Maravi

(MnG) Gigaba takes over

Gigaba takes over
LYNLEY DONNELLY - Nov 08 2010 10:03

The new minister of public enterprises envisages a much more hands-on role for his ministry in the management of its troubled parastatals. Malusi Gigaba cuts a lean, intent figure at the department's offices in 120 Plein Street, the heart of the parliamentary precinct.

On his second day in what is arguably one of the most challenging ministerial portfolios in government, Gigaba is energised, focused and confident.

So confident, in fact, he is meeting journalists to discuss his promotion from deputy minister of home affairs a day before he is to meet department officials to receive a thorough briefing on the host of challenges facing government's beleaguered parastatals.

He is swift to say, however, that he will limit his comments on the specific workings of state-owned companies until after he has been briefed by his new team.

Gigaba's "challenges"

Nevertheless, sitting in the boardroom bearing files with printouts of power point presentations -- Eskom's logo clearly emblazoned all over them -- Gigaba is undaunted and he makes a point of saying so. "I don't think that the challenges that we are facing here cannot be [dealt with]."

To call the battles facing the likes of Eskom, Transnet and South African Airways (SAA), to name a few, "challenges" is perhaps an understatement.

Gigaba's new role comes with a basket load of perennially underfunded, overspent, inefficient companies that play a key role in the functioning of South Africa's infrastructure and economy.

He does not, however, take the responsibilities he has been handed in the reshuffling of Jacob Zuma's Cabinet lightly.

"The president's faith in us can be repaid only by us fulfilling the vision of government as well as the ruling party."

Relationship between parastatals, government and the executive

Gigaba, who served as ANC Youth League president for eight years and as a deputy minister of home affairs for six, believes parastatals need a better understanding of their ­relationship with government and the executive.

"[Parastatals] have a strategic role to play within the new growth path. We are going to have to clearly define what we understand as public enterprises, as our role in the pursuit of the developmental state." This, he says, speaks to "the critical challenge on our part to provide strategic leadership to the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) so that they understand their relation to government".

Gigaba argues that an unnecessary dichotomy exists between corporate interests -- the pressure on parastatals to focus on profit and the bottom line -- and broader national interests.

"The bigger reason for these organisations to make a profit is so that they can fulfil bigger national interests: meeting infrastructure development and skills development objectives, contributing towards economic growth and ensuring through their programmes that we are able to inspire and generate the domestic economy and local industry."

After a series of leadership crises at the largest SOEs, namely Eskom, Transnet and SAA, Gigaba's predecessor Barbara Hogan emphasised the importance of corporate governance and the responsibility of boards in holding executive management to account.

Stability

A measure of stability has returned to SAA as well as to Eskom, just recently, Transnet was rocked by the resignations of its long-time acting chief executive, Chris Wells, and group executive Vuyo Kahla.

It also has a number of board members in acting roles, not least of which is acting chairman Geoff Everingham, as well as an acting chief financial officer, Anoj Singh.

Gigaba says the emphasis on corporate governance will continue, but "having said so, we are going to play a much more hands on, robust, strategic leadership role".

His first priority will be to resolve the uncertainty about Transnet's executive, as well as to ensure a new, permanent board is put in place.

"Transnet is number one," he says. Moves are in place to have a new board appointed, "hopefully within the month". From there, the board can appoint a new chief exeuctive to fill the vacuum left by Wells.

Planning a way forward

Gigaba envisages more frequent meetings with parastatal board chairpeople and the boards themselves in a bid to understand what boards are doing to implement government priorities, as well as to understand better the challenges faced by SOEs. "As the shareholder, we can't just sit back and say these organisations are going to run themselves."

He is quick, however, to qualify this, saying it doesn't mean outright interference with the workings of the companies. "There is a tendency to conflate robust leadership with ­interfering in operations." But he emphasises that parastatals are "not private entities, they are state owned enterprises, they must implement the vision of government".

Meanwhile, in his own department, the first task will be to appoint a permanent director general, a post currently being filled by acting-DG Andrew Shaw.

Other than this, however, he forecasts no major shake-ups in a relatively small department of 176 people that has sustained good performance over the years.

Labels: MALUSI GIGABA, PARASTATALS

posted by MrK @ 9:36 PM