FRUSTRATED Gauteng fund pensioners and beneficiaries gathered outside the government employees pension fund (GEPF) offices in Joburg on Friday, 30 September, demanding answers as to why their pension was deducted without notice.
But their frustrations were in vain as they were denied access to the building and told that since it had no water, they couldn’t be assisted.
“When we woke up this morning, we realised that the government had deducted money from our pension fund. Some of us had a deduction of about R9 000. I receive an amount of R13 000 monthly but to my surprise, I only received R8 000. We are shocked as we were not informed about the deductions or what they are for,” said Belina Molete.
“One thing that makes us angry is that when we got here, we found the doors closed with a notice saying there’s no water,” she added.
Beneficiaries also raised concerns that the sudden deductions would affect their medical bills, electricity and bond payments.
Beneficiary Dudu Ndlebe stated that this had affected her badly.
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“I’m a single parent as my husband passed on. This is the only money I have to survive with my children. If they take from that very little we are getting, what must happen to us?” she asked.
The GEPF told the People’s Paper that it had noted the concerns with respect to a reduction this month.
“As required by the Income Tax Act, the government pensions administration agency (GPAA) implemented a directive from the South African Revenue Service (Sars) that provided for a revised rate of tax to be deducted from pensioners’ monthly payment. Prior to implementing the revised rate, the GPAA wrote to all affected pensioners, informing them of their choices. Some might have not received the correspondence or did not fully understand the options they had,” said the GEPF.
It added that the impact on tax paid by pensioners was because of changes to the revised tax rate (pay as you earn) as notified by Sars.
“It’s important to note that this only applies to pensioners who receive more than one source of taxable income in addition to their pension. That is the income sources as reflected on the Sars tax system.”
The GEPF reiterated that pensioners had the option to opt out of the revised tax rate provided by Sars, and revert to the normal rate applicable to their pension.
