Privatisation has the potential to backfire, so it needs careful consideration. Privatisation in SAThat may well be the case, but would that tight control of expenditure trickle down to the users of those public services, who are ordinary consumers? Pay gapAnd the world-leading discrepancy between what company chiefs are paid and their lowest-paid workers is an indication that the workers providing these newly privatised services will get paid the bare minimum. Ordinary water supplies, also privatised in the UK, are not nearly as good as they used to be, consumers complain. Privatisation has the potential to backfire, so it needs careful consideration.