May 2019

03May

S. Africa’s Ramaphosa Urges Patience in Corruption Battle

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose party faces a national election next week, urged citizens of the country to have patience and give his government and the nation’s institutions time to deal with the corruption that has indebted the economy and brought state companies to their knees. Ramaphosa Can Win Over South Africa, What About His Own Party? Cyril RamaphosaPhotographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg Ramaphosa took over from Jacob Zuma as national president last year and has described his predecessor’s rule...

May 3, 2019
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01May

South Africa’s insurtech startup Nobuntu raises funding from Crossfin

South African fintech startup Nobuntu, which builds innovative insurance products for lower-income segments, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from fintech holding company Crossfin to help it scale. Nobuntu, which previously raised funding from DFS Lab and was recently selected to take part in the UK-based Go Global Africa programme, currently offers two products – affordable funeral cover, and a pension savings product named The People’s Fund. It has now secured an undisclosed amount of funding from fintech holding company Crossfin, whose portfolio...

May 1, 2019
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April 2019

17Apr

South Africa. Pension fund boards must take climate change into account

A South African pension lawyer has published a new opinion which finds that the boards of South African pension and provident funds must fully consider climate risk when making investment decisions. Failure to do so exposes trustees to the threat of legal liability for losses incurred by the fund as a result. The legal opinion specifies that this is true for funds regulated by South Africa’s Pension Funds Act, and for those funds – like the Government Employees Pension...

April 17, 2019
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11Apr

A new option for retirement … the hybrid annuity

From March this year all retirement funds must offer their members annuity (pension) options that conform to regulations that came into effect in September 2017. The aim of the regulations is to improve the likelihood that you, the fund member, will choose a pension that will last for the rest of your life. These so-called default regulations affect three important areas of retirement saving: how your contributions are invested while you are accumulating savings (Regulation 37 of the Pension...

April 11, 2019
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04Apr

South Africa. Bad governance can undo govt guarantees of SOE investments – pension fund chair

Government guarantees of investments in state-owned enterprises can be made meaningless by bad governance, Dr Renosi Mokate, chair of the board of trustees of the Government Employees Pension Fund said on Tuesday. Mokate was taking parting in a panel discussion on financing sustainable infrastructure at the 4th annual meeting of the New Development Bank, commonly known at the Brics Bank, in Cape Town. The GEPF manages pensions and other benefits for state employees in South Africa. The Public Investment...

April 4, 2019
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March 2019

20Mar

A first step towards justice for South African pensioners

Between 2007 and 2013, more than 6,000 pension funds in South Africa were cancelled in a process littered with errors and oversights. Today, Open Secrets has written to five of the country’s largest pension fund administrators to demand swift action to reinstate pension funds that have been incorrectly cancelled. This is the first of many necessary steps of ensuring accountability for a shameful decade in pension fund administration that has harmed many vulnerable pensioners. The regulatory body that is...

March 20, 2019
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12Mar

South Africa. Government ministers lobby to stop PIC amendment bill

The bill is intended to strengthen and bring positive changes to the weakened Public Investment Corporation. There are behind-the-scenes efforts by some government ministers to put a spanner in the works and oppose the passing of the proposed Public Investment Corporation (PIC) Amendment Bill, according to an EWN report. The amendment bill is intended to strengthen and bring positive changes to the weakened PIC, which is responsible for managing assets on behalf of, among other institutions, the Government Employees...

March 12, 2019
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08Mar

SA’s pension pot at risk as government seeks funding

The pension pot in South Africa, one of the largest in the world, could be under threat as government, whose debt is growing every year, looks for new funding sources. This according to the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), which warned of a threat by government to stipulate what the pension funds of about 16 million South Africans should be invested in. In its election manifesto, the ANC said it would investigate the introduction of prescribed assets on financial...

March 8, 2019
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February 2019

21Feb

South Africa. Grant for pensioners to increase to at least R1,780 monthly

Pensioners can again look forward to an inflation-linked increase in their social grants this year. The government spending on social grants will increase to R567 billion. The number of beneficiaries who receive social assistance from the state is expected to increase from 17.9 million to 18.6 million over the next three years. Old-age pensions will increase by R85 this year to R1,780 monthly. Pensioners over the age of 75 will receive a monthly pension of R1,800. The foster care...

February 21, 2019
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07Feb

Institute of Race Relations launches campaign to warn South Africans about the risk to their pensions

A campaign to warn South Africans about the risks to their pensions, and to take a stand in urging the government to concentrate on growing the economy instead has been launched by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR). This follows the announcement that the governing African National Congress (ANC) is considering introducing a regime of prescribed assets. The IRR has warned that expropriation without compensation (EWC) will be about more than just land, and extend to other forms of...

February 7, 2019
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