Upsetting signs that the ANC and president Jacob Zuma are using the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) as their personal piggy bank are being seen, and the FF Plus will be asking the Public Protector to investigate this, Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ parliamentary spokesperson on the Economy said.
The PIC manages state pension funds.
In the latest incident, it came to light (Rapport, 31 July) that the PIC has share of 25,26% in the VBS Mutual Bank, previously known as the Venda Building Society, from which president Zuma wants to borrow money to pay his Nkandla debt.
The amount that Zuma has to pay back in terms of an order of the PP, amounts to R7,8 million. At an interest rate of only 10%, this would amount to R75 270 a month, or approximately R903 000 per annum. This, while Zuma’s total salary before deductions amount to R2,8 million per annum.
In 2014 the media reported about a transaction in which the PIC had invested nearly R3 billion in a nearly bankrupt oil company, Camac Energy. It was reported that a certain Mr. Kase Lawal, an American from Nigerian decent and acquaintance of pres. Zuma has been in charge of the company.
No reports on this transaction appeared after this initial report, and it is not known whether the company still exists. It was however clear from the start that the transaction had been a huge gamble with pension funds and therefore unlawful, Adv. Alberts said.
Earlier this year, there was great dissatisfaction when the economic development plan for Tshwane/Pretoria had been approved with money forthcoming from the PIC and the announcement that ‘only black people’ would gain from it.
Adv. Alberts says the money in the fund belong to the people of South Africa who had worked for it, and the state and president Zuma cannot interact with it in an improper and risky manner.
“The PP should now place this under a microscope and should establish exactly how wide and deep the president and the ANC links with the PIC run. It should be done without delay as it will be disastrous if it is found too late that the fund has been plundered,” Adv. Alberts says.
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