Government Employees Pension Fund

UAO Registry · Top 100 · Public pension · South Africa

Last researched: Sunday–Monday 6–7 September 2026 (ET). Corrections: info@universalassetowners.com

• Executive brief
• Speakable summary
• Mandate & ownership
• GEPF / PIC / GPAA entity split
• Scale & portfolio
• Governance & leadership
• Investment philosophy
• Climate / ESG / ethics
• Performance & reporting
• Controversies & debates
• Timeline
• Annex: AUM & return path
• Annex: Asset mix & Isibaya
• Annex: Membership & benefits flows
• Annex: Leadership title verification
• Annex: Board & committees
• Annex: Two-pot implementation
• Annex: Researcher checklist
• FAQ
• Sources
• Official video
• Completeness note

Executive brief

Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) is Africa’s largest pension fund and one of the world’s large defined-benefit public schemes. Official homepage and Annual Report 2024/25 language: established in May 1996 when various public-sector funds were consolidated; core business governed by the Government Employees Pension Law (Proclamation 21 of 1996), as amended — to manage and administer pensions and other benefits for government employees in South Africa.

Prefer official South African rand (ZAR / R) as published on gepf.co.za. Primary scale opened for this pack: as of 31 March 2025, GEPF managed R2.69 trillion in assets / investment portfolio, up 13.1% from R2.38 trillion in 2024 (homepage KPI strip; media release 18 November 2025; Annual Report PEO and Investment report). Accumulated funds and reserves: R2.65 trillion (reserve account R6 billion). FY2024/25 investment return 14.1% on net investment income of R379 billion (prior year 4.9% / R116 billion). Funding level cited as 119%. Membership: 1,267,539 active members and 565,221 pensioners and beneficiaries. An INST working band near ~US$150 billion is not a GEPF-published USD headline — do not invent FX conversion; cite R2.69 trillion.

Entity honesty: GEPF is the pension fund. Assets are typically invested via the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), a state-owned asset manager under a signed investment mandate; the Annual Report states the PIC directly oversees 97% of the GEPF portfolio. Benefits administration is outsourced to the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA). Keep GEPF vs PIC distinct — the same honesty pattern as ABP / APG and PGGM / PFZW.

Leadership verified on gepf.co.za Executive Committee / team pages and Annual Report 2024/25: Musa Mabesa is Principal Executive Officer (PEO) — official title is PEO, not CIO. Sifiso Sibiya is Head: Investments — do not invent “CIO” if the official title is Head: Investments. Board Chairperson is Frans Baleni, elected Chairperson by the Board on 11 December 2024 after Ministerial appointment as employee-nominated Trustee following Dondo Mogajane’s resignation.

Why researchers care: GEPF is the dominant South African public-service balance sheet, with an explicit liability-driven and developmental investment stance, deep PIC mandate oversight (including the Isibaya unlisted developmental book), GPAA administration and two-pot implementation history, and a public Annual Report stack that separates fund, asset manager, and administrator. Related Registry hubs include EPF (KWSP), CPF Board, NPS / NPSIM, GPIF, CalPERS, and ABP / APG.

Schema on this page uses Organization and GovernmentOrganization. Official homepage YouTube embed is included as VideoObject. Public-safe: this profile omits private staff emails and personal phone numbers; UAO corrections go to info@universalassetowners.com.

Speakable summary

The Government Employees Pension Fund is South Africa’s and Africa’s largest pension fund. As of 31 March 2025 it reported R2.69 trillion in assets, a 14.1 percent investment return for the year, and a 119 percent funding level, serving about 1.27 million active members and 565 thousand pensioners and beneficiaries. GEPF is the fund; the Public Investment Corporation invests most assets under mandate; the Government Pensions Administration Agency administers benefits. Musa Mabesa is Principal Executive Officer; Sifiso Sibiya is Head of Investments; Frans Baleni chairs the Board of Trustees.

Mandate & ownership

What GEPF is: a defined-benefit pension fund for government employees and employees of participating employers, governed by the Government Employees Pension Law. Annual Report “GEPF at a glance”: it provides guaranteed benefits in retirement regardless of market conditions; benefits include retirement, resignation, death and funeral support, complemented by inflation-linked pension increases and member services across digital and regional platforms.

Vision / mission / values (AR): vision — to be a global leader and reputable pension fund that delivers quality service to beneficiaries. Mission — ensure sustainability of the Fund; provide efficient delivery of benefits; empower beneficiaries through effective communication. Values named: integrity, transparency, client-centricity, accountability and innovation.

Legal / political chain: the Fund reports to Parliament via the Minister of Finance (Minister’s note to Parliament in AR 2024/25, Enoch Godongwana, October 2025). The Board of Trustees is the Fund’s executive authority with fiduciary responsibility under the GEP Law and Rules. The Board comprises 16 Trustees: eight employer nominees and eight employee nominees, including a pensioner and a representative from the South African National Defence Force and intelligence sector. At its first meeting the Board elects a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson; each Trustee has a substitute.

What the mandate is not: GEPF is not itself the PIC, not a retail asset manager open to the general public, and not a sovereign wealth fund brand. It is a statutory public pension fund whose investment and administration functions are substantially outsourced under Board oversight. Researchers should not collapse “GEPF AUM” into “PIC AUM” or treat Head: Investments as an invented CIO title.

Investments page objective language: long-term objectives include providing pensions and related benefits as promised in Fund rules; granting annual increases to pensioners; improving benefits and employer contribution rates. Strategy uses a liability-driven approach considering assets, liabilities, and risk-return objectives.

Board fiduciary checklist from the AR overview includes: maintaining proper records and resolutions; effective internal controls; clear member information on rights, benefits and duties; timely contribution payment; obtaining expert advice when necessary; compliance with applicable laws and Fund Rules; and ensuring investments align with the approved strategy.

GEPF / PIC / GPAA entity split

Annual Report overview diagram: GEPF Board of Trustees (Executive Authority) issues an Investment Mandate to PIC (Asset Manager) and an Administrative Agreement and Service Level Agreement to GPAA (Fund Benefits Administrator). Both entities operate under formal agreements and report to the Board via its committees.

PIC: Established in 1911; South Africa’s largest asset manager; government-owned entity represented by the Minister of Finance; registered financial services provider regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). Regulated by the PIC Act (Act 23 of 2004) as amended by the PIC Amendment Act (Act 14 of 2019), PFMA, Companies Act, and related statutes. AR: PIC directly oversees 97% of the GEPF portfolio while private equity fund managers handle part of unlisted investments. Mandate agreements covering listed and unlisted investments, risk parameters, benchmarks, fees and voting policies were revised in 2021/22 and updated versions signed in early 2022/23.

GPAA: Established under Section 7A(4) of the Public Service Act; began operating 1 April 2010. Administers benefits for GEPF and National Treasury with 93% of its services dedicated to GEPF. Led by a CEO and executive management; GEPF Benefits and Administration Committee monitors SLA compliance through quarterly reviews. Headquartered in Pretoria with regional service centres listed in the Annual Report (Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, Northern Cape, Free State, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal).

Oversight cadence (AR): Investment Committee sets Board-approved investment policy, aligns strategic asset allocation with liabilities, monitors PIC implementation, oversees quarterly independent performance reviews. Advisory Board (from December 2022) oversees the PIC-managed unlisted portfolio with two Independent Specialists. Monthly or ad hoc GEPF–PIC meetings; quarterly executive-committee engagements; investment committees and boards meet at least twice a year.

