Godongwana appoints new CEO for Government Pensions Administration Agency

Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana recently announced the appointment of Kedibone Olga Madiehe as the Chief Executive Officer for the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA).

Madiehe will take office from 1 November 2022.

Prior to Madiehe, the GPAA was run by Shahid Khan, who stood in as acting CEO of the agency during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Madiehe is said to have a wealth of experience in the financial and pension industry. She has also been previously employed by the agency, having served as general manager for Client Relationship Management from 8 December 2014 until 31 October 2022, among a team of other general managers.

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Madiehe’s appointment to strengthen GPAA’s administration role

The GPAA reports to the Minister of Finance and administers funds and schemes on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). It executes its functions through two programmes – support services and benefit administration.

Godongwana believes that the appointment of Madiehe will continue to strengthen the administration of the GEPF as well as the Civil and Military Pensions, contributions to funds and other benefits programmes.

 “It will further catapult the agency towards ICT modernisation and expediting pension services to the members, pensioners, and beneficiaries of the fund,” a statement from National Treasury read.

The roles of Chief Operations Officer, Chief Financial Officer and DDG Corporate Services still remain vacant.

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GPAA in the news

In more recent news, the GPAA had stepped in to write to all pensioners affected by the directive from the South African Revenue Services (Sars) that provided for a revised rate of tax to be deducted from pensioners’ monthly pension payments. This, after these pensioners claimed that the change was not effectively communicated to members by Sars, where close to 60% of their monthly income was being taxed.

The GPAA set out to inform the pensioners of the choices they have, which included the option to opt out of the revised tax rate provided by Sars and revert to the normal PAYE rate applicable to their pension.

The agency also grabbed headlines in 2018 after former CEO Krishen Sukdev was accused by employees of failing to take action against senior staff involved in alleged fraud and corruption.