NEVA MAKGETLA: State-owned companies cost a fortune
But Thabo Bester scandal shows private provision of basic services can also be problematic
18 April 2023 - 05:00
SA has entered a daunting fiscal winter, putting pressure on public services across the board. Yet the latest national budget provides R264bn over the next three years to relieve Eskom’s debt, after bailouts in 2022 to Eskom, Denel, Transnet and SAA totalling more than R30bn.
Meanwhile, the melodrama of Thabo Bester’s escape shows, once again, that private provision of basic services can also be problematic — a lesson we already learnt from, among others, reliance on taxis for commuter transport and the soaring cost of medical aid...
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