In 2015, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) purchased Daybreak Farms on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) for R1.2 billion, with the GEPF comprising a 33% stake in the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous explained that the deal received massive negative publicity right from the beginning, which pointed to questionable governance as the core issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 2024, the situation had deteriorated so badly that multiple liquidation attempts were made, and Daybreak ultimately entered business rescue in May 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt failed to pay all their clients and service providers, it failed to pay the workers, and there was massive unhappiness,\u201d Gous said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that poor decisions, a lack of accountability, and incompetence damaged thousands of jobs and pensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Daybreak is not an isolated case. Gous pointed to the GEPF\u2019s broader investment strategy under the PIC, particularly the Isibaya Fund, as deeply flawed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the GEPF, the Isibaya Fund is a PIC mandate established to channel capital into projects that address societal challenges, facilitate transformation, and support job creation in South Africa and Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe GEPF is managing R2.3 trillion of state pensioner money,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive, massive pot of money.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous added that a substantial portion of this is channelled into unlisted entities under a transformation policy, investments that are supposed to be in line with international best practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Gous warned that in South Africa, this has translated into investments almost exclusively in B-BBEE entities, many of which are politically connected and financially unstable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Violating their fiduciary duties<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Public-Investment-Corporation-PIC-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCiting findings of a judicial commission of inquiry into the PIC, Gous said that 44% of Isibaya\u2019s investments are either failing or at risk of failing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat is indicative of the risk,\u201d he said. He pointed out that the GEPF has written off more than R6 billion in impaired funds over the past two years alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of these losses, 24 to 26 of the failed investments came from the Isibaya portfolio. \u201cNow, if that is not high risk, you must advise me what is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous also raised the broader governance concern, which is that the GEPF and PIC are under \u201ctotal political control.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stated that the Minister of Finance approves all investments, which opens the door to the misuse of pension money for political ends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe moment you use pension fund money for political considerations, it is problematic,\u201d Gous warned. \u201cYou cannot use the funds of a government pension fund. It is simply, in principle, problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the Minister of Finance, the GEPF board of trustees, and the PIC board of directors should be held accountable for the pain and suffering of the Daybreak employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He accused them of acting not in the best interest of pensioners, but in the interest of the ruling political party, thereby violating their fiduciary duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quantifying the scale of the loss, Gous referred to a report submitted to Parliament\u2019s Standing Committee on Finance in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report showed that R44 billion had already been invested in politically aligned projects with a 44% failure rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBetween 2015 and today, total money written off as impairments has reached R52 billion, with R31 billion lost specifically through Isibaya investments,\u201d He said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you invest any money in any private investment company, a 1% failure rate can be acceptable,\u201d Gous explained. \u201cWhat they are writing off here is 3%. That 3% is R33 billion. That, in my mind, is big money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the scale of the loss, Gous was careful to clarify that the GEPF is not currently at risk of collapse.\u00a0\u201cThe solvency rate of the GEPF is, at this point in time, stable,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cState pensioners will receive their monthly pension.\u201d But he stressed the urgency of acting now to stop further losses. Whether the lost billions can be recovered is unclear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous explained that, in principle, it can be, but eventually it means that you will have to go to the Minister of Finance, and that money will have to come from the taxpayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He warned that unless decisive action is taken, it could mean an additional tax of R33 billion on the public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To fix the problem facing public pensions, Gous said the Government Employee Pension Law needs to be amended.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe must amend the Public Investment Corporation Act to remove the political control.\u201d He added that the judicial commission, known as the Mpati Commission, had already made this recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This recommendation included the Deputy Minister of Finance not chairing the PIC\u2019s board. \u201cHowever, that specific recommendation was simply thrown out the door,\u201d Gous said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous added that the AMAGP is investigating its options and considering legal and legislative reforms. \u201cThat will be the solution to prevent further bad investments,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billions of rands in public servants\u2019 pension funds have been squandered through politically driven and high-risk investments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":826180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[22518,22689,22204,853,22688],"class_list":["post-826140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-daybreak-foods","tag-isibaya-fund","tag-public-investment-corporation-pic","tag-south-africa","tag-the-association-for-monitoring-and-advocacy-of-government-pensions-amagp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826140"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826205,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826140\/revisions\/826205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCiting findings of a judicial commission of inquiry into the PIC, Gous said that 44% of Isibaya\u2019s investments are either failing or at risk of failing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat is indicative of the risk,\u201d he said. He pointed out that the GEPF has written off more than R6 billion in impaired funds over the past two years alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of these losses, 24 to 26 of the failed investments came from the Isibaya portfolio. \u201cNow, if that is not high risk, you must advise me what is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous also raised the broader governance concern, which is that the GEPF and PIC are under \u201ctotal political control.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stated that the Minister of Finance approves all investments, which opens the door to the misuse of pension money for political ends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe moment you use pension fund money for political considerations, it is problematic,\u201d Gous warned. \u201cYou cannot use the funds of a government pension fund. It is simply, in principle, problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the Minister of Finance, the GEPF board of trustees, and the PIC board of directors should be held accountable for the pain and suffering of the Daybreak employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He accused them of acting not in the best interest of pensioners, but in the interest of the ruling political party, thereby violating their fiduciary duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quantifying the scale of the loss, Gous referred to a report submitted to Parliament\u2019s Standing Committee on Finance in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report showed that R44 billion had already been invested in politically aligned projects with a 44% failure rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBetween 2015 and today, total money written off as impairments has reached R52 billion, with R31 billion lost specifically through Isibaya investments,\u201d He said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you invest any money in any private investment company, a 1% failure rate can be acceptable,\u201d Gous explained. \u201cWhat they are writing off here is 3%. That 3% is R33 billion. That, in my mind, is big money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the scale of the loss, Gous was careful to clarify that the GEPF is not currently at risk of collapse.\u00a0\u201cThe solvency rate of the GEPF is, at this point in time, stable,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cState pensioners will receive their monthly pension.\u201d But he stressed the urgency of acting now to stop further losses. Whether the lost billions can be recovered is unclear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous explained that, in principle, it can be, but eventually it means that you will have to go to the Minister of Finance, and that money will have to come from the taxpayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He warned that unless decisive action is taken, it could mean an additional tax of R33 billion on the public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To fix the problem facing public pensions, Gous said the Government Employee Pension Law needs to be amended.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe must amend the Public Investment Corporation Act to remove the political control.\u201d He added that the judicial commission, known as the Mpati Commission, had already made this recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This recommendation included the Deputy Minister of Finance not chairing the PIC\u2019s board. \u201cHowever, that specific recommendation was simply thrown out the door,\u201d Gous said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gous added that the AMAGP is investigating its options and considering legal and legislative reforms. \u201cThat will be the solution to prevent further bad investments,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billions of rands in public servants\u2019 pension funds have been squandered through politically driven and high-risk investments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":826180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[22518,22689,22204,853,22688],"class_list":["post-826140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-daybreak-foods","tag-isibaya-fund","tag-public-investment-corporation-pic","tag-south-africa","tag-the-association-for-monitoring-and-advocacy-of-government-pensions-amagp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826140"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826205,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826140\/revisions\/826205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}