Mpati Reforms Should Be Implemented Without Delay

Statement by Geordin Hill-Lewis – Leader of the Democratic Alliance:

The DA welcomes the overdue commitment announced today to implement the recommendations of the Mpati Commission.

The DA has long called for these reforms, and has proposed draft legislation in Parliament to this effect, particularly the establishment of a properly independent and suitably qualified PIC board.

The President and the Minister of Finance must now publish a firm timeline for finalising the necessary legislative amendments and implementing the commission’s recommendations in full.

However, the announcement that Deputy Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Seiso Mohai, will chair the board of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is a missed opportunity to restore public confidence in one of South Africa’s most important financial institutions.

While these legislative amendments are underway, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Ashor Sarupen, would have better served to restore public credibility and root out corruption at the PIC.

The PIC has been dangerously destabilised by an ongoing leadership crisis. This crisis was not brought on simply by bad luck. It was brought on because of the ANC’s policy of placing party loyalty above the country’s interests.

And this is something that matters deeply to the teachers, nurses, police officers and other public servants whose retirement savings the PIC is entrusted to protect.

The weakening of leadership at the PIC threatens the pensions of South Africa’s public servants who have saved through a lifetime of work. They deserve the peace of mind that comes from knowing those savings are protected.

The Democratic Alliance has long called for legislation to remove political control from the appointment of the PIC board and to require an independent, appropriately qualified chairperson.

Today’s commitment is therefore an important step, but it must now be translated into urgent and measurable action.

The Mpati Commission concluded that the PIC chairperson should be an independent, non-executive professional with expertise in pension funds, financial markets and governance.

Until those reforms are completed, the PIC must be governed with the highest standards of transparency and professionalism.