South Africans at risk of unfolding ‘act of plunder’ – IRR
12 June 2019
Minister or Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel said yesterday that pension funds ‘have a role to play in the development of South Africa through investment in real assets’.
His comments come after the African National Congress (ANC) made a commitment earlier this year to investigate introducing ‘prescribed assets’ or a programme that would force pension funds to invest some of their holdings in government-approved projects.
The IRR has long warned that the government intends seizing private pension funds to plug government spending gaps.
Patel’s remarks follow statements last week by the ANC and the South African Communist Party that the South African Reserve Bank should be nationalized to enable the government to introduce a programme of quantitative easing, which translates loosely into printing money to finance government expenditure.