September 2019

02Sep

South Africa: MPs to Fight Back Over Proposed Cut to Parliament Benefits – Report

High-earning Members of Parliament are preparing to resist a move over the trimming of some of their benefits, a Sunday report said. According to the Sunday Times, Parliament is set to review its benefits scheme after it will spend an extra R111m in "loss of office" gratuities this year, to pay 159 MPs who didn't return to their seats after the elections. Those who didn't make it to Parliament are entitled to a once-off gratuity of four months' salary...

September 2, 2019
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August 2019

26Aug

South Africa Pensioners Oppose Prescribed Assets Plan

South Africa’s intentions to tap state workers’ pension funds to revive a struggling economy would be strongly opposed, the Sunday Times reports, citing a major trade group on pensions. The state workers’ pension funds lobby group doesn’t trust government investing pension funds to bail out struggling state-owned companies such as utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., said Adamus Stemmet, spokesman for the Association of Monitoring and Advocacy of Government Pensions. The investments wouldn’t yield positive returns, Stemmet told the weekly....

August 26, 2019
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23Aug

South Africa’s Ramaphosa calls for discussion on utilising pension funds for projects

South Africa should discuss using worker pension funds to finance development and infrastructure projects, a proposal that has the backing of the country’s largest labour federation, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday. Read also South Africa should look to pensions instead of an IMF bailout: ANC In its 2019 poll manifesto ahead of the May general election, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) mentioned investigating prescribed assets - where the government authorises the investment of retirement savings in certain developmental...

August 23, 2019
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20Aug

South Africa. Prescribed assets: What government could do with your retirement savings

The ANC’s economic policy head said the party is investigating using prescribed assets to avoid an IMF bailout. Prescribed assets will force SA asset managers and pension funds to invest in the country’s bonds and state-owned-enterprises. The last time South Africa had prescribed assets, the apartheid regime forced retirement funds to invest half of all savings in government bonds. ANC economic policy head Enoch Godongwana made headlines over the weekend when he said the party is investigating the use...

August 20, 2019
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19Aug

South Africa should look to pensions instead of an IMF bailout: ANC

The ANC is looking at the possibility of using private and public pension funds to rescue the country’s struggling state-owned enterprises. In an interview with the Sunday Times Enoch Godongwana, head of the party’s economic transformation subcommittee, said that the asset management industry currently has R6 trillion under management which should be borrowed by government. Godongwana said using this approach to gather funds is better than going the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout. “Why would you go...

August 19, 2019
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05Aug

How South Africans can check where their retirement savings are actually going

Most South Africans would not knowingly support activities that might harm the environment, endanger the health of others or violate the rights of workers. Still, unless you know where your money is going, how can you be sure that it is being spent or invested responsibly? That is a question which the Financial Services Conduct Authority may help retirement fund members answer, says Deirdre Phillips, a partner at law firm Bowmans. By encouraging funds to make their investment policy...

August 5, 2019
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July 2019

31Jul

The Crisis at South Africa’s $150 Billion State-Owned Fund Manager

Africa’s largest fund manager used to be a success story. Owned by the South African state, the Public Investment Corp. runs money for public institutions including the government-worker pension fund covering more than 1 million people. It increased its assets under management sixfold in 15 years, to about $150 billion. It's a major player in the Johannesburg stock market, and has wielded its power to curb executive pay at companies, make or break takeovers, and drive the government agenda...

July 31, 2019
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26Jul

Former banker appointed head of South Africa’s scandal-hit state pension fund

Former Nedbank chairman Reuel Khoza has been appointed to head South Africa’s 2 trillion rand ($141 billion) Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in an effort to restore the scandal-plagued pension fund’s reputation. Khoza replaces South Africa’s former Deputy Finance Minister Mondli Gungubele as chairman of the PIC board, marking the first time the head of the fund responsible for billions of rand in government employee pensions has been chosen from outside the ranks of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The role...

July 26, 2019
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18Jul

South Africa. Threat to SA’s R4 trillion retirement savings pot highlighted

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says in a statement it will be delivering a memorandum to the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) in Rosebank. The memorandum will highlight the “real threat to South Africa’s R4 trillion retirement savings pot”. “The governing African National Congress (ANC) has for some time discussed the possibility that the savings of ordinary South Africans could be prescribed – invested in areas or sectors ‘prescribed’ by the government. As recently as last month, minister...

July 18, 2019
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16Jul

South African State Pension Fund to Invest More Offshore

South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund is planning to invest more of its 2 trillion rand ($144 billion) under management outside the country and in unlisted assets to reduce risk of overexposure to locally traded companies. The strategy was outlined by GEPF Principal Executive Officer Abel Sithole to a commission of inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing and poor governance at the Public Investment Corp., the fund’s biggest manager. The GEPF has more than 93% of its assets invested in...

July 16, 2019
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