Readers’ Views

Spending miners’ money on legal fees

I WAS saddened to read in “Mines ‘stalling’ silicosis claims” (May 4) that the mining companies appear to be dragging out the process of settling these claims.

It would seem to me to be in the interests of social responsibility and the redistribution of wealth in post-apartheid South Africa that these claims are settled timeously.

Waiting for these people to die so that they do not have to pay out the claim suggests that these companies have no humanity and would rather see their money expended on the legal costs involved in delaying than on paying out the workers.

— Laura Pollecutt, by e-mail

CEO’s R28m salary is not acceptable

I CANNOT see how a CEO’s salary of R28-million a year can be justified, “CEOs from Mars don’t come cheap” (May 4). How on earth is it possible to spend that amount of money each year?

It is also completely unacceptable under the present conditions in our country.

— Pierre de Villiers, by sms

Paltry payout shock after 20 years

I REFER to “No answers still as pay day rolls in” (Bull’s Eye, May 4). No answers, which all sounds so familiar to me — even the names you mention.

My partner spent R220 a month for 20 years on a policy that ended up paying out just under R5 000 in the end.

We, too, spent years trying to get facts and figures, to no avail. They just refused to correspond with us.

Our promised payout was meant to be R120 000, and you can imagine our shock and horror at the reality of it all.

When you retire, there is no time to do it again. — Anonymous, by sms I’M glad that a journalist has finally stumbled on the scams perpetrated by the large “investment” institutions when grabbing hard-earned funds in present-day values and paying them back in inflation-ravaged income many years later.

The truth of the matter is that these funds are collected today and reinvested in inflation-protected assets not registered in the contributor’s name, but in the institution’s name (usually through a group vehicle), and the residue left over after fees and charges is paid out at a very future date to the annuitant in very depreciated rands.

It is a very effective way of consolidating capital at current values in favour of the institution and then paying the retiree a paltry income some time in the distant future in devalued rands.

To compound the problem, an unholy alliance exists between governments, commercial banks and other financial institutions and large corporations, making it impossible for an ordinary individual investor to accumulate the necessary funds to provide for his or her own retirement.

They are locked into a system that militates against individuality and true freedom of choice in favour of the establishment.

It is the biggest scam of all time, containing the inbuilt seeds of its own demise. Pity the poor suckers caught up in it. — — Frank Payne, by e-mail