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Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma gave his assurance that he wouldn’t interfere with the work of the inter-ministerial committee on state-owned enterprises (SOEs). His involvement would be merely to assist.
Zuma was responding to a parliamentary question posed by the DA leader Mmusi Maimane about how Zuma intended on interacting with the newly established presidential state-owned companies coordinating council, of which he would be chair.
Maimane wanted to know if Zuma’s new role as chair wouldn’t clash with the functions of the existing inter-ministerial committee on SOEs under the leadership of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The reasoning and functioning of the presidential SOE co-ordinating structure have left investors worried, analysts cautioned.
The announcement of the structure was also cited as a concern by Futuregrowth Asset Management when it decided to halt lending money to key SEOs.
Zuma said the initial inter-ministerial committee was appointed to preside over the implementation of the Presidential Review Committee’s recommendations on SOEs. The presidential coordinating council on the other hand, he said, would see to the comprehensive refurbishment of SOEs and improve their functioning.
“The president also chairs other structures which oversees the implementation of major infrastructure projects across three spheres of government,” Zuma noted.
“My role is not to directly run projects or take over the responsibility of line functioning departments. Such assumptions are incorrect," Zuma explained.
"At this stage no finality has been reached and there are no terms of reference or other government structure for council to be finalised.”
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