the ruling party as the African National Congress and its alliance partners — the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African National Civics Organisation — gathered in Esselen Park for a three-day summit.

Eskom and Armscor have been beset by leadership problems.

Eskom lost both its chief executive, Jacob Maroga, and its board chairperson, Bobby Godsell, in a week. An acting board chairperson has been appointed, Mpho Makwana, who, after days of speculation over Maroga’s resignation, announced the parastatal was leaderless on Thursday.

Reports that Maroga had resigned surfaced last Friday, but on Monday he was back in his office.

The Black Management Forum said state-owned enterprises were being turned into ”slaughterhouses” for black professionals.

On Wednesday, Armscor’s board announced it had asked chief executive Sipho Thomo to resign, but he was refusing to do so.

Zuma, in his letter, said transformation had come into ”sharp focus” due to the challenges which emerged at state-owned enterprises recently.

”The pressures currently facing our state-owned enterprises have led to sharp debates about the imperatives of transformation, leading to questions as to whether or not the departure of some managers in some of these institutions was driven by opposition to transformation.

”There have been fears that affirmative action gains are being reversed and that the ANC government was not acting to stop this perceived erosion.

”It would not be wise to oversimplify the challenges facing state-owned enterprises and other sections of the state machinery. We are attending to these matters as government, as part of the overall transformation of our government machinery.”

The president said the ANC had taken a ”conscious decision” to work with black professionals and black business in recent months ”to deal with these pressing transformation issues”.

”These meetings have been very useful with regards to advancing our common approach to economic transformation.”

Zuma said the alliance, in its weekend talks, would examine the government’s progress made in its key areas, including economic transformation.

”As the alliance we remain fully committed to the strategic objectives of the national democratic revolution. The mission of the alliance is clear. It is to implement the programme of liberating Africans in particular and black people in general, from political and economic bondage. It is to improve the quality of life of all South Africans, especially the poor.”

The summit would allow the government to move further in refining policies adopted at the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane.

”We will discuss further the five priorities we committed ourselves to — education, health, rural development, the fight against crime and creating decent work. We will also look at other pressing matters such as local government, the global economic crisis and energy.”

ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said the meeting of the alliance in Esselen Park was underway on Friday afternoon, with an opening address by Zuma. — Sapa