Proactive action needed to keep Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) from being plundered by Guptas

14 September 2017

Recent developments seem to show that the Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) is once again the target of the Gupta-orchestrated plundering of state resources and it is truly worrying, says adv Anton Alberts, FF Plus chairperson. He adds that proactive action is needed to protect the Fund.

According to an IOL article, plans are being made behind the scenes to replace the current chief executive officer of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Dr Dan Matjila, with a PIC council member that was recently appointed by the Finance Minister, Malusi Gigaba.

Adv Alberts says that the PIC, which manages the GEPF as an asset of R1,87 trillion, is the greatest investor in the country’s economy and is therefore a very attractive target for various self-enriching actions.

“The FF Plus takes notice of the recent allegations and will continue to keep a very close eye on any threats to the Fund.

“Should they prove to be true, the party will investigate an initiative of establishing a separate association for government employees and pensioners, which all pension fund members will be able to join so as to build up a legal fund that can litigate aggressively when necessary.

“The time has come to plan ahead and to act proactively in order to put a stop to the Guptas, and any other self-enriching opportunists, to ensure that we don’t have a repetition of the Transnet Pension Fund fiasco that is currently playing out in the courts,” says adv Alberts.

Issued by Anton Alberts, FF Plus chairperson and parliamentary spokesperson: Finance, 14 September 2017