Presidential council will straighten out SOEs – Ramaphosa

The Presidential State-owned Enterprise Council will work to create better coherence between government’s ailing entities to fine-tune each one’s mandate and sharpen efficiencies, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday evening.

Ramaphosa was delivering his second State of The Nation Address for the year and the first in the sixth administration of the democratic government.

The list of embattled entities is long and it has often fallen on government to provide relief through funding.

During his address, Ramaphosa said, through the Presidential SOE Council, government intends to create alignment between all state-owned companies and better define their respective mandates.

No place for corruption

“Through the Council, we will work with the leadership of SOEs to develop a legal and regulatory environment that promotes innovation and agility and enhances their competitiveness. We will build on the work we have already begun to address problems of poor governance, inefficiency and financial sustainability,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa said government remained committed to building an ethical state in which there was no place for corruption, patronage, rent-seeking and plundering of public money.

“The decisive steps we have taken to end state capture and fight corruption, including measures to strengthen the NPA, SIU, SARS and State Security, are achieving important results,” Ramaphosa said.