Opposition parties were united in their objections to the vote on the Department of Public Enterprises’s budget in the National Assembly on Thursday, saying that captured state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had become the means for the looting of public assets.
The DA called for a division on the vote, which was adopted by 210 votes in favour and 103 against.
Over the past few weeks, leaked e-mails have highlighted the extent of the penetration by the Gupta family and its associates into the state-owned sector of the economy.
The DA’s public enterprises spokesperson Natasha Mazzone noted the daily reports of Gupta-associated companies getting tenders from state-owned companies. "As the web of state capture continues to unravel so will the stranglehold that the Gupta family has over the Department of Public Enterprises."
IFP MP Narend Singh noted that Eskom had become the poster child of mismanagement and incompetence. "Its management smiles while they tell you how profitable the entity is, while conveniently refusing to elaborate on high electricity costs to consumers or how allegedly irregular tender coal supply deals were concluded."
Corruption was also allegedly embedded at Transnet and allegations had been made that the director-general of the department, Richard Seleke, was a "Gupta spy" which Singh said did not augur well for the future of the department. He said it should be disbanded.
EFF MP Mzingisi Dlamini also condemned the looting by the Guptas that was going on and called for the removal of all current boards of directors of SOEs, which he said should be placed under administration; otherwise, the looting would just get out of control.
Congress of the People MP Willie Madisha called for the immediate suspension of Seleke because of his alleged links to the Guptas.
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