Pensioner and former steel company employee Alice Tshepe, 71, lives in hope that her unpaid provident fund benefits due almost 30 years ago will eventually be paid to her.
Tshepe, from Katlehong in Ekurhuleni, is one of more than 400 former National Spring employees who were never paid pension benefits they believe are due to them.
National Spring was a private steel firm based in Germiston before relocating in about 1990.
The National Spring Retirement Benefit Scheme, which held funds of former National Spring employees, was liquidated in November 1998. The scheme had R5.6m in September 1998 but the funds have now ballooned to R30.7m as of November 30 last year.
The fund's liquidator has admitted the money belongs to about 457 former employees who are yet to come forward to claim their money.
However, Tshepe's name, despite her service at the firm, does not appear on the list.
“I don't lose hope. This is something I think about all the time because those funds would help improve our lives. I believe there's light coming,” Tshepe said.
She would like to use the money to assist younger family members get the education they can’t access due to lack of funds.
“I am left with just R200, and that's all I have on me, and all I am waiting for is my Sassa money, which does not stretch that far,” she said.
She joined the company in 1987 as a permanent general worker before the company shut its doors in the early 1990s.
She says when the company relocated from Germiston, which was closer to her home, those who could not relocate were laid off without being paid a penny in retirement benefits.
Her two colleagues and friends who were at the company while all in their 30s have since died while waiting to be paid.
The pensioner still has her “clock card” in her handbag and refuses to lose hope despite the liquidator of the fund saying her name does not appear on the list he was given.
Her work card, still in great condition, shows it was issued in August 1989.
Three families that TimesLIVE Premium visited largely now rely on state grants for survival and have not been able to fund their grandchildren's post-matric education while efforts to get provident funds apparently due to them have stalled.
Emmanuel Moleko, who also worked at National Spring and has a payslip to prove it, was at the forefront of ensuring that their benefits get paid.
His payslip, seen by TimesLIVE Premium, shows he joined the company in March 1987 and was employed as an operator. He had done 47 hours in March 1989, with his total earnings at R212.53, according to the payslip.
His payslip shows R8.01 was deducted towards “ABC Pension”.
“When I went to [Momentum to find out about unpaid provident benefits], I was told I needed a trustee of the provident fund to vouch for me that I was a member of the fund,” Moleko said.
He said other requirements included a membership certificate that most of them no longer have.
Thabiso Limba has joined Moleko in the fight on behalf of her late mother, Marriam Weziwe Limba, who also worked for the company from 1987 until it closed.
The administrator has checked the fund records and does not have any record of these three individuals
— Liquidator Johann Esterhuizen
Liquidator Johann Esterhuizen told TimesLIVE Premium there were 457 unpaid members of the fund who are yet to come forward, but the names of Weziwe and Moleko, just like Tshepe, did not exist on the list of unpaid members.
“The administrator has checked the fund records and does not have any record of these three individuals,” Esterhuizen said in a written response.
He denied that a trustee was required to “vouch” for Moleko for him to be liable for a payout.
“The communication to Mr Moleko has only ever been to provide proof of his membership of this fund. I am not aware of Mr Moleko ever being told that a former fund trustee needed to vouch for him — this would not constitute proof of membership,” Esterhuizen said.
He said they were still waiting for the members to come forward to claim their benefits.
“In a liquidation no specific tracing is done since the liquidation was advertised in November/December 2000 in the Government Gazette and various newspapers [such as] Ilanga News, Sowetan News, Die Beeld and The Star,” Esterhuizen said.
He said all members have a membership number allocated on the administration system.
“Initially, to claim a benefit, an individual needs to provide a copy of their ID document, as well as documentation confirming their membership of this specific fund,” he said.
Esterhuizen said this could be a payslip that noted contributions to this specific fund, a benefit statement from the fund or any communication from the fund with their membership number.
“Standard checks by the administration team include surname, first names, date of birth, ID number and employee reference number. Where a claim is valid, the individual is requested to complete a standard claim form,” he said.
It's unclear how Moleko, Tshepe and Weziwe still managed to fill in claim forms while their names were allegedly not in the system Esterhuizen relied on.
“In the administration team’s dealings with individuals claiming benefits and representatives of individuals claiming to have belonged to the fund, most of these individuals did not have membership numbers, their details could not be linked to a member record, and they could not substantiate their membership of this fund,” he said.
Esterhuizen said the funds were held in the fund bank account.
“During the course of the next six months, all unpaid benefits will be transferred to an unclaimed benefits fund.”
Esterhuizen said the “only data available to me is that per the administration system ... with a liquidated employer company there is unfortunately no other data to compare individual information against to confirm membership of this fund”.
Moleko, however, showed TimesLIVE Premium his list of 447 “unpaid” former National Spring employees who have filled in payment forms “since before Covid-19 but were yet to hear anything from Alexforbes and Momentum”.
He says despite not having enough money, he has already embarked on several trips to the Alexforbes and Momentum offices to get the funds paid out, without success.
“This money is rightfully ours. It's said that people are struggling to make ends meet while they were members of the fund, making contributions, but now their money is held somewhere,” Moleko said.
Thabiso said their mother died while waiting for the money after having filled in forms that were never responded to.
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