Public Investment Corporation boss Dan Matjila believes he is in the crosshairs of powerful people who want access to the R1.9 trillion of pension money he manages on behalf of government employees.
"I've got the keys. They're looking for the keys to the big safe," Matjila says. This is after he was hauled before the PIC board last week to answer allegations against him that were leaked mysteriously. This was after he turned down a request from SAA chairman Dudu Myeni for a R6bn loan to keep the bankrupt national carrier from going under. Myeni, a close friend of President Zuma, was reportedly furious.
In an astonishingly frank interview this week, Matjila told Business Times he believed there was a connection. He said several requests for transactions that did not meet the PIC's investment criteria had been made by "politically connected people".