Treasury orders PIC to withhold bosses’ bonuses
Executives at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa’s biggest fund manager, will not be paid bonuses until it is determined whether they played a role in the institution’s collapse of governance.
The National Treasury has instructed the PIC, which manages mainly the pensions of government employees, to withhold incentive payments until the findings of the judicial commission of inquiry that took place in 2019 are known.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is considering the commission’s findings, and they have not been made public yet.
The instruction to the PIC was “to enable the board and the minister to be in a better position to consider the implications of paying bonuses to executives and managers who may have been responsible for the governance fallout”, the Treasury said in a response to questions.
The R2.13-trillion money manager faced allegations of corruption, political interference and governance lapses during months of testimony at the commission of inquiry into its operations that was presided over by judge Lex Mpati.
Some of the senior executives have left, and at least two are demanding payment of incentives.
The executives were told in a letter in 2019 that they would not be paid the incentives before the commission’s report was completed, said the Treasury.
The PIC has said that it did not pay out long-term incentives for the 2017/2018 financial year, while long-term and short-term incentives for the 2018/2019 year were withheld.
Incentives totalling R51m in incentives have been kept back.
Dan Matjila, the fund manager’s former CEO, is due R10.7m, according to its annual reports.
Matshepo More, his replacement who is on suspension on allegations that she interfered with the commission, is said to be due R6.7m.
INCENTIVES OF R51M WILL BE RELEASED 0NLY IF OFFICIALS ARE CLEARED OF PLAYING A ROLE IN THE FUND’S COLLAPSE OF GOVERNANCE