Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan revealed that the government had provided R233.6-billion in bailouts for SOEs over the last five years and only received R1-million in dividends.
- Eskom received the highest amount of bailouts at R181.6 billion, followed by SAA and Denel.
- Only Safcol paid a dividend of R1 million at its 2021/22 AGM.
- The government made a total return of -99.99957% on its investment in the group of SOEs.
- The South African government has spent R331 billion on SOE bailouts since 2013/2014, with Eskom accounting for 55%.
- The bailouts were granted for turnaround plans, debt repayment, government guarantees, liquidity improvement, and capital expenditure.
- Despite large bailouts, SOEs such as Eskom, SAPO, and Denel are in a worse state than ten years ago.