The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes progress to ensure thousands of embattled and highly abused South African Post Office (SAPO) and Telkom employees are able to exercise their hard-won legal right to the relief provided to workers under the Two-Pot Pension Reforms.

From 1 September, all pension and provident fund members, millions of workers, are legally entitled to enjoy the relief put in place by the Two-Pot Pension Reforms.  This includes immediate access to 10% up to R30 000 from existing savings, and once a tax year being able to tap into a third of future savings.

These progressive reforms initiated and driven by COSATU, providing financially struggling workers a humane alternative to resignation to seek relief from their savings, are binding upon all pension and provident funds without exception.  All funds are required to have amended their rules and systems to enable workers access to their savings. 

Whilst COSATU was extremely dismayed this did not happen on 1 September for SAPO and Telkom employees, we are pleased that once the Federation brought this to the attention of the Ministries for Communications and Digital Technologies and Finance, that they intervened to remove the administrative blockages. 

Both Ministries have now signed off on the Telkom and SAPO pension funds’ rules amendments and promulgated these in the Government Gazette.  The SAPO and Telkom Pension Funds must now move with speed to ensure their members are able to apply for their long-sought relief without further delay.

COSATU will continue to work closely with both Ministries and Departments to ensure this happens and relief is brought to these workers who have been through some of the most difficult times in recent years.  We are confident the employees of SAPO and Telkom will now be able to access their relief.

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks(COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Cell: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za