Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ongoing review into the performance of state-owned enterprises will go a long way in rooting out the capture of government institutions by politically connected individuals for their personal gain.Parastatals and other government institutions have been in the spotlight in recent months amid allegations that a number of them are operating under the influence of business groups and individuals who seek to enrich themselves through controlling state assets and organisations.Allegations of "state capture" intensified last month when Cosatu and the SACP publicly accused the Guptas of exploiting their friendship with President Jacob Zuma to gain an unfair advantage in the mining sector.The Guptas have consistently denied using their links to Zuma and his family to secure business from state-owned enterprises and win mining licences.story_article_left1In an interview following Zuma's state of the nation address this week, Ramaphosa acknowledged that there is a strong perception in the business world that "state capture" has become endemic and that there is a belief that only those with political connections receive lucrative deals from the government and parastatals."State capture is a phenomenon that should not exist, quite frankly."One of the processes we would want our state-owned enterprises to be involved in is to have really squeaky clean and outstanding corporate governance processes where, if any corporation does business with a state-owned enterprise, it is on an arm's-length basis."It must be done in adherence to the highest corporate governance principles and it must be done transparently and in a way where there is no conflict of interest," Ramaphosa said.On Thursday night, Zuma announced that Ramaphosa will lead the implementation of a series of recommendations put forward by the presidential review commission on state-owned enterprises to turn around underperforming parastatals.Ramaphosa said the process would also entail instilling a code of behaviour in all public institutions that ensured good corporate governance and rooted out the practice of dishing out business contracts on the basis of political connections."That is the certainty that everybody wants, the international community; everyone wants that you don't have to have political connections ... We should be doing business on an open and fair basis guided by the constitution, which gives us freedom to conduct business."I do believe political connections should not be the order of the day; it should be the strength of your own business, the strength of what you can offer ... Companies should compete on an equal basis. That is the South Africa of our dreams."In his speech, Zuma suggested that the government was looking at "phasing out" some of its companies that "are no longer relevant to our development agenda". They are holding back because they want that certainty and that is something that we accept Speculation has been rife that this would mean the sale of a portion of Eskom and the collapse of SA Express into SAA.But Ramaphosa said the process was still very far from being concluded as he and his team had to look at all 700 business entities owned by the government.The deputy president conceded that the government has failed the struggling, but still crucial, mineral resources sector through its policy flip-flops.The industry, which has been the backbone of the economy for more than a century, is going through a rough period partly due to low commodity prices. But potential investors have also been put off by the government's failure to develop clear and predictable policies.Ramaphosa said this was a "work in progress" as the government realised that investors were unhappy about the ongoing uncertainty over policies."What that tells us is that we are doing a big disservice to that industry as a government by not speeding up the process - because investors want certainty."They are holding back because they want that certainty and that is something that we accept.story_article_right2"We accept that we have slowed down in a way that is not of great benefit to the industry and we are going to pick up pace on that. I must say we got the message very loud and clear."The proceedings in parliament this week got off to a bumpy start when EFF MPs disrupted Zuma's speech by going against parliamentary convention and raising points of order as he spoke.Ramaphosa said that although he had expected disruptions, he was saddened by the EFF's "disrespect" for parliament and the office of the president."Even if you don't like the head of state, even if you think the head of state is not doing a great job, it is the position," said Ramaphosa.He said the EFF protest had "trashed" and "demeaned" parliament. It "taints the image of the country", he added."It makes people who would look at South Africa as an investment destination - and, indeed, a tourist destination - to raise a question mark because they would say: 'We have seen scenes on television of terrible disruption in the august body of your nation ... what is happening?'"..