Raid on PIC must be resisted

Not only is the plot to continue looting state-owned companies thickening, the attempt to remove any and all impediments to such looting continues.

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, accused of being one of the key figures in the subversion of stateowned enterprises to serve private interests, particularly those of the Guptas, told Cosatu that using the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) funds to bail out South African Airways (SAA) and other parastatals was on the table.

The PIC controls close to R1.9trillion, which is made up predominantly of workers’ pension savings.

So far we know that key to subverting the state has been wrestling the control of stateowned enterprises out of the hands of conscientious lawabiding professional leadership to hand it over to puppets of the politically connected Guptas.

The person who has power to sway decisions on where and in which companies the PIC should invest is a crucial figure in ensuring that the quest to ensure a steady supply of money into the captured parastatals succeeds.

It is no coincidence then that while Gigaba revealed his intentions to Cosatu, a storm had already started to brew at the PIC.

Allegations that PIC CEO Daniel Matjila had authorised investment into a company associated with “his girlfriend” surfaced the same week.

Responding to what he called a smear campaign, Matjila disclosed that he had rejected a funding request of R6-billion from SAA board chairwoman Dudu Myeni.

His refusal to allow the PIC to be used to bail out mismanaged and captured state-owned enterprises is enough to pit him against the beneficiaries of state capture.

It should not come as a surprise that though Matjila made representations rubbishing the allegations against him with concrete evidence satisfying the majority of the board, newly appointed board chair and deputy, Deputy Finance Minister Sfiso Buthelezi and Xolani Mkhwanazi, pushed for further investigation.

Trade unions should not be as naive as to believe that Gigaba’s intentions with the PIC have anything to do with arresting the country’s economic malaise.

Labour federations must fight against this brazen attempt to raid the PIC.