Question NW298 to the Minister of Public Enterprises
11 March 2019 - NW298
Wessels, Mr W to ask the Minister of Public Enterprises
(1) (a) What expected financial assistance will be required by any public enterprise in the next six months, (b) what amount will be expected by each public enterprise as financial assistance and (c) what are the reasons thereof; (2) whether, given the danger of the R79 billion claim for Transnet and the country’s credit rating and financial future, any public enterprise's financial assistance can be postponed and the expected financial aid can be re-allocated to the settlement needed for the Transnet Pension Court case; if not, why not,; if so, what are the details and timelines regarding the settlement process; (3) whether he will make a statement on the matter?
Reply:
This response is according to information received from the SOC:
(1)(a) The companies in the Department of Public Enterprises portfolio have requested the following financial assistance for consideration during the 2018 Adjustments Budget and 2019 Budgeting process:
|
|
Alexkor |
Denel |
Eskom |
Safcol |
SAX |
SAA |
Transnet |
|
Requested financial assistance |
R100 million |
R2.8 billion |
R100 billion |
R0 |
R1.74 billion |
R15.5 billion |
R0 |
The SOCs, with the support of government, are in the process of negotiating the rollover and refinancing of existing debt as well as seeking to secure additional funding to meet the companies’ liquidity requirements. The exact amount, or even whether assistance will be forthcoming from government will be determined by the National Treasury, after consultation with the department of Public Enterprises, and subject to approval of cabinet.
(b) The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) recently approved the Adjustments Appropriation Bill and the Special Appropriation Bill, which included amongst others an appropriation of R1.249 billion for South African Express SOC Limited (SA Express) and R5 billion appropriation for South African Airways SOC Limited (SAA) respectively.
As the 2019/20 budgeting process has still to be concluded, there is no clear indication of further funding to be provided to the SOCs.
(c) In line with conditions set by the Minister of Finance, these amounts allocated to SAA and SA Express will be used exclusively to settle the airlines’ guaranteed debt.
(2) Based on the information received from Transnet, the settlement discussions between the legal representatives of the pensioners and Transnet are continuing and it is hoped that these will be concluded early in 2019. At this stage, due to the confidential nature of the discussions, it would not be in the best interests of any of the parties to disclose the details, until a decision is taken on the proposed offers and counter offers.
(3) No further statement is required at this point