Line function Ministers will now bear shareholder responsibility for certain State-owned enterprises (SOEs) that previously fell under the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed proclamations transferring the administration, powers and functions entrusted by the specified legislation as follows:

Alexkor: Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources

Denel: Minister of Defence and Military Veterans

Eskom: Minister of Electricity and Energy

South African Forestry Company SOC Limited (Safcol): Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

South African Airways: Minister of Transport

South African Express: Minister of Transport

Transnet: Minister of Transport

Furthermore, the Presidency said in a statement, certain sections of the Overvaal Resorts Limited Act of 1993 and Overvaal Resorts Limited Act Repeal Act of 2019 are ‘vested with the Minister of Water and Sanitation’.

President Ramaphosa has also signed a proclamation appointing Minister in the Presi
dency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, as the executive authority of the DPE.

‘[The department] will continue to exist and operate until the human and financial resources are transferred appropriately. This appointment empowers the Minister to exercise with respect to DPE all relevant powers and functions under the Public Service Act of 1994 and the Public Finance Management Act of 1999.

‘The Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation has also been assigned the responsibility to finalise the National State Enterprise Bill, which will set out the exercise of shareholder responsibility for respective SOEs, which will be transferred in a phased manner into the envisaged national enterprise holding company,’ the statement concluded.

Source: South African Government News Agency