Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has extended the term of the Public Investment Corporation board, chaired by Reuel Khoza, by 15 months to ensure stability and continuity of leadership at the state-owned asset manager.
The extension of the board’s term is yet to be publicly announced by the PIC and Mboweni, who oversees the governance of the state-owned asset manager, but not its day-to-day administration. Mboweni considered extending the term of the PIC board by three or five years, but Khoza said 15 months is enough to ensure that the same individuals don’t stay too long on the board, compromising its independence.Khoza said the renewal of the board’s term will ensure continuity as its work is still ongoing to implement the wide-ranging recommendations of a commission of inquiry into the PIC’s governance affairs, which was headed by retired Supreme Court of Appeal judge Lex Mpati.
The previous and now reappointed PIC board is yet to implement most of the report’s recommendations, including launching a forensic investigation into whether Matjila personally benefited from questionable deals at the PIC and the asset manager’s process to extend loans to Sekunjalo. The report also recommended that the PIC recover outstanding monies from Sekunjalo.