Thumbs up for new DPE appointee

THERE’S BEEN strong support for the return of Elvin Harris to government service following his appointment as senior director (logistics) at the department of public enterprises. Executive director of the SA Shippers' Council (SASC), LM Pelser, told FTW the association was “extremely pleased” with the news. It appears that the department is still committed to public/private partnerships for the various port facilities which are currently stateowned – like container terminals – but are expected to be sold off in what now seems to be best described as more of a “part-privatisation” exercise rather than “privatisation”. According to Pelser, a main part of Harris’s new portfolio will be to work out the nuts-and-bolts of the new ownership structures, “He is to be deeply involved in deciding how investment should be made in infrastructure,” he said, “looking at whether the investments should be made by government or the private sector or what combination of both would be most acceptable.” But there is no time-frame for the exercise available yet . Although FTW attempted to contact Harris for comments, we failed to connect before final deadline.