The United National Transport Union (UNTU) will continue to ensure that proposals to make fundamental changes to the rules of the Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF) to assist our members are prioritised by Transnet as a matter of urgency.
The Transnet Task Team investigating and formalising these proposals have now appointed, Lloyd Mc Patie on behalf of the Employer to chair the team in collaboration with UNTU’s Vice President, Trevor Wasserfall and SATAWU General Secretary, Jack Mazibuko as his Vice-Chairpersons.
This Task Team consists of Representatives from Transnet, the Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF), Momentum as the Administrators of the Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF), UNTU’s President, Hendrik Fourie and Vice-President, Wasserfall and SATAWU.
Fourie congratulated Wasserfall on his appointment as the Vice-Chairperson. “This Task Team will formalise the logistics of the proposals to amend the rules of the Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF) to allow Transnet employees to obtain pension backed surety to obtain home and/or other loans. The Covid-19 pandemic caused severe hardship to all UNTU members and resulted in even more debt for households making these proposals a matter of urgency,” says Fourie.
Fourie warns UNTU members not to believe rumours that they will be allowed to make withdrawals soon as the Task Team only had its first meeting on 21 January 2021. Wasserfall confirmed that it is still early days. The work of the Task Team will only commence now.
It was only established after the Board of Transnet confirmed to the leadership of UNTU that the Employer did not submit these proposals to the Board to date. The Board requested a thorough investigation into all available options.
The Task Team will meet again within the next two weeks to start with the process of identifying a third partner which will have to be a Financial Institution (Bank) in terms of the Banking Act who will be willing to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide the surety.
The Task Team will also investigate the legal requirements the Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF) will have to adhere to if it wants to allow Transnet Employees to make loans from their pension funds.
Peet Maritz, Principal Officer of the Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF), says that after the Task Team managed to identify a third party and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the proposal must be submitted to the Board to approve before any Rules of the Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF) can be amended to allow Transnet employees to obtain the surety from the Fund.
The Transnet Retirement Fund (TRF) is governed by its own Act. There is a lot of legal provisions that the Transnet Retirement Fund will have to adhere to before it can apply to Parliament to make amendments to the Transnet Retirement Fund Act to allow Transnet employees to make loans and/or do withdrawals against their pension fund.
The fund will have to apply to be registered as a deposit taking institution with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to adhere to the provisions of the Banking Act.
UNTU will continue to keep its members abreast of any developments.
UNTU greetings,
S Carstens: Media, Liaison and Communication Officer
O. b. o SA Harris
GENERAL SECRETARY: UNTU
