PIC under scrutiny as Scopa demands answers on irregular expenditure

THE Public Investment Corporation’s (PIC) unlisted portfolio came up for scrutiny without wholly satisfying the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), which has scheduled another date to receive answers that had raised red flags with the Auditor-General (AG).

- BANELE GININDZA

This is as the PIC appeared before Scopa on Wednesday to report mainly on the investment that the entity has made on behalf of the Government Employees Pensions Fund (GEPF) and the Compensation Fund to address ongoing social and governance failures within the Compensation Fund and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

Scopa’s follow-up is on the state of the Compensation Fund, which has received the same audit opinion for five consecutive years, nothwithstanding the improvement on the issues previously raised by the Auditor-General.

It has incurred more than 97.6% of irregular expenditure amounting to R46.77 million that has not been addressed, while 98% of fruitless and wasteful expenditure, totalling R558 million, remained unresolved.