THE
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ENTERPRISES, HAVING CONSIDERED THE SOUTH AFRICAN
AIRWAYS BILL, REPORTS AS FOLLOWS:
1. Consistent
with the government's new emerging shareholder management model and the
Committee's views on this, the committee decided to effect amendments to the
South African Airways (SAA) Bill that would set out more clearly the strategic
role that SAA serves and the need for the Minister to account to parliament for
any major changes in this role and decisions about converting SAA into a public
company. The Committee believes that the temperate amendments it proposed would
not discourage potential investors or unduly bind the Minister.
2. The Minister for Public Enterprises, Mr Alec
Erwin, stressed that he agrees with the amendments proposed but explained that
it would be more appropriate to provide for them in the forthcoming Shareholder
Management Bill. A key reason for this is that the provisions that the
Committee wants in regards to SAA apply to state-owned entities generally. In a
letter to the Committee, the Minister said " with
respect to the recommendation to involve Parliament in the decision to convert
SAA into a public company, the Department is in the process of drafting
legislation to regulate State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) such as SAA. This SOE
legislation will facilitate a role for Parliament in the formation and change
in status of any SOE. I believe this will accommodate the important point made
by the Committee that if an enterprise is strategic enough that we bring the
matter to Parliament, then surely Parliament should have some role if that
status is changed. Our intention is to bring this piece of legislation to the
Committee in the second half of this year." Of course, the "recommendation"
the Minister refers to is a proposed "amendment" - but the Committee recognises the value of what the Minister proposes and
accepts it.
3. The Minister said that the Shareholder Management Bill will provide for each
SOE to have a Charter that sets out its strategic role. Any major change to
this Charter would be brought to parliament.
4. The Minister said that he would explain his intention to provide for the
measures in the pending Shareholder Management Bill during the debate in the
National Assembly on the SAA Bill.
5. The Committee agrees that the amendments it proposes to the SAA Bill are
better addressed in the pending Shareholder Management Bill and will attend to
this in the processing of that Bill.