South African taxpayers have spent about R521 billion over the last 15 years to keep State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) alive.
The state has received just R1 million in dividends from SOEs since 2019, despite the billions in bailouts.
This means the government’s return on equity over the past five years equates to 0.0003% for all SOEs under the Public Enterprises portfolio.
Despite the bailouts, many companies continue to fail due to financial mismanagement and corruption.
In February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted that in the decade preceding March 2025, requests for bailouts and debt takeovers had cost R520.6 billion.
Godongwana added that the government had made this funding available without significantly raising taxes. This means the money was taken from other areas.
These allocations, in recent years, are nearly the same amounts that the state had to cut from health, pensions, provinces, and the SANDF.
The Foundation for Rights of Expression and Equality (Free SA), a policy search and advocacy organisation that provides research and analysis of various government policies, says the bailout cost of R520.6 billion could have:
- Built over 8,600 new schools
- Built over 2.6 million homes, and
- Created a police force three times its current size.
The biggest beneficiaries are Eskom, South African Airways and the South African National Roads Agency. Others include Transnet, the South African Post Office, and Denel.
The problem of ascertaining a precise figure is due to the “inconsistent reporting, varying definitions of bailouts, and the complexity of fiscal allocations”.
However, based on the latest information from parliamentary briefings and committee meetings, the figure is likely even higher than the National Treasury estimates.