Today we announced that our Chief Executive and Principal Officer, Linda Mateza has chosen to step down from her role in order to significantly reduce her work commitments and spend more time with her young family.

This decision was not taken lightly, and it was given much consideration.

One of the things we have been very clear about is that our 80,000 members and pensioners are at the centre of everything we do.  The work the EPPF does is critically important, and our people will remain focused on providing the best possible service to all our members.

I’d like to assure you that the EPPF’s strategy will remain the same - ensuring the financial sustainability of the Fund into the future, optimising service to members ensuring compliance and good governance; and building the Fund’s brand and reputation.

We recognise that retirement is a vulnerable stage in life, and we have a duty to proactively earn and maintain our members’ trust.  Robust governance and transparency is at the core of this.

There is much to be proud of in what the EPPF team has achieved during Linda’s leadership of the Fund. 

We have worked to deliver investment returns and incrementally improve our member services as required of a self-administered defined benefit fund.  We made progress in achieving these goals despite the significant market volatility we have seen as a result of COVID-19.

We also have seen a rebound in the Fund’s Assets Under Management, which in February 2020 had dropped to around R114 billion and have since recovered to R150 billion.

In 2020, we delivered a major IT system implementation and invested significant effort into building the Fund’s reputation and brand. We also managed to attract some of South Africa’s best and brightest professional talent to work with us.

We will continue  work to utilise the size and stature of the Fund to reap sustainable economic benefits for South Africa. We will do this by focusing on investment in the real economy as a means to improve the broader economic landscape that we all live in.

Next steps

The Board is moving swiftly to recruit a permanent Chief Executive and Principal Officer. 

Linda will serve a three-month notice period to ensure an effective handover of management of the Fund and will work with the Board on the process of appointing a new Chief Executive and Principal Officer in a search that will be open to internal and external candidates.

The Board, which was appointed last year, and the Fund’s experienced executive management team will remain focused on the overall effectiveness of the Fund and continuing the work of improving its systems and service to members.

Linda has enjoyed the full and ongoing support of the EPPF Board of Trustees during her tenure at the Fund and it has been my pleasure to serve our members alongside her. We wish her all the very best for the future.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Henry

Chairman of the Board