Trade union Solidarity on Wednesday served court papers on the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) at the North Gauteng High Court.
This comes after the GEPF had allegedly unlawfully and without consultation amended the formula in terms of which officials’ actuarial interest at the time of resignation are calculated.
As a result‚ the GEPF lost R95-billion when President Jacob Zuma sacked former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene last year.
According to Solidarity deputy chief executive Johan Kruger‚ civil servants who intend to or who have already resigned after the unilateral amendment of the formula took effect have lost benefits worth thousands.
Among other things‚ Solidarity has registered a class action on behalf of more than 1.2-million civil servants and would consequently hold the GEPF liable for the unilateral amendments made to the formula.
“The GEPF application Solidarity is bringing before the court is a major lawsuit and is probably the first of its kind. We contend that a proper consultation process‚ as required under the rules of the fund‚ has not been followed‚ and therefore Solidarity’s lawsuit against the GEPF would be to the benefit of all civil servants‚” Kruger said.
“In addition‚ Solidarity will demand that persons who have resigned since the unilateral amendment be compensated as if the previous formula still applied and that moratory interest be payable on this amount‚” Kruger said.
Kruger said they are serving the court papers on 24 other respondents‚ including current Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and other trade unions that sit on the bargaining council.
Solidarity is also demanding that the change made to the formula by which civil servants’ pension benefit is calculated be reviewed.
The rand went into a freefall following the announcement on December 9 by Zuma that he had replaced Nene with unknown African National Congress MP David van Rooyen – only to replace him three days later with Nene’s former boss Gordhan.
State-owned investment group the Public Investment Corporation lost nearly R100-billion within 48 hours of Zuma firing Nene.
The currency reached an all-time worst level of R17.99 on January 11 after Zuma defended his appointment blunder within the finance department.
He has since defended his actions saying: “I had always thought Nhlanhla Nene was a very capable minister and so I wanted him to occupy a position where he was globally recognised.”
Nene is yet to be appointed to take up a senior position at the BRICS Development Bank and now works at Allan Gray as a non-executive director.
Solidarity sues over pension losses caused by Nene’s axing
Trade union Solidarity on Wednesday served court papers on the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) at the North Gauteng High Court.
This comes after the GEPF had allegedly unlawfully and without consultation amended the formula in terms of which officials’ actuarial interest at the time of resignation are calculated.
As a result‚ the GEPF lost R95-billion when President Jacob Zuma sacked former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene last year.
According to Solidarity deputy chief executive Johan Kruger‚ civil servants who intend to or who have already resigned after the unilateral amendment of the formula took effect have lost benefits worth thousands.
Among other things‚ Solidarity has registered a class action on behalf of more than 1.2-million civil servants and would consequently hold the GEPF liable for the unilateral amendments made to the formula.
“The GEPF application Solidarity is bringing before the court is a major lawsuit and is probably the first of its kind. We contend that a proper consultation process‚ as required under the rules of the fund‚ has not been followed‚ and therefore Solidarity’s lawsuit against the GEPF would be to the benefit of all civil servants‚” Kruger said.
“In addition‚ Solidarity will demand that persons who have resigned since the unilateral amendment be compensated as if the previous formula still applied and that moratory interest be payable on this amount‚” Kruger said.
Kruger said they are serving the court papers on 24 other respondents‚ including current Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and other trade unions that sit on the bargaining council.
Solidarity is also demanding that the change made to the formula by which civil servants’ pension benefit is calculated be reviewed.
The rand went into a freefall following the announcement on December 9 by Zuma that he had replaced Nene with unknown African National Congress MP David van Rooyen – only to replace him three days later with Nene’s former boss Gordhan.
State-owned investment group the Public Investment Corporation lost nearly R100-billion within 48 hours of Zuma firing Nene.
The currency reached an all-time worst level of R17.99 on January 11 after Zuma defended his appointment blunder within the finance department.
He has since defended his actions saying: “I had always thought Nhlanhla Nene was a very capable minister and so I wanted him to occupy a position where he was globally recognised.”
Nene is yet to be appointed to take up a senior position at the BRICS Development Bank and now works at Allan Gray as a non-executive director.
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