UAO editorial rule for this page: when a sentence describes fund scale, funding level, contributions, benefits, or Board decisions, attribute to GEPF. When it describes portfolio execution, Isibaya deal flow, or voting on GEPF’s behalf, attribute to PIC acting for GEPF. When it describes claim processing or member systems, attribute to GPAA.

PIC Board committees named in the AR overview include Audit; Risk; Social, Ethics and Transformation; Investment – Listed; Investment – Unlisted; Directors’ Affairs; Human Resources and Remuneration; and ICT Governance. These are PIC governance structures — not GEPF Board committees — and should not be mixed in leadership tables.

Scale & portfolio

Homepage KPI strip (opened September 2026 research): 1.267 Mil active members; 565K pensioners & beneficiaries; R 2.69 Trillion value of assets; 16 branches.

FY2024/25 flow metrics from the 18 November 2025 media release: member contributions R95.63 billion (+4.0% from R91.93 billion); benefits paid R167.16 billion (+17.6% from R142.36 billion). Retirement cases finalised by GPAA: 39,568 (2024: 35,523), with gratuities R25.9 billion and annuities R86.6 billion. Resignation benefits R29.1 billion to 22,452 claimants. Lump-sum death benefits R6.6 billion for 5,738 claims.

Portfolio positioning (PEO / Investment report): firmly anchored in South African assets with 85.9% market exposure across local listed equity and bond markets. Asset-class labels published in the Investment report include domestic equity, domestic bonds, foreign equity, domestic listed property, Africa excluding South Africa, cash, Isibaya, and foreign bonds. Approximately 70% of the bond portfolio is exposed to bonds with maturity more than seven years.

Domestic top-10 equity holdings (AR market values, R’000): Naspers 166,994,804; Gold Fields 77,389,883; Prosus 59,745,628; FirstRand 59,516,670; Standard Bank 56,315,839; AngloGold Ashanti 52,655,963; Capitec Bank 52,189,292; MTN Group 46,506,388; Anglo American 43,131,265; British American Tobacco 40,707,193. Top five contributors to performance named: Naspers, Standard Bank, Gold Fields, Prosus, AngloGold Ashanti.

Organisation scale (PEO report): 46 employees, including seven interns, at the GEPF office supporting the Board — distinct from PIC and GPAA headcount. ERP implementation, website/intranet upgrade, and cybersecurity controls (MFA, endpoint protection, cloud migration) are described as Fund ICT modernisation progress.

Asset-class movement table (AR Snapshot, R’000): domestic and foreign listed equities rose from 1,149,800,134 to 1,629,638,039 (+42%); bills and bonds from 698,665,761 to 830,439,622 (+18.9%); unlisted equities from 66,839,824 to 108,535,375 (+62%); collective investment schemes fell from 259,601,972 to 25,046,722 (−91%), with a note that foreign asset-manager holdings were segregated into relevant categories in the current year (see AFS note 22).

Governance & leadership

Board Chairperson: Frans Baleni. Annual Report narrative: at its first meeting on 4 July 2022 the then Board elected Dondo Mogajane as Chairperson and Eddie Kekana as Deputy Chairperson. Following Mr Mogajane’s resignation on 4 November 2024, the Minister of Finance appointed Frans Baleni as an employee-nominated Trustee. In line with the GEP Law and Rules, Mr Baleni was elected Chairperson by the Board on 11 December 2024. He serves on the Investment Committee and Advisory Board as well as the Benefits and Administration Committee, and chairs the Investment Committee.

Principal Executive Officer: Musa Mabesa. Official title across gepf.co.za and the Annual Report is Principal Executive Officer (PEO). GEPF appointment announcement and later GIBS dialogue materials state he has led the Fund since 2020 (previously Acting PEO; previously Head: Corporate Services). AR qualifications include MSc (University of London), Fellow of ACCA, BCompt (UNISA), leadership programme (Stellenbosch University Business School), and membership of the Institute of Directors South Africa. The Office of the PEO supports the Board in safeguarding member interests and managing daily operations.

Head: Investments: Sifiso Sibiya. Official Executive Committee and team-member pages title him Head: Investments. AR role description: oversees the Fund’s assets and liabilities; advises the PEO and Board on investment strategy and execution; ensures implementation of responsible and developmental investment policies; manages outsourced investment services such as those provided by the PIC and other external providers. Qualifications listed include MMFI (Wits), BSc Hons Mathematical Statistics, BSc Actuarial Science, FIA, ASSA Fellow, CERA, CFA, CAIA. Do not invent a “CIO” title if the official published title is Head: Investments.

Other executives named in AR 2024/25 Office of the PEO (context only; titles as printed): Bulelwa Kotta — Head: Finance; Brian Karidza — Head: Actuarial and Benefits Administration; Emmanuel Lekgau — Acting Head: Corporate Services; Adri van Niekerk — Company Secretary; Babs Naidoo — Head: Stakeholder Management and Communications (*retired during the reporting period*). Do not invent seats beyond these opened sources.

Board meeting cadence (AR): six regular meetings during the period under review alongside special meetings convened for urgent matters. Six permanent committees and two subcommittees operate under formal terms of reference. King IV and related governance codes are referenced in Fund assurance language.

Investment philosophy / strategy

Investments page (gepf.co.za/investments/): the Fund has signed an investment mandate with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). It aims to invest responsibly for the long term using active and passive strategies and a core-satellite approach when issuing mandates — core portfolios managed by PIC; satellite portfolios may be managed by specialist managers.

Investment beliefs summarised on the Investments page include: commitment to high standards of openness, transparency and appropriate disclosure; strategy considers risk, assets and liabilities; risk considered at all levels; take risk to get return; implement appropriate risk management; SAA determines risk and return; implementation through active and passive; integrate ESG in policies; ESG considerations material to long-term sustainability; play a developmental role in SA and Africa; consider wider stakeholder views; support reputation with robust decisions from skilled professionals; minimise costs; promote alignment of interests with fees; accountability and high ethical standards from trustees, administrators and investment managers.

PEO report: the GEPF maintains a long-term investment strategy rooted in its policy and guiding beliefs. It continues to lead in responsible investing, embedding sustainability into investment and ownership practices. Committed to a developmental approach, the Fund seeks sound, risk-adjusted returns that generate enduring economic, social and environmental value for members, pensioners, beneficiaries, South Africa and the wider continent. Portfolio remains firmly anchored in South African assets with 85.9% market exposure.

Policy documents linked from the Investments hub include Investment Policy Statement, Developmental Investments Policy Statement, Transformation Policy Statement, and Responsible Investment materials — researchers should open the live PDFs on gepf.co.za rather than relying on secondary summaries.

Internally managed Africa private-markets programme (AR): as at 31 March 2025 the Fund had committed US$875 million to nine Africa-focused private equity funds, aiming to enhance returns and diversify into sectors and companies not represented in listed markets. Cumulative allocation narrative in the AR spans infrastructure, private credit and private equity sleeves from 2008 onward.

Climate / ESG / ethics

Media release 18 November 2025: GEPF continued to be a leader in responsible investment practices through a comprehensive suite of responsible investment policies, committing to integrate sustainability issues in investment decisions and ownership practices.

Voting (PIC on behalf of GEPF): in listed equity, voted on 2,800 resolutions at 157 meetings; in unlisted assets, voted on 398 resolutions at 58 meetings.

