Minister in The Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Jeff Radebe delivered a mix of promising and troubling news during his briefing on the recent Cabinet lekgotla. Most would welcome news that there is no intention to pull back from South Africa’s independent power producer programme and even possibly the move to address policy uncertainty in the area of information and communication technology. But serious questions are being asked about what lies behind the creation of a Presidential State-Owned Companies (SoCs) Coordinating Council to “provide President Jacob Zuma with line of sight on strategic decisions and interventions to create SoCs that play a transformative role in a capable developmental State”.