'Separation must be done
carefully so that privatisation of one entity does not harm others'
SANGO NTSALUBA, Transnet's group finance g.m. has been appointed an executive director with the task of driving the transport parastatal's restructuring campaign.
My responsibilities are primarily the co-ordination and implementation of the restructuring process in Transnet, says Ntsaluba, a chartered accountant.
This does not mean merely privatisation. That does form part of restructuring, but privatisation is mainly a government process. The government sets the macro scene in this respect, he says.
Ntsaluba will now interact with CEOs of the various companies within Transnet and with five other executive directors on the restructuring process.
We have wanted to create an intellectual capacity to engage the business units on various models of restructuring, and to speed up the process, says Mafika Mkwanazi, Transnet's deputy m.d.
Twelve of the entities are to be fast-tracked, including corporatisation, bringing equity partners on board for some and outright privatisation of others.
According to Ntsaluba, the major challenge in restructuring or privatising Transnet units lies in the way the company was designed in 1990 as an entity with numerous intertwined sections.
Now we are faced with the problem of separation which has to be done carefully so that privatisation of one entity does not harm others.
Some of the companies still have to be corporatised and become independent entities, while others have already reached that status.
These include SAA, whose strategic equity partner should be appointed by mid-1999, Datavia, the IT company, Viamax, which has interests in fleet and corporate cost management, Fast Forward, the freight company previously known as PX, and our printing company Production House.
By Leonard Neill
