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BusinessLive reports that Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has withdrawn the green paper on comprehensive social security and retirement reform less than two weeks after it was first gazetted on 19 August.
No reasons were given for the withdrawal of the green paper, which had not been approved by the cabinet nor discussed with the Treasury. According to the Treasury, the green paper was not government policy and its proposals had not been checked against its tax and fiscal policies. Organised business had earlier pointed out that the green paper, which largely reproduced a 2012 paper, had not taken into account the views expressed in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), which had been discussing social security reform for the past five years. Trade unions had indicated strong opposition to the proposal that all employees would be mandated to contribute 8% to 10% of their qualifying earnings up to R276,000 to a state-run national social security fund, which would have pooled resources to provide retirement, survivor, disability and unemployment benefits. Private sector players had expressed unease at the creation of a huge bureaucratic structure that could have damaged what was regarded as a well-functioning private system, an argument reminiscent of discussions around the government’s attempt to set up the National Health Insurance Fund.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive
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