Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised that the National Treasury is finalising a sustainable solution to Eskom’s debt. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to deal with this during his medium-term budget policy statement in parliament on October 26.
The government will doubtless seek more investment from the private sector in this regard. Yet Deputy President David Mabuza has made it abundantly clear that the privatisation of Eskom is not on the cards. What can be expected while D-Day is looming for Eskom’s debt? There is an obvious scenario unfolding. It all has to do with pension funds.
The state as employer is essentially in control of the state-run Public Investment Corporation (PIC). The PIC acts as investment broker for the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund. The PIC has about R2.3-trillion in assets under management, which it invests on behalf of public servants alone.
About 95% of the PIC investment portfolio is invested in shares that trade on the JSE, bonds, money market accounts and listed properties. But CEO Makano Mosidi has already told a parliamentary oversight committee that the PIC’s biggest focus in the next five years is to lift the percentage invested in unlisted companies from 5% to 25%. This while in 2021 43.4% of investments in unlisted companies underperformed and heavy losses were recorded.
The strategic objectives for investments in unlisted companies are heavily sociopolitical, their aim among other things being to “pioneer the development of quality infrastructure coupled with excellent services for previously neglected markets such as townships and rural areas.”
The planning of the PIC fits the government like a glove. Eskom is already marketed as irreplaceable infrastructure that must be preserved at all costs. With what money? Pension money of course. And a lot of it.
So the government will use the PIC as a hand horse to get its faltering social policy back on track and settle the Eskom debt. Pensioners — and taxpayers — should prepare themselves for a new wave of ingenious state capture.
Joe Kleinhans Annlin
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Pension money will flow to Eskom
President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised that the National Treasury is finalising a sustainable solution to Eskom’s debt. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to deal with this during his medium-term budget policy statement in parliament on October 26.
The government will doubtless seek more investment from the private sector in this regard. Yet Deputy President David Mabuza has made it abundantly clear that the privatisation of Eskom is not on the cards. What can be expected while D-Day is looming for Eskom’s debt? There is an obvious scenario unfolding. It all has to do with pension funds.
The state as employer is essentially in control of the state-run Public Investment Corporation (PIC). The PIC acts as investment broker for the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund. The PIC has about R2.3-trillion in assets under management, which it invests on behalf of public servants alone.
About 95% of the PIC investment portfolio is invested in shares that trade on the JSE, bonds, money market accounts and listed properties. But CEO Makano Mosidi has already told a parliamentary oversight committee that the PIC’s biggest focus in the next five years is to lift the percentage invested in unlisted companies from 5% to 25%. This while in 2021 43.4% of investments in unlisted companies underperformed and heavy losses were recorded.
The strategic objectives for investments in unlisted companies are heavily sociopolitical, their aim among other things being to “pioneer the development of quality infrastructure coupled with excellent services for previously neglected markets such as townships and rural areas.”
The planning of the PIC fits the government like a glove. Eskom is already marketed as irreplaceable infrastructure that must be preserved at all costs. With what money? Pension money of course. And a lot of it.
So the government will use the PIC as a hand horse to get its faltering social policy back on track and settle the Eskom debt. Pensioners — and taxpayers — should prepare themselves for a new wave of ingenious state capture.
Joe Kleinhans
Annlin
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
BUSISIWE MAVUSO: Government is cause of load-shedding and only it can solve the problem
EDITORIAL: Ramaphosa’s crisis of inertia
Will Ramaphosa’s plan for power see the light?
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
World Bank loan to help Eskom repurpose Komati
DA blames Gordhan and De Ruyter as load-shedding continues
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.