At any other time in SA’s politics, efforts to hold the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to account and to force it to make full disclosure of its unlisted investment portfolio could only be a good thing. The power the PIC wields over SA’s markets and its economic fortunes can hardly be overestimated. It is the single largest investor on the JSE, owning more than 11% of the market value of the JSE’s top 25 listed companies, a recent Treasury study found. It is a major client for the private sector asset management industry, to which it outsources the management of some funds. Most crucially, in its role as the asset manager for the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the PIC manages the retirement savings of well over a million public sector employees and pensioners. It also manages the unemployment insurance money held for the benefit of millions of people who lose their jobs and the Compensation Fund. And that means taxpayers ultimately are liable if the PIC fails to do i...
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