ArcelorMittal South Africa’s new chairman Bonang Mohale has called for the stabilisation of state-owned enterprises (SOE) in order for South Africa to not become “yet another failed African state”.
In the ArcelorMittal’s 2022 integrated annual report, Mohale who was appointed in May 2022, said behind the woeful state of the SOEs, there was “a sinister, thieving hand of state capture”.
“The intent of those calling themselves our leaders has been not about the service delivery as they profess, but to brazenly plunder the resources and institutions that rightfully belong to us, the people…
“For the 28 years that we have been free, more than half has been spent in the dark. So, we have a euphemism for blackouts, which we call load shedding. Now we have water shedding, and fuel shedding,” he said.
Mohale said Eskom cannot keep the lights on, and Transnet cannot deliver goods or keep turning the wheels that keep SA’s economy on track.
“Mixed metaphors aside, when the World Bank ranks four South African ports among the five worst in the world, you know something is wrong. When, as our chief executive notes, a primary steel producer runs out of iron ore, you really should know that something is wrong.
“So how, in this morass of blunders and daylight robbery, can one company make a difference? How can we help our country turn the corner? The truth is, on our own – very little. But together – almost anything,” he said.
Mohale called on business, labour, and civil society to help stabilise the parastatals.
“Together, we must recognise how powerful we are in holding the feet of this government to the fire if need be; to unlock structural reforms and bring those who have raided the public pockets to account,” he said.
“We must stabilise Eskom. We must accelerate infrastructure; we must unblock that R2.15 trillion infrastructure pipeline; we must invest like never before in water, and we must break our crippling logistics logjams. Starting with Transnet.
“And we must restore law and order. But first, business must get its own house in order. It must demonstrate that it is serious about social justice. That it can provide the moral, effective leadership we need – and that only business can provide,” he said.
Mohale said there was much to be done, and yet the nation had little time to do so much.
“Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much. As a nation, we need a whole new deal. To quote from our 2021 integrated report, ArcelorMittal and my fellow directors are ready and ‘willing to collaborate, serve and lead’,” Mohale said.
Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal SA CEO Kobus Verster said the company recognised the role it has to play in writing the South Africa story, especially during these difficult times.
“As responsible corporate citizens, we have adopted the view that we have to ‘lean into’, as opposed to ‘lean away from’, the current problems facing our country.
“So, we have put our own technical resources at the disposal of Eskom, paying for and sending our own engineers out with theirs to try to fix and prevent breakdowns. We have also deployed our highly skilled security services to help Transnet’s on-the-ground teams deal with cable and equipment theft on the rail lines leading to our premises,” Verster said.
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