Municipalities need to account for unpaid pensions: Maswanganyi

The chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance Dr.

Joe Maswanganyi says he will call the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Velenkosini Hlabisa and municipalities who are failing to pay pension contributions, to account for the ongoing problem.

MPs received a briefing from the Pension Fund Adjudicator, SALGA and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on this matter.

An amount of R1.79 billion is owed to pension funds by municipalities who are deducting the money from employees but never paid it over to the funds.

This issue is not limited to municipalities and was uncovered when the Two Pot system came into effect in 2024, that allows employees to withdraw money from their pension funds.

The committee wanted to know why the problem is persisting on municipal level, because it is a criminal offense.

Maswanganyi says the situation cannot be left to continue with no accountability.

“I imagine if it is myself at the age which I am now, I’m no longer young, I’m told by Parliament when I leave Parliament that I have no contribution to be paid to me, how I will feel.

So, it is the same way that somebody has worked for 40 years for the municipality and being loyal and be told that go and die. as a pauper.

Actually, it’s criminality and somebody must take responsibility.”