Pensioners are up in arms following the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) move to decrease the pensions of some of its members at the end of September due to a revised rate of tax implemented by the SA Revenue Service.
One pensioner, Likomo Mpooane, 62, told the Cape Argus she was livid because R11 900 was deducted from her monthly pension payout on September 30 without notice.
Mpooane said: “I am not the only one with this problem. Pensioners across South Africa woke up on Friday, September 30, to a nightmare. Instead of receiving their meagre monthly pension payouts, they received 36% less.”
Mpooane said she had been sent from pillar to post when she tried to find out what was going on with her pension and had not received a satisfactory answer.
She said it had been a hellish experience and did not think hell could be worse than “being impoverished as a pensioner, rendered destitute, when you can no longer afford to work, after toiling for years for your country”.
GEPF spokesperson Rakgwatha Mokou said they were implementing a directive from Sars that provided for a revised rate of tax to be deducted from pensioners’ monthly pension payment.
Mokou said the Government Pensions Administration Agency had written to all affected pensioners, to tell them they had the option to opt out of the revised tax rate provided by Sars and revert to the normal PAYE rate applicable to their pension.
“Some pensioners might have not received the correspondence or did not fully understand the choices/options they had.”
The Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents a substantial number of pensioners, said it was disappointed with the manner in which the GEPF dealt with tax deductions for pensioners.
The PSA said the deductions had resulted in large portions of tax being deducted, leaving pensioners with very little income to meet basic needs.