{"id":864611,"date":"2026-06-25T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=864611"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:58:15","slug":"government-invested-pension-funds-into-10-companies-and-made-over-r51-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/864611\/government-invested-pension-funds-into-10-companies-and-made-over-r51-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Government invested pension funds into 10 companies and made over R51 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa\u2019s government says criticism of the Public Investment Corporation\u2019s (PIC) failed investments does not tell the full story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It argues that the state asset manager has generated far more value from its successful investments than it has lost through its worst-performing ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The response comes from Sipho Mofokeng, community outreach officer in the Office of the Deputy Minister of Finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His response follows scrutiny of the PIC\u2019s Isibaya Fund after a parliamentary response revealed that 23 investments had effectively lost all their value<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Isibaya Fund is the PIC\u2019s vehicle for unlisted developmental investments and has faced significant criticism over the years due to a number of high-profile failures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to information presented to Parliament\u2019s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), the fund invested more than R18.2 billion in 23 companies that ultimately recorded an internal rate of return (IRR) of -100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These companies included Berlin Beef, Concor, Daybreak, Educor, Independent Media, LA Crushers, Naturecell, Urban Lifestyle and VBS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mofokeng acknowledged the losses but argued that focusing only on failed investments creates a distorted picture of the PIC\u2019s overall performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe article published in BusinessTech raises important questions about losses incurred through the Public Investment Corporation\u2019s (PIC) Isibaya Fund. Those questions deserve serious attention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic funds must be managed responsibly, and where investments have failed, accountability is essential. However, the article presents only part of the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that the information provided to SCOPA included both the best-performing and worst-performing investments in the portfolio, but public discussion had largely focused on the losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe losses are real and should not be dismissed. Investments such as VBS, Independent Media, Daybreak and others resulted in significant capital losses,\u201d Mofokeng said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that many of these investments were examined during the Mpati Commission, which uncovered serious weaknesses in governance, oversight, due diligence and investment decision-making at the PIC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC has generated substantial returns<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sipho Mofokeng, community outreach officer in the Office of the Deputy Minister of Finance.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

According to Mofokeng, most of the major failed investments were made before the governance reforms introduced following the commission\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said approximately R18.65 billion, or 96.5% of the value of the largest failed investments, was committed before the reforms, while only R667 million, or 3.5%, was invested afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese figures suggest that approximately 97% of the value of the largest failed investments was committed before the governance reforms introduced following the Mpati Commission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis does not excuse the losses. However, it changes the nature of the debate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mofokeng also pointed out that a single investment, Afrisam, accounted for more than R11 billion of the reported losses, representing more than half of the total amount cited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While acknowledging the failures, he argued that there is evidence that reforms have improved outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mofokeng, the PIC has recovered around R10 billion from a distressed investment debt book worth roughly R19 billion, while recovery and legal processes continue for the remaining balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the PIC\u2019s unlisted investment portfolio grew by 3.6% in the financial year ending March 2026 and that the 2022 Unlisted Investments Mandate achieved an IRR of 16%, outperforming its benchmark despite difficult global market conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mofokeng said a balanced assessment should also consider the fund\u2019s strongest investments, which have generated substantial returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the largest value creators were SA Home Loans MF, which generated R13.7 billion in value, followed by IDC Bond at R9.8 billion and IDC Bond UIF at R6.2 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other significant contributors included Tosaco (R4.2 billion), ETC (R4.1 billion), MOGS (R3.2 billion), SA Home Loans (R3 billion), Afreximbank (R2.9 billion), Siyanda Resources (R2.4 billion) and AFC (R2.4 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, these 10 investments generated approximately R51.9 billion in value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPut differently, for every R1 represented by the major failed investments, approximately R2.70 has been created by the portfolio\u2019s largest value-generating investments,\u201d Mofokeng said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the PIC\u2019s top-performing investments account for approximately R67.6 billion in portfolio value and have generated more than R28.5 billion in distributions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broader unlisted portfolio has generated around R96 billion in repayments since inception and approximately R165 billion in total value. \u201cThese are not the characteristics of a portfolio that has universally failed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investment<\/th>Total Value Created<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
SA Home Loans MF<\/strong><\/td>R13.7 billion<\/td><\/tr>
IDC Bond<\/strong><\/td>R9.8 billion<\/td><\/tr>
IDC Bond UIF<\/strong><\/td>R6.2 billion<\/td><\/tr>
Tosaco<\/strong><\/td>R4.2 billion<\/td><\/tr>
ETC<\/strong><\/td>R4.1 billion<\/td><\/tr>
MOGS<\/strong><\/td>R3.2 billion<\/td><\/tr>
SA Home Loans<\/strong><\/td>R3.0 billion<\/td><\/tr>
Afreximbank<\/strong><\/td>R2.9 billion<\/td><\/tr>
Siyanda Resources<\/strong><\/td>R2.4 billion<\/td><\/tr>
AFC<\/strong><\/td>R2.4 billion<\/td><\/tr>
Total<\/strong><\/td>R51.9 billion<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s government says the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has generated more value from its successful investments than it has lost through its worst-performing ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":855920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[25653,2994,853],"class_list":["post-864611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-deputy-minister-of-finance","tag-pic","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864611","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=864611"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864679,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864611\/revisions\/864679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}