**3. Conclusion**

CG has been adopted to steer the SOEs on the right path from the early days of democracy in South Africa. This chapter demonstrated that parastatals/SOEs experienced unstable growth and development due to the impact of socioeconomic and political influence in government decisions to sustain these entities.

Among these factors, political oppositions contested the privatization of SOEs, especially in the energy and infrastructure sectors. SOEs have been exposed to loss of scrutiny since the government is the majority controlling shareholder.

Corruption and maladministration in SOEs demonstrate self-sabotage of the South African democracy. The allegations on Zondo Judicial Commission imply a weak supply chain system, and the absence of a direct legislation or policy to direct/guide and monitor the performance of SOE instead of relying on corporate governance only.

The global financial crisis and the COVID-19 epidemic affected the operation of public sector entities and added to their problems with the nondelivery of services to clients. The current challenge of SOEs emerged from their act of noncompliance of the shareholders and their executives to corporate governance principles. This chapter demonstrated the challenges of CG in the South African SOEs with special reference to accountability and oversight mechanisms.
