The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday that should the African National Congress (ANC) succeed in pushing through to Parliament the National State Enterprises Bill, this will allow a return of the capture of State-owned companies through a singular holding company that controls them all.

DA spokesperson on planning, monitoring & evaluation Darren Bergman said his party would continue pushing against the Bill, pointing out that South Africa’s circumstances and history demanded a strengthening of oversight over State-owned enterprises (SOEs), not “hiding them all in a giant State company.”

Bergman explained that there was also a growing imperative for government to assess and determine which SOEs remained worthwhile and which could be let go of.

“Unbundling non-performing SOEs and opening the door to private-sector participation are key to ensuring sustainable growth and stable government-owned entities,” he said.

The previous process to approve the Bill in the National Assembly lapsed with the election in May 2024 and formation of the new government.

In late July 2024, the Bill was revived in the National Assembly and proceedings to take the Bill through parliamentary processes and into legislation were resumed.

Bergman explained that while President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed a proclamation returning SOEs to relevant ministries, the ANC remained “hellbent on bulldozing” the Bill through Parliament.

“Under the President’s proclamation, the Department of Public Enterprises was disbanded by moving all State-owned enterprises to departments fitting their function, and this was a move in the right direction,” he said.

He stated that it had been widely reported that after a visit to China, Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Minister Maropene Ramakgopa had been shown the weakness in the current proposed plan and shown other remedies to avoid a disaster.

However, he said Ramakgopa was not budging.

He questioned why Ramakgopa remained focused on a centralised model, putting all State entities into one unwieldy company, while disregarding other decentralised or hybrid models.