By Bongani Majola
THE City of Johannesburg has announced it will forge ahead with the restructuring of its pension funds, despite dismal levels of input from stakeholders.
City spokesperson Mbangwa Xaba said on Tuesday that the City would give stakeholders until the end of May to make their submissions, after which the council makes a final decision sometime in June.
Two years ago, the City made known its plans to "unilaterally transform and streamline its 12 different pension funds, some of which catered exclusively for certain racial groups," Xaba said.
However, a court interdict brought by stakeholders stopped the City in its tracks, opening a window period originally up to end of February, later extended to 31 March, for all role players and interested parties to make presentations regarding the City's proposal.
"Regrettably," said Xaba, "only four of the more than ten pension fund bodies have responded. This is regardless of efforts by the City to encourage participation by placing advertisements in the public media, providing current and former employees and any other interested parties access to information concerning the proposal and inviting them to submit comments".
"We will consider all submissions tendered thus far," Xaba said, "and together with the national mediator Yunice Shaik from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, the City of Johannesburg will make its final decision in June."
In a statement, the City appealed to all stakeholders to submit their comments to its Human Resources department. "Only Meshawu National Local Authorities Retirement Fund, Meshawu, the Municipal Gratuity Fund and the Joint Municipal Pension Fund have so far made comments," the statement said.
"Others, including the City of Johannesburg Pension Fund, the Johannesburg Municipal Pension Fund, Soweto City Council Pension Fund, SALA Pension Fund, Diepmedow Pension Fund, eJoburg Pension Fund and the unions South African Municipal Workers Union and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union, have all not made any input," according to the statement.
"Nonetheless, the City's final decision will be in line with the country's Constitution and the City's public mandate of treating all council employees equally, and ensuring equity and sustainability," said Xaba.
