Mbabane – The Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) investments director Musa Hlatshwayo has assured its members that it is yet to make investments that can give civil servant preferential fees as opposed to making investments, including the acquisition of businesses, that only guarantee returns.
He was responding to questions asked by some PSPF members at the sixth stakeholder engagement forum at the Hilton Garden Inn on Thursday after the fund management said they have accumulated about E37 billion assets.
PSPF surpassed a 30% target of its domestic investment portfolio, currently standing at 44% set to reach a new target of 50%.
Hlatshwayo said the parastatal studied all viable investments options and they only have up until now locked those that guarantee return on investments and a hospital specialising on oncology treatments. He also said they are exploring investing in other sectors including money lending however this would require getting the licence and hiring specialists in the field.
Hlatshwayo said the management debates on investment options and sometimes fail to reach a consensus.
New local investments include an internationally-acclaimed private Nkonyeni boarding school, Lower Maguduza Hydro station, oncology cancer clinic building, converting the SASCCO building into an office park and the extension of The New Mall in Mbabane.
A question from the floor was asked as to what mechanism PSPF uses to ensure that all its investments benefits the members.
Hlatshayo responded, “This [Nkonyeni private] school primarily is meant to attract people in the region including and financially stable parents that get education support in the workplace.
However the model says that even Emaswati who can afford are also targeted. We need to make it profitable. We are yet to see how the uptake will be in the first academic year while making it profitable before we see how civil servants can benefit.”
Similarly with the cancer clinic, Hlatshwayo said it made a viable investment option given that the government through Phalala Fund still diverts patients and funds outside the country for a lack of local medical facilities.
He said at this time not all projects will have preferential fee for civil servants. “We are in business as a fund and our intention is what if we gave you a retirement that will make you sustain yourself. The board has therefore resolved that the annual target return on any investment should be at the level of Consumer Price Index (CPI).
For example, nowadays, this reflect a return that is between 10 and 13%,” he said. Hlatshwayo said any project that does not guarantee the return on investment for PSPF was a social responsibility. He maintained that these investments are meant to create jobs
Discussion about this post