Fund checks and balances to feature in wage talks

The need for checks and balances on the administration of public sector pension funds will be a major feature of the looming public-sector wage negotiations. Fin24 reports that the two biggest unions in the sector, PSA (formerly the Public Servants Association) and the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) have both voiced concern about the manner in which pension monies have been used and allegedly abused. The report says the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) invests its estimated R1.8trn-plus with state-owned fund manager the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the largest such fund on the continent. It has the usual fund management mandate of growing the value of investments, but it also supposed to assist in the transformation of SA’s economy while investing in ‘sustainable green projects’. The report says of concern to the unions is the recent surge – to more than R45bn – in investments in unlisted entities, along with statements such as those by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba that the role of the PIC should be reviewed.