https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Brown grilled over Gupta links

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown

Photo by Duane Daws

26th April 2016

By: News24Wire

  

Font size: - +

Opposition parties on Tuesday laid into Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown for allowing the controversial Gupta family to infiltrate South Africa’s State-owned companies.

In her budget speech for the 2016-17 financial year, Brown said the government needs to retain its ownership of state-owned companies to ensure economic growth and create employment for generations to come.Responding to the speech, the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) Natasha Mazzone said the Department of Public Enterprises was originally established as a catalyst for privatisation. “But nowadays we are seeing privatisation in a reprehensible fashion by allowing the Guptas to gain influence in our State-owned companies.”

Mazzone called on the chairperson of the oversight committee on public enterprises to summons the Gupta family, as well as former public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan and her replacement, Malusi Gigaba, to account for allegations of preferential treatment of the Gupta family.

She cited the resignation of former Eskom chairperson Zola Tsotsi, the dismissal of Hogan and the suspension of three executives at Denel recently as examples of how the Guptas have “captured” state-owned companies.

“The minister will call me negative and say I’m bringing down the country, but the DA can’t support this budget,” Mazzone concluded.

The Economic Freedom Fighters' (EFF's) Nthako Matiase accused Brown of “facilitating the rot and the looting of state resources”.

“The EFF therefore won’t support this budget vote, because we won’t be party to this looting.”

Matiase also said that a department of public enterprises is superfluous and that the various State-owned companies should move to their line function departments. “Denel must go to the Department of Defence, etc.”

The Inkatha Freedom Party's Narend Singh echoed this sentiment. “I’m asking: is there a need for the department to continue existing? The answer is ‘no’, because of the law of diminishing returns,” Singh said.

Edited by News24Wire

Comments

Showroom

Rittal
Rittal

Rittal is a world leading provider of top-quality integrated systems for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Willard
Willard

Rooted in the hearts of South Africans, combining technology and a quest for perfection to bring you a battery of peerless standing. Willard...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.09 0.148s - 176pq - 4rq
Subscribe Now