The South African government has published a new bill designed to absorb all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under one state-holding company to be called the State Asset Management Company, reports News 24.
The National State Enterprises Bill will mean that state enterprises such as Transnet and Eskom will migrate and be converted to subsidiaries of the holding company.
This move will also result in the dissolution of the government's Department of Public Enterprises, set up in the 1990s.
According to the government, the bill aims to improve governance and performance by providing them with the ability and means to raise capital from the markets, minimising political interference, and separating the state's regulatory functions from its ownership functions.
It is modelled on the successful models of Singapore, Malaysia, and China.
The bill is now open for public comment and is expected to be tabled in Parliament before the end of March next year.
