‘We will leave no stone unturned’
New PIC chair to probe Matjila
MONDLI Gungubele, the recently appointed chairman of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), says he will leave no stone unturned when he gets his first opportunity to look into allegations about CEO Dan Matjila’s conduct this week.
Gungubele, who is also deputy finance minister, will chair his first PIC annual general meeting on Friday since his appointment more than a month ago.
He plans to compare what he has read and heard against his own experience. His first worry is the reputation of the institution, which manages about R2-trillion of pension monies on behalf of government employees and other funds, including the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The PIC is regularly lobbied to fund other investments, often by politically connected persons.
“I want to assure South Africans that as far as transparency and clean governance is concerned, we will leave no stone unturned. My commitment is that I always believe in running clean institutions,” he said.
Matjila is accused of making questionable investment decisions, including paying monies out of corporate social investment to an alleged girlfriend. The Sunday Times reported yesterday that the day before failed bank VBS was put into curatorship, the PIC was about to pay it R700-million.
Speaking from Geneva, Switzerland, at an international labour conference, Gungubele said: “What must matter is the institution, not individuals.”
Before his departure, Gungubele had assisted the board in collecting information that Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene sought about how the board had dealt with the allegations against Matjila when they first surfaced last year. Matjila declined to comment.
Gungubele said: “From where I’m sitting, the PIC must be a beacon of development in South Africa. It must be one of the most, if not the most accountable institution,” he said, adding that transparency and dependability were critical.
“It should make those whose assets are invested in it sleep peacefully every night.”
Matjila’s future became uncertain after Nene decided to revisit allegations of corruption against him last month. On Thursday, speculation that he was about to be fired was heightened after UDM leader Bantu Holomisa leaked an internal note to staff in which executive head of research Sholto Dolamo was appointed acting CEO for the day while Matjila attended hearings in parliament on the PIC Amendment Bill. The PIC CEO contract has historically been a five-year one. Matjila has almost four years in the position.
The UDM has called for Matjila’s suspension and written to Nene threatening legal action if Treasury did not respond by Thursday. The PIC promptly issued a statement dismissing allegations that Matjila had been suspended as false and malicious.
PIC deputy chairman Xolani Mkhwanazi said: “There’s no matter as far as we are concerned. Those allegations are old ones; they are just being rehashed. For us to suspend this guy, we’d need new allegations or fresh evidence.” He said the board would meet with the finance minister soon.