Following on to a successful rally in Bloemfontein late last year the time is now for the pensioners to voice their disapproval of the way the funds are managed and that only Transnet’s interests are important. A petition document has been drawn up for all the pensioners to sign. This petition will be handed to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Pension Funds and to the Minister of Public Enterprises.
There will also be an information update on the legal action and the composition details of the two Pension Funds and their management.
The rally has been organised by SHELP (Goodwood) assisted by TPAG members as well as other parties involved in the fight to obtain our rightful pensions and is NOT a political meeting.
The more than three – year – long ongoing saga for Transnet pensioners to get a realistic and market-related pension bargain got a new dimension when Transnet’s leave to appeal was also rejected by the Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. It was Transnet’s second application to appeal. Transnet and is being accused of deliberate delaying tactics in the hope of the group action claim of R79 billion to the gradual demise of pensioners attenuates.
Shock figures which was acquired by written parliamentary questions to the Minister of Transport, showed that Transnet pensioners are rapidly dying , while the state institution callous is busy with delay tactics. Anton Alberts, FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson for transport, said answers from the minister show between 273 and 460 pensioners who are members of the largest pension fund every month have died. In total, since the group action began on 26 April 2013 to October 2014 a total of 6866 Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund ( TSDBF ) –Pensioners died. Currently the fund has 60,138 members. The smaller fund, the Transport Pension Fund ( TPF ), currently consists of 6264 members of which 298 have died since April 2013,
Photo: Taken 24 April 2014 ~ Rally to the Union Building
