Workers await access to pensions through two-pot retirement system

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During the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) three-day national policy conference, amid looming retrenchments in the mining sector, workers are hopeful that political discussions on a national unity government will benefit them.

NUM’s Treasurer General Helen Diatile says as they wrap up they continue to worry about the safety of workers, especially in the mining sector.

She says workers are looking forward to accessing their pensions through the Two-Pot retirement system, a reform that will allow retirement fund members to make partial withdrawals from their retirement funds before they retire. The reform will come into effect on September 1.

“Members want to use the two-pot pension system now, they don’t want to wait. They want to build decent housing even if it means just fixing what they have so that when they retire they don’t have to start building their houses. Paying their creditors doesn’t have to happen once they are no longer working.”

NUM Policy Conference | In conversation with NUM Treasurer General