The Government Employees Pension Fund said on Tuesday that it had temporarily suspended the submission of withdrawal applications from the two-pot retirement system for its members from 7 October to 21 October to allow for a system update.
The Government Employees Pension Fund said on Tuesday that it had temporarily suspended the submission of withdrawal applications from the two-pot retirement system for its members from 7 October to 21 October to allow for a system update.
“During this time, members will not be able to submit new savings withdrawal applications through the self-service platforms. However, all other benefit payments and services will continue as normal,” it said in a statement.
The system is being updated with recently implemented actuarial factors used to calculate members’ benefits, it said, adding that the savings withdrawal functionality would be reinstated on 22 October.
The two-pot system was launched in September 2024 to enable retirement policy holders in South Africa to access part of their savings before retirement. Before its inception, the only way a person could access their retirement annuity fund was if they lost their job, got divorced, or retired.
After the change, investors are able to draw up to R30 000 from their retirement savings, although they will incur taxes.
In essence, contributions to retirement annuity funds are divided into two “pots”, one containing a third of the savings, which can be drawn before retirement, and a second preserving two-thirds, which can only be tapped into after.
Withdrawals amounted to R57 billion by June this year, a recent report by financial services group Liberty has shown.
This was an accumulation of four million withdrawals from members, while around R15 billion in taxes was collected by the South African Revenue Service over the period.