Corruption at state-owned entities is concealed from scrutiny because these companies do not account to parliament or legislatures, unlike the government's departments.
This is contained in the SA Council of Churches draft report on allegations of corruption in the government and SOEs.
The draft says SOEs are not required to table their budgets and expenditure plans in parliament, which means that their financial transactions cannot be discussed and debated in the same way that departmental budgets are put under the microscope.
"In short, the details of expenditures by SOEs can be hidden from public scrutiny," it said.
It is expected that when the SACC releases the final report, it will reveal the illegal or corrupt financial transactions at SOEs, such as Denel, Eskom, SAA and Transnet.
Already there have been allegations of corruption and contracts being illegally given to politically connected people.
The whistleblowers who appeared before the SACC have provided its panel with proof.
The report traces the problem from when Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba was minister of public enterprises and he started reconfiguring the boards of several SOEs.
"This, however, was only the first step in the repurposing of the SOEs.
"The second was to exploit the loophole in the Public Finance Management Act that made it possible to use the procurement procedures of SOEs to benefit selected contractors," the SACC's draft report stated.
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