Issued by: Ministry of Finance
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE MEDIA RELEASE 31 JANUARY 1997
The Chief Directorate: Pensions Administration of the Department of Finance has been receiving a number of complaints from former civil servants, especially teachers, regarding the timeous payment of pension benefits relating to severance packages. The Department would like to take this opportunity to explain the reasons for the backlog.
Despite an agreement between employer departments and the Chief Directorate: Pensions Admninistration that employer departments should submit all relevant documents at least six weeks prior to the date on which a person's services are terminated, Government Departments and Provincial Administrations are submitting pension documents as late as 5 weeks after the retirement date.
The Chief Directorate received 55 722 applications for pensions between May 1996 and December 1996, of which only 10% were received timeously. The rest were received four to five weeks after retirement. Between July 1996 and January 1997, 21 335 applications for severance packages were received, with 5840 received in December and 4763 in January 1997. Processing severance package applications is additional to the normal workload of the Chief Directorate, and employees are working 7 days a week to tackle the backlog. The Chief Directorate has done everything in its power to encourage employers to submit documents timeously. A seminar was held to convey to all employers information pertaining to the implementation of the voluntary severance packages as well as the submission of the relevant pension documents. Client Managers have been appointed to all Government Departments and Provincial Administrations to assist the employers with any problems which may arise.
According to section 26 of the Government Employees Pension Fund Law, (Proclamation no. 21, of 1996), a benefit payable in terms of this Law must be paid to the member, pensioner or beneficiary entitled to such benefit within a period of 60 days after the date on which the Board (read also Pensions Administration) receives a duly completed statement in the prescribed form, or it the Board receives such statement before the date on which a benefit is payable to the member or pensioner concerned in terms of this Law, within a period of 60 days after the date on which such benefits are so payable.
It should also be noted that the severance part of the package paid by the employer includes, for example, one week's salary for each completed year of pensionable service, six months housing subsidy, as well as other benefits. This should prevent people from experiencing financial problems within a six month period whilst awaiting the payment of their pension benefits. However, the chief Directorate is confident that the current situation should have returned to normal by the end of February 1997.
PJJ MARITZ CHIEF DIRECTORATE: PENSIONS ADMINISTRATION
Tel: 012 319 1269 Fax: 012 324 6074