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“In Kenya we think any parastatal is a home for employing people, we forget productivity but when it comes to business out there, we will be eaten alive.”

Zambia's government has had to publicly deny reports China could seize some of its parastatal companies if it defaulted on loan repayments.

Mr Ramaphosa has inherited a bloated, dysfunctional civil service from his predecessor, along with dangerous levels of debt and corruption-riddled parastatal organisations - like the broken state electricity company Eskom - which continue to drain billions from the budget.

The spectacular collapse of what some call a “parastatal” company that has essentially helped the government run day-to-day operations — even managing school lunches and prisons — is raising questions about prominent contracts that continued to be awarded despite obvious red flags and warnings of lower-than-expected profits that began in earnest last summer.

His downfall had been precipitated by Mr Mugabe’s repeated refusal to let him meet the demands of the IMF, such as thinning the public sector and abolishing corrupt parastatal outfits, as the price of unlocking the loans urgently needed to rescue an economy that is once again in rapid decline.