Some political populists, while ignoring reality, have become too economical with the truth regarding the state of state-owned enterprises . The reality is that SOEs are milking a lot of money through bailouts. Recently, the EFF and Cosatu joined some populists within the ANC who still refuse to engage with the evidence, arguing that the Treasury and public enterprises departments are collapsing some SOEs to later privatise them.
Ordinary South Africans are not benefiting from continued bailouts of SAA. The airline has received in excess of R49bn in bailouts since 2006, and hasn’t earned any profit since 2011. The R49bn pumped into SAA could have improved many citizens’ living conditions by providing the much-needed basic services. Instead of privatising SAA, we are often told that the airline is the pride of the country .
The Passenger Rail Agency of SA , which could be the pride of ordinary citizens, has been derailed. The reality is that ordinary citizens commute with Prasa more than SAA but populists live in an imaginary world, far from the real world faced by ordinary citizens.-Phepisi Radipere, GaRamokadi-kadi
Rubbish! What are departmental budgets for! Incompetence, greed fuelled corruption by business and government officials, hypocrisy, apathy: these hamper service delivery. SOE bailouts are subsidies to the economy!