Godongwana rebuffs Transnet debt-relief demand

South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana vowed to keep showing “tough love” toward the nation’s ailing state-owned enterprises, rebuffing calls for a bailout of Transnet.

The African National Congress, the nation’s largest political party, said it would ask the Treasury for a relief package for the rail and ports operator similar to the one granted Eskom in 2023.

“My stance on tough love for SOEs remains,” he told Bloomberg in an interview on Wednesday. Godongwana, who will deliver South Africa’s annual spending plan on February 19, said that the budget process was now closed.

South Africa has spent more than R520 billion ($28 billion) since 2009 in bailouts for state-owned companies, some of which continue to experience operational challenges and remain in precarious financial positions.

“The ANC, as a matter of policy, can make a suggestion that we should attend to the challenges facing Transnet,” said Godongwana. “As to how we attend to those challenges, is a matter of detail, which if we do, I cannot talk about at the moment.”

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