Union warns against state’s hijacking of pensions

Fears surface that the funds could be used to bail out looted enterprises

THE COUNTRY’S largest public sector union, Nehawu, has warned the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) to guard against the hijacking of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to rescue looted stateowned enterprises.

Nehawu has written to the GEPF demanding to discuss how the fund should influence the investment made by the PIC, which manages more than R1.6 trillion in assets. The fund is the PIC’s largest client.

Nehawu’s move comes after a failed bid by the Guptas to wrest control of the PIC by removing its chief executive, Dan Matjila, with the aim of replacing him with an acolyte of the family.

Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha accused the GEPF of failing to ensure that the PIC investments were in the interest of workers.

Saphetha said the fund’s board would be failing in its fiduciary duties if it allowed the looting of the PIC, as it was responsible for prescribing how the funds were spent and managed.

“We have issued them with a letter and told them to give us a date when all of them will be available to meet us. We want them to tell us how they decide on the mandate they give to the PIC,” Saphetha said.

Saphetha said Nehawu, which is Cosatu’s biggest affiliate, had asked the union federation to convene a meeting of public sector unions within its fold to help consolidate their demands on the management of their funds by the PIC.

The union has also taken a dim view of the bailout of state-owned enterprises as it views it as indirect looting by those who milk the entities into dysfunction.

Saphetha said that while the fund was answerable to the government as the employer of the workers, public sector unions would ensure that the entity was pushed to protect workers’ money from looting.

He said this would include taking to the streets if the GEPF refused to listen.

“We are setting up a steering committee to organise our strike because we will be picketing across the country,” Saphetha said.

According to the union, most government employees – around 900 000 – are without houses.

“They want to divert us to home loans while using our money to bail out state-owned enterprises that are being looted by corrupt individuals,” he said.

The Public Servants Association has called for the inclusion of public sector unions in the PIC’s board.

South African Democratic Teachers Union general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said: “The PIC’s problem is that it is not an active investor as it is not represented in the companies it invests in.”

He added that while the GEPF had to strengthen its oversight role, the PIC Act needed to be amended to allow the Public Bargaining Chamber to nominate a representative to represent labour on the PIC’s board.

The PIC’s problem is that it is not an active investor