Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF)’s immediate past acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lesedi Moakofhi has been sacked, Sunday Standard can reveal. This publication is also reliably informed that Moakofhi’s current five year employment contract as General Manager-Marketing and Communications has been terminated.
However, BPOPF CEO Boitumelo Molefe remained tight lipped and cagey when contacted for comment, saying the Fund’s policy does not allow her to discuss internal human resources issues with third parties.
“Any development changes at the executive level will be communicated on the right platforms at the right time,” she said.
BPOPF insiders have revealed that Moakofhi is currently weighing her options, adding there is a high possibility that she might challenge her dismissal at the pension fund’s Board of Trustees. In a recent interview with Sunday Standard, BPOPF CEO Boitumelo Molefe said her immediate priorities were to ensure smooth implementation of the Fund’s restructuring process and in-sourcing strategy.
“We must bring in-house everything that is challenging. Our structures must be encouraging for the employees; we must retain talent and reward good work, and also do a lot of training,” she said.
BPOPF is the largest pension fund in the country with more than 150, 000 members. It primarily invests members’ funds in assets such as equity and property in the local market, emerging markets and developing markets. BPOPF has assets with a market value of P38.7 billion while its pensioner assets were valued at P32.9 billion as at March 2013. According to Molefe, restructuring and in-sourcing strategy will save BPOPF approximately P41.53 million over the next five years. The in-sourcing strategy will result in the Fund partying ways with Alexander Forbes. P21 million of the P 41.53 million will be saved on fund administration while P20.5 million will be saved on investment management, including investment management fees. Under Moakofhi, BPOPF managed to launch its pre-retirement switch investment model and revised investment strategy for 2014-2016. The Fund was also recognised at the Institutional Investment Summit and Index Awards in New York.
