THE ANC has warned state-owned entities (SOEs) that it will not be business as usual in hiring and firing executives, and disobeying the ruling party’s instructions.
This follows a fallout over the SABC debacle in the Hlaudi Motsoeneng stand-off that has dragged many state institutions into the disputes.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said at the weekend that the party was over for SOE boards to do as they pleased.
He warned them to toe the line or be forced out of office.
State entities have been at the centre of many fights in the government recently.
The SABC saga has spread to the cabinet, the ruling party and its alliance partners, and the courts.
The ANC described the defiance of the Supreme Court of Appeal’s judgment as the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Kodwa said the ruling party would enforce its instructions on SOEs and make them account for their decisions.
However, he warned that the ANC would not allow them to make irrational decisions when appointing executives.
The SABC has defended Motsoeneng’s appointment, and the group executive of corporate affairs has attacked Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe and ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu for daring to speak out against his reappointment.
The ANC and other parties have accused Motsoeneng of arrogance and disrespecting the courts.
Among some of the other SOE boards caught in public fights are the SAA and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
Prasa chairperson Popo Molefe has gone to court to scrap contracts worth billions of rand signed by former agency executives.
Molefe has described the contracts as illegal and wanted the high court in Joburg to rescind them.
The SAA board has been involved in a battle with the Treasury until recently.
SAA has also suspended and fired some of its executives.
The national airline confirmed in Parliament recently the suspensions and dismissal of some of its executives. It has had three chief executives in three years following internal disputes.
The Treasury had refused to grant SAA a loan guarantee of R5 billion for almost a year, until there was a new board in place. The issue of the guarantee delayed SAA’s filing of its financials in Parliament.
This was done a few weeks ago by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan after a new board was approved by the cabinet. He extended a guarantee of R5bn to the airline.
The Treasury has given bailouts of R467bn to SOEs in the past 15 years.