Cash-burning state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are on the radar of Mkhuleko Hlengwa, nominated as chair of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), as he looks to turn the tide against capture of key state institutions.
The IFP national spokesperson and MP was put forward for the position by his party, the fourth-largest in parliament, after the IFP was offered the chair of Scopa, parliament’s public accounts watchdog.
The position traditionally goes to an opposition party, in the spirit of transparency and good governance.
The role was previously held by Themba Godi, of the African People’s Convention, but his party did not win sufficient votes in the May 8 election to secure a seat in the National Assembly.
In an interview with Business Day, Hlengwa, who has been a member of Scopa for the past five years, said challenges at Eskom, SAA, the SABC, Transnet and Prasa were “immediate priorities” for Scopa.
The entities have been at the centre of state capture allegations involving the Gupta family, personal friends of former president Jacob Zuma.
“Eskom is on the verge of getting a R230bn bailout and the threat of a blackout at the SABC is of serious concern,” said Hlengwa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his state of the nation address that Eskom will receive R230bn in funding from the government over a 10-year period.
The SABC, for its part, has requested a R3.2bn government guarantee to stay afloat, though its bid for funding has so far been unsuccessful. The public broadcaster is battling debt of close to R2bn, a massive infrastructure maintenance backlog and a huge and unsustainable wage bill. It spends more than R3bn a year on salaries.
“These are the immediate things on our radar if we want to avoid the domino effect of collapsing state entities,” said Hlengwa.
He said Scopa will deal with the legacy of state capture, in which SOEs found themselves “at the receiving end of relentless corruption”.
According to Hlengwa, Scopa will need to put greater emphasis on consequences and ensure those implicated in the collapse of state institutions and breach of Treasury regulations are prosecuted.
To that end, he said the oversight committee will establish strong links with law enforcement agencies such as the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority to ensure the successful prosecution of transgressors.
“We need to get people punished for their misdeeds, otherwise we will just be another talk-shop committee,” he noted.
The end goal, he said, is to stop the rot from recurring. “You can’t just be a committee which shouts and points to problems. We need to be a committee that says: ‘After all is said and done, and so and so has been charged and prosecuted, how do we [stop] the problem from happening again?’”
Hlengwa, who described Scopa as a high-level technical committee, said he plans to build on Godi’s successes.
“I will not for one moment try to be Themba Godi. He was a very capable and able chair. He led Scopa with parliamentary professionalism and general patriotism,” he said. “I pay tribute to him with a very strong emphasis that I’m Mkhuleko and he’s Godi. I will build on his gains.”
Hlengwa will not take the responsibility lightly, he said, given “the enormity of the task at hand”.
“But we are equal to the task that lies ahead, we will hit the ground running and grab the bull by its horns.”
On Sunday, Godi told Business Day that he had had a very good relationship with Hlengwa in the fifth democratic parliament.
“He was a very good member of the committee. Personally, we were very close. He was very disciplined, very focused and a very easygoing person,” Godi said.
However, Godi said, the unfortunate reality about chairing Scopa is that there is no formula for success. “The only advice I can give him is to be dynamic.”
Godi did, however, point to the importance of maintaining good relations and managing personalities. “I don’t know the personalities he is going to be working with there and how he is going to manage them. That is going to be the absolute challenge.”
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