Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Ms Joyce Moloi-Moropa says the issue of how workers’ money is being spent and invested by agencies tasked with this responsibility require a thorough engagement with all the affected parties and relevant stakeholders.
This after the Government Pension Administration Agency (GPAA) appeared before the Committee to explain how the contributions to the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) were managed. The agency was also expected to inform the Committee on how they planned to address the issue of unclaimed benefits.
Mr Joel Ramathlape, the agency’s Chief Information Officer, reported that R658 million remained unclaimed in the financial year 2011/12. He said that this could be as a result of people not claiming their monies due to their “absconding from work” and this made the task of tracing them very difficult.
The Committee felt that it was unusual for an employee who had contributed sums of money to the fund not to claim their dues. But the agency revealed that there was a policy (which was supposed to have come into effect on 1 April 2012) aimed at tracking and tracing beneficiaries. The Committee was not aware of the existence of such a policy. Hence, the Committee requested a comprehensive briefing on the policy.
The Committee also expressed concerns that there were cases which had been outstanding for a year. The Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) stipulates that benefits must be paid within 60 days after an employee exits the public service.
The Committee has agreed to a meeting where the GEPF, GPAA, the Department of Public Service and Administration and the affected beneficiaries will be present. The exact date of the meeting is yet to be confirmed.
For further inquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Temba Gubula
Parliamentary Communication Services (PCS)
Tel: 021 403 8307
Fax: 021 403 3931
Cell: 078 735 8809
E-mail: tgubula@parliament.gov.za
Workers' money must be handled with caution
