The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the state-owned asset management firm that has not had a permanent chief financial officer (CFO) for two years, is moving ahead with filling the vacancy left by the firing of Matshepo More. 

The PIC manages about R2.59-trillion in government pension and social funds on behalf of the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (managing the pension savings of public servants), the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund. 

PIC CEO Abel Sithole said the asset manager is in the process of appointing a permanent CFO, replacing Matshepo More who was suspended on 20 March 2019 and then fired on 7 October 2021.

“We are interviewing potential candidates to find a permanent CFO. That process is continuing,” said Sithole on Tuesday during the PIC’s results presentation. 

Brian Mavuka, who has been working for the PIC for nearly a decade, has been CFO in an acting capacity since More’s suspension and ultimate dismissal. 

However, the PIC might find itself having to hold back on hiring a permanent CFO after More went to the CCMA to challenge her axing – and won.

In September 2022, the CCMA ordered that More be reinstated to her previous position as CFO. 

On Tuesday, Sithole said the PIC is challenging this ruling at the Labour Court, adding a new twist to the dispute between the firm and More. 

“The PIC found that there were challenges with the arbitration award [that More be reinstated] and the PIC is taking the matter on review at the Labour Court. That matter will unfold in line with the Labour Court’s prescriptions,” said Sithole. 

Daily Maverick reached out to More for comment but she has not yet responded.

More was suspended two years ago on full pay, earning R6.9-million during the 2021 financial year. She joined a growing list of PIC executives who faced disciplinary action for concluding transactions that flouted the asset manager’s investment standards and requirements. 

The questionable transactions included irregularities related to the PIC’s investment in AYO Technology Solutions, a JSE-listed company linked to businessman Iqbal Survé.  

Ahead of AYO’s JSE listing in December 2017, the PIC paid R43 a share for a 29% stake in the company – an investment for which the asset manager shelled out R4.3-billion. The PIC was the only investor to subscribe to shares in the company, which are now worth R3 each. 

The deal was mired in controversy as details of the irregular process followed by the PIC emerged in media reports and at the judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of impropriety regarding the PIC. The commission was chaired by retired judge Lex Mpati and is better known as the Mpati Commission.  

Disciplinary action was taken against More for signing a memo for the PIC to invest in AYO before it had been approved by management, and for failing to serve the interests of the asset manager by not disclosing her actions. 

An independent inquiry later pronounced her innocent. 

However, the PIC board instituted another internal investigation against More and found her guilty of misconduct and dereliction of duty.  

In her papers submitted to the CCMA, More argued that she was unfairly dismissed despite the outcome of a disciplinary hearing and internal investigation that “recommended a lesser sanction”, involving a warning. 

She accused the chair of the disciplinary hearing of “bias”, adding that the PIC terminated her employment without providing reasons, thereby rendering the dismissal “inappropriate”.

The PIC is trying to move on from its governance failures as identified by the Mpati Commission. It remains one of the few state-owned entities that is profitable, with total assets up 2% to R2.6-trillion for the year ending March 2023. 

Board chair David Masondo said the entity had confirmed a dividend of R141-million to government – the PIC’s sole shareholder – for the year under review, and that “fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R1.6-million” that was identified in 2022 was corrected in 2023. DM

This article was updated on 4 October 2023 at 10.08pm to reflect the following correction note from the reporter:

The previous board, led by Reuel Khoza, has pinned the AYO matter on More and former CEO Dan Matjila. The previous board itself has, on numerous occasions, said More and Matjila compromised the PIC’s governance affairs by being involved in the AYO transaction. The board even launched an internal investigation resulting in More being charged with signing a settlement memorandum before PIC officials had approved the transaction. She also failed to disclose at a meeting with PIC officials that the memorandum had already been signed – a finding by the PIC internal investigation.

During several media briefings, the board placed More, along with Matjila, at the centre of the AYO deal. I erred in not mentioning that the Mpati Commission found that More served in the interests of the PIC when it came to the AYO deal as she convened an urgent meeting with the portfolio management committee to reconsider the AYO investment. Even though she took steps to remedy the deal, the Mpati Commission found that she withheld crucial information from the PIC’s portfolio management committee regarding the PIC’s investment in AYO.