THE principal executive officer of the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF), John Oliphant, has been dismissed from his position following a disciplinary inquiry, the fund said on Thursday.
The fund is the largest investor in SA with more than R1-trillion in assets under management. Together with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages funds on its behalf, the fund is by far the most influential investor on the JSE. It is also increasingly viewed as an important funder for empowerment transactions.
Mr Oliphant said on Thursday through his lawyer, Imraan Haffegee, that he would "appeal both the finding of guilt and the sanction of dismissal".
"He has approached the GEPF (as he has on numerous occasions in the past) to explore an amicable resolution of the matter. He awaits a response from the GEPF," the lawyer’s statement reads.
The resolution of the disciplinary process comes after Mr Oliphant’s year-long fight to save his reputation. He was suspended last October for exceeding his delegated signing powers in a transaction with an advertising company contracted to design a campaign for the fund.
Mr Oliphant was also charged with approving the appointment of a company to install a TV without obtaining three quotes as the fund policy requires. Mr Oliphant admitted he varied the advertising contract but claimed that as principal executive officer he had the authority to do so.
The initial contract, valued at R535,000 and signed with agency Mother Russia, was to design an advertising campaign. Mr Oliphant subsequently varied the contract to include the commissioning and placement of advertising, reaching a value of R2m over three years.
The additional expenditure did not take place in the end as the contract was stopped. The disciplinary inquiry found Mr Oliphant guilty of both charges and imposed a sanction of dismissal.
The fund said in a statement that Mr Oliphant "had been dismissed following the finalisation of a disciplinary process that found him guilty of the charges of misconduct levelled against him". "GEPF’s board of trustees noted the outcome of the disciplinary hearing, and said it was satisfied that due process was followed."
But Mr Haffegee alleges a litany of procedural problems with the hearing and dirty tricks designed to smear Mr Oliphant’s reputation and force him out of the organisation.
The saga over Mr Oliphant took place against a background of poisonous relationships in the fund in which staff and board members operated in factions, with one supporting Mr Oliphant and the other aligned to former board chairman Arthur Moloto.
Mr Moloto’s term ended before the hearing ended and former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank Renosi Mokate replaced him.
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