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Carrim to Maynier: Stop pretending to be a valiant hero

Cape Town - The ANC's Yunis Carrim on Thursday launched a scathing attack on DA finance spokesperson David Maynier for trying to act as a "valiant hero fighting the forces of darkness".

Carrim, who chairs parliament's Standing Committee on Finance, reacted to a declaration made by Maynier on National Treasury's Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report during a plenary session in the National Assembly.

In his declaration, Maynier said it was thanks to the DA's efforts that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) made public the names of the unlisted companies in which it invests.

In October, during a parliamentary briefing, the PIC revealed the names of the 215 unlisted companies in which it invests. The PIC's list didn't reveal any investments into businesses that are related to the controversial Gupta family.

The Public Investment Corporation has close to R1.8trn in assets under management and an unlisted portfolio of some R45bn.

At the request of Cope MP Deirdre Carter, the PIC also conveyed to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan that it had no direct exposure to any company linked to the Gupta family.

Gordhan in turn disclosed this information in a written response to Parliament.

The PIC invests funds on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Compensation Fund among others.

On Thursday in his declaration, Maynier said his party "forced" the PIC following a five-month campaign to make the investments in unlisted companies known. "For the first time we can now view the 215 investments in the PIC's unlisted portfolio," Maynier said, adding that South Africans can now expect the information to be more readily available in future.

Carrim, however, said it was not Maynier, but the ANC, which had put the matter of the PIC and its unlisted investments on the agenda. "Last year the ANC study group decided these investments must be aired as it would be in the public interest," he said.

"Mr David Me-Me-Me Maynier likes to present himself as a valiant hero. Were it not for him the PIC would have never listed the investments. But it's absolutely untrue.

"And after all the bluster we found out the PIC was investing in black economic empowerment companies," Carrim concluded.

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