Deputy Pension Funds Adjudicator Naheem Essop has ruled that the Municipal Employees Pension Fund must grant a complainant access to her savings withdrawal benefit, clarifying the application of fund rules and the two-pot retirement system.
The Municipal Employees Pension Fund has been ordered to allow a member access to her savings withdrawal benefit under the two-pot retirement system after the office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator found that the fund incorrectly applied its rules.
In a reconsidered ruling, deputy pension funds adjudicator Naheem Essop said pension funds are bound by their registered rules and cannot act outside them.
“Fund rules are treated as the fund’s constitution, and the fund may act only within the powers conferred by the rules. It is not permissible to venture beyond them,” he stated.
The complaint was brought by a member who worked for Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality from September 2015 until January 2018, during which contributions were made to the fund. She applied for a withdrawal benefit when leaving that job and started working the next day for Polokwane Local Municipality, which also participates in the fund.
