Public Interest SA, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to promoting transparency and ethical governance, has taken UDM leader and deputy defence minister Bantu Holomisa to task over his call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to again appoint a commission of inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).
“Even after the Mpati Commission, corruption within the PIC appears deeply entrenched. The institution is increasingly viewed as ground zero for corruption in SA, with billions of rand lost through reckless investments and outright misconduct,” Holomisa said in his letter to Ramaphosa.
He goes on to list several deals that he says are clothed in misconduct, including Daybreak Foods, Karan Beef, and mooted investments into Flysafair and Lanseria Airport.
Public Interest SA said Holomisa’s letter, which he made public, fell short of consistency and fairness.
“It notably omits a critical issue that speaks directly to transparency and governance — the recent whistleblower report that precipitated the suspension of the PIC’s chief investment officer, Kabelo Rikhotso, over allegations of misconduct,” the NGO said in a statement.
“It is curious that Holomisa has neither called for the publication of this whistleblower report nor urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to compel the PIC to release it, especially given his stated commitment to combating corruption and protecting public funds,”
“Such omission risks undermining the credibility of his call for reform. True commitment to transparency must include defending whistleblowers whose disclosures illuminate wrongdoing — not selectively advancing narratives that could be perceived as politically motivated or personally vindictive.”
Rikhotso was placed on precautionary suspension earlier this month as the PIC investigates a whistleblower report that made allegations of wrongdoing against him.
“It is particularly troubling that Holomisa chose to single out specific individuals by name, some of whom have previously litigated successfully against him. This choice raises concerns that his intervention may be informed as much by personal animus as by genuine concern for governance,” Public Interest said.
“Public discourse about institutions as vital as the PIC must remain measured, fair and evidence-based, lest political actors be seen to weaponise their platforms to settle old scores under the guise of accountability.”
The Lanseria deal that Holomisa makes reference to includes Harith General Partners, linked to Tshepo Mahloele, who is no stranger to Holomisa’s allegations.
In 2018 Holomisa, in a similar fashion, made allegations of wrongdoing against Hairth, Lebashe Investments, Mahloele, his business partners Jabu Moleketi and Warren Wheatley of looting the PIC in their business dealings with Africa’s largest fund manager.
However, Holomisa failed to prove the allegations, with the matter going all the way to the Constitutional Court, which tore into Holomisa’s allegations.
“The applicants were not entitled to wantonly defame the respondents under the pretext that they were executing a constitutional duty. In the same breath, in my opinion, it was not for the public benefit to publish the unverified defamatory information,” the country’s apex court ruled in a unanimous judgment handed down in September 2022.
“When a public figure plainly defames members of the public while admitting that he or she does not know the truth of what he or she says, his or her right to freedom of expression may justifiably be limited. In the premises, the applicants failed to discharge the onus which rested on them to lay a basis for the defence that the allegations were true and in the public interest.”
This judgment was followed by an investigation into Harith General Partners, which found no evidence of wrongdoing in allegations that it fleeced the PIC.
The investigation, conducted on behalf of the PIC and its biggest client, the Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) by Nexus Forensics, emanated from a recommendation by the Mpati commission, which probed allegations that the PIC had been reckless in some of the investment decisions it had been making.
Headed by the former president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Lex Mpati, the commission concluded its work in 2020. Its recommendations included that the GEPF and the PIC jointly appoint an independent investigator to look into allegations made against Harith.
In its 2025 annual report, the PIC said it finalised the implementation of the recommendations of the Mpati commission of inquiry.
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