{"id":859673,"date":"2026-05-07T10:50:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=859673"},"modified":"2026-05-07T10:50:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:50:35","slug":"r200-billion-in-south-african-pension-funds-wiped-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/859673\/r200-billion-in-south-african-pension-funds-wiped-out\/","title":{"rendered":"R200 billion in South African pension funds wiped out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The war in Iran revealed that South African pension funds are over-exposed to geopolitical events, which is forcing some of the country\u2019s biggest funds to rethink their investment strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the feedback from Frans Baleni, chair of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), who noted that the fund took a major hit from the war in the Middle East. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in an interview with Moneyweb Radio<\/a>, Baleni said the GEPF had built a strong track record of protecting public servants\u2019 retirement savings over the past three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s three decades of safeguarding public servants\u2019 retirement funds. At no stage has the fund had to go and beg the National Treasury to close any shortfall,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis means that the investment the fund has made over the past 30 years has had good returns.\u201d However, he warned that global instability is increasingly affecting the fund\u2019s investment outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baleni stressed that the GEPF\u2019s investment strategy has to change given the geopolitical developments. \u201cJust to give an example, with the war in Iran, in the first week, it wiped out R200 billion from our investment<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the losses highlighted the need for the pension fund to adapt to changing global conditions while still ensuring strong long-term returns for its more than 1.7 million members and pensioners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do this, Baleni said the fund is shifting its focus to infrastructure investment. He argued that the GEPF has a responsibility not only to preserve retirement savings but also to support economic growth in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are now going to be focusing on infrastructure development as part of our investment because it\u2019s our view that while we are preserving the fund, we need good returns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that this strategy would also help solve our country’s economic problems by boosting local investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two-pot system is adding pressure <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Frans Baleni, chair of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Baleni linked the country\u2019s economic struggles directly to retirement outcomes, pointing to South Africa\u2019s high unemployment rate as a major threat to long-term pension sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need more people to work and contribute to their pension fund or the retirement funds so that the economy can be stable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the GEPF is also increasingly looking beyond South Africa for investment opportunities. \u201cWe\u2019re also looking beyond the country,\u201d Baleni said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just came back from Nairobi, looking at East Africa. They\u2019re doing excellent work. So we need to take some lessons and see where we can grow the fund.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While infrastructure investment can support economic development, Baleni acknowledged that such projects also carry higher risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClearly, there are risks. Obviously, we don\u2019t provide grants for everything we do. We have to calculate,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that the fund is willing to take measured risks where there is a clear path to long-term returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example, he pointed to the mining sector, where the GEPF recently allocated funding for mineral exploration to help create future investment opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are the largest single investor in the mining space, but initially, we had no exploration fund. We have now allocated an exploration fund because we\u2019re creating a pipeline,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re taking those small risks, but we know that we\u2019re not reckless. There will definitely be returns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baleni also raised concerns about the growing financial pressure on pensioners and workers, particularly under South Africa\u2019s new two-pot retirement system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said many retirees are struggling because they often support extended family members in addition to themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baleni reiterated that he was among those who opposed the introduction of the two-pot retirement system, and warned that early withdrawals could worsen financial insecurity later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we have been discouraging the two-part system. It puts strain at the point of retirement, and that\u2019s the real problem,\u201d he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he acknowledged that many workers are under severe financial stress and often need emergency access to retirement savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only way of changing it is to create jobs and create job opportunities so that individuals who are working are not pressurised by extended family,\u201d Baleni said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The war in Iran wiped out R200 billion from the Government Employees Pension Fund investments in its first week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":858457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[25358,853],"class_list":["post-859673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-government-employees-pension-fund","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859673","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=859673"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":859682,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859673\/revisions\/859682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}