South Africa has squandered billions on government bailouts of SOEs since 2018. Picture: Office of the Presidency.
Government bailouts of SOEs show ZERO return in 5 years
Misplaced faith and billions in government bailouts of SOEs have shown zero return from taxpayers’ money, says AGSA.
South Africa has squandered billions on government bailouts of SOEs since 2018. Picture: Office of the Presidency.
Government bailouts of SOEs is a peculiarly South African phenomenon. Billions in taxpayers’ Rands is handed over to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and most cannot even complete an on-time audit. Worse still, for many, no audit is better than a bad audit.
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According to a report from Business Tech, the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) said the number of public entities with clean audits in 2022/2023 had risen from 126 to 147. Which may make the situation sound better than it really is.
GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS OF SOES
Worryingly, the number of entities that have not completed audits in time has risen from 12 to 31. Recent government bailouts of SOEs include but are not limited to: South African Airways (SAA), Eskom, Denel and Alexkor, all of which still have their audits outstanding.
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Land Bank went from a clean audit to an unqualified one in the last year. As did the SABC. Unbelievably, the only SOE with a clean audit is the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA). As a result, government bailouts of SOEs, their inability to pass clean audits and be accountable for the billions remains a critical problem for South Africa.
R230 BILLION SPENT, ZERO RETURN
Public Enterprise Minister Pravin Gordhan said R230 billion has been spent on government bailouts of SOEs since 2018. Eskom received the majority of the money, taking in R181 billion over five years. SAA took in R37 billion in bailouts.
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Let’s also not forget that Transnet is going to rocket up this list when the R47 billion approved by treasury comes into affect in 2024 for its turnaround plan. Below is a full list of government bailouts of SOEs in South Africa since 2018. That’s a lot of zeros …
| Rank | SOE | Bailouts (2018 to 2023) |
| 1. | Eskom | R181 600 000 000.00 |
| 2. | SAA | R37 136 000 000.00 |
| 3. | Denel | R9 027 586 261.73 |
| 5. | Transnet | R5 837 000 000.00 |
| TOTAL | R233 600 586 261.73 |
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