Jooste lays out plans

PUBLIC enterprises minister Leon Jooste says his ministry will take about a year to conduct research and come up with the best way to restructure and run the country’s parastatals.

Jooste was speaking at a public forum on Wednesday night, where he outlined his plans for the public enterprises sector. He said he was keeping an open mind and will not have preconceived ideas of what the final outcome will be, although he has an idea of what he wants for the ministry.

He said the ministry will appoint experts from the private sector to deal with the research and revamping of the governance structures of the SOEs. He said he got permission to create a corporate advisory unit, whose employees will not be paid within the government salary structures.

“Within the confines of the public service, quite honestly, we will never be able to attract these people,” he said.

He added that once the ministry’s enabling law is passed later this year, he will start conducting the research and analysis but that does not mean he is not working with other ministries to find solutions to those SOEs which need urgent attention.

Jooste added that after the enabling law is passed, the research and analysis exercise will take about one year to conclude before a presentation to Cabinet.

“I don’t want us to make mistakes. Mistakes maybe very expensive and they can take a long time to fix,” he said, adding that he had asked President Hage Geingob to allow him the time, so that his ministry could avoid making mistakes.

Jooste also explained that his ministry will not take over individual line ministries’ responsibilities because ministries will still be responsible for the developmental, policy and strategic direction of the SOEs, and will at times also be expected to fund some of the SOEs major developmental projects.

The public enterprises ministry will only be responsible for making sure that parastatals are run in accordance with good corporate governance and deliver on their mandates. The ministry will work hand in hand with the other ministries, but the relationships between his ministry, the SOEs and line ministries will have to be properly defined.

“If that is not properly defined and controlled, it may cause problems,” he said.

The minister added that nothing is cast in stone when looking for the best possible model that would pave the way for parastatals to be run effectively. This could include the possibility of abolishing the ministry, in future, and creating a central board with a wide range of expertise to be in charge of all the SOEs under one umbrella.

Jooste said some of the parastatals could be changed to government departments, some could be merged and others could be privatised, all based on what the research will uncover. He said the ministry will also look at political involvement from the shareholder.

The minister pointed out that his ministry will also study the sectors the SOEs operate in and look at how strategic these entities are to the country.

There will be massive legal reforms especially looking at all the enabling legislation of SOEs. This will look at changing the criteria for appointing parastatal board members, including widening the pool of board members since boards are currently being recycled. “We have the expertise in the country, we just haven’t accessed it,” he pointed out.