One of the first tests for South Africa's new Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is whether he will support the disclosure of detailed information about R70-billion worth of investments made by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in its “unlisted investment portfolio” in 2017/18, the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday.
The PIC is a state owned entity with over R1.9-trillion of assets under management, making it Africa’s largest asset manager.
DA shadow minister of finance David Maynier said the PIC had disclosed detailed information about these investments for the past two years ahead of the medium-term budget policy statement being presented in parliament in October, but no such disclosure has been made this year.
"No provision has been made for hearings on the Public Investment Corporation’s 2017/18 annual report and annual financial statements by the finance committee in parliament," Maynier said.
"There seems to have been an “about turn” when it comes to greater transparency at the Public Investment Corporation."
Maynier said the National Treasury was now opposing provisions that would promote greater transparency contained in his private members bill, the Public Investment Corporation Amendment Bill [B1-2018], which was before the finance committee in parliament.
"We have to ensure that detailed information about investments, especially investments in the “unlisted investment portfolio”, is disclosed, because it serves as a major disincentive to “rent-seekers” with political influence who want to raid the PIC," he said.
Maynier said he would ask PIC CEO Dr Dan Matjila to provide detailed information about the R70-billion investments and had asked the chairperson of the standing committee on finance Yunus Carrim to schedule a hearing with the PIC during the fourth term of parliament.
"We will not back down and will continue to fight for more transparency so that the Public Investment Corporation does not become a “piggy bank” for the governing party in South Africa," Maynier added.