Pressure mounts on Ramaphosa to release final report into PIC

President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency(ANA)

President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Feb 29, 2020

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Pressure is mounting on President Cyril Ramaphosa to release the report of the inquiry into allegations of impropriety at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

This comes in the wake of rumours that the final report had been submitted to him.

In 2018, the president appointed Justice Lex Mpati to investigate the PIC investment of public servants’ pension funds.

On Friday, DA MP Alf Lees said Ramaphosa has an obligation to release the report as a matter of urgency to avoid further speculation that could damage the PIC’s credibility.

“Allegations of a governance crisis at the PIC as a result of ill-thought investment decisions raised concerns about the security of pensioner funds under its management.

“The much-awaited report would help shed light on whether the PIC is still prudentially capable of exercising sound investment decisions to generate optimal returns for its public sector investors,” Lees said.

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said Ramaphosa was taking a long time to release the report, saying he was duty bound to release it with immediate effect.

“He has been sitting on that report, and we need the report to be released to the public because it was taxpayers’ money that was used (to conduct the inquiry),” Holomisa said. “There is no need to keep it secret, as he won’t make changes in that report.

“Once people read it then he would still implement the findings, but now he does it in piecemeal leakages, it does not augur well for them. What are they hiding?”

He also said he suspected the president was sitting on the report as he realised it was “a whitewash”.

“If it is a whitewash, it must be seen to be a whitewash. A whitewash or no whitewash, that report must be published without delay,” he said.

But the Presidency said Ramaphosa would only release the report once Finance Minister Tito Mboweni had finished formulating a roadmap on how its recommendations would be implemented.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko said the president has sent the report to Mboweni to appraise him and engage on the findings.

She could not say when Mboweni would send the report back to Ramaphosa for the release.

“The president will consider their submission and release the report with such a roadmap as it is expected to clearly set out how to take forward issues contained in the report,” Diko said.

Political Bureau

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Cyril Ramaphosa