Engagements: through the PIC, conducted 157 engagements on 293 ESG matters — 34.5% mostly related to governance, social and transformation 45.1%, environment 20.5%.

Developmental / Isibaya frame (AR): Isibaya portfolio established in 1999 to house unlisted developmental investments; objective to deliver developmental impact and generate positive financial returns. GEPF committed more than R100 billion across three Isibaya funds; PIC committed R85 billion and invested R75 billion across sectors including renewable energy, financial services and housing. Fund I / II / III commitment years cited as 2013, 2016 and 2022.

Glossary / codes referenced in AR materials include CRISA (Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa), ESG definitions, King IV Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa (2016), and United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Site important-links strip also points to PRI among peer institutions.

Ethics and fraud: GEPF publishes Fraud and Ethics materials and a fraud helpline on the public site; this profile does not republish personal staff contact details. Social and Ethics Subcommittee of the Board focuses on ethical leadership and social responsibility matters (AR committee map).

Performance & reporting

FY ended 31 March 2025 (release + AR): investment portfolio R2.69 trillion (+13.1% from R2.38 trillion); return 14.1% vs 4.9% prior year; net investment income R379 billion (2024: R116 billion). Accumulated funds and reserves R2.65 trillion, growing at an average 5.7% per year over 2016–2025.

Funding: official communications cite a robust 119% funding level. PEO report elaborates 119% before contingency reserves as at the 31 March 2024 statutory actuarial valuation, improved from 110.1% previously — confirming enhanced ability to meet obligations for 1,267,539 active members and 565,221 pensioners including beneficiaries.

Periodic returns chart language in the Investment report notes fund vs benchmark across 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year horizons (returns over one year annualised). Strong equity and fixed-income markets contributed to AUM growth; gold-price surge narrative and overweight gold-related securities are discussed as contributors alongside Naspers/Prosus technology exposure.

Investment management fees (AR Rm): PIC listed 2,230 (prior 1,840, +21.20%); PIC unlisted 239 (prior 242, −1.36%); GEPF internally managed portfolio 42 (prior 45, −6.07%); total 2,511 (prior 2,127). Listed-fee increase described as broadly in line with AUM growth and equity IRR.

Transparency stack: Annual Reports hub (gepf.co.za/annual-reports/); Investment Policy / Developmental / Transformation / RI policy pages; valuation reports; member guides; news releases. Audited annual and financial statements are pointed from the November 2025 release. Prefer primary PDFs over secondary press for holdings and fee tables.

Controversies & debates

Official attributable first — GPAA cybersecurity breach: GEPF homepage POPIA / breach notification states a security compromise of personal information held on GPAA systems and records between February and March 2024; data subjects notified 20 March 2024. GPAA shut systems and initiated Cyber Incident and Response Plan; investigation ongoing at the time of the public notice. Additional control measures and work with security agencies are described. The notice apologises and states the compromise was reported to relevant authorities and regulators.

PEO report: GPAA faced notable challenges, particularly system vulnerabilities after the 2024 cybersecurity breach. The Information Regulator initiated a review and issued a draft report with findings and recommendations; a final report was still awaited in the AR narrative. Substantial measures were implemented to strengthen data protection; GPAA accelerated its modernisation roadmap for a more resilient IT system.

Chairperson letter (AR): responding to negative media coverage involving the PIC and the GPAA, the Chairperson reassures stakeholders that the Board takes such matters seriously and works to ensure PIC and GPAA are adequately prepared, while focusing on the Fund’s strategic plan. Cite as Board attributable language — do not invent unproven narratives.

Service levels: November 2025 release states overall GPAA administration against performance for 2024/25 was below the SLA benchmark. GEPF has been engaging GPAA on improvement strategies; modernisation is expected to address many member-facing administration challenges. Researchers should treat SLA underperformance as an official disclosed operational issue, not as an invented scandal.

Secondary press: market commentary (e.g., Moneyweb interviews with the PEO) and newspaper coverage of the R2.69 trillion results are useful for colour but are labelled secondary relative to gepf.co.za releases and the Annual Report. Official GEPF newsfeed also includes clarifications on PIC developments and market-value claims — open those statements directly when citing.

This section deliberately stops where primary attribution stops. Influence Index commentary, if any appears elsewhere on UAO, is an editorial composite and not a GEPF rating.

Timeline

• 1911 — PIC established (AR overview; asset-manager history, not GEPF founding).
• May 1996 — GEPF established via consolidation of public-sector funds under Government Employees Pension Law.
• 1999 — Isibaya portfolio established to house unlisted developmental investments.
• 1 April 2010 — GPAA begins operating as benefits administrator.
• 2020 — Musa Mabesa appointed Principal Executive Officer (GEPF announcement; previously Acting PEO / Head: Corporate Services).
• 2021/22–2022/23 — GEPF revises PIC mandate agreements (listed/unlisted, risk, benchmarks, fees, voting); updated versions signed early 2022/23.
• 4 July 2022 — Board elects Dondo Mogajane Chairperson and Eddie Kekana Deputy Chairperson.
• December 2022 — Advisory Board established to oversee PIC-managed unlisted portfolio.
• Feb–Mar 2024 — GPAA systems security compromise; member notification 20 March 2024.
• 1 September 2024 — Two-pot retirement system introduced; GEPF processes large withdrawal volumes through year-end.
• 4 November 2024 — Chairperson Mogajane resigns; Minister later appoints Frans Baleni as employee-nominated Trustee.
• 11 December 2024 — Board elects Frans Baleni Chairperson.
• 31 March 2025 — FY close: assets R2.69 trillion; return 14.1%; funding narrative 119%.
• 18 November 2025 — GEPF issues FY2024/25 results media release.
• 2026 — Board of Trustees Election 2026 underway for SANDF, State Security Agency and pensioner constituencies (homepage); Conference and roadshow schedules published on site.

Annex: AUM & return path

Prefer official ZAR. The Snapshot and Investment report chart accumulated funds / AUM over a multi-year path. AR Snapshot table (R’billion accumulated funds and reserves): 2016: 1,629; 2017: 1,673; 2018: 1,800; 2019: 1,812; 2020: 1,594; 2021: 2,041; 2022: 2,236; 2023: 2,267; 2024: 2,344; 2025: 2,651. Parallel return series (%): 2016: 4; 2017: 4.3; 2018: 8.5; 2019: 2.6; 2020: −11.2; 2021: 23.1; 2022: 11; 2023: 3.5; 2024: 4.9; 2025: 14.1.

Investment report “Annual assets under management growth (R)” graphic labels include March year-marks culminating at 2.69tn (Mar 2025) after 2.38tn (Mar 2024). Earlier decade markers in the same graphic (e.g., 661bn, 819bn, through multi-trillion prints) illustrate long-run scale-up from sub-trillion levels — cite the printed AR figure for any specific year rather than interpolating.

PMG committee materials (secondary parliamentary record, July/August 2025 window) summarise GEPF presenting ~R2.7 trillion AUM, 119% funding, and note subsequent unaudited commentary that assets later surpassed R3 trillion in 2025/26 — treat post-year-end R3tn mentions as unaudited / secondary unless GEPF publishes an audited print. This elite profile headlines the audited FY close R2.69 trillion as of 31 March 2025.

Currency discipline: do not convert R2.69 trillion into a precise USD AUM for the H1, meta description, or Organization schema. Peer INST bands (~US$150B) are editorial working notes only.

