It is illegal for an employer to deduct money from an employee's salary and not pay it to the relevant retirement fund as required in terms of the Pension Funds Act.

Yet, some employers send employees on a wild goose chase when it is time to withdraw their contributions.

Lefa Khumalo, 23, of Bloemfontein, left his employment three months ago after a wage dispute with his line manager.

Khumalo was employed at Route Management, also know as Henred Fruehauf, as a store clerk for two years.

He said he was paid far less than those in the same position, and this was not addressed after he brought it to the attention of his managers.

Upon resignation, he approached the Motor Industry Bargaining Council (Mibco) to withdraw his contribution.

Although the employer deducted R87 a week, Khumalo was told the employer had not made any contributions towards the provident fund.

According to section 13 of the Pension Funds Act, employers are compelled to register with a pension or provident fund and to pay both the employer's and employee's contributions to a fund.

Khumalo said he decided to approach Consumer Line because his employer had been giving him the runaround.

"They have not explained what happened to my deductions and have not honoured their promises to call after they promised to do so."

Human resources manager at Henred Fruehauf, Maryke Beukes, confirmed deductions were made on a weekly basis from Khumalo's salary but denied they were not paid to the Mibco provident fund.

She said the person dealing with their Mibco returns was off duty and therefore they could not explain why there was a delay in processing Khumalo's claim.

Beukes said they were busy with Mibco, linking all employees on their system and allocating payments received from the company to individual employees.

"This process will most probably be finalised by the end of August."

Beukes said they would ask Mibco to explain this to Khumalo and added the company pays all provident fund deductions to Mibco on a monthly basis. She also threatened to sue Sowetan should it publish Khumalo's story.

"Please ensure that nothing is posted in any newspaper regarding Route Management without verified and factual information as this will result in legal action against the writer and/or paper."

Mawraan Davids of Mibco said they were investigating whether or not the employer made contributions towards Khumalo's provident fund.

He said there was an internal process to be followed before they could divulge information about their members, and asked for Khumalo to give him permission.

This was done, but there was no response by the time of going to print.