Treasury eyes R40bn in state properties to boost its coffers

Treasury has changed tack on which state assets it wants to sell to bolster state-owned enterprises.

SAA and Eskom are both looking for money.

Treasury had previously looked at selling the government’s nearly 40% stake in Telkom to fund the bailout of SAA.

The Telkom stake is no longer up for sale.

Dondo Mogajane, Treasury director-general, said this week the Telkom stake was “family silver”.

“We are not saying it is off the table [the Telkom stake] ... We have introduced another asset – in the form of properties.

"Government has 195 000 properties that are in prime locations. We want to unlock value worth R40 billion plus. Some can be disposed of straight away,” Mogajane said.

“In the coming year the government might be required to provide financial support to several state-owned companies, which could be done through a combination of disposing of non-core assets, strategic equity partners, or direct capital injections,” Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said in his budget speech.

He said provisions had been made for SAA, SA Express and Denel “so we don’t need to undergo section 16 of the Public Management Finance Act [emergency bailout] ... to provide recapitalisation to SAA. We have discussed how to handle the SA National Roads Agency.