This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Fin24 reports that the Municipal Employees Pension Fund (MEPF), which manages the savings of more than 30,000 workers at 117 municipalities, is at the centre of a legal battle, which has exposed accusations of a suspect marital link between key parties, an alleged vindictive business move, overcharging and all-round poor governance.
In October 2023, the MEPF summarily terminated its mandate with Mergence Investment Managers, which managed more than R7 billion of the fund's investments. It accused Mergence of overcharging discrepancies in the fund manager's fees and unauthorised offshore exposure. Mergence hit back and in November launched a high court application to set aside the termination and to reinstate its mandate. It accused Margaret le Grange, the then principal executive officer of the MEPF, of abusing her position to further the ambitions of Zamani Letjane, the owner of Akani Retirement Fund Administrators. Akani administered the MEPF and Letjane is its sole shareholder. Letjane was also married to Le Grange, who died earlier this year. Mergence claimed Letjane was trying to settle scores over an unrelated dispute. After some 100 members complained that the fund's trustees were not properly elected, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) found in October last year that the MEPF board was not properly constituted in terms of the Pension Funds Act and said it would appoint an independent board. The MEPF applied to the Financial Services Tribunal to reconsider the matter. The tribunal is still receiving the pleadings of the parties in the matter and will schedule the hearing once it has received all documentation. According to Peter Modike, chairperson of the board of MEPF trustees, the board "is functioning properly as duly elected fiduciaries" who were elected in November 2021. As part of its probe, the FSCA also found that Le Grange was "not independent from Akani", and its report details that she had two children with Letjane, her husband, and shared a home. Good corporate governance practice demands the executive head of the pension fund be seen to be independent of the fund's administrator and to vigorously pursue their fiduciary duty to the members of the fund.
- Read the full original of the extensive report in the above regard by Sikonathi Mantshantsha at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page