EDITORIAL: SOEs must redefine their roles

Public enterprises are created to advance development on behalf of the government. They are an extension of the state and a catalyst for the fulfilment of the state mandate.Corporations such as MTC have been a near-perfect model of what public entities should be about. Here is a company that has built a reputation of developing sport, entertainment and social justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities and privileges within our country.But on the other end of the stick are state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that are not only mismanaged, but have abandoned their principal mandate of meeting government halfway and delivering services and goods to the masses.The irony is that the failing SOEs are often the ones involved in rent-seeking activities such as donating money towards political activities in order to position themselves in the psyche of corrupt politicians.They do this in the hope of securing bailouts to help erase the footprints of their incompetence and to ensure their wages and other perks are well catered for. The excitement that accompanied the establishment of the ministry of public enterprises in 2015 has faded like a fart on a windy day. Directors of some SOEs continue being appointed at the whims of politicians, while there exists a policy which clearly dictates that such processes must be transparent by ensuring the positions are advertised and interviews are held to get suitable candidates.

EDITORIAL: SOEs must redefine their roles

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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EDITORIAL: SOEs must redefine their roles

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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