The Public Servants Association picketed next to CTICC after Steinhoff International has infuriated unions invested in the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF), which cost an empowerment investment almost R4billion in value. Picture: Cindy Waxa /AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY / ANA
What is going on at the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and Public Investment Corporation (PIC)?
During 2011/12, a few pensioners became suspicious about events regarding their pension money and started asking questions. The GEPF responded through the pensioners’ elected trustee member and assured them time and again how well things were going with the largest and best-managed pension fund in Africa.
Then the bomb exploded in August 2014 when African Bank collapsed with a loss of R4 billion for the Public Service Pension Fund.
This was slightly downgraded by the GEPF as a result of the 2008 global recession. The damage was a small percentage of many assets. Everything was supposedly in order. It was not, and after that, one inconsistency after another was uncovered by AMAGP (Association for Monitoring and Advocacy of Government Pensions).
Again, our efforts were dismissed as unnecessary panicking – gogga maak vir baba bang. The propaganda game continued.
Finally, due to pressure, the Mpati Commission was appointed.
The shocking waste of billions of rands in pensioners’ money, fraud, corruption, and other unholy things were uncovered by the commission itself or presented to it, also by AMAGP.
There were 377 recommendations to the PIC and GEPF to normalise matters. After three years, details of their implementation were still not disclosed by the GEPF and its investment agent, the PIC.
It is vaguely reported that X% of the recommendations have been carried out.
Now the PIC has gone one step further. Serious recommendations regarding the Harith saga were made, and the PIC had to carry out certain investigations into alleged irregularities covering billions of rand. It was done. The result? It is confidential! Why? What is being hidden?
The millions of commission costs have been wasted, and new irregularities are happening again. The PIC and GEPF take no responsibility for their actions.
It’s time for taxpayers to make their voices heard, too. The Public Service Pension Fund is a fixed benefit fund guaranteed by the government. So should things go wrong, as has happened and will happen again, taxpayers will have to pay for civil service pensions.
* Adamus P Stemmet, Durbanville.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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