BusinessLive reports that a highly charged meeting between the finance ministry and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) ended on Tuesday afternoon with an unconvincing attempt at a united front.  

CEO Dan Matjila backed down on claims that there was a plot to remove him and capture the R1,9-trillion fund, while PIC chairman and Deputy Finance Minister Sfiso Buthelezi said that he had full confidence in Matjila.  The two have been at loggerheads on the board, with Buthelezi taking a hard line on Matjila, insisting on an investigation of allegations of impropriety against him by the internal audit committee, even after his explanations were accepted by a majority of the board.  Matjila went public on Sunday, claiming that there were people who wanted to remove him “to get the keys to the big safe”.  But at a media conference on Tuesday after the meeting, Matjila recanted.  Nonetheless, the contradictions were still glaring.  Tuesday’s meeting came after weekend media reports that the finance ministry intended to raid the PIC for R100bn to fund ailing state-owned enterprises.  The PIC manages funds that belong mostly to the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).  Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba denied emphatically that the Treasury had made an approach to the PIC for R100bn in funding.

• Read this report by Carol Paton in full at BusinessLive
• Read too, PIC’s Matjila not yet out of the woods, at The Citizen

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