Thabiso* has been driving taxis for over 20 years and now, when it’s time to retire, he can’t get hold of his pension fund or benefits. He says he’s talked to the South African National Taxi Council and they said they would look into the issue, but to no end – they’ve yielded no results. AZIKHIPHI! That’s not on! We discuss what he can do.
Scorpion Legal Protection’s advice
To answer Thabiso’s question properly, we would need to find out whether or not he was ever added to his employer’s pension fund and if he was contributing money every month from his salary towards it. If he wasn’t, he will not have a valid claim. But let’s assume he was.
Thabiso’s employer is meant to deduct and collect pension fund contributions and forward these to the fund administrator, who keeps a record of the contributions received. The claim is processed by the fund administrator. For Thabiso to claim, he will need to get a withdrawal notification form from his employer, fill it out and return it along with the relevant documents they need. His employer will then sign it as well, and send it to the fund administrator to process the payout.
His employer cannot refuse to send this form on to the pension fund administrator, or deliberately delay sending it either, unless there is a pending case against him. If the employer does, Thabiso can send a registered letter to the fund trustees informing them that the employer is preventing him from claiming from his fund. And if this fails, he can report the matter to the Pension Funds Adjudicator.
Unfortunately, it can take quite a while for these things to pay out. It depends on the efficiency of the processes, the motivation of their staff and on the claims backlog. The process only starts once the administrator has received your last contribution or the instruction form, whichever comes later. So if you resign at the beginning of the month, it will take almost a month before your fund receives your final contribution from the employer. The payout process only starts after that point.
Tips:
- Pension funds can take quite a while to pay out due to all the processes and steps involved.
- Your final step in the complaints process is the Pension Funds Adjudicator.
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* This is only basic advice and cannot be relied on solely. Names have been changed to protect identity.