COSATU eagerly awaits implementation of two-pot retirement system
In a submission to Parliament’s standing committee on finance on Tuesday, COSATU’s Parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said struggling workers are waiting anxiously for this relief.
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CAPE TOWN - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) says it is eagerly awaiting the implementation of the new two-pot retirement regime.
From 1 September, pension fund members will be allowed to access the savings portion of their pension, once a year.
On Monday, the National Treasury published amendments to legislation governing the retirement funds of government, Transnet and Telkom employees to align with the Pension Funds Amendment Bill tabled by the finance minister in February.
In a submission to Parliament’s standing committee on finance on Tuesday, COSATU’s Parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said struggling workers are waiting anxiously for this relief.
“We do think that this two-pot reforms while it’s not perfect, is a progressive compromise, and it really does achieve many positive things. It prevents workers from needing to resign to access their full pension funds. They can rather have access to a limited portion.”
Parks appealed for these new provisions to also extend to retrenched workers, and that Parliament does not delay this matter until the new administration.
“Any reflection of the National Credit Regulator of debt levels, shows you that, there’s no worker in this country that’s not drowning in debt - public or private.”