The Citizen reports that more than half the R42 billion in unclaimed benefits, owed to roughly 4.2 million persons, are bottled up in just two trade union-affiliated pension schemes.  

A recent report, The Bottom Line, by nonprofit organisation Open Secrets indicates that the amount of unclaimed benefits amounts to more than R51 billion if funds falling outside the Pension Funds Act are also counted.  The fund with by far the largest amount of unclaimed benefits is the Metal Industries Benefit Fund, with nearly R19 billion, followed by the Mineworkers Fund, with R4.3 billion.  These numbers are from a 2017 report on unclaimed benefits from the Financial Services Conduct Authority, or FSCA (formerly the Financial Services Board).  Administrators allegedly earn huge fees on these unclaimed benefits.  GroundUp asked for comment on the Open Secrets report from the regulator and two administrators, Liberty and Alexander Forbes.  Liberty Corporate managing executive Tiaan Kotze said the problem of unclaimed benefits was decades old and not unique to SA.  He said workers often left employment unaware that they had pension benefits owing to them.  The administrators responsible for safekeeping members’ personal data often kept poor and incomplete records

• Read the original of the above report by Ciaran Ryan on page 4 of The Citizen of 27 November 2019

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