SABC News reports that rustrated workers at the cash-strapped Renosterberg Municipality in Petrusville, Northern Cape, say they want their pension and retirement monies. Workers, who include administration and general workers, attended the court appearance of three former and current municipal officials accused of stealing millions of rands of workers’ pensions and retirement funds. The trio face fraud and contravention of Municipal Finance Management Act charges. Sixty-seven-year-old Jane De Hart says the announcement by Renosterbeg Municipality that she won’t be able to access her pensions when she retires has left her shattered. She is one of the 102 workers who were told that the municipality has not been contributing their pensions to Pension Administrators.
The mother of two has been working at the Renosterberg Municipality for the past 34 years as a cashier. When she retires, she will leave with nothing. “I want them to pay for this. I don’t want to work for the municipality anymore or a department,” she says. The accused before court include a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the local economic development manager. It is alleged that the municipality failed to pay contributions between 2018 and 2023. “There were members who wanted to apply for two-pot system from their pension,” says Zolani De Klerk, Samwu Shopsteward: Renosterbeg Municipality.
The introduction of the two-pot system by government exposed many companies and municipalities who have been failing to pay workers contributions to Pension Administrators. This has left many desperate workers in limbo. Some widows, like Jane Swarts says the municipality has also failed to pay their families monies due to them following the death of their spouses. “I got nothing from the municipality. My husband died last year,” says Jane Swarts, Widow. The case against the three has been postponed to next month by the Petrusville Magistrate’s Court. This, to allow the second accused an opportunity to arrange for legal representative.
by Thabiso Radebe