Dan Matjila better not have received a golden handshake, says DA

In a statement on Friday, DA MP David Maynier said the opposition had noted Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO Dr Dan Matjila’s offer to resign had been accepted and was effective immediately.

“However, this cannot be the end of the matter: it is imperative that the board makes all the facts surrounding his resignation public,” said Maynier.

ALSO READ: CEO Dan Matjila throws in the towel at PIC after a year of allegations

He said they needed assurance there was no “golden handshake” (a large severance payment to encourage him to quit) and that Matjia would not be “allowed to escape and evade accountability for his actions at the PIC”.

The PIC board on Friday lavished compliments on Matjila in an official statement, saying he had “played an integral role in fulfilling the PIC’s vision of meeting and exceeding our clients’ mandates” and that his leadership had supposedly grown the asset manager in strength and had allowed it to attract excellent staff.

They wished him well and hoped he would still “contribute to the country and the continent at large”.

President Cyril Ramaphosa last month published the terms of reference for a judicial commission of inquiry into the PIC that will look at the corruption allegations that have dogged the largest asset managing entity on the African continent and its CEO for more than a year.

The inquiry into the PIC will examine broader governance, corruption and mismanagement issues going as far back as 2015.

United Democratic Movement president Bantu Holomisa has been vocal about businessmen who peddled their influence and use their proximity to Matjila to secure millions in funding from the PIC. In a letter to Ramaphosa earlier this year, Holomisa accused Matjila of personally releasing funding worth R2 billion without approval from the PIC’s board, over an unspecified period, to businessmen with strong ties to the PIC itself and government.

Matjila and the PIC vehemently denied allegations of wrongdoing.

Beyond the role of the board and management, internal issues such as the treatment and protection of whistle-blowers, and whether confidential information of the PIC was disclosed to third parties will also be aired.

This aspect of the inquiry arguably relates to a number of PIC staff members who were fired or resigned in 2017 after being personally investigated by Matjila for leaking information about his alleged misconduct to the media.

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers. Background reporting courtesy of Moneyweb)

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