Victims of the Great North Transport R300 million pension fund scandal march to the Limpopo legislature to hand over a memorandum. Picture: Mashudu Sadike
Retired Great North Transport (GNT) employees and families of deceased workers have been holding protests at the Limpopo Premier’s office in Polokwane since October 8, demanding their unpaid pensions and provident fund monies.
The protests, facilitated by the Make It Happen Foundation, come after a forensic report by global company BDO that revealed that GNT failed to make timely pension contributions, resulting in significant delays and unpaid amounts in total R300 million.
According to the report seen by The Star, GNT’s board of trustees failed to report non-compliance with the Pension Funds Act between 2000 and 2017.
The company deducted pension contributions from employees’ salaries but failed to remit them to the pension fund or underpaid for 17 years.
Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba promised that some retired staff would begin receiving their outstanding payments on October 9.
However, by midday on October 10, many individuals had yet to receive their payments.
In an attempt to address the issue, Director-General Nape Nchabeleng agreed to set up a committee with the heads of the department and the provincial Treasury to investigate the outstanding pension payments. The committee is expected to submit a report to the MEC before the end of October.
Limpopo government spokesperson Ndavhe Ramakuela confirmed that 900 of more than 1 163 pensioners had already been paid, and the remaining individuals have been contacted to collect their pensions.
The retired staff and families of deceased workers remain vigilant, demanding accountability and resolution to the issue that has devastated their lives.
The bus company ferries thousands of passengers from work and back every day across the Limpopo province. It is a subsidiary of the Limpopo Economic Development Agency (Leda), an entity of the Limpopo Department Of Economic Development and Tourism (Ledet).
All this is despite having made monthly deductions from staff salaries, in breach of the Pension Fund Act (PFA).
In a report draft document seen by The Star, the cash-strapped bus company evidently used the money as cash-flow.
Despite holding quarterly board meetings between 2000 and 2017, the GNT board of trustees also failed to report non-compliance by the bus company to the pension fund registrar as required by the PFA, according to a draft forensic report by BDO.
The report also found that the company’s annual benefit statements were not reported, figures were unexplainable, while other provident fund benefits decreased instead of increasing, in violation of the law.
This multimillion-rand scandal affected even workers who had been with GNT from as early as 1990.
The bus company has had nine administrators since 1994, including Alexander Forbes, which administered GNT between 2010 and 2017.
Others included Moriting Wealth Managers and Lekana Employee Benefit Solutions.
Part of the victims’ demands were calls to President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in the matter by engaging all relevant departments and Chapter Nine institutions to protect the Constitution of SA and help fight corruption.
The Star
mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za