Retirees want their pension money

Retired civil servants at the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum of grievances. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Retired civil servants at the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum of grievances. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Nov 26, 2015

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Pretoria - Retired public servants who served under the apartheid government want their pension money.

The pensioners marched to the Union Buildings on Wednesday to demand the government address their pension fund issue, claiming an imbalance in the amount of money they were receiving.

They claimed that the imbalance was a direct consequence of the oppressive regime intentionally allocating less money to their pensions.

The group of about 200 pensioners - erstwhile teachers, nurses, police, soldiers, support staff and social workers - gathered at the Pretoria Art Museum and marched to the Union Buildings while singing Struggle songs.

Some of the former public servants carried placards which read “Pensioners don’t eat peanuts”.

There was also “A failure to respond means no votes”, and “Open pension redress”.

Wes Tema, of the National Forum for Retired Civil Servants, said the old dispensation’s contributions during the apartheid era were designed to leave them at a disadvantage.

“The (current) government acknowledged the imbalance in 2010 and promised it would address the issue.

“We were called in to fill in forms that would help to identify those who were in need of the redress.

“But in 2012, the government stopped the process while three quarters of the people had not been registered.

“The government had not revisited the process to this day,” Tema said.

He said even those who had filled in the forms had not received any form of help. “We want the government to reopen the process in order for everyone to be helped and for the pension funds to be redressed,” he said.

Patricia Khambule, 65, said the situation was difficult for them during the pre-democratic era as they remained underpaid regardless of the experience they had acquired.

“If you were black you didn’t get paid much.

“Even with the pension funds, the old government didn’t allocate a lot of money.

“In 2010, the government said it would offer a redress for this issue.

“They sent us text messages and letters to say a process has been started,” she said.

However, Khambule said the government only acknowledged having received the documents, but nothing beyond that had ever been done.

Grandmother of five, Martha Mnoe, said the she was struggling to survive and take care of her grandchildren, who were aged between 10 and 14, on the pension money she was receiving as result of the old structures.

“It’s a challenge for my husband, and I find it hard to provide for all five of them.

“We just want the government to resolve this problem,” she said.

Pretoria News

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