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Fin24 reports that the pension funds adjudicator on Monday spoke harshly about retirement funds that fail to pay out death benefits to beneficiaries timeously, resulting in an increase in unclaimed benefits.
The registrar of pension funds recently said that in the mining industry specifically there was R10bn worth of unclaimed benefits. “These amounts and the number of beneficiaries (who don’t receive death benefits) increase year on year,” Pension Funds Adjudicator Muvhango Lukhaimane said. She illustrated these shortcomings with a specific case in which she ordered the Mineworkers Provident Fund (MPF) to pay 10% in compensatory damages to a complainant, because the fund had failed to timeously investigate the existence of beneficiaries of a deceased member. The fund failed to complete its investigation nine years after the death of the member. Lukhaimane ordered the fund to complete the investigation and ensure death benefits were paid to the member’s beneficiaries. In her determination, Lukhaimane also ruled that the complaint against the fund was not “time-barred”, as there were particular circumstances under which the so-called prescription (three-year time period) might be interrupted.
- Read this report in full at Fin24
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