Cape Town - A Presidential Committee has been given 12 months to conclude a review on the effectiveness of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Briefing the media on Tuesday, Collins Chabane, the Minister in the Presidency for Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, said the 12-member presidential SOE committee would release its findings on 1 September 2011.
The report will cover the estimated 300 SOEs, including development finance institutions, trusts and other organisations which fall under national, provincial and local government.
The committee, which is based at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), will submit an interim report to President Jacob Zuma in March, to enable him to implement some of the quick-win solutions, soonest.
The committee's chairperson, Riah Phiyega, said the review will delve into the performance of SOEs pre and post-1994, while considering best practices elsewhere in the world.
It will look at how effective SOEs have been in delivering services and consider which of the enterprises should be boosted and which done away with, to best utilise resources.
The review will also look at the funding of SOEs, the investment of the state in strategic sectors, such as energy and agriculture, how these enterprises can help build a developmental state, remuneration of organisation heads and how these enterprises can develop their skills base.
The committee would also look at standardising accounting functions, constructing a clearer definition of what organisations constituted SOEs. It also will set up a database of all SOEs.
SOEs are governed by various legislation and the committee was looking at what needs to be done to create a broad definition and governance structure for state-owned enterprises.
Phiyega emphasised that SOEs remained central to the government's plan to develop the country economically.
Phiyega said since the announcement by President Jacob Zuma on 12 May of the establishment of the committee, members held seven workshops and had been engaged in setting up a secretariat and developing the committee's mandate and terms of reference.
During this time, the committee had also started negotiating with partners, such as the Human Sciences Research Council, to set up a research unit.
The committee will also be working with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it plans to adopt some of the organisation's approaches to state-owned firms in its review.
Phiyega said the committee would hold a seminar next Friday and Saturday to develop a clear definition of state-owned enterprises and look at the role these enterprises can play in a developmental state.
