GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Why tip-top trustees are vital for holding keys to public sector fund
With its defined-benefit structure and vulnerability to possible capture, pension scheme needs steady hands
It was, in its way, a historic occasion. The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) held their first joint media briefing yet on Tuesday, ostensibly to share the contents of the annual reports they had tabled in Parliament. But in the context of what seemed to be efforts by some in the government to "get the keys to the big safe", the intention clearly was to remind everyone who the money belongs to – and what the risks are if the keys are captured. There was also clearly an effort to reassure trade unionists who are anxious about their members’ pension savings. The context is one in which the government has been looking to the PIC for help with bailing out South African Airways and other state-owned enterprises; all sorts of questions have been raised about the beneficiaries of the PIC’s off-market, unlisted investments; and PIC CEO Dan Matjila’s has come under attack. As CEO Abel Sithole explained at some length, the GEPF is just that ...
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