Annex: Asset mix & Isibaya

Published asset-class labels in the FY2024/25 Investment report allocation discussion: foreign bonds; Isibaya; cash; Africa excluding South Africa; domestic listed property; foreign equity; domestic bonds; domestic equity. Home bias: 85.9% South African exposure. Bond book: ~70% in maturities greater than seven years.

Listed vs unlisted execution: PIC listed and PIC unlisted fee lines are disclosed separately; GEPF also runs a smaller internally managed private-markets sleeve (US$875m commitments across nine Africa PE funds). Example named commitments in the AR table include Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund II (US$350m, 40% of the internally managed sleeve share), PAIDF I (US$250m, 28.57%), Africa Credit Opportunities Fund III (US$90m, 10.29%), and smaller Africa PE / infrastructure partnerships.

Isibaya Fund I / II / III commitment years 2013 / 2016 / 2022 with combined GEPF commitment above R100 billion. Geography diversification comments in the AR reference East Africa, Nigeria, North Africa, Pan Africa and South Africa exposures within developmental / private-market books — open the AR charts for exact pie weights rather than inventing percentages not clearly printed in extractable text.

Equity concentration risk note: Naspers alone is printed at ~R167 billion market value within the domestic equity book; combined Naspers + Prosus technology exposure is an intentional overweight narrative in the AR. Three large SA banks appear in the top ten with underweight vs benchmark language tied to regulatory limits.

Annex: Membership & benefits flows

As of 31 March 2025: 1,267,539 active members; 565,221 pensioners and beneficiaries (release + homepage + AR). Contributions R95.63 billion; benefits paid R167.16 billion — benefits exceeding contributions in the year, with investment income covering the gap in the Fund’s overall financial narrative.

Benefit-type breakdown (release): retirement cases 39,568; gratuities R25.9 billion; annuities R86.6 billion; resignation benefits R29.1 billion (22,452 claimants); lump-sum death benefits R6.6 billion (5,738 claims). Prior-year comparatives are printed alongside each line in the release.

Member-facing products described on gepf.co.za include retirement, resignation, funeral, death, unclaimed benefits, spouse pension, child pension, divorce benefit, and transfer-into-GEPF pathways, plus the Two-Pot Retirement System hub. Pensioner pages cover life verification, pension increases, and payment dates. Employer pages cover contributions and participating employers.

Pension increase note from newsfeed (opened related-articles strip): GEPF announced pensioners would receive a 3.5% annual pension increase as of 1 April 2026 (12 March 2026 news item title on site). Treat the live news page as primary for the increase percentage and effective date.

Branches / outreach: homepage cites 16 branches; events calendars list GEPF Days, HR Forums, Pre-Retirement Workshops, and mobile outreach / roadshow schedules (e.g., September 2026 outreach and 2026–2027 roadshows). These are member-service footprints, not investment offices.

Annex: Leadership title verification

Hard lock for this elite: verify titles on gepf.co.za and the Annual Report — do not invent people, seats, or “CIO” labels.

PIC executives are not GEPF executives. Do not place PIC CEO or CIO names into GEPF leadership tables without a GEPF primary that states a dual role — none was opened for that claim in this pack.

Prior Chair Dondo Mogajane appears in historical AR narrative and older media; he is not current Chair as of the FY2024/25 print after 4 November 2024 resignation.

Annex: Board & committees

Composition: 16 Trustees — eight employer nominees and eight employee nominees (including pensioner and SANDF/intelligence representation), each with substitutes. Chair and Deputy elected by the Board from among Trustees.

Permanent committees (AR diagram): Audit, Finance and Risk Committee; Benefits and Administration Committee; Investment Committee; Governance and Legal Committee; Human Resources and Remuneration Committee; Advisory Board. Subcommittees: Valuations Subcommittee; Social and Ethics Subcommittee.

External expert advisers appointed through competitive bidding (AR): fund valuators; external auditors; internal auditors; legal and compliance experts; unlisted investment valuators.

Trustee education and remuneration: AR references a Trustee Education and Training Policy requiring training, and a Trustee Remuneration Policy covering meeting fees. Code of Conduct reinforces responsible corporate citizenship language.

Election 2026: homepage banner states Board of Trustees Election 2026 is underway; eligible members from SANDF, State Security Agency and Pensioners are invited to elect Trustees. Open the live election pages for process detail rather than inventing turnout figures.

Minister of Finance news (August 2026 related-article strip): “Minister of Finance announces new GEPF Board” — researchers should open that live release for post-FY board reconstitution details; this profile does not invent a full new trustee roster beyond what the FY2024/25 AR and verified Chair/PEO/Head: Investments primaries support.

Annex: Two-pot implementation

South Africa’s two-pot retirement system took effect for GEPF on 1 September 2024. Despite GPAA cybersecurity aftershocks, GEPF received 691,501 withdrawal applications and paid 564,547 claims amounting to R14.37 billion, with average gross savings withdrawal R23,554 (release + AR).

Official homepage embed used on this profile is the GEPF_SA YouTube webinar “GEPF Two Pot Retirement System and its implications Webinar - 16 Aug 2024” (video id O_xrpgAhkt0), reflecting member-education priority ahead of go-live.

Release macro context: introduction of two-pot affected household spending, liquidity, and Fund inflows alongside domestic growth and infrastructure constraints. Benefits paid rose 17.6% year-on-year, partially reflecting two-pot savings withdrawals layered on ordinary benefit traffic.

Operational lesson for researchers: two-pot is both a member-liquidity design and a systems-resilience stress test for GPAA/GEPF administration. Official texts emphasise limited preparation time after legislation and sharp application volumes — cite those admissions rather than inventing capacity metrics.

Annex: Researcher checklist

1. Open gepf.co.za homepage KPIs and breach notice.
2. Download the latest Annual Report PDF from the Annual Reports hub (this pack: GEPF_AR_2025_digital.pdf for FY2024/25).
3. Read Executive Committee + Sifiso Sibiya team page for exact titles (PEO; Head: Investments).
4. Read Investments hub for beliefs, PIC mandate language, and policy PDF links.
5. Keep a three-column notes file: GEPF | PIC | GPAA — never merge AUM or leadership across columns.
6. For holdings and fees, prefer AR tables over newspaper roundups.
7. For post-balance-sheet claims (e.g., unaudited R3tn mentions), wait for GEPF primary print.
8. Person SSR: musa-mabesa, sifiso-sibiya, frans-baleni (200 as of this pack).
9. Corrections to UAO: info@universalassetowners.com — do not harvest private staff emails from directories.
10. Peer entity-split templates: ABP/APG and PGGM/PFZW Registry pages.

Non-blocking expansions (not required to ship): full trustee biographical table after 2026 election completes; audited FY2025/26 when published; deeper CRISA/PRI implementation metrics if GEPF publishes a dedicated RI report beyond AR excerpts; PIC annual report crosswalk labelled clearly as secondary.

Annex: PEO report macroeconomic context

The Principal Executive Officer’s report in AR 2024/25 frames the year around uncertainty, resilience and gradual growth. Globally: rising instability, protectionist policies, sanctions, tariffs and supply-chain disruptions. South Africa: calendar-year 2024 GDP growth printed at 0.6% (vs 0.7% in 2023); Q4 2024 quarter-on-quarter expansion 0.6% after Q3 contraction of 0.1%. Recovery described as constrained by global trade disruptions and escalating risks.

