10 Nov 2019

Despite media reports of misappropriation of funds at Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), the company has assured its membership that their retirement savings were safe.

However, BPOPF Investment and Portfolio director, Mr Moemedi Malindah acknowledged that the company was engaged in legal battles with some investors who did not fulfil the terms and conditions of their investment contracts.

Mr Malindah said the funds administrator was hopeful of recovering millions of Pula that were invested in some companies with the hope of diversifying sources of generating income for the company.

Addressing BPOPF members in Gaborone on Saturday, Mr Malindah said even though the fund had recorded some positive growth in the past, it was not immune to challenges.

He said in 2002, the pension fund was equally affected by the financial crisis as the investment market experienced a drop of 14 per cent.

Another drop of 14 per cent in the investment market was experienced in 2009, said Mr Malindah. “Our savings dropped from P27.9 billion to P23.9 billion,” said Mr Malindah.

As a shareholder at Choppies, Mr Malindah said BPOPF was affected by the dismal drop in the buying price of its shares, adding that the Choppies Limited price fall was a serious blow to the pension funds administrator.

The shares rose from P1.15 to P4.40 over the years and experienced a landslide fall to be priced at 69 thebe.

Despite the challenges, ‘we have experienced some form of positive growth,’ he said.

Mr Malindah said BPOPF would continue to search for potential opportunities for investment locally, in Africa and even in the global markets. He noted that projects in infrastructure have the potential to diversify sources of generating income.

“We consider infrastructure as an investment,” he said, adding that investing in infrastructure would sustain the fund and further highlighted the need to engage in shareholder protection initiatives to safeguard their investments. “We are looking for potential investors locally,” he said.

BPOPF has about 20 offshore investment managers, hence the need to review their performance occasionally so as to timely identify pockets of under-performance and to take advantage of opportunities with the potent of diversifying sources of funds.

BPOPF was also hopeful of capturing opportunities for investment in the booming and growing China markets, said Mr Malindah, further explaining that China offered opportunities for investment.

“We have identified strong managers to partner with in the Chinese market and we are ready to kickstart our investment in 2020,” said Mr Malindah further noting that the pensioners’ fund administrator also observed growing markets offering potentials for investment in Africa.

“We are ready to capture the African investment. We have already identified potential managers for our fund,” he said, adding that BPOPF was engaged in a race to capture potential markets for investment in Africa.

Meanwhile, the BPOPF Strategy and Change manager, Ms Amantle Kerebotswe said the company was engaged in a five-year strategy to guide its activities. Ms Kerebotswe said guided by the ongoing strategy (2017 – 2022), the company was focusing on prevailing trends impacting on both local and global markets, among others, poor performance of the stock exchange, low birth rate, changes in legislation, increasing life expectancy and an increase on the use of advancing technology and consider how they would impact on the running of the fund.

Ms Kerebotswe said the strategy would also consider changes in the operations of BPOPF as a result of in-sourcing activities that had been outsourced.

The strategy would focus more on stabilising services and creating value for our customers, said Ms Kerebotswe.

“We want to see pensioners living a dignified life.

We want to be seen as a trusted and industry leader in managing pensioners’ funds as we are directed by our core values of integrity, accountability, customer focus and Botho,” she said.

Ms Kerebotswe said the strategy would also guide the company to grow its assets to P90 billion by 2022.

She said BPOPF was also considering investing in risk mitigation, strengthening risk management capabilities and improving on the use of technology.

The strategy, she added also focused on leveraging the investment base.

Some members were concerned about the safety of their savings taking into consideration media reports indicating that BPOPF was marred by, among others, misappropriation of funds and corruption.

A pensioner, Mr Molatlhegi Mmopi raised a concern that since BPOPF in-sourced its fund administration that was previously done by Alexander Forbes, the fund administrator was now tormented by issues relating to misappropriation of funds and therefore members were concerned about the safety of their savings.

An active member, Mr Dikakanyo Mmolawa appreciated the opportunity given to members to consult with the fund administrator.

Mr Mmolawa advised BPOPF to focus more on encouraging members to utilise their savings to engage in activities that would add value to their livelihoods and even contribute to diversifying the economy.

He said it was ideal to offer working members a portion of their two thirds of the savings reserved for pension to invest into an activity to increase their savings. ENDS