Boardroom Talk – Slippery slope of applying pension funds to meet political objectives

By Alec Hogg

The political paradoxes affecting my beautiful country never cease to astound me. Before 1994, October 10th was a public holiday commemorating the birthday of Afrikaner hero Paul Kruger. It was therefore ironic that the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) chose this day to announce an ambitious social engineering initiative.

GEPF chairman Dondo Mogajane, a former Treasury Director-General who is now the CEO of the Moti Group, used the occasion to unveil the pension fund's "Transformation Policy." The focus is on directing its R2.3 trillion in assets towards "delivering positive financial and social service outcomes for South Africa's previously disadvantaged populations."

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