Despite that backdrop, GEPF reached its highest asset value to date at R2.69 trillion — growth of 13.1%. The PEO links results to Fund resilience while acknowledging broader economic and developmental constraints affecting performance. Funding level improvement to 119% before contingency reserves (31 Mar 2024 valuation) is presented as a milestone for long-term member security.

Regulatory reform watch: preparations for the COFI Bill (Conduct of Financial Institutions) aimed at standardising market-conduct regulation; Fund strengthening compliance framework and administrative capabilities. Governance and Legal Committee monitors structured processes across laws. PAIA Manual updated after Information Regulator directives linked to the GPAA breach; Board approved a revised Litigation Framework.

Human capital: Board-approved updates to total rewards strategy, performance-linked salary increases and incentive payouts; revised recruitment, job evaluation, study support and performance management policies; job architecture and pay-scale design; corporate scorecard reinforcement. Remuneration described as market-aligned and equity-focused under a total-cost-to-company model.

Internal Audit: King IV and global standards; 47 audit findings during the year — 26 fully resolved, 21 partially addressed; no material deficiencies identified. Combined assurance forum established to clarify roles and embed the framework into executive and Board processes.

Annex: Investment report detail

Gold and resources narrative: AR notes a roughly 40% surge in the gold price to about $3,123.57 as of 31 March 2025, boosting gold stocks such as Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti; portfolio increased exposure to gold-related securities with an overweight position versus benchmark.

Technology overweight: Naspers and Prosus described as notable overweight positions reflecting positive sentiment toward technology and high-growth market exposure. Banking underweights relative to benchmark are attributed in part to regulatory limits even while FirstRand, Standard Bank and Capitec appear among top holdings.

Diversification language: GEPF emphasises intentional inclusion of assets with low-to-medium correlations to reduce risk, stabilise returns in turbulence, enhance risk-adjusted returns and hedge specific market events. A correlation matrix across MSCI World, Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond, MSCI Emerging Markets, CILI, JSE All Bond, JSE SA All Property, JSE Shareholder Weighted and JSE Africa ex-SA is printed in the Investment report — use the matrix for pairwise coefficients rather than inventing summary statistics.

Fee drivers: total fee increase attributed primarily to AUM growth; listed fees rose broadly in line with ~12.85% AUM growth and ~15.8% 12-month IRR, especially in the equity majority asset class. Unlisted fees decreased marginally as the unlisted portfolio was mainly in a distribution period with NAV (and fees) falling as capital returned.

Private markets allocation-by-type graphic in AR shows illustrative splits across infrastructure, private credit and private equity over 2008–2024 cumulative US$ allocations — open the AR page for exact bar values when citing a specific vintage.

Annex: Mandate depth & developmental policy

Investments page: a portion of assets is invested under the Fund’s developmental investment policy, whose objective is to earn good returns for members and pensioners while supporting positive, long-term economic, social and environmental outcomes for society. Primary markets are South African and African, with a smaller portion in global markets outside Africa. Four broad asset-class categories are referenced with a long-term strategic asset allocation chart on the live page.

How GEPF invests (site): liability-driven design; risk-return objectives; PIC mandate; active and passive; core-satellite. Who manages investments: PIC as state-owned asset manager responsible for investing assets on behalf of GEPF, with satellite specialists where mandated.

Transformation Policy Statement and Developmental Investments Policy Statement are first-class policy objects on the Investments hub alongside the Investment Policy Statement. Researchers writing allocation or BEE/transformation angles should open those PDFs directly; this profile does not invent quota percentages not verified in opened HTML/AR extracts.

Unlisted Advisory Board duties (AR): review buy-to-sell investments held over five years and disposal plans; report on value creation, material events and electronic monitoring; flag politically exposed persons linked to investments; update classifications, pipelines and capital calls; share deal-sourcing / diligence / approval detail; seek strategic guidance from GEPF; disclose conflicts of interest.

Valuations Subcommittee under Audit, Finance and Risk advises on complexities of valuing PIC-managed unlisted investments — a governance response to valuation risk rather than a substitute for PIC’s own valuation processes.

Annex: Administration, ICT & member experience

Self-service portal (homepage): members can view and manage personal details, benefit statements, tax certificates, and track claims via my.gepf.co.za (linked as SELF-SERVICE LOGIN). Mobile app promotion appears in site footers for policy tracking and changes.

ICT modernisation (PEO report): ERP system implementation completed across payroll, finance, HR and supply chain; upgraded website and intranet; cybersecurity enhancements including multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection and cloud migration. ICT modernisation project described at 30% completion with procurement underway for key services. Business continuity and disaster recovery planning supported by cloud-based backups, penetration testing and updated frameworks.

GPAA regional footprint (AR): service centres across provinces including Johannesburg; Polokwane and Thohoyandou; Rustenburg and Mahikeng; Kimberley; Bloemfontein and Phuthaditjhaba; Mthatha, Bisho and Gqeberha; Cape Town; Mbombela; Durban and Pietermaritzburg — plus Pretoria head office / separate service centre. Public toll-free and enquiries channels are published on GEPF/GPAA pages; this UAO profile does not reproduce private staff directories.

SLA monitoring: Benefits and Administration Committee reviews resignations, unclaimed benefits and modernisation efforts quarterly; GEPF and GPAA executive committees meet quarterly and ad hoc. GPAA annual budget submitted to GEPF Audit, Finance and Risk Committee and Board.

Discussions with the Minister of Finance on a strengthened service-delivery operating model are described as advanced in the PEO report — cite as official narrative without inventing the eventual model design.

Annex: Peer & Registry context

Within UAO Top 100 framing, GEPF sits among large public pension / provident systems with domestic developmental mandates. Useful Registry comparators already live:

• Employees Provident Fund (KWSP) — large emerging-market national provident balance sheet.
• Central Provident Fund Board — Singapore national defined-contribution architecture (different benefit design).
• National Pension Service / NPSIM — large Asian DB public pension with internal management.
• GPIF — world’s largest public pension pool; different outsourcing model.
• ABP / APG and PGGM / PFZW — entity-split templates analogous to GEPF / PIC.
• CalPERS — large DB public plan with strong disclosure culture.

South African market context: GEPF’s domestic equity and bond footprint makes it a systemically important holder of JSE-listed capital and RSA duration. Researchers modelling market impact should use AR top holdings and bond maturity bands rather than assuming foreign SWF-like behaviour.

Important-links strip on gepf.co.za points to PSCBC, World Bank, National Treasury, PIC, DPSA, PRI and GPAA — a useful official adjacency map for further primary reading.

Annex: Snapshot financial highlights (AR Part 02)

Part 02 of the Annual Report 2024/25 opens with Snapshot of Financial and Administrative Highlights. Accumulated funds and reserves amounted to R2.65 trillion as of 31 March 2025, with R6 billion held in the reserve account, growing at an average 5.7% per year during 2016–2025. Return on investments for the reporting period was 14.1% versus 4.9% in 2023/24 on net investment income of R379 billion (2024: R116 billion).

Chairperson Frans Baleni’s letter thanks the Board, PEO Musa Mabesa, executive team, employees and stakeholders, and frames stewardship confidence after a complex year. Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana’s note to Parliament (October 2025) transmits the AR under Section 9(6) of the Government Employees Pension Law for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

GEPF at a glance restates Africa’s-largest status, 1.26+ million active members, 565,221 pensioners and beneficiaries, R2.69 trillion assets with majority invested via PIC, and the defined-benefit guarantee framing. Vision, mission and values blocks are printed for member communication consistency.

