‘Two-pot system will expose employers who defaulted on contributions’

The Pension Fund Adjudicator (PFA), Muvhango Lukhaimane says that the introduction of the two-pot retirement system will expose the extent of employers’ failure to pay their employees’ contributions to pension fund schemes.

The system, which kicked off this month, allows workers to withdraw funds from their pension and provident fund savings, while still employed.

Lukhaimane says her office is bracing for a possible surge in complaints due to discrepancies.

“Complaints have settled at about 82% for employers failing to pay contributions. Sometimes a person comes wanting to withdraw their benefits, maybe they’ve resigned, or they’ve retired, only to discover at that point that the employer was not paying contributions.”

“So, what is going to happen with the two-pot system is that, because people now are able to claim while still in employment, most employees are going to find out at least much earlier that their employers have been defaulting on payment of contributions,” she adds.

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