Municipal Workers Retirement Fund (MWRF) principal officer Themba Mfeka has lashed out at SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) general secretary Dumisane Magagula who claimed workers have been unable to access the savings portion of their pensions.
Magagula told Business Day on Monday that Samwu was having difficulty getting answers from the fund and that it was not processing workers’ applications to access their savings. He also said the fund wasn’t operating from its Auckland Park offices and maybe “they are avoiding our members”.
Mfeka on Tuesday accused Magagula of “lying”, saying the “real reason” for the allegations is because “the fund has refused to adhere to their sponsorship request of R13.8m”.
Changes to retirement fund legislation on September 1 enables workers to access a portion of their retirement savings before retirement. More than R35bn has been withdrawn from pension funds under the so-called two-pot system, according to the SA Revenue Service (Sars).
The MWRF’s Naledi Ntanyana said more than 6,000 applications for savings withdrawals had been received to date and more than 2,500 of those applications, valued at more than R78m, had been paid out.
Mfeka shared evidence to back his claim. In a letter dated September 27 to Mfeka, signed by Magagula, the Samwu general secretary explained that the union, an affiliate of Cosatu, was embarking on membership recruitment and leadership election campaign from September 2024 to December 2025.
Samwu wanted to increase its membership of about 160,000 by a further 40,000 by focusing on young municipal workers, especially young women, local councils where rival unions are growing, municipalities that aren’t paying salaries and implementing mass dismissals and are under administration.
In the letter, Magagula said the campaign would include running elections of shop stewards, promote Samwu initiated schemes, and run financial wellness campaigns.
To achieve this, Magagula wrote, member constituency meetings would be held across the country, as well as at shop steward councils and provincial congresses and the national elective congress in December 2025.
“As much as these upcoming forums are key to keeping Samwu as a thriving union in the local government sector, we also view them as a unique opportunity for you as our social partner to service clients and further market your organisation. There will also be opportunities for corporate social investment which we are willing to discuss with you further,” he said.
“We hereby request that Municipal Workers Retirement Fund should fully sponsor the programme and join our teams as they roll out the campaign.”
For its regional shop stewards, provincial congresses and national congress, Samwu wanted stationery, T-shirts, caps, accommodation/travelling, branding material, laptop bags and 480 jackets.
Responding to Mfeka, Magagula said: “We do request sponsorships from service providers. This is not something strange. When we send a sponsorship request, any service provider can tell us which part of the programme they would like to support: it could be T-shirts, transportation or catering.”
Magagula said all the union wanted was to speak with fund officials to understand the source of Samwu members’ complaints.
Meanwhile, municipalities took more than R1.4bn from workers in pension fund deductions but failed to pay the MWRF, TimesLIVE reported, citing finance minister Enoch Godongwana.
The minister revealed the information in parliament this week.
Godongwana said just 108 of the country’s 257 municipalities were compliant and had paid workers’ pensions by March 31.
“Based on the information provided by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, 149 municipalities were in arrears as of March 31 2024. The total value municipalities owed to pension funds was R1,414,124,115. National Treasury does not have the details on how the funds were used,” he said.
Asked whether criminal charges have been filed against any municipal officials, Godongwana said it was up to the municipal councils to pursue criminal charges.
Business Times reported in October that the pension funds adjudicator, Muvhango Lukhaimane, said about 80% of the complaints received related to employers not paying retirement fund contributions to fund management firms.
The pension funds adjudicator’s office fielded 9,719 complaints in 2023/24, with 6,890 of those concerning nonpayment of retirement fund contributions by employers.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.