Twenty-one issues have been identified for the Presidential State-owned Enterprises Review Committee (PRC) to look into and make recommendations on.

The 12-member committee was appointed by President Jacob Zuma in May this year and given three months to familiarise itself with the mandate and help develop the terms of reference, review framework and methodology.

Briefing the media on Tuesday, committee chairperson Riah Phiyega said that this process had been completed and the committee had officially started work on September 1.

The PRC would review and make recommendations on:

- a common understanding and definition for state-owned enterprises (SOEs);

- the place of SOEs in a developmental state;

- the strategic importance and value creation of SOEs;

-- the viability and funding of SOEs;

- the existing portfolio of investments by the state in strategic businesses;

- the efficiency and effectiveness of SOEs with respect to service delivery;

- current policy and regulatory framework and the impact thereof on the management of SOEs;

- the balance of social, political, and economic imperatives in delivering objectives for SOEs;

- harmonisation of performance measurements among SOEs;

- standardisation of accounting and reporting processes of SOEs;

- shareholder oversight and governance of SOEs;

- recruitment, selection, and appointment of boards and executive management of SOEs;

- remuneration policies of SOEs, taking into account wage differential aspects;

- current restructuring initiatives (privatisation, retrenchments, public-private partnerships, etc.) of SOEs and their implications;

- SOEs as a platform for sustainable human capital development and a catalyst for scarce skills;

- establishment of a comprehensive database of SOEs across all spheres of government;

- policy for establishing and de-establishing SOEs;

- criteria and framework for identifying and establishing priority SOEs, relevant global benchmarking, and best practices;

- alignment, collaboration, and co-operation among SOEs to optimise state resources;

- relationship and collaboration between ministries to achieve SOE objectives; and

- compliance of SOEs to government's development and transformation agenda.

Phiyega said that a number of matters were at issue, such as were the failures of SOEs exaggerated, did they in fact perform worse than private firms, if failures existed and reform was necessary, how should it be accomplished, and could SOEs be reformed from within, or were they intrinsically inefficient?

Further, would changes to the operating environment improve SOE performance, or was wholesale change of ownership necessary?

Were SOE inefficiencies a by-product of government-required social objectives and did the benefits from these social goals outweigh the cost of inefficiency, and what was the role of SOEs in the developmental state?