Pension fund heist: Workers' zaka 'looted'

SOUTH Africa is on the verge of a crisis and many workers are unable to access their funds in the newly introduced Two-Pot system.

This is according to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

The party said, on 12 January, following a report by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), they raised a concern to the public that certain institutions, namely local government municipalities and private security companies, were in arrears on their pension fund contributions for periods ranging from six to 20 years.

"It is this same EFF that raised this concern with the minister of finance that municipal pension funds were in arrears to the tune of R1 billion, and the Private Sector Security Provident Fund (PSSPF) and other private security pension funds are in arrears to the tune of R6 billion," said party spokeswoman Leigh-Ann Mathys.

She said these pension funds ought to have money from the deductions made from the salaries of workers on a monthly basis, but many of these funds are empty due to non-compliance with Section 13A of the Pension Funds Act.

EFF's concerns come after Pension Funds Adjudicator Muvhango Lukhaimane made the call for workers across the country to check whether there's money in their respective pension funds.

She said her office was sitting at 82% caseload of complaints from workers for the financial year that employers were not paying their pension deductions to the administrators.

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Most of them found out when they wanted to withdraw their money in line with the Two-Pot system. The system allows workers who have retirement funds to access their funds from R2 000 up to a maximum of R30 000 per year whenever they need the money.

Mathys said it was a fact that millions of Mzansi workers are under the impression that they have money saved up in their pensions, whereas this money has been looted for more than a decade and a half.

"The signing of the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill of 2023 has now exposed that pension funds of workers have been looted, because the Two-Pot system has created a scenario that resembles mass-resignations and mass-retirements, because millions of workers are trying to access their pensions for withdrawal purposes, all at the same time. These funds are practically empty," said Mathys.

She criticised Lukhaimane for ringing the alarm late.

She, however, said the panic by the adjudicator has vindicated the EFF in its call for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee in Parliament, that will investigate what "we have correctly characterised as the Pensions Fund Heist"!

Mathys said: "We will continue to be the shield and advocate of all workers, and ensure we utilise all legislative and judicial mechanisms to ensure that the monies of all workers are repaid to them now; and at the centre of this heist is the delinquent Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana, who has a history of stealing the pensions of textile workers."