In October last year, the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, presented the annual report for the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) for the year to March 2022. The GEPF is not only the largest pension fund in Africa but is also housed in a defined benefit structure, which means it is underwritten by the government, and by extension the taxpayer.
The GEPF assets grew from R127 billion in 1996 to R2. 3 trillion as of March 2022, and it’s a significant contingent liability on the State’s books, which almost no politician and very few economists have the experience or expertise to unpack properly.
There is some fine print in the latest financials worth noting: “This means that contingency reserves are not allowed to
