THE Municipal Workers Retirement Fund (MWRF) has been taken to the Pension Fund Adjudicator (PFA) following a failure to update Emfuleni Local Municipality workers on their two-pot applications.
The workers want PFA to probe the operations of the scheme.
This follows the members' recent visit to the offices after a lack of communication between the scheme and members.
The visit came after several attempts for assistance from the scheme failed.
The emails, calls, and general enquiries were unanswered.
The Sunday Independent also sent emails to the fund’s principal officer, Themba Mfeka, and two other emails to the administration, which were also unanswered.
The PFA had commented at the time of compiling this report.
Emfuleni spokesperson Makhosonke Sagwani said the municipality was not involved in the application and processing of the two pot systems. He said the workers must deal with their pension fund scheme unless “we are accused of not having been paying the pension to the chosen workers scheme, which will also not be true”.
“The lack of response to all the applicants to the affected workers is nothing but a mere administrative failure from the scheme and can’t be a matter of the municipality as well,” he said.
The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) leader in the municipality said the union was aware of the situation, adding that they were worried about the MWRF’s conduct.
However, the leader referred questions to regional secretary Mpho Tladinyane, who requested this publication to contact general secretary Dumisane Magagula. However, Magagula did not respond.
In the complaint letter also issued to the scheme, Mfeka and Sawmu, the workers said they were denied access to the premises during their visit to the office last month and were told that there were no people to assist them inside the building because most of the staff were working from home.
“It should be noted that members were not aware of those working from home and are very interested to know how many employees working for the fund are indeed working from home,” read the letter.
The workers said they also requested one of the officials, who was only the one in the office, to assist with contacts of the manager, and he refused, claiming that he was not allowed to share personal contacts of his colleagues.
The members also added that the number provided had been offline and the website contained no relevant information. They said even the board of trustees was not displayed on the website, which makes it difficult for members to interact with the board.
“The administration structure of the fund and their contacts are also not displayed on the website. This has made communication between the fund and members to be a nightmare,” the workers said.
The members said they also requested the official to give them a written note that no one was allowed in the building. The official allegedly promised to do so, but after consultation with his bosses, he told them that he was not allowed to give anything.
“We felt the fund has shown us a middle finger and disrespected us, especially as not only members but also investors.” the letter further read.
They said this resulted in a broken trust and relationship between them and the scheme.
“We have tried to formally invite the fund through our HR offices to come and address us, especially on issues that regard our status with the fund, and they never came.
We therefore recommend that the adjudicator give a hearing and also mediate between us and the fund in trying to get the attention of the fund. The adjudicator to further investigate the operations of the fund and also advise where possible on the process of migration,” said the employees.