GIPF downplays impact of N$815 million impairment loss
Namibia’s biggest pension fund, the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), has played down the long-term impact of its N$815 million impairment loss from its investment in the South African-based Signal Structured Finance Fund (SSFF), saying the loss remains below its materiality threshold.
According to the fund, the loss arose from a tax claim lodged by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) against SSFF, which was managed by TriAlpha Investments. In accounting terms, impairment refers to an unexpected decline in an asset’s ability to generate future economic benefits and necessitates a write-down to prevent overstatement of financial performance.
GIPF CEO Martin Inkumbi, in a statement released yesterday, said the impairment amount was below the fund’s materiality threshold of N$1.78 billion and therefore did not threaten its financial stability.
“The fund wishes to assure its stakeholders that while the impairment can be perceived to negatively impact the fund’s short-term results, this impairment – standing at 0.4% of the fund’s total assets and well below the materiality threshold of N$1.78 billion set by our external auditors – does not erode the fund’s short- and long-term sustainability,” Inkumbi said.
He further noted that despite the impairment, the GIPF achieved solid net investment returns of N$18 billion for 2024 and N$16.7 billion for 2025.
Internal report raises red flags
A 12-page report presented to the GIPF board of trustees on 24 September revealed that the pension fund holds more than nine underperforming investments, some of which are losing value, struggling to operate, or entangled in legal disputes, The Namibian reported earlier this week.
“Given the unresolved South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) tax dispute, the absence of up-to-date financial statements, the lack of redemption proceeds from this fund, and the deteriorating relationship with the portfolio manager, management is of the view that the Signal Structured Finance Fund is, at this stage, irrecoverable,” the report stated.
TriAlpha Investments’ exposure alone has been reduced by N$815.8 million, making it the largest single contributor to the GIPF’s potential losses. SARS’s tax claim, estimated at N$1 billion, if upheld, could wipe out the entire value of the fund once penalties and interest are included.
Opposition calls for accountability
Meanwhile, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has written to the chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on economics, Ipumbu Shiimi, urging the committee to summon GIPF leadership to provide a detailed account of the reported impairment loss.
Although GIPF insists that the loss represents just 0.4% of its total assets, PDM leader McHenry Venaani said the issue demands urgent national attention.
“These funds belong to hard-working Namibian public servants who rely on their pensions for a dignified future. Any threat to the security of their savings must be treated with the utmost seriousness,” Venaani said.
Déjà vu: echoes of the DCP scandal
This is not the first time GIPF has faced questions over controversial investment losses.
In 2019, the Office of the Prosecutor General said it was unable to trace over N$600 million lost through the now-defunct Development Capital Portfolio (DCP), under which GIPF financed several local companies, some with little or no business track record.
The DCP operated between 1996 and 2006.
Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa at the time expressed regret, saying the country’s chances of recovering the missing funds were slim.
“It is regrettable what happened in the GIPF matter. More than N$600 million got lost in the process. To trace where the money went proved problematic for the investigation,” Imalwa said.
She added that her office investigated 20 companies and declined to prosecute 18 of them. However, prosecution was initiated against one firm that allegedly concealed property from its liquidator.
According to the fund, the loss arose from a tax claim lodged by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) against SSFF, which was managed by TriAlpha Investments. In accounting terms, impairment refers to an unexpected decline in an asset’s ability to generate future economic benefits and necessitates a write-down to prevent overstatement of financial performance.
GIPF CEO Martin Inkumbi, in a statement released yesterday, said the impairment amount was below the fund’s materiality threshold of N$1.78 billion and therefore did not threaten its financial stability.
“The fund wishes to assure its stakeholders that while the impairment can be perceived to negatively impact the fund’s short-term results, this impairment – standing at 0.4% of the fund’s total assets and well below the materiality threshold of N$1.78 billion set by our external auditors – does not erode the fund’s short- and long-term sustainability,” Inkumbi said.
He further noted that despite the impairment, the GIPF achieved solid net investment returns of N$18 billion for 2024 and N$16.7 billion for 2025.
Internal report raises red flags
A 12-page report presented to the GIPF board of trustees on 24 September revealed that the pension fund holds more than nine underperforming investments, some of which are losing value, struggling to operate, or entangled in legal disputes, The Namibian reported earlier this week.
“Given the unresolved South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) tax dispute, the absence of up-to-date financial statements, the lack of redemption proceeds from this fund, and the deteriorating relationship with the portfolio manager, management is of the view that the Signal Structured Finance Fund is, at this stage, irrecoverable,” the report stated.
TriAlpha Investments’ exposure alone has been reduced by N$815.8 million, making it the largest single contributor to the GIPF’s potential losses. SARS’s tax claim, estimated at N$1 billion, if upheld, could wipe out the entire value of the fund once penalties and interest are included.
Opposition calls for accountability
Meanwhile, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has written to the chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on economics, Ipumbu Shiimi, urging the committee to summon GIPF leadership to provide a detailed account of the reported impairment loss.
Although GIPF insists that the loss represents just 0.4% of its total assets, PDM leader McHenry Venaani said the issue demands urgent national attention.
“These funds belong to hard-working Namibian public servants who rely on their pensions for a dignified future. Any threat to the security of their savings must be treated with the utmost seriousness,” Venaani said.
Déjà vu: echoes of the DCP scandal
This is not the first time GIPF has faced questions over controversial investment losses.
In 2019, the Office of the Prosecutor General said it was unable to trace over N$600 million lost through the now-defunct Development Capital Portfolio (DCP), under which GIPF financed several local companies, some with little or no business track record.
The DCP operated between 1996 and 2006.
Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa at the time expressed regret, saying the country’s chances of recovering the missing funds were slim.
“It is regrettable what happened in the GIPF matter. More than N$600 million got lost in the process. To trace where the money went proved problematic for the investigation,” Imalwa said.
She added that her office investigated 20 companies and declined to prosecute 18 of them. However, prosecution was initiated against one firm that allegedly concealed property from its liquidator.
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