Public Enterprises Africa Programmme to increase Intra-Africa trade and investment
Public Enterprises
11 June 2008
Chairperson: Ms F Chohan (ANC)
Meeting Summary
Members met with the Department of Public Enterprises in order to discuss the Joint Project Facility (JPF) Africa programme. The Department noted that the aim of the project was to increase Intra-Africa trade and investment flows between entities within State Owned Enterprise-dominated industries. with a particular emphasis on the energy, transport and Information, Communication and Technology sectors. Members however felt that the Department did not provide a sense to what extent it had started work on the project, and considered that the Department was not really expanding on the economic or industrial potential of
Members adopted the draft budget report and discussed the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) Report
Meeting report
Joint Project Facility (JPF) Africa programme: Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) briefing
Mr Mehleli Mpofu, Deputy Director General: Joint Project Facility, Department of Public Enterprises, said that South Africa was committed to playing a lead role in promoting economic and social development across Africa. Engaging with Africa would not only assist
The project was envisaged to manage a number of initiatives falling within three broad categories. It aimed to contribute to increased intra-Africa trade, investment and industry cooperation within State Owned Enterprise (SOE) dominated industries, and to firms within the economy at large.
Mr Mpofu said that to effectively address its high poverty levels,
Discussion
The Chairperson noted that she did not quite understand what the Department was trying to achieve as nothing was really being implemented. The Department did not provide a sense to what extent it had started work on the project, and the Department was not really expanding the economic or industrial potential of the country. The Committee needed to know the extent in which the Department gave assurance to major suppliers that they would not be tied down.
Mr Mpofu replied that the Department had a detailed project document and needed to find the funding for the project. Part of the roll out of the benchmarking programme was that the Department identified a need for a survey of African countries, which looked at the supply base and the big buyers. There also needed to be a survey of whether the big buyers would be willing to invest in
Mr C Wang (ANC) concurred with the Chairperson, and said that the matter was a global initiative of importing global skills and placing them in the local market. It was however too limiting to focus only on the African market, and the Department needed to think globally. The project was also similar to the projects preformed by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). It should also be noted that many SOEs had failed to focus on a joint direction and the Committee had not seen anything from the Department since the JPF project was launched.
The Chairperson agreed that the Department’s programme tended to overlap with those of the dti and DFA, and it was a huge problem. These other two departments would, in her opinion, be better suited to such a programme. There were other similar initiatives happening across
Mr Mpofu replied that South African SOEs were coming to grips with the Competitive Supplier Development Programme (CSDP) and the Department was very conscious of trying to get a fairly good output from the South African side. The Department needed to translate the theoretical constructs in order to show what had been achieved. The Department was not trying to duplicate functions with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Foreign Affairs. There were many companies in the African continent that did not have the capacity to provide the principal mass to build the local industry. Therefore there was a definite need for African companies to partner with other similar companies on the continent in order to build the principal mass. The Department’s intent was to find sufficient suppliers for the SOEs; however the process was not for the SOEs but for the broader industry. In order to succeed the Department needed to work closely with the DTI and DFA.
Mr Mpofu added that one of the main challenges was making sure that the State’s objectives were achieved at the same time that benefits to the commercial entities were achieved. The Department would mitigate the obligation if it was able to bring on board a number of viable organisations with the potential to supply. It was true that many African countries saw
The licencing matter was one that required further engagement in order to determine what could be done from the South African side, in terms of acquiring material from African suppliers. In many cases many of the suppliers could be local traders, and the Department was emphasising the building of the capacity of the local supplier, and lobbying for any changes in policy. The challenge was that the matter was in the hands of dti, but DPE could state how one could leverage the SOEs to build the economy.
Adoption of Reports
Members adopted the draft budget report and discussed the PBMR oversight visit report.
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