This is a very long and rather verbose report on “the circumstances leading to the current situation of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, taking account of relevant life market background; to identify any lessons to be learnt for the conduct, administration and regulation of life assurance business; and to give a report thereon to Treasury Ministers”.

However, a reasonably concise foreword provides the overview of the decisions by Equitable Life that lead to its court case, as well as the constraints within which the inquiry took place.

Full report:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/indrev_pen_index.htm

Foreword:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/penrose_prelimhs.pdf

Summary:

Although the paper is set in the UK environment, its arguments are highly relevant to the South African setting. 

It is known that the management of a fund requires a number of decisions as to the fair treatment of policyholders. This paper first considers the difference between the regulatory requirement to treat customers fairly and the longstanding concept within the profession of policyholders' reasonable expectations. The paper then goes on to consider the bearing of risks within the fund, and thus the interactions between the inherited estate and the asset share often used to guide payouts to customers. The suitable definition of the asset share is considered. Management actions are discussed in normal, abnormal, and post abnormal times. The management actions considered are the potential to charge for guarantee costs and that to vary the exposure of asset shares to more risky, but rewarding, asset classes. Lastly, the uses and distribution of the inherited estate are considered. 

http://www.actuaries.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/141381/sm20081124.pdf