THE RESTRUCTURING and privatisation of Transnet has been put on an accelerated agenda
That's according to chief director: Dept of Public Enterprises, Andrew Merrifield, who was a keynote speaker at the Maritime Law Association's recent annual general meeting in the Drakensberg.
The Department of Public Enterprises, as shareholder, will consider all possible restructuring options and then choose the most favourable rather than treating privatisation as merely a selling off of assets, he said.
The policy framework for the restructuring process would be based on seven principles:
l The promotion of competition
l Where competition was not possible, a regulatory framework would be established
l The government would deal with the State Owned Enterprises through a shareholder compact framed within internationally accepted norms of corporate
governance.
l A full range of restructuring options would be considered to maximise productivity, profitability and service delivery.
l A maximum possible return to shareholders whether this emanates from dividends, taxation or equity sales.
l Vigorous cost benefit and impact on social welfare analysis to be conducted
l All stakeholders to reach agreement on the logic and method of restructuring. Political influence would be kept to a minimum but when unavoidable, all social objectives would be accounted for in a transparent way.
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