Menu Close

Pensioners explode over GEPF cuts, driving them up the wall

Due to a revised tax rate implemented by the SA Revenue Service, the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) decided to reduce the pensions of some of its members at the end of September. This has angered pensioners.

According to IOL, Likomo Mpoane, a 62-year-old pensioner, expressed her outrage after R11 900 was abruptly subtracted from her September 30 pension payment.

“I am not the only one who has this problem,” Mpooane said. On September 30, a nightmare awaited retirees all over South Africa as they awoke. They got 36% less in pension payments than their meager monthly pension payments.

Mpooane claimed she had not received a satisfactory response despite being passed around from pillar to post in her quest to learn what was happening with her pension.

After working for your country for years, being made destitute as a pensioner when you can no longer afford to work, she said, was the worst experience of hell she had ever had.

Rakgwatha Mokou, a GEPF spokesperson, stated that the organization was carrying out a Sars directive that mandated a revised tax deduction rate from pensioners’ monthly pension payments.

According to Mokou, all affected pensioners had received letters from the Government Pensions Administration Agency informing them that they had the choice to reject the revised tax rate offered by Sars and return to the standard PAYE rate that applied to their pension.

Some pensioners might not have gotten the correspondence or may not have fully understood their options.

The Public Servants Association (PSA), which speaks on behalf of a sizeable contingent of pensioners, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the GEPF handled tax deductions for retirees.

According to the PSA, the deductions had left pensioners with very little money to cover their basic needs. As a result, large amounts of tax were reportedly deducted.

Related Posts