According to Masondo, the allegations surfaced only after the PIC began enforcing obligations against counterparties who had freely entered into agreements but subsequently failed to honour them. He argued that when scrutiny shifts from what is owed to the identity of those demanding accountability, the goal is no longer justice but distraction. South Africa, he said, is well acquainted with this tactic — where those facing accountability reach for the nearest available shield, in this case race.
Masondo acknowledged that the charge carries weight because of the country's history, but maintained that exploiting historical wounds to sidestep contractual debts is not solidarity but "cynicism of the most corrosive kind." He warned that such conduct delegitimises black economic empowerment, noting that some individuals speak the language of transformation while pursuing private enrichment at the expense of the working class.
A pension fund, the deputy minister stressed, is a collective instrument. Every rand lost to default or predatory behaviour is a rand stripped from a retired teacher in Limpopo, a nurse in the Eastern Cape, or a clerk in Gauteng. He described this not as empowerment but as extraction through the weaponisation of identity politics.
Masondo made clear that his obligation lies with the fund's beneficiaries — hardworking public servants — rather than with those who default on commitments and protest when held to account. "If enforcing a valid contract makes me 'anti-black,' then the word has lost all meaning," he stated, challenging his accusers to consider whose interests they are truly protecting.
The PIC's stance, Masondo declared, is unambiguous: the corporation exists to protect the savings of millions of black South Africans and will do so without apology or retreat. Economic emancipation, he concluded, must be measured in outcomes — pensions paid, savings preserved and promises kept — not wielded as a convenient slogan.
