Voorsitter, van die openbare ondernemings speel 'n kardinale rol in Suid-Afrika, maar die vraag is of hulle voldoen aan die vereistes waarvoor hulle tot stand gebring is. Die DA wil weet hoe ernstig die staat met sy nege openbare ondernemings is, of vorige Ministers Erwin en Mabandla hul oorsigfunksie gehandhaaf het, of die departement in beheer is van hul aandeelhouersbestuur, en of die Wet op Openbare Finansile Bestuur na behore toegepas word.
Eerstens, wat betref Transnet, met sy R100 miljard-batestruktuur, is die beheer en bestuur daarvan nie na wense nie. Transnet het ook nou vir Nersa genader vir 'n tariefverhoging van 70% om sy brandstofpypleiding van Durban na Gauteng te voltooi, wat reeds vertraag is tot 2011. Vanjaar stuur Transnet af op 'n 15% inkomsteverlies. Transnet het oor die laaste drie jaar net R4,8 miljard se groei in inkomste getoon, maar hy kort R80 miljard oor die volgende vyf jaar vir sy kapitaaluitbreidingsprogram. Die DA wil weet waar Transnet hierdie geld gaan kry.
Transnet is ook die voog van, en verantwoordelik vir, sy Tweede Vastevoordeel-pensioenfonds - the Second Defined Pension Benefit Fund. Die 80 000 lede van die fonds ontvang net 2% verhoging per jaar in pensioene, terwyl die gemiddelde pensioen net R2 833 per maand beloop, en 40% van hierdie lede reeds minder as die staat se maatskaplike pensioen kry.
Transnet het ook aangekondig dat Transmed, sy mediese fonds, volgende jaar oor geen fondse meer sal beskik nie. Dit is 'n nasionale skande dat Transnet sy pensioenarisse, wat hierdie infrastruktuur oor 40 jaar opgebou het, net so vir die wolwe gooi. Agb Minister, ek het reeds verlede jaar 'n voorlegging aan die vorige twee Ministers voorgehou met voorstelle om die lot van hierdie pensioenarisse te verlig. Die DA sal binne enkele dae weer 'n voorlegging aan u en die portefeuljekomitee voorhou, en ons vertrou dat u dringend sal ingryp om hierdie saak op te los. Voorsitter, tweedens, Alexkor-diamantmyn in die Noord-Kaap se produksie het as gevolg van die Richtersveld-gemeenskap se grondeise byna tot stilstand gekom. Alexkor soek nou weer R260 miljoen van die belastingbetaler om weer aan die gang te kom.
Derdens, SA Express Airways se roetes is net SA-streekgebonde. Hierdie klein lugredery het net R300 miljoen wins oor vyf jaar getoon en kan geen werklike bydrae tot die staatskas lewer in terme van dividende nie.
Vierdens, die SA Forestry Company Ltd, Safcol, 'n staatsbeheerde bosboumaatskappy, besit plantasies in drie provinsies. Hierdie onderneming met sy klein R3 miljard-batestruktuur kan geprivatiseer word, omdat daar nie regverdiging is om dit in staatsbeheer te hou nie.
Vyfdens, Broadband Infraco, wat nog net twee jaar oud is, sal so gou as moontlik sy dienste aan alle privaat rolspelers beskikbaar moet stel om die koste van internasionale kommunikasie goedkoper te maak. Dit is nog in 'n vroe fase van ontwikkeling en dit is onbekend wat sy afhanklikheid van die belastingbetaler oor tyd gaan wees.
Sesdens, Denel funksioneer sedert 1998 teen 'n verlies. Die belastingbetaler het in 2008 en 2009 onderskeidelik R660 miljoen en R260 miljoen aan Denel gegee vir oorlewing. Die vraag is of Denel enige strategiese waarde vir Suid-Afrika inhou en of dit nie verkoop of uitgefaseer kan word nie.
Voorsitter, ten opsigte van die sewende openbare onderneming, naamlik die Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, is Suid-Afrika vir tien jaar betrokke by 'n eksperiment wat reeds in Duitsland gestaak is. Dit gaan die belastingbetaler R18 miljard kos, waarvan R10 miljard reeds bewillig is, en dit alles net om 165 megawatt kernkrag teen 2015 te genereer, teenoor 4000 megawatt wat 'n gewone steenkoolkragsentrale kan lewer.(Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Dr S M VAN DYK: Chairperson, certain public enterprises have a vital role to play in South Africa, but the question is: Are they meeting the needs for which they were established? The DA wants to know how serious the government is about its nine public enterprises, whether the former Ministers Erwin and Mabandla upheld their oversight functions, whether the department is in control of their shareholder management, and whether the Public Finance Management Act is being duly enforced.
