Daily Maverick columnist proposes directing South African pension funds into infrastructure
In South Africa, a Daily Maverick columnist proposed changing the approach to using the funds of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), a pension fund for public servants. In his view, part of the accumulated reserves should gradually be directed toward housing, public transport, water infrastructure and other projects capable of creating jobs.
The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages primarily workers’ pension funds, controls more than 3 trillion rand. The column notes that a significant share of these assets is invested in the stock market, foreign assets, through asset managers and in private deals. Among the controversial investments mentioned by the author is a deal linked to the privately managed international Lanseria Airport.
Pension fund reserves
According to the latest legally required actuarial valuation cited in the column, the GEPF was 119% funded excluding contingency reserves. The fund’s net assets amounted to 2.34 trillion rand, while accrued liabilities stood at 1.97 trillion rand.
The author advocates a gradual transition from a fully funded asset accumulation model to a system in which current employee contributions provide payments to current pensioners, while the fund retains a substantial reserve for risks. He believes this would not mean exhausting the funds or creating a risk to guaranteed pensions, but would require an actuarial and democratic determination of the necessary level of reserves.
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Investment proposals
According to calculations by the Alternative and Information Development Centre (AIDC), based on GEPF annual reports, the fund’s contributions and investment income, after benefit payments, have generated an average annual cash surplus of about 50 billion rand since the 2011/12 financial year. In 2024, this figure was approximately 60 billion rand, according to AIDC, and in 2025 it was about 37 billion rand.
The author proposes using tens of billions of rand annually to build energy-efficient social housing, modernise commuter rail and municipal transport, and repair water pipelines and treatment facilities. According to his data, as of March 2025, the GEPF already held approximately 631 billion rand in government bonds and more than 100 billion rand in bonds of state-owned enterprises.
The columnist also called on trade unions to demand transparency, accountability and consequences if corruption is established at the PIC, as well as to more actively influence the purposes that workers’ pension funds should serve.
