Trade union giant the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it has welcomed the progress made to ensure thousands of South African Post Office (SAPO) and Telkom employees are able to exercise legal right to the relief provided to workers under the Two-Pot Pension Reforms.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) last week said that it had received 1.2 million applications for tax directives for withdrawals and a total gross lump sum of R21.4 billion for two-pot withdrawals had been paid out to date.
The two-pot system, which commenced on 1 September, is a system where all the future contributions of pension and retirement fund members will be split into two pots: a savings pot and a retirement pot.
Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said the reforms will provide financially struggling workers with an alternative to resignation to seek relief from their savings.
Parks said the reforms are binding upon all pension and provident funds without exception.
“All funds are required to amend their rules and systems to enable workers access to their savings.
“Cosatu was extremely dismayed that this had not happened on 1 September for SAPO and Telkom employees but we are pleased and heartened that once the Federation brought this to the attention of the Ministries for Communications and Digital Technologies and Finance, that they intervened swiftly to remove the administrative blockages.”
Parks said that both ministries have now signed off on the Telkom and SAPO pension funds’ rules amendments.
“The last remaining regulatory step to enable Telkom and SAPO employees to have access to their savings, is for the Ministry for Communications and Digital Technologies to publish and promulgate these amended rules in the Government Gazette.
“We will continue to work closely with both ministries and departments to ensure this final step is expedited and relief is brought to these workers who have been through some of the most difficult times in recent years. We are confident this matter will soon be concluded,” Parks said.
The Mercury