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Cape Town - The country’s largest public sector trade union, the PSA (formerly the Public Servants Association), is seeking legal advice to interdict the annual general meeting of the government-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC).
The AGM is scheduled to be held this month, and the PSA wants several items included on the agenda. But despite two letters written to Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, there has been no response from government.
READ: Unions vow to protect workers' pensions as Gigaba meets PIC board
“This indicates a level of arrogance,” says PSA spokesperson Tahir Maepa. He points out that, after receiving no reply from the first letter to the minister, the PSA wrote again, giving Gigaba until Friday to respond.
Guarantee
The union wants a guarantee from the government that, in future, public sector unions will be represented on the board of the PIC and on the boards of companies in which the PIC has substantial — sometimes majority — holdings.
Of particular concern are a number of investments in unlisted companies, justified as being part of a social responsibility or Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) mandate.
Last month, PSA general Manager Ivan Fredericks called for a full list of such ventures “including actual investments made and [for] the current value of each to be made public”. He also called for a list of “all politically connected persons involved”.
READ: Unions worry about R16bn BEE investment
Fredericks reacted following fears that there had already been “politically motivated investments” and that the cash-strapped government intended further raids. The Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) and other, much smaller public sector funds, together make up an investment bonanza of nearly R2trn.
“We have no choice now but to take it to law,” says Maepa. “Public sector workers have a right to know where their money is being invested.”
He points out that some companies in which state pension funds are invested “are de facto controlled” by the PIC, but without any oversight by the unions or, in some cases, the PIC itself.
“It is a huge mess and we are going to have to carry on the fight, and take it to law,” he says.
The PSA has already warned that, if a satisfactory solution is not found, the GEPF may exercise its prerogative to move the management of some R1.6trillion to another investment company.
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