The Standing Committee on Finance has welcomed the appointment of the Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Seiso Mohai as the new board chairperson of Public Investment Corporation (PIC).
Mohai is succeeding former chairperson who is the Deputy Minister of Finance Dr David Masondo. The former board chairperson along with several other board members resigned last week.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance Dr. Joe Maswanganyi says the committee will soon be meeting the new board of the PIC to iron out governance issues.
The appointment of the board was announced during the post-Cabinet Committee briefing on Thursday.
The appointment of the PIC board is said to be aimed at addressing current governance challenges. Previously Mohai held the position of Chief Whip of the of the African National Congress in the National Council of Provinces from 2014 to 2024.
Maswanganyi says they will call the board to appear before them.
“ The Standing Committee on Finance welcomes the appointment of the PIC board chaired by the Honourable Deputy Minister Seiso Mohai. Honourable Mohai, the long serving Member of Parliament in the Free State Legislature, brings many years of experience of governance. The Standing Committee on Finance offers its support to the new board and the chairperson. We will meet the board soon to deal with issues of governance and to assure the workers that their hard-earned pensions are safe.”
Build One South Africa leader and the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations Dr. Mmusi Maimane says while they welcome the appointment of the PIC board and the chairperson, he believes the appointment process requires some complete overhaul.
“ But the appointment of this chairperson actually requires a total reform of how we appoint board members at the PIC. It cannot be a process that is undertaken privately in cabinet. It needs public participation. This is South Africa’s money and therefore I wish the minister, the deputy minister as well, what is absolutely vital is that we reform how we appoint directors, ho the PIC is accountable and then ultimately as always, it has been a convention that the finance cluster be able to have a proper oversight over what goes on in the PIC. It is going to be important that we use this institution for proper investment, for proper decision making.”
Democratic Alliance MP serving in the Standing Committee on Finance Andrew Bateman says he does not believe the appointment of Mohai was the only available choice.
“The difficult thing about choosing a chairperson for the PIC is that the ACT prescribes that the chairperson must be a deputy minister from the economic cluster, and that creates a very small pool to choose from. I am not sure if we have done a correct choice, I would have favoured Ashwly Sarrapin. But what was encouraging about this morning’s announcement is that the minister will report on the Mpati Commission reforms and in particular has made a commitment to seeing that those reforms are carried through. One of those reforms was the recommendation that the chairperson should be an independent person who has the necessary expertise in pension funds, investments, risk management, corporate governance and so on.”
