There have been substantial concerns by government, trade unions and employers about the inability of claimants to access social protection funds such as pension and provident funds, compensation funds and unemployment benefits. There may be approximately R30 billion in unclaimed funds for workers and ex-workers in the region.
The Department of Planning Monitoring & Evaluation (DPME) convened a workshop covering the mining sector on the 24 June 2016 that brought together the Financial Services Board (FSB), representatives of pension and provident funds, the Chamber of Mines and trade unions, officials from Treasury, the Department of Health Compensation Fund, the Department of Labour Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Department of Social Development and the South African Social Services Agency, the Government Pensions Administration Agency, Rand Mutual Assurance and TEBA.
Social partners such as the World Bank were in attendance.
The DPME hosted this workshop in the context of the Inter-Ministerial Committee activity on Revitalization of Distressed Mining Communities. The workshop was opened by the DPME Acting Director – General, Mr Tshediso Matona, who contextualised the workshop within the National Development Plan (NDP) of South Africa.
“Effective social protection and welfare services are an integral part of our programme for inclusive economic growth and central to the elimination of poverty and reduction of inequality. Our vision is that by 2030, South Africa would have a comprehensive system of social protection that includes social security grants, mandatory retirement savings, risk benefits such as unemployment, death and disability benefits and voluntary savings.”
He noted that the workshop is an initial step towards alleviating poverty and restoring the dignity of our people who contributed to these funds over their working lives. The DPME will convene a broader forum at a later stage covering all sectors of the economy.
The Chief Executive Officer of the FSB, Adv Dube Tshidi, gave the history of unclaimed benefits, the FSB’s role in regulating the industry and the need for developing an overarching unclaimed benefits fund that will pool the different funds. He noted the absence of a central database of workers with unclaimed benefits as well as the difficulties in tracking and tracing claimants.
The Deputy-Minister of Mineral Resources, Hon Godfrey Oliphant, noted the contribution of the mining sector to the economy, the legacy issues with migrant labour and that the unclaimed benefits if paid to mineworker claimants and beneficiaries would do a lot to rejuvenate rural economies and labour sending areas.
He noted that through his interactions with ex-mineworkers and their families that many have little knowledge as to how to access their unclaimed benefits and when they do, there are many bureaucratic barriers to overcome.
He supported the notion of a central database of workers hosted by government, made inputs on the One Stop Service Centres of the Department of Health and applauded the various tracking and tracing efforts underway albeit fragmented.
The participants gave an update of their unclaimed benefits amounts, their tracking and tracing efforts and expressed a need for sharing of data across the different databases. The cost associated with tracking and tracing seemed high when compared to the benefits paid and in some instances was eroding the benefit amount paid.
Innovative efforts were needed to update records and track and trace claimants that included working through traditional leaders and municipal officials, faith based organizations and pooling of resources and ideas. The Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 was a law that many organizations used to withhold information rather than sharing information for the greater good!
The workshop concluded by the formation of a Steering Committee on Unclaimed Benefits led by DPME and the development of Task Teams covering Legal, Administrative (Database and IT system) and Tracking and Tracing interventions.
Enquiries:
Mpho Ndaba
Cell: 072 435 8417
E-mail: Mpho.Ndaba@dpme.gov.za
