The Financial Services Tribunal dismissed a municipal worker's challenge to his pension fund payout.
In dismissing a complaint by a municipal worker who claimed he was “robbed” by his pension fund as he had received less than he had contributed, the Financial Services Tribunal confirmed that pension fund withdrawal benefits are determined by rules and not contributions.
The Pension Funds Adjudicator earlier dismissed the worker’s complaint and found nothing irregular in the payout he had received. But the worker, only identified as SM, felt the fund had “sabotaged” his money and turned to the tribunal for help.
Upon his resignation from the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, SM was shocked to see that his payout was less than what he had expected. He was a member of the Municipal Employees Pension Fund to which he had contributed each month. He started working for the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality in August 2011, as a library assistant.
He worked there for nearly 13 years when he resigned in 2024 and earned slightly more than R262,000 a year. The fund was notified of his resignation and per letter confirmed that his gross resignation/withdrawal benefit had been calculated as R366,990.