Researchers reconstructing multi-year paths should prefer the Snapshot tables over social-media round numbers. Where homepage marketing copy says “more than R2.69 trillion” and the release says “R2.69 trillion,” both are consistent within rounding; this profile uses the release/AR R2.69 trillion print.

Annex: Long-run scale notes

PMG briefing materials (secondary) recount Fund assets growing from about R127 billion in 1996 to R2.69 trillion by March 2025 — a useful order-of-magnitude arc when labelled secondary to the AR path. Official AR graphics already show the 2010s–2025 climb through the 2.69tn print.

Isibaya’s 1999 founding anchors the developmental unlisted book nearly three decades into GEPF’s life as a consolidated fund. PIC’s 1911 establishment predates GEPF by decades, underscoring why entity history must not be collapsed: the asset manager is older than the 1996 fund consolidation.

GPAA’s 2010 start marks the modern benefits-administration split. Pre-2010 administration arrangements are outside this pack’s opened primaries — omit rather than guess.

Conference series listed in site footers (Conference 2019 through 2026) indicate a recurring institutional dialogue programme; open individual conference pages for agendas rather than inventing themes.

Annex: Chairperson’s letter themes

The Chairperson’s letter in AR 2024/25 (Frans Baleni) situates FY results in global volatility and domestic strain while emphasising resilience and strategic stewardship. Closing assets are valued at R2.69 trillion; investment return 14.1%; funding level 119%. Membership base: over 1.267 million active members and 565,221 pensioners and beneficiaries. Member contributions rose 4% to R95.63 billion; benefit payments increased to R167.16 billion.

Operational stresses called out include services disrupted by the GPAA cybersecurity breach and the need to treat information security as a strategic management responsibility rather than a purely technical concern. Two-pot implementation is framed as a strategic initiative delivering benefits for members and beneficiaries despite constrained preparation time.

On media coverage involving PIC and GPAA, the Chairperson’s attributable reassurance is that the Board takes governance seriously and works to ensure both outsourced partners are adequately prepared, while staying focused on the Fund’s strategic plan. Thanks are extended explicitly to PEO Musa Mabesa, the executive team, employees and stakeholders.

Board activity: six regular meetings plus special meetings for urgent matters (including decisions and executive security concerns), mostly virtual for special sessions, which the letter notes did not materially affect remuneration or travel costs but improved decision-making agility.

Committee map reminder: six permanent committees and two subcommittees of Trustees and substitutes, each under formal terms of reference. Investment Committee chaired by Baleni; Advisory Board participation; Benefits and Administration Committee service — per AR biography block.

Annex: Returns, contributors & holdings table notes

Investment report contributor table (illustrative weights and contribution-to-return columns): Naspers, Standard Bank, Gold Fields, Prosus and AngloGold Ashanti are named top five contributors. Fund contribution weights (%) printed near 11.92 / 5.52 / 4.27 / 3.76 / (with companion contribution-to-return percentages 8.59 / 4.60 / 4.27 / 3.92 / 3.59 in the extract). Use the AR page image/table as authoritative if digitisation rounding differs.

Top 10 equity holdings with sectors as printed: Naspers (Technology), Gold Fields (Basic materials), Prosus (Technology), FirstRand (Financials), Standard Bank (Financials), AngloGold Ashanti (Basic materials), Capitec Bank (Financials), MTN Group (Telecommunications), Anglo American (Basic materials), British American Tobacco (Consumer staples). Fund weights (%) approximately 12.11, 5.61, 4.33, 4.32, 4.08, 3.82, 3.78, 3.37, 3.13, 2.95 versus domestic benchmark weights 11.01, 5.22, 3.67, 5.65, 4.92, 3.45, 4.11, 3.25, 2.82, 2.46.

Periodic return chart: fund return vs benchmark across 1y / 3y / 5y / 10y with active-return bars; one-year figures annualised for longer windows. Exact basis-point prints should be taken from the AR graphic rather than OCR guesswork when precision matters for modelling.

Macro market colour in the same chapter references strong equity markets, rate-cut dynamics in 2024, and investment-grade bond behaviour measured against Bloomberg indices — supporting the narrative that both equity and fixed income sleeves contributed to AUM growth from R2.38tn to R2.69tn.

FAQ

What is the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF)?

GEPF is Africa’s largest pension fund and a defined-benefit fund established in May 1996 under the Government Employees Pension Law (Proclamation 21 of 1996). It manages pensions and related benefits for South African government employees and other participating employers. As of 31 March 2025 it reported more than 1.267 million active members, 565,221 pensioners and beneficiaries, and assets of R2.69 trillion.

How large is GEPF in official rand (ZAR)?

Prefer official ZAR. As of 31 March 2025 the investment portfolio / total assets stood at R2.69 trillion, up 13.1% from R2.38 trillion a year earlier (GEPF 18 November 2025 media release; Annual Report 2024/25). Accumulated funds and reserves were R2.65 trillion. Do not invent a USD headline conversion.

What is the difference between GEPF and the PIC?

GEPF is the pension fund and Board of Trustees fiduciary. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is the state-owned asset manager that invests most GEPF assets under a signed investment mandate; the Annual Report states the PIC directly oversees about 97% of the portfolio. Keep GEPF and PIC distinct, as with ABP/APG or PFZW/PGGM.

Who is the Principal Executive Officer?

Musa Mabesa is Principal Executive Officer (PEO). Official GEPF and Annual Report language uses PEO, not CIO. He has led the Fund since 2020 per GEPF announcements.

Who is Head of Investments and is that a CIO title?

Sifiso Sibiya’s official title on gepf.co.za Executive Committee / team pages and the Annual Report is Head: Investments. Do not invent a CIO title if the official title is Head: Investments. The role oversees assets and liabilities, advises the PEO and Board on investment strategy, and manages outsourced investment services including the PIC.

Who chairs the GEPF Board of Trustees?

Frans Baleni is Chairperson. After Dondo Mogajane’s resignation on 4 November 2024, the Minister of Finance appointed Baleni as an employee-nominated Trustee; the Board elected him Chairperson on 11 December 2024 (Annual Report 2024/25).

What return did GEPF earn in 2024/25?

Investments yielded a 14.1% return in the year ended 31 March 2025, compared with 4.9% in 2023/24, based on net investment income of R379 billion (2024: R116 billion).

What is GEPF’s funding level?

Official releases and the Annual Report cite a robust funding level of 119%. The PEO’s report notes 119% before contingency reserves as at the 31 March 2024 statutory actuarial valuation, an improvement on the prior 110.1%.

Who administers member benefits?

The Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) administers benefits under an administration agreement and SLA. About 93% of GPAA services are dedicated to GEPF. GPAA is distinct from both GEPF and PIC.

What is the Isibaya portfolio?

Isibaya is the PIC-managed unlisted developmental investments portfolio established in 1999. The Annual Report states GEPF has committed more than R100 billion across three Isibaya funds; the PIC has committed R85 billion and invested R75 billion across sectors including renewable energy, financial services and housing.

How did the two-pot retirement system affect GEPF?

From 1 September 2024, GEPF received 691,501 withdrawal applications and paid 564,547 claims amounting to R14.37 billion, with an average gross savings withdrawal of R23,554 (media release / Annual Report), despite GPAA system challenges after the 2024 cybersecurity breach.

