Ten years after the end of apartheid the continent's biggest economy is still largely controlled by its white minority, and the government has set transformation goals for key sectors which private companies are working to meet.

In a statement, the Treasury said that to help overcome the difficulties of reaching empowerment goals in public private partnerships (PPPs) it had committed itself to three further interventions in the year ahead.

"Firstly, we are investigating the establishment of an equity facility that will lower the cost of capital to black shareholders in PPPs," it said.

"Secondly, we are designing this facility in such a way that it will support independent financial and legal advice to black enterprises bidding for, negotiating and implementing PPP projects."

The third measure was an internship programme to increase the number of experienced black transaction advisers in the market, the Treasury said.

It gave no further details but noted that so far PPP projects worth more than 18 billion rand were operating in a wide range of sectors, with more than 50 other registered projects in the pipeline.

In established ventures, black ownership of between 25 per cent and 40 per cent of the private parties' shareholding had been established, with a similar percentage for sub-contractors.

-Nampa-Reuters

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