The Limpopo government has promised to take action against officials involved in the alleged mismanagement of over R300 million pension funds at the government-owned bus company, Great North Transport (GNT).
Forensic investigations have revealed that the bus company management deducted pension money from workers’ salaries but did not pay it over to pension administrators.
The alleged financial mismanagement has affected over 800 current and former workers at the entity. Authorities have established an urgent committee to probe the workers’ missing pension funds.
The committee comprises of representatives from Office of the Premier, Great North Transport, Treasury Department, and the affected retirees and current workers. It’s expected to identify officials responsible for the missing workers pension funds and also to bring resolutions on how to pay the pension funds.
The matter of missing pension funds came to light in 2016. This after retirees couldn’t access their pension funds. Some had worked for over 30 years. Authorities have promised to leave no stone unturned and that those responsible shall face the might of the law.
“There will be matters of consequence management if there are individuals who currently or previously have been involved in the lapse of having this pension fund administered properly particularly if there are administrators on the side of GNT, from the side of Limpopo Development Agency. We’ll look into all those matters and see if any people are liable to be accountable for any of the matters that might have come out of this report,” says Ndavhe Ramakuela, Limpopo government spokesperson.
Video: ‘Great Pension Heist’ – Limpopo Treasury responds to missing R300 million in employee pension funds
The Board of Directors report indicates that the alleged financial mismanagement at GNT was recorded between 1990 to 2017. The report also indicates that some salaries and financial statements of employees deductions were missing. The affected former and current workers have held several protests.
“We want the government to assist us get our money, I am a widow, my husband died because of the stress because he could not get his pension money,” an affected widow says.
“The government paid R2 million to launch a forensic report but when you want them to implement the report, they are nowhere to be found,” another affected worker says.
The Board of Directors report also reveals that the entity has failed to pay pensions to the administrators for over 30 years.
This alleged irregularity occurred at Sekhukhune, Bushbuckridge, Giyani, Hoedspruit, Makhado and Mokopane depots.
The civic organisation representing workers wants those involved in the alleged mismanagement of pensions to be prosecuted.
“Those individuals who did the wrong things have to see the might of the law. Some recommendations are in place, those individuals who violates the law have to be arrested, those who have to pay the money must pay money. Some individuals passed on who were disadvantaged because of the wrongdoing of those individuals,” says Herry Masindi from the Make it Happen Foundation.
The report recommends that those implicated must be criminally charged.
Video: Limpopo officials face pension scandal
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