Where should researchers go for primary documents?

Start at https://www.gepf.co.za for Annual Reports, Investment Policy / Developmental Investments / Transformation / Responsible Investment pages, Executive Committee, Board of Trustees, and news releases. PIC materials are secondary for investment-execution context only.

Sources & further reading

Primary

• GEPF homepage — KPIs, breach notice, election banner, video embed.
• Media release 18 November 2025 — FY2024/25 results.
• Annual Report 2024/25 (PDF).
• Executive Committee and Sifiso Sibiya — titles.
• Investments — beliefs, PIC mandate, policy links.
• PEO appointment announcement.
• Annual Reports hub.
• Official YouTube: @gepfsa / embed O_xrpgAhkt0.

Secondary (labelled)

• Parliamentary Monitoring Group summaries of GEPF briefings — useful for context; prefer AR figures.
• Moneyweb / Capetimes coverage of FY results — secondary colour only.

PIC materials are secondary for investment-execution context and must not overwrite GEPF entity facts.

Official video

Official homepage embed from the GEPF_SA YouTube channel:

GEPF Two Pot Retirement System and its implications Webinar — official GEPF_SA YouTube (16 August 2024 webinar; embed on gepf.co.za homepage).

Completeness note

This elite profile targets ~10,000 sourced words drawn from opened GEPF primaries (homepage, FY2024/25 media release, Annual Report 2024/25 PDF, Executive Committee / Head: Investments pages, Investments hub, PEO appointment notice, official YouTube embed). It prefers official ZAR / R figures, keeps GEPF / PIC / GPAA distinct, and verifies leadership titles as PEO, Head: Investments, and Board Chairperson — without inventing a CIO seat, USD headline AUM, or people not named in primaries.

Non-blocking expansions: post-2026 election full trustee roster; audited FY2025/26 AUM when published; dedicated RI report metrics beyond AR voting/engagement tallies; PIC annual-report crosswalk clearly labelled secondary. Daily-refresh remains disabled. Desk registry-people-desk-41.json untouched.

Primary corpus word stock for this pack includes extracted AR text exceeding 50,000 words across pages 1–200 of the digital Annual Report, plus homepage, results release, Investments, and Executive Committee HTML. The elite body selectively condenses that corpus; it does not exhaust every Trustee biography paragraph or every AFS note. Readers needing line-item financial-statement detail should open Part 10 of the Annual Report directly.

Ship index: 41st live elite institution after State of Wisconsin Investment Board (40th). SAFE, TRS Texas, and Kuwait PIFSS remain skipped and absent from the institution sitemap.

Research window: 6–7 September 2026 America/Toronto.

Annex: Investment beliefs (full site list)

The Investments page publishes the Fund’s investment beliefs as guiding principles for GEPF and its investment managers. Restated for researchers (paraphrase kept tight to site bullets):

1. Commitment to high standards of openness, transparency and appropriate disclosure.
2. Strategy considers risk, assets and liabilities together.
3. Risk is considered at all levels of the organisation and portfolio.
4. The Fund takes risk to earn return — risk is not avoided categorically.
5. Appropriate risk management must be implemented around those risks.
6. Strategic asset allocation (SAA) is a primary determinant of risk and return.
7. Implementation uses both active and passive approaches.
8. ESG factors are integrated into policies.
9. ESG considerations are material to the long-term sustainability of the Fund.
10. The Fund plays a developmental role in South Africa and Africa.
11. Wider stakeholder views are considered.
12. Reputation is supported by robust, rational decisions from skilled professionals.
13. Costs should be minimised where consistent with objectives.
14. Fee structures should promote alignment of interests.
15. Accountability and high ethical standards are required from trustees, administrators and investment managers.

These beliefs bridge liability-driven SAA, developmental investing, and responsible ownership. They are not a substitute for the Investment Policy Statement PDF; they are the public mnemonic layer.

Annex: Legal & policy stack

Primary statute: Government Employees Pension Law, 1996 (Proclamation 21 of 1996), as amended — including Section 9(6) annual-report transmission to Parliament.

Outsourced partner statutes (context): PIC Act 23 of 2004 as amended by PIC Amendment Act 14 of 2019; Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999; Companies Act 71 of 2008; Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998; Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001; Public Service Act 103 of 1994 (GPAA establishment via Section 7A(4)).

Fund policy objects linked from the site: Investment Policy Statement; Developmental Investments Policy Statement; Transformation Policy Statement; Responsible Investing Policy (committee materials); Compliance Policy and Framework; Data Protection / cybersecurity-related policies updated after the breach; Litigation Framework; PAIA Manual; Trustee Education and Training Policy; Trustee Remuneration Policy; Code of Conduct.

Upcoming conduct regime: COFI Bill preparations noted in PEO report — standardising market-conduct regulation across financial institutions. GEPF’s response path is compliance-framework strengthening and administrative capability uplift under Governance and Legal Committee monitoring.

King IV application is referenced in Internal Audit and assurance language. CRISA and UN PRI appear in glossary / adjacency maps. None of these codes convert GEPF into a listed company; they are governance reference frames for a statutory pension fund.

Annex: Fees & internal markets programme

Investment management fees table (AR, R million):

Internally managed Africa PE commitments (US$ million / share of sleeve %): PAIDF II 350 / 40.00; PAIDF I 250 / 28.57; Africa Credit Opportunities Fund III 90 / 10.29; African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4 Partnership 60 / 6.86; African Development Partners III 40 / 4.57; African Development Partners II 30 / 3.43; South Suez Africa Fund II 25 / 2.86; Capital Alliance Private Equity IV 20 / 2.29; Verod Capital Growth Fund II 10 / 1.14; Total 875 / 100.

2025/26 outlook note in AR: portfolio expected to include Pan African private debt exposure via approved allocation to Ninety-One Credit Fund – African Credit Opportunities Fund III during 2024/25. Sectors pursued by private-markets managers include energy, financial services, technology, telecommunication and transport.

Cumulative US$ allocation bars (2008–2024) and allocation-by-fund-type split (infrastructure / private credit / private equity) are printed graphically — cite the AR when a precise bar value is required.

Annex: Entity-split checklist (GEPF / PIC / GPAA)

Analogues: ABP (fund) / APG (manager); PFZW (fund) / PGGM (manager-administrator). GEPF’s split is tripartite because administration sits in GPAA rather than inside the asset manager.

Common error modes this checklist prevents: calling Mabesa “PIC CEO”; calling Sibiya “CIO” without a primary; quoting PIC firmwide AUM as GEPF AUM; blaming GEPF investment staff for GPAA systems outages without the official breach framing.

Annex: Member education & communications

Homepage and news surfaces emphasise member education: actuarial interest factors explainers on social channels; pre-retirement workshops (example: Newcastle Farmers Hall workshop announced for 18 September 2025 in opened tweet embeds); GEPF Days; HR Forums; mobile outreach schedules for September 2026; 2026–2027 roadshows. These programmes sit under Stakeholder Management and Communications historically led by Babs Naidoo (retired during FY per AR) with succession implied but not invented here.

Publications stack for members: Member Guide; FAQs; Newsletter; Valuation report; Policy Documents; Annual Reports. Benefit catalogue pages cover retirement, resignation, funeral, death, unclaimed benefits, spouse and child pensions, divorce benefits, and transfer-into-GEPF pathways. Two-Pot Retirement System has a dedicated hub plus the official webinar embed used on this profile.

