NEHAWU VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED TO THE CONTINUATION OF THE STATE CAPTURE PROJECT AT PIC
Friday September 15, 2017
The National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] remains vehemently opposed to the envisaged continuation of the state capture project into the Public Investment Corporation [PIC]. The PIC manages funds on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund.
NEHAWU has it on good authority that the board of the PIC is intending to replace the current sitting Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Dan Matjila, with the Guptas golden boy one Brian Molefe. It is common knowledge that Molefe has been used to further the state capture project. He was instrumental in the looting the coffers of Eskom through shady deals and contracts together with his bosses the Guptas through their company Tegeta. When the public protector exposed him, he was shipped to Parliament to continue their project there before attempting to return to Eskom to continue the looting.
Eskom is one of the state-owned entities where bad governance and hemorrhaging of capital led to the PIC not achieving its targeted returns. This occurred under the leadership of Brian Molefe at the power utility. If this trend continues then the PIC runs the risk of also hemorrhaging money and losing workers’ pension funds in the process.
As NEHAWU, we want to warn against the narrative that the PIC has enough resources to bail out SAA so therefore money must just be handed over to the airline which is clamoring for a lifeline. Having enough resources does not mean spending them willy-nilly without any guarantee of returns. In this regard, we want to call on the PIC to put measures in place to recoup any money lost on bad investments and put stringent requirements when approached for funding. Rigorous conditions would have to be adhered to by those who qualify and subsequently receive funding from the coffers of the PIC.
As we have stated before, we are strongly opposed to the using of workers’ earned money to bail out the South African Airways [SAA]. Our view is that throwing money at the problems currently faced by SAA will not save it from total financial ruin. The management and the board under the controversial Dudu Myeni are at the center of the crisis that engulf the airline hence our call for investigations to be instituted and the board dissolved. Trying to bailout SAA will be like trying to fill up an endless pit.
We will be monitoring the situation with hawk eyes and guard against the misuse of workers hard-earned money to further the state capture project. NEHAWU will not stand idle while workers’ pension funds are used to line the pockets of greedy looters. We encourage all our members and society at large to join the COSATU led strike on the 27th September 2017 against state capture. The strike will be used to voice out our dissatisfaction and anger on the looting of state resources. The state capture project has been going on for a very long time long unabated and it is time that society takes a stand against it and end it for good.
Lastly, NEHAWU together with other COSATU unions in the public service we will continue to demand that workers money be invested in the Government Employee Housing Scheme for public servants other than being wasted in speculative projects and bailing out failing SOEs.
Statement issued by NEHAWU Secretariat, 15 September 2017
