Alexander Forbes warned to act – or else
The Unpaid Benefits Campaign has given pension fund administrator Alexander Forbes 14 days to act decisively on unpaid benefits it administers.
Alexander Forbes didn’t disclose the amount of unclaimed benefits in its books but industry watchdog, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), reported in September 2017 that there was more than R42bn in unclaimed benefits in SA and about 4-million beneficiaries affected. Demonstrators who descended on the administrator's head office on Monday were from pension funds including Mittal, Telkom and the Global Pension Fund.
Carrying placards that read: “Telkom is here” and “We demand our own money”, beneficiaries handed over six boxes of application forms and documents for Alexander Forbes to process. They also made the administrator sign a memorandum demanding among other things that Alexander Forbes report back within 14 days on how far it has come in paying beneficiaries and reinstating cancelled funds.
“In each form we ‘ve given you codes for the pension funds you’re administering. You must respond accordingly] to those codes. We have given you everything. We’ve attached ID copies, death certificates for the deceased, everything you need is there,” said Bricks Mokolo of the Orange Farm human rights advice office in handing over the boxes.
The demonstrators said there was no telling how things would turn out if they had to return. “We’re here peacefully today,” said Mokolo. “But we aren’t looking for peace, we’re looking for justice.”
The group said its next target was Old Mutual. It would also deliver documents to the insurer “to prove the people they say aren’t claiming are claiming”.
Lucky Scotland of the Unpaid Benefits Campaign said there had been repeated attempts by ex-workers and their dependants to access their benefits from Alexander Forbes.