The big news on the parastatal landscape is the possible use of Telkom to plug the perpetual black hole at South African Airways (SAA). At least the country will hopefully soon see the back of Dudu Myeni, who has been a terrible chairwoman at the airline.
In addition to the finance ministry’s scheduled announcement of a new SAA chairperson, Parliament is interviewing new SABC board members on Wednesday. At the weekend, I also saw a call for nominations for suitably qualified people to serve on public enterprises boards.
These developments may well herald a new reawakening to the reality that we need urgently to fix governance at state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Board members need to understand that serving on the board of an SOE is as much a civic duty as a privilege or a job. That’s why it can be argued that, given the corruption associated with these appointments including cadre deployment by the governing party, SOE board members should not be career-focused individuals and nor should they be people who are motivated by board fees. It is shocking that board members at some SOEs are paid the equivalent of a salary.
It has been alleged in the past that some boards have convened unnecessary meetings just to earn the fees.
One hopes that this is an exaggeration of the situation, but it is clear to me that if people are appointed for wrong reasons, there is every likelihood that they will seek to further their own, or party interests, rather than those of the enterprise. And it becomes impossible to avoid the incompetence that is evident in so many SOE board decisions, not to mention the politically motivated interference and corruption.
During the heydays of Transnet, when it was based at the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg, the chairman of the board not only had an office that rivalled those of many a listed company, but had a dedicated lift leading to it with its own key, a clear sign of the blurring of lines between the executive and nonexecutive roles.
This is one of the most common misunderstandings among SOE board members — they do not understand the difference between executive and nonexecutive directors.
The report of the SABC parliamentary probe revealed how the chair of the board clung to power until he was the last man standing.
It is now common cause that she missed almost all meetings of the board held in 2017 and treated both her fellow board members and Parliament with contempt
And Myeni has been a prime example of unwarranted interference, walking the corridors while sabotaging executive decision-making and conducting negotiations she had no business getting involved in in the first place.
Myeni excelled at throwing her weight around, yet failed dismally when it came to her real job of leading the board and ensuring the efficient implementation of its umpteenth turnaround plan.
It is now common cause that she missed almost all meetings of the board held in 2017 and treated both her fellow board members and Parliament with contempt.
This is the kind of rot that must be tackled fast if any of the SOEs are to function properly. The second challenge is liquidity and expertise. The strategic partner that the national airline so desperately needs will have to have deep pockets to relieve the taxpayer of the constant bail-outs SAA has historically required.
It will also have to have a deep knowledge of the industry — random funds will simply go the way of the previous bail-outs.
Another international airline would be first prize, since that holds the promise of improved efficiencies and new networks to complement the Star Alliance.
• Tabane is author of Lets Talk Frankly and Host of Power Perspective on Power FM.
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