Question:
I am a member of a provident fund which was terminated in 2005. A colleague of mine was retrenched 4 years ago and has not yet been paid out. I was retrenched in July 2013 and have been contacting them since, but they keep telling me they are still working on it and are calculating the current value of the fund before they can pay out the benefits and that it's taking time to resolve. It just seems to be an ongoing saga as I know my former boss has been e-mailing them for years. What do I do, maybe there is a valid reason why it's taking so long to resolve and that it's more complicated than I'm aware of? Could you please give me some advice on whom I can contact; could I take this issue up with the Ombudsman or do I just continue to wait? Kind regards
Answer:
Jenise,
This sounds like serious maladministration. There is no Ombudsmen, so you would have to lodge a complaint with the Pension Funds Adjudicator. But this institution typically handles disputes, and there is is not really a dispute here, but a (complete) lack of performance. The Fund trustees - or your former boss - should have reported this matter to the FSB long ago.
