Are our MPs profiting from investments that fuel climate collapse and war?

Are South African parliamentarians investing through their pension funds in coal, oil, and gas companies, the primary drivers of climate breakdown?

Are they investing in companies that supply arms and commodities to regimes known to be abusing human rights?

Fossil Free SA and Open Secrets are seeking answers to these questions in an application lodged in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to the Political Office Bearers Pension Fund (the fund) – in which the pensions of all members of parliament and the provincial legislatures, including cabinet members (except the president), are invested.

Despite a supposed declared commitment to transparency, the fund declined to answer the questions we sent in our PAIA request. So we have now lodged a complaint with the Information Regulator, asking it to direct the fund to provide the information we have requested.

MPs’ responsibility to secure “sustainable development”

MPs are obliged to legislate on South Africa’s response to climate change, including giving effect to the objectives it agrees to at COP.

If MPs’ state-funded pensions invest in fossil fuel companies, they would be profiting from the crisis that legislation obliges them to curtail.

The fund’s investments are publicly listed in its 2024 financial report. This reflects small investments in a range of fossil fuel companies including Sasol, Glencore, and Exxaro. These appear to be of an order typical of South African pension funds, and in no way reflective of preferential treatment for fossil fuel companies.

Of course, we would like all South Africans to pressure their asset managers to provide fossil fuel-free funds. At the same time, the specific duty of MPs to act on the climate crisis gives them special responsibilities.

The Fund’s declared investment strategy includes the commitment to an ethical approach to investments: “The fund’s investments should be managed in a manner that is honest, transparent and ethical,” it states.

As things stand, it seems that our MPs do indeed benefit from investments in the fossil fuel industry, one whose emissions and pollution costs South Africa over R500 billion annually.

Coal to Israel

Pro-Palestine protesters have repeatedly called for a halt to coal exports to Israel, most recently in a thousands-strong march to parliament in late September 2025.

Glencore’s leading role in supplying Israel with coal has drawn sustained condemnation.

While the fund’s investment in Glencore may be small, it is politically significant, as it directly contradicts the government’s stance on Gaza. The country took a principled position by bringing a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Paradoxically, it seems that politicians’ pension funds are invested in companies that supply commodities to Israel and perhaps other states implicated in serious human rights violations. This contradiction undermines the moral leadership South Africa has displayed internationally.

“Committed to transparency and good governance”

Our PAIA application has a history. On 31 October 2024, shortly before our Investment Justice Walk the following month, we sent questions to the fund regarding how it is addressing climate risk in its investments; the proportion of assets invested in fossil fuels; whether the fund invests in South African companies exporting coal to Israel, and whether the fund has examined the extent to which its offshore assets may be invested in companies listed by the United Nations as implicated in the genocide in Gaza.

Belinda Burger, the fund’s principal officer, initially indicated we would receive a response, then told us our questions had gone to the investment sub-committee for consideration. Finally, she wrote that “the trustees are not willing to provide you with the information requested,” although she pointed out the information about the fund’s investments that is already in the public domain, which includes the investments in Glencore, Exxaro and Sasol.

“The trustees do point out that the questions you ask are equally applicable to all South African retirement funds and suggest that you rather engage with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in this regard,” she said. “The trustees will not enter into further correspondence on this matter.”

Conflict of interest needs addressing

However, the fund claims to be committed to “core values” of “transparency, integrity, good governance,” and “fairness”. South Africans deserve to know whether their elected representatives are financially entangled with industries destroying the planet and enabling human rights abuses.

We urge the fund to meet its obligations under PAIA by answering our questions. Should its answers be affirmative, the fund should draft a plan of action to address the conflicts of interest that MPs face.