Public Investment Corporation boss Dan Matjila believes he is in the crosshairs of powerful people who want access to the R1.9-trillion of pension money he manages on behalf of government employees.
"I've got the keys. They're looking for the keys to the big safe," Matjila says. This is after he was hauled before the PIC board last week to answer allegations against him that were leaked mysteriously after he turned down a request from SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeni for a R6-billion loan to keep the bankrupt national carrier from going under.
In an astonishingly frank interview this week, Matjila told Business Times he believed there was a connection. He said several requests for transactions that did not meet the PIC's investment criteria had been made by "politically connected people".
He said although the majority of the board had accepted the comprehensive documentary evidence he presented, which proved his innocence of the allegations against him, the chairman and vice-chairman, both recent Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba appointments, insisted on an internal audit.
This suggested very strongly that there was another agenda at work. "It tells you there's a plan on the table to try and remove me."
He believed that attempts to get rid of him would intensify as the ANC's elective conference approached.
"It may be almost impossible for them to have this opportunity when the political leadership of the party has changed," he said. "There is a lot of desperation and there is urgency to deal with this quickly."
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