Transnet pension war could hurt rating
|Published
Transnet pension claims derailed. Freedom front reckon if the court rules to certify the class action then transnet will have to deal with it as a potential liability, which could affect its rating, which is important because it wants to raise funds for its infrastructure programme.Picture: Chris Botha Transnet pension claims derailed. Freedom front reckon if the court rules to certify the class action then transnet will have to deal with it as a potential liability, which could affect its rating, which is important because it wants to raise funds for its infrastructure programme.Picture: Chris Botha
A High court decision in favour of the Transnet pensioners could affect the state-owned transport company’s ability to secure funding for its R300 billion infrastructure programme, Anton Alberts, a Freedom Front Plus (FF+) MP, told a press conference on Tuesday.
Alberts said if the North Gauteng High Court granted the pensioners the authority to proceed with their R80bn class action against Transnet, it would affect the state-owned company’s rating as the claim would have to be treated as a potential liability.
“In order for the court to accept the pensioners’ class action, their claim has to have merit and if the court accepts that the pensioners’ claim has merit then Transnet will have to take note of it,” Alberts said.
He added: “If there is no political action to settle the issue, we will contact the ratings agencies to ensure they are aware of the claim against Transnet.”
On Friday, the Transnet Pensioners’ Action Group (TPAG) applied to the North Gauteng High Court to sanction a class action against Transnet Funds and Transnet.
Alberts said the action also implicated the trustees of the pension fund. The legal team, which includes Leon Kellerman, an expert on pension legislation, is acting on a contingency basis.
In an e-mail response to queries from Business Report, Transnet spokesman Mboniso Sigonyela said on Tuesday that it had not received any formal notification of the court action.
“We are, therefore, not aware of the alleged lawsuit except for what we read in the media,” he said.
The legal action is being taken in parallel with political action by the FF+.
Alberts said Pieter Mulder, the FF+ leader and the deputy minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, would enter into talks with President Jacob Zuma in a bid to reach a conclusion that would “enable the Transnet pensioners to enjoy a humane old age”.
Alberts said the perception that the approximately 66 000 Transnet pensioners who would be affected by the action were all whites was incorrect.
“About 33 percent are black and 13 percent are Indian and coloured, the remaining 53 percent are white.”
The political action being taken by the FF+ is in addition to an investigation that has been initiated by the public protector at the request of the DA.
DA public enterprises spokeswoman Natasha Michael told Business Report that in August last year the public protector agreed to investigate why the pensioners were not receiving the annual increases and bonuses that had been agreed to by the National Assembly’s public enterprises portfolio committee in 2010.
Alberts said the FF+ had not approached the public protector because it did not believe she had jurisdiction in the matter. “A number of pensioners who approached the public protector were told it did not have jurisdiction.”
He added that if Transnet had implemented the recommendations of the portfolio committee back in 2010, it would have resolved the issue at a cost of only R1.9bn.
In terms of those recommendations, the government was required to inject R1.9bn into the two Transnet funds in order for them to be able to pay the pensioners five months’ bonuses, to ensure annual increases were 75 percent of inflation and to provide an upliftment of the two funds.
Alberts said that although the Treasury and Transnet were part of the discussions at the committee, both had repudiated the recommendations made by the committee.