Justicia Shipena
The public accounts committee of the National Assembly has been asked to summon the board and management of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) to explain the reported loss of money in a foreign investment.
This comes as a tax claim issued by the South African Revenue Service triggered a major impairment in one of the fund’s offshore investment vehicles.
The claim created uncertainty about whether the fund would recover the full value of its assets.
GIPF reported an impairment of N$815 million in its 2025 financial statements.
Chief executive officer Martin Inkumbi said the amount formed part of a total impairment provision of N$922.2 million recorded across the investment portfolio for the year ending 31 March 2025.
In a letter dated 13 November 2025 to committee chairperson Hendrik Gaobaeb, member of parliament Job Amupanda asked for an urgent public hearing.
He said pensioners and public servants deserve a clear explanation of what happened to their money. He requested that the hearing be held in the second week of December.
Amupanda said more than 100 000 GIPF members are affected and that the committee must act.
The PAC reviews government spending and ensures public funds are used effectively.
He said the GIPF leadership must appear before the committee to explain the loss and outline efforts to recover or limit it.
“It is the duty of the standing committee on public accounts to examine and report on all accounts and reports in which the state has an interest,” he wrote.
He said the matter must be treated with urgency because it concerns workers’ pensions.
Amupanda’s call follows that of former finance minister Calle Schlettwein, who last week urged GIPF to explain the money lost in its investment in the South African-based Signal Structured Finance Fund (SSFF).
Schlettwein said what happened in South Africa does not remove GIPF’s responsibility as custodian of pensioners’ funds.
According to GIPF, the loss does not jeopardise its financial stability because it is still below the threshold for materiality.
In August 2019, GIPF lost more than N$600 million through loans issued under its Development Capital Portfolio.
GIPF only recovered N$380 million of the loans. The portfolio had issued loans to several companies with little or no business track record, and investigations into 20 firms concluded that the money could not be recovered.
The committee has not yet responded to the request for a hearing.
