Spearheading the drive is UDM leader Bantu Holomisa. File photo: Armand Hough/African News Agency(ANA)
SATBVC, an association of pensioners from Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, and Ciskei, known as TBVC States have given President Cyril Ramaphosa seven days to effect his instruction to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, to investigate the issues regarding the pensions of civil servants or face legal action.
Every cent counts for pensioners, who like the rest of South Africans, are facing an unprecedented cost of living crises amid high food prices, a high-rates environment and amid load shedding.
Spearheading the drive is UDM leader Bantu Holomisa.
The bone of contention is that employees - who joined the government as civil servants in 1970, 1980, and early 1990s were told that their pension funds were calculated from 1996 - despite their pension fund contributions being deducted earlier than that date.
Holomisa said their pension funds were contributed to asset management companies such as Sanlam, Old Mutual, and Alexander Forbes.
"The money was transferred in 1996 to the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) after it was formed. The GEPF was instructed to take the money and invest it in the Public Investment Corporation (PIC)," he said.
The GEPF describes itself as Africa’s largest pension fund, with more than 1.2 million active members, more than 450 000 pensioners and beneficiaries, and assets worth more than R1.61 trillion.
The PIC is the custodian of more than 80% of the Government Employees Pension Fund’s portfolio.
However, SATBVC said despite Ramaphosa’s promises to deal with the matter nothing had been done.
In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) in February, Ramaphosa said: “The Honourable Holomisa has raised the issue of pensions of civil servants and military veterans from the former TBVC states.
“These are indeed issues that need to be considered, the deputy president has a task team on benefits for military veterans which has a work stream on pensions.
“I have asked this task team to provide a report on this matter and I have also asked the minister of finance to set up a team to look into the issue of pensions for civil servants from the TBVC states,” the President said at the time.
Holomisa said yesterday at a press briefing that the SATBV had compiled a report after the president's speech and sent it to the Minister of Finance, and he said he would give a date for a meeting to go forward.
"We haven't heard anything since from Minister Godongwana. It is confusing to us why he doesn't meet with these people. What is he afraid of? They are not fighting, they are seeking clarity on how the minister is going to investigate and what is the way forward for people who have claims. The claimants also took to the matter to the ombuds, the ombuds doesn't have staff.
"The claimants want to know if their money was safe. We all know that the PIC is just a piggy bank where loans of listed and unlisted companies are not serviced as was revealed by the Mpati Commission. This whole situation with the PIC, as the custodians of the government pensioner's monies, is cause for concern," Holimisa said.
According to Holomisa, he also wrote a formal letter seeking when the group could meet with the minister.
"I have never seen such inefficiency. In four months, we have been asking for a single meeting of about 45 minutes of the minister and his committee to effect that instruction from the president. We have hit a brick wall with him.
"We are disappointed by the minister as people are suffering. The are many categorise in the pension issue. It's not just about the contributions. We have lawyers who are also looking into this", he said.
Holomisa said an independent investigator and evaluator need to be appointed.
"It seems the government seems to be hiding something. the SATBVC Pensioners’ Committee is becoming highly suspicious of the entire matter, simply because of the delays that government is causing,“ he said.
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