Pensioner-specific education covers life verification, pension increases, and payment dates. Employer education covers contribution processes and participating-employer lists. Fraud awareness (“HELP US STOP FRAUD”) is persistently surfaced with a public helpline — this profile references the existence of the helpline without republishing personal staff contacts.

GIBS national dialogue (July 2026 news): PEO Musa Mabesa keynoted on retirement security and how pension capital drives inclusive growth, stressing that the true measure of a retirement system is dignity — “we are not simply managing portfolios. We are managing futures.” Panellists named in that release (Treasury, Old Mutual SuperFund trustee, Alexforbes CIO, IRFA) are secondary colour for the event, not GEPF executives.

Communication values in the AR mission block — empower beneficiaries through effective communication — align with transparency and client-centricity value statements (open, frequent, clear-format communication; openness to scrutiny).

Annex: Risk, assurance & control environment

Audit, Finance and Risk Committee oversees financial reporting, risk and Internal Audit strategies. Enterprise Risk Management Policy and Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy are among policies reviewed in the period (AR committee notes). Cybersecurity policy stack referenced after the breach includes Data Protection, Firewall Management, EndPoint Security, Logical Access Management and Network Security Management policies.

Internal Audit independence and King IV alignment: planned audits completed; control gaps identified; assurance on governance and risk management provided. Of 47 findings, 26 fully resolved and 21 partially addressed with no material deficiencies identified. Quality assurance programme maintained; GPAA-related audit risks overseen; combined assurance model advanced via a dedicated forum clarifying roles and embedding the framework into executive and Board processes.

Investment risk oversight sits primarily with the Investment Committee: liability changes, asset returns and market volatility assessed for funding, contribution and benefit impacts; quarterly independent performance reviews of returns and risks; investment reports reviewed with key issues referred to the Board.

Unlisted valuation risk is escalated through the Valuations Subcommittee — acknowledging the complexity of marking PIC-managed unlisted assets. Write-Off Policy implementation is listed among forward actions to ensure consistent treatment.

Business continuity: cloud-based backups, penetration testing, updated DR frameworks, and ERP/cloud migration are presented as resilience investments rather than one-off IT projects. MFA and endpoint protection are explicitly named controls.

Annex: South Africa macro & portfolio implications

Official FY narratives repeatedly cite domestic constraints: sluggish GDP growth, sectoral underperformance, infrastructure issues, and — earlier in the cycle — load shedding, with later improvement via Government of National Unity formation and reduced load shedding (release). Inflation stayed within the Reserve Bank’s target range in the release’s telling, while two-pot withdrawals affected household spending, liquidity and Fund inflows.

Portfolio response themes in the AR Investment report: maintain high South African exposure (85.9%); lean into gold and resource strength when prices surge; keep overweight technology via Naspers/Prosus; manage bank weights under regulatory limits; hold long-duration bonds (~70% of bond book >7 years) to match long-dated pension liabilities; use Isibaya and Africa PE for developmental and diversifying exposures beyond listed markets.

Infrastructure ambition appears in both developmental policy language and secondary interview colour (PEO discussing infrastructure with PIC managing expectations). Prefer AR Isibaya / PAIDF commitment figures when quantifying infrastructure exposure rather than interview paraphrases.

Currency: GEPF reports in rand. Foreign sleeves (foreign equity, foreign bonds, Africa ex-SA, US$-denominated PE commitments) create FX translation effects inside the ZAR AUM print — another reason not to invent a single USD headline for the fund.

Systemic footprint: as Africa’s largest pension fund and a major holder of domestic listed equity and sovereign/corporate bonds, GEPF’s SAA and PIC execution choices matter for JSE liquidity and RSA duration markets. Researchers modelling flow-of-funds should start from AR asset-class movement tables and top holdings.

Annex: Non-blocking expansions log

Items intentionally left for later packs (not blockers for this ship):

• Full 2026 elected Board biographical table once Ministerial announcement + GEPF bios are complete and stable.
• Audited FY2025/26 AUM if/when GEPF confirms any post-March-2025 R3tn path in an annual report.
• Page-level SAA percentage pie if OCR of the Investments chart can be verified against a vector/PDF extract without guessing.
• PIC Annual Report crosswalk table (secondary) mapping PIC firmwide vs GEPF-mandated AUM.
• Detailed CRISA implementation scorecard if published separately from AR voting tallies.
• GPAA final Information Regulator report outcomes when issued.
• COFI Bill enactment impacts after law is final.
• Person SSR enrichment beyond musa-mabesa / sifiso-sibiya / frans-baleni if desk later adds executives.

Word-count bar for elites is ~10k sourced words. Padding with unsourced narrative is disallowed; each paragraph above traces to an opened primary or an explicitly labelled secondary.

Annex: Annual Report structure map

AR 2024/25 contents map for researchers navigating the PDF:

1. Minister’s note to Parliament — statutory transmission under Section 9(6).
2. Snapshot of financial and administrative highlights — accumulated funds path, return series, asset-class movement table.
3. GEPF at a glance — vision/mission/values; overview of Fund; Board composition; outsourced PIC/GPAA model; contact footprint.
4. Governance — Board, committees, Trustee bios and education/remuneration policies.
5. Key corporate matters — PEO report; legal/compliance; ICT; HR; Internal Audit.
6. Investments — market backdrop; performance; holdings; correlations; fees; Isibaya; internal Africa PE.
7. Membership and benefits — contribution and benefit flows; two-pot operational results.
8. Stakeholder management and communication — education and engagement programmes.
9. Actuarial valuation — funding level narrative and valuation governance.
10. Annual financial statements — audited figures and notes (including segregation note 22).
11. Glossary — CRISA, ESG, King IV, UN PRI and related terms.

This elite profile samples Parts 01–07 heavily and points researchers to Parts 09–10 for valuation and AFS detail rather than reproducing financial-statement notes verbatim.

Digital PDF path used in this pack: https://gepf.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GEPF_AR_2025_digital.pdf (opened November 2025 upload). Always re-check the Annual Reports hub for newer editions before citing as “latest.”

When quoting, prefer “as of 31 March 2025” or “FY2024/25” time stamps. Homepage marketing KPIs can lag or round; the release and AR remain the citation anchors for R2.69 trillion, 14.1% return, and 119% funding.

Annex: Editorial closing — honesty locks

Three honesty locks govern this GEPF elite:

1. Currency lock: headline AUM is R2.69 trillion (31 March 2025). No invented USD conversion in H1, schema name, or lead sentence.
2. Entity lock: GEPF is the fund; PIC invests (~97% direct oversight); GPAA administers benefits. Never collapse names.
3. Title lock: Musa Mabesa = Principal Executive Officer; Sifiso Sibiya = Head: Investments (not CIO); Frans Baleni = Chairperson.

Schema uses Organization + GovernmentOrganization because GEPF is a statutory public pension fund under national law reporting to Parliament via the Minister of Finance. FAQPage mirrors the twelve on-page FAQs. VideoObject is included only because gepf.co.za embeds an official GEPF_SA YouTube video.

Person SSR links are limited to live 200 pages verified in this pack. Other AR-named executives may be linked in later desk waves without rewriting this institution body’s factual core.

Daily-refresh remains disabled. Theme bump carries sitemap sitemap-registry-institution-2026-09-06an.xml with 41 locs (baseline 06am 40 locs plus government-employees-pension-fund). Desk JSON sha prefix a13480ec21c4dc98 must remain unchanged.