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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape has submitted questions to probe the non-payment of pension fund contributions by the Northern Cape Department of Education.

We raised our concerns during the recent tabling of the department’s Annual Report 2023/24 after it came to light that the department incurred penalties for non-payment of pension fund contributions. We welcome the acknowledgement from the chief financial officer that a clean-up of the payroll system is needed to rectify the situation, and we will be monitoring this process closely.

The mere fact that penalties were incurred already confirms that employees’ retirement could have been compromised by the non-payment of pension fund contributions. This non-payment violates both labour laws and the moral duty that the department has to secure a comfortable retirement for the dedicated teachers who go the extra mile for our learners.

Our questions aim to establish why the department failed to meet its legal obligations to pay pension fund contributions, how many officials’ retirements are compromised by the department’s non-payment, the total value of contributions owed by the department, and which pension funds are owed contributions. If we do not get satisfactory replies, we will be left with no other option but to bring criminal charges against those who failed in their legal and ethical duty.

We know that this department faces financial difficulties but jeopardising the retirement of our teachers is the wrong way of balancing the department’s books. Teachers deserve to retire in comfort and unscrupulous officials must keep their hands off their retirement contributions.

Issued by Priscilla Isaacs, MPL - DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Education