MICHAEL MATARI and PHILLIP NKOSI, Thohoyandou | Monday
A GROUP of more than 24_000 former Venda homeland officials is demanding that government repay them an estimated R1bn in unpaid pensions – and they allege that at least one local banking institution has withheld R358m that was invested with it in 1992.
The group, the Dabalorivhuwa Patriotic Front (DPF), is collecting documentary evidence to force the government to pay them between R828m and R1 bn which was deducted from officials’ salaries and invested both with local banks and offshore brokers by the Venda homeland government during the early 1990s.
The DPF has also approached Public Protector Selby Baqwa, saying the government stood to benefit immensely if it conducted a proper forensic investigation and appointed actuaries to calculate both the capital and interest owed to it as a result of the Venda investment scheme.
“We have evidence that at least one local institution withheld R358m that was invested in 1992. This could be worth billions now, and is money I am sure the government would be able to use,” said DPF president Tshifhiwa Makhale.
The Venda Bantustan eventually paid R800m to disgruntled officials in 1993, but reinvested an equal amount with a Taiwanese brokerage, Unibank, Royal Trust and Liberty Life and a range of other pension funds.
The new South Africa government has since failed to recover the money or pay officials the rest of their pensions, Makhale said.
Officials became so bitter about the standoff that they founded the DPF in 1998 specifically to fight for their pensions. The party has since evolved into an independent political movement in the impoverished former homeland with elected representatives on the Vhembe, Louis Trichardt and Thohoyandou councils.
Makhale confirmed the party had formally requested Baqwa to intervene after the national finance department “ignored” demands for payment for over two years.
“This money has been owed since 1995 and represents the life savings and old age pensions of over 24 000 former civil servants,” said Makhale. “This money is legally owed to honest people who worked for it, but has been withheld by a government that appears to be discriminating on political grounds.”
He added that Venda’s economy would be revolutionised even if government only paid out the outstanding pensions.
“Venda is one of the most under-developed and economically isolated regions in South Africa. Just imagine what it would mean to the region if 24 000 people were paid a total of R1bn,” he said. – African Eye News Service