A staggering 19,800 government pension pots totalling more than R700m remain unclaimed in the Eastern Cape.
This is according to the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA), which has hit back at critics of its policies on the distribution of pension funds to apartheid-era civil servants.
The agency was responding to questions sent by the Daily Dispatch after last week’s report in which UDM leader Bantu Holomisa accused finance minister Enoch Godongwana and President Cyril Ramaphosa of deliberately slowing the process of paying apartheid-era civil servants money owed to them.
During his state of the nation debate in 2023, Ramaphosa announced a task team would be set up to address the matter of unpaid pensions and military veterans’ benefits, and it would be administered by the finance ministry.
The National Treasury said last week the GPAA was responsible for setting up that task team.
However, thousands of pensioners are yet to receive their full payouts, with millions still unclaimed.
GPAA spokesperson Mack Lewele said that after complaints regarding benefits for former Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei (TBVC) workers, the agency had met Alexander Forbes in March 2023 to determine if there were any members whose information was not on the amalgamated Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) membership database.
Between 1997 and 2000, for both the former Ciskei and Transkei Government Pension Funds contributors, Alexander Forbes was appointed interim administrator on behalf of GEPF, taking over from Sanlam.
In 2000, pensioner records were uploaded onto the GEPF administration system and merged to records received after amalgamation.
“This exercise was a direct response by a caring government whose intention was to correct any possible errors and bring relief to affected members or their descendants in unfortunate cases where a member might have passed on,” Lewele said.
“This exercise revealed that data sets on the GPAA/GEPF system matched 100% with those originally supplied to GEPF by both Sanlam and Alexander Forbes during the amalgamation phase.
“We recognise that some former TBVC employees might have worked for the state at the time but were discriminated against by various laws.
“Working with organised labour, the government has acknowledged this and established the Past Discriminatory Practice programme to compensate members or their descendants who were affected.
“Such compensation was implemented in line with a formula agreed to at the PSCBC.”
Applications for the PSCBC closed in 2012.
He said the GEPF was still paying benefits to its all members, including those who were transferred from the TBVC funds to the GEPF.
“In instances where members are currently exiting the GEPF and a discrepancy with regard to TBVC service period is recognised, every effort is made by the GPAA to investigate and rectify the service period in order for members to get paid their appropriate pension benefits.
“We however wish to indicate that the GPAA and GEPF will not pay any person unless there is information that confirms that they did not only work for any of the TBVC territories, but also contributed to pension.
“Be aware of instigators who for many years have thrived on deliberately giving families false hopes with the sole intention of growing their waning public image.
“We are a responsible and caring government and will not deny our members or their descendants their well-earned pension benefits.”
Civil Service Pension Redress Movement chair Stephen Sass criticised the government’s advocacy programme of tracking down the former officials, calling it shambolic.
He also criticised the government for ignoring the divisive policies of the past which excluded some workers from having any pension contributions.
Sass argued that employees who worked in state institutions, including in the homelands, but had no pension contribution, should be considered for the redress programme.
“The purpose of the pension redress was to compensate workers who were wronged during apartheid,” Sass said.
“Now they say you have to qualify. You should qualify if you worked for the government even if you had no contribution because people were prevented from contributing to the pension fund because of the laws at the time.
“Many people who worked for more than 40 years received only 25 years’ worth of pension because of discrimination in those years.
For instance, if you were overweight, you were not allowed to contribute to the pension fund, so these things should have been considered.”
Lewele said members and beneficiaries were urged to contact GPAA offices should they have inquiries regarding any outstanding benefits.
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