skyvan
18th Nov 2005, 03:50
Nov 17 2005 09:20:58:473PM
By: Garth Theunissen
Johannesburg - Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin has hinted that national carrier South African Airways (SAA) would remain under state control even though it would shortly become a stand alone complex outside of the Transnet umbrella.
"The airline industry is very volatile and we (government) would want to retain majority ownership," he said on Thursday at a UCT Business School function in Johannesburg.
Erwin said that SA could not rely on foreign entities to oversee its air transport routes and that it would be better to keep SAA in state hands as the airline had a major role to play in growing the economy.
Erwin said: "We would rather not live with uncertainty so we won't be focusing on whether SAA is profitable or not."
Erwin also voiced similar thoughts on struggling state-owned defence contractor, Denel.
"We need a very stable shareholder in key infrastructure areas like defence," he said.
"If we stop Denel you can forget about having an aerospace industry in SA."
Erwin said that Denel was of key strategic importance to SA not only as a defence-manufacturing asset but also as an employer of highly skilled individuals.
"Denel employs a lot of scientists and if you cut it in half you will get a lot of scientists leaving the country," he said.
"We will be keeping the asset but will reposition it in much the same way that we've done in the motor manufacturing industry by try integrate the entity into the very complex global manufacturing system."
Edited by Adrienne Taylor
Cut from Fin24 page.
By: Garth Theunissen
Johannesburg - Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin has hinted that national carrier South African Airways (SAA) would remain under state control even though it would shortly become a stand alone complex outside of the Transnet umbrella.
"The airline industry is very volatile and we (government) would want to retain majority ownership," he said on Thursday at a UCT Business School function in Johannesburg.
Erwin said that SA could not rely on foreign entities to oversee its air transport routes and that it would be better to keep SAA in state hands as the airline had a major role to play in growing the economy.
Erwin said: "We would rather not live with uncertainty so we won't be focusing on whether SAA is profitable or not."
Erwin also voiced similar thoughts on struggling state-owned defence contractor, Denel.
"We need a very stable shareholder in key infrastructure areas like defence," he said.
"If we stop Denel you can forget about having an aerospace industry in SA."
Erwin said that Denel was of key strategic importance to SA not only as a defence-manufacturing asset but also as an employer of highly skilled individuals.
"Denel employs a lot of scientists and if you cut it in half you will get a lot of scientists leaving the country," he said.
"We will be keeping the asset but will reposition it in much the same way that we've done in the motor manufacturing industry by try integrate the entity into the very complex global manufacturing system."
Edited by Adrienne Taylor
Cut from Fin24 page.