The Public Investment Corporation has reinstated the position of chief investment officer after five years, a move that brings the governance practices of the state-owned asset manager in line with those of the private sector.
The PIC manages more than R1-trillion in pension savings of 1.3 million current and retired public servants on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund , and other social funds, including the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Compensation Fund. This had paved the way for the PIC to be involved in questionable deals, including its decision to invest in entities linked to businessman Iqbal Survé. Among the entities are Sekunjalo Group, which received loans amounting to R1.4-billion from the PIC since 2013 to help it buy Independent Media, which owns several newspapers and publications, including. Sekunjalo hasn’t paid back the loans, resulting in the PIC writing them off in its financial books.