The high court in Pretoria on Tuesday set aside the suspension of Public Investment Corporation chief executive Patrick Dlamini, handing him a decisive win against the board that removed him and injecting a measure of stability into an asset manager gripped by a leadership struggle. The state-owned PIC is Africa’s largest asset manager, overseeing more than R2.5-trillion on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund and other public depositors, which lends the internal battle unusual weight for the country’s savings pool.
Judge Nathan Mbongwe found that the previous board acted beyond its powers. Under the PIC Act, the finance minister appoints the chief executive in consultation with cabinet, leaving the board to select and recommend a candidate rather than to remove one. The judge held that any suspension had to be recommended by the human resources and remuneration committee, initiated by the chairperson and approved by the minister with cabinet’s concurrence. None of those steps was followed, and the court concluded the board had disregarded both the statute and its own delegations of authority.
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The July suspension, barely a year into Dlamini’s tenure, triggered a board exodus and the installation of a fresh board last week under Seiso Mohai. The outgoing board had been chaired by deputy finance minister David Masondo, who stepped down as chair in late July after diverging from finance minister Enoch Godongwana over the PIC, including the handling of Dlamini.
At the centre of the dispute is a soured airport transaction that has drawn regulatory scrutiny.
| Acapulco–Lanseria timeline | Detail |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Acapulco receives a R333.2m PIC loan for a 25% Lanseria Airport stake |
| Late 2023 | Final repayment falls due on the loan’s 10th anniversary |
| On default | Debt balloons to about R600m with interest; PIC moves to seize shares |
| BDO valuation | Stake valued near R330m, leaving Acapulco with nothing |
| Crowe valuation | Stake revalued at about R1bn |
| Outcome | PIC pays Acapulco R430m; FSCA opens investigation |
Dlamini was suspended after a whistle-blower report alleged wrongdoing on his part, chiefly regarding the R430m the PIC paid to Acapulco. The deal was already well advanced when he took office. Acapulco had borrowed to acquire its Lanseria holding, defaulted as the debt swelled, and prompted the PIC to pursue its shares. The valuation then became pivotal: BDO, jointly appointed, priced the stake at a level that would have wiped out Acapulco’s position, yet the corporation permitted the defaulting party to replace BDO with Crowe, whose roughly R1bn figure produced the R430m payout, being the gap between the debt and the new valuation.
A PwC review commissioned by Dlamini concluded that the PIC, despite formally rejecting Crowe’s number, mounted a weak arbitration defence that favoured Acapulco. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority is now investigating. The episode has already claimed a professional casualty, with the auditor linked to the controversy fined for substandard work, underscoring the governance failures the matter has exposed.
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The ruling also revives a wider question about how the PIC oversees its investments. Before his removal, Dlamini had begun splitting the chief investment officer function into three mandates covering listed assets, unlisted assets, and property and infrastructure, a restructuring intended to tighten accountability over investment decisions. That plan itself became contested, with former chief executive Dan Matjila publicly defending the original CIO structure this week.
With the courts affirming that only the minister and cabinet can lawfully move against the chief executive, Godongwana and the new Mohai-led board must now steer the institution through the FSCA inquiry while restoring confidence among the pensioners whose money the PIC ultimately holds. The judgment settles the legality of the suspension, but the deeper contest over control and culture at the corporation is far from resolved.