The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has outlined its plans for\u2014and the biggest risks and challenges facing\u2014a new state-owned holding company that will house all the major SOEs in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DPE’s 2024\/25 Annual Performance Plan<\/a> forwards the department’s plans to establish a National State Enterprise Holding Company in hopes of turning around the fate of many ailing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Unfortunately, the performance of SOEs\u2019 has been undermined by factors such as poor governance, malfeasance, lack of accountability and consequence management as well as a loss\/lack of skills amongst others [which] has impacted negatively on the respective SOEs\u2019 finances and operations,” the department said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A big part of what the DPE describes as “reform efforts for SOEs,” is seen in its gazetted National State Enterprises Bill<\/a> (NSEB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This bill proposes, among other provisions, the creation of a new state-owned holding company with the state as the sole shareholder \u2013 the State Asset Management SOC Ltd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This would have commercial SOEs\u2014such as Eskom and Transnet\u2014as subsidiaries of the holding company, which would ultimately manage their finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n