Firstly, as far as Transnet is concerned, with its R100 billion asset structure, the control and management thereof is not up to scratch. Transnet has now also approached Nersa for a tariff hike of 70% in order to complete its fuel pipeline from Durban to Gauteng, which has already been postponed to 2011. This year Transnet is heading for a 15% loss in income. Over the past three years Transnet has only shown a growth in income of R4,8 billion, but it needs R80 billion over the next five years for its capital expenditure programme. The DA wants to know where Transnet is going to find this money.
Transnet is also the guardian of, and responsible for, its Second Defined Pension Benefit Fund. The 80 000 members of the fund get only a 2% increase in pension per annum, while the average pension amounts to just R2 833 per month, and 40% of these members are already receiving less than the government's social pension.
Transnet has also announced that Transmed, its medical fund, won't have any more funds at its disposal next year. It is a national disgrace that Transnet is throwing its pensioners, who developed this infrastructure over a period of 40 years, to the wolves. Hon Minister, last year already, I presented a submission to the two former Ministers with proposals to mitigate the fate of these pensioners. Within the next few days the DA will again make a submission to the portfolio committee, and we are confident that you will urgently intervene to resolve this matter.
Chairperson, secondly, production at the Alexkor diamond mine in the Northern Cape has come to a virtual halt because of the land claims by the Richtersveld community. Alexkor is again seeking R260 million from the taxpayer to get off the ground.
Thirdly, SA Express Airways' routes are restricted to regions within SA. This small airline has shown a profit of only R300 million in five years and isn't able to make a significant contribution to the state coffers in terms of dividends.
Fourthly, the SA Forestry Company Ltd, Safcol, a state-managed forestry company, owns plantations in three provinces. This enterprise with its small R3 billion asset structure can be privatised, since there is no justification to continue state-ownership.
In the fifth place, Broadband Infraco, which is just two years old, will have to make its services available to all private role-players as soon as possible to make the costs of international communication cheaper. It is still in an early phase of development and it is not yet known what its dependence on the taxpayers will be in time to come.
In the sixth place, Denel has been functioning at a loss since 1998. In 2008 and 2009, respectively, the taxpayer gave Denel R660 million and R260 million to ensure its survival. The question is whether Denel holds any strategic value for South Africa and whether it shouldn't be sold or phased out?
Chairperson, with regard to the seventh state enterprise, namely the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, South Africa has been involved in an experiment for ten years that has already been discontinued in Germany. It is going to cost the taxpayer R18 billion, of which R10 billion has already been granted, and all of this to generate just 165 megawatts of nuclear power by 2015, as opposed to the 4000 megawatts which a regular coal-fired power plant can produce.]
Chairperson, SAA is an embarrassment to South Africa. Last year SAA's total debt amounted to R17,7 billion, and the airline remains R9 billion in debt to its previous parent company, Transnet. Over the past six years the taxpayer bailed SAA out to the tune of R15 billion. Now, SAA has called for another R11 billion from the taxpayer for its turnaround strategy. The DA has already called in Parliament for a forensic audit on SAA, and for the airline to be privatised.
Lastly, coming to Eskom, the demand for power grew by 50% since 1994, but on the contrary, in 1998 Cabinet instructed Eskom not to proceed with the building of new power stations, and in 2001 Eskom then decided to sell off most of its coal stockpile. Now Eskom requires a 34% tariff increase to finance its 125 million ton coal consumption per annum, and so coalmines get subsidised, through the taxpayer, as the coalmines' net profit on coal production increased by almost 200% over the past year. Eskom also needs an extra R343 billion for its capital expansion programme which will not, according to Eskom, be recovered by tariff increases. The taxpayer already granted R60 billion in 2008 for this exercise. The question is: Where will Eskom get the remaining R283 billion over the next three years?
The DA already urgently requested an independent commission of inquiry to assess Eskom's management and its current and future production capacity. We, as the DA, say that the government should not be the sole shareholder of Eskom, and that its policy for Eskom to be a monopoly and the sole purchaser and contributor of power should be revised to create opportunities for the private sector to enter the electricity-generating market.
The question is whether the government is serious about state-owned enterprises. The ANC government is strong on social issues but very weak on business issues. The role of Public Enterprises, according to the department's annual report and the Appropriation Bill, Estimates of Expenditure and the Parliamentary Budget Analysis for Members and Committees of this Parliament is, and I quote: "That Public Enterprises should be efficient, competitive and the turnaround strategies must constantly be on Parliament's oversight agenda."
But in practice it appears that the Department of Public Enterprises does not comply with this. Instead of public enterprises contributing dividends to the fiscus, the taxpayer has to bail them out most of the time, and for this poor management, for example, Eskom's management received ...
THE HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M N Oliphant): Two minutes left, hon member.