EFF accuses Treasury of ignoring request to probe theft of funds
More than R6bn in pensions stolen
The EFF has condemned the Treasury for turning a blind eye to their request to assess security companies the party alleges have been stealing pension funds of their employees.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said the party’s deputy president, Floyd Shivambu, wrote a letter of complaint to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on February 28, requesting that his department conduct an assessment of all private security companies contracted by the state and its departments based on the published list of non-compliant companies provided by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).
“Following this audit, the EFF has advised the Treasury to give these companies a three-month grace [period] to repay workers’ monies into their pension funds if the workers are still active in the sector, or directly to them if they have retired.
“To date, there has been no response, yet workers’ money continues to be stolen while the state and National Treasury allow organs of the state to continue contracting companies who are stealing workers’ money.
“This leaves us with no other conclusion than that there are elements within the Treasury who may be receiving kickbacks from private security companies, to allow them to be contracted by the state and its departments even as they are in violation of the labour laws.”
Thambo said the EFF had met with the FSCA on Thursday last week and received more information about the matter.
The meeting followed a complaint the EFF lodged with the FSCA, raising widespread claims that several private security companies had allegedly been allowed to “steal more than R6-billion of workers’ pension funds”.
However, FSCA on Friday said that the pension fund amount was valued at R207-million, not R6-billion as claimed.
“The meeting with the FSCA shed light on how dire the theft situation of workers’ pension fund money is, and how even the pension funds that ought to manage the retirement money of workers, are conflicted,” said Thambo.
Thambo said there has been a massive theft of workers’ money in an elaborate scheme that leaves workers vulnerable after retirement or loss of jobs.
As we reported last week, the EFF’S also had numerous engagements and meetings with relevant sector role players, including the Department of Employment and Labour, the South African Bargaining Council and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in a bid to resolve the matter.
“Yes, the ministry received a letter from the EFF, and it is being attended to. If there is any evidence of Treasury officials receiving kickbacks, such information should be reported to the South African Police Service or any other law-enforcement agency,” Treasury said.