Madam Chair, in the 20th century the developing countries that succeeded in promoting industrialisation, sustained growth and development have all had in common developmental states that played a leading role in infrastructure development programmes which had an active industrial strategy. In this context it is correct that there has been renewed emphasis on the role that State-owned Enterprises, SOEs, must play in the developmental state, in that they must remain government-owned to play a vital role in economic growth, as stated in the Estimates of National Expenditure, 2007.
Given South Africa's current challenges, the developmental state should maintain its strategic role in shaping the development of a number of key economic sectors, including through continued ownership of state-owned enterprises. These sectors include the energy, national transport and logistics system, where an ongoing strategic role is envisaged for Eskom and Transnet. We should consider the best means to enhance the strategic role of these and other public enterprises, utilities and agencies across all spheres of government.
The state thus intends to retain ownership of South African Airways as the national carrier with a strategic role to play in South Africa's rapidly developing economy, which requires reliable and extensive air transport capacity. As has been said previously, there are no guarantees that the market would run SAA in a manner that would deliver on the developmental objectives and it is thus vital that SAA remains in state hands. In conclusion, when there are problems with state-owned enterprises, it is important that we look at the management of these state-owned enterprises and not at their ownership. The ANC supports the Vote.
Vote agreed to (Democratic Alliance dissenting).
Vote No 31 - Science and Technology - put and agreed to.
Vote No 32 - Trade and Industry - put and agreed to (Democratic Alliance dissenting).
Vote No 33 - Transport - put.
Declarations of vote: