Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) ensured a strong presence at the Upington Magistrates Court today, as we continue to show support for employees of Kai !Garib who are alleged to have lost their life-savings as a result of the municipality’s contravention of the Pension Funds Act 24 of 1956, between September 2021 and March 2022.

The court case was today postponed until 4 March 2024, following a previous application for postponement in October by former Municipal Manager Johnny Mackay, to appoint a legal team.

Kai !Garib has a long history of arrear payments for third party contributions. The DA laid a criminal charge against Kai !Garib in 2017, when it first came to light that the municipality was failing to pay over the necessary pension and other third-party contributions. Based on a parliamentary reply by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in July this year, Kai !Garib was also listed amongst six municipalities in the province that have an arrears on monthly statutory contributions to pension funds, owing a staggering R30 million since February 2022.

The DA views pension fund crime, which deprives people of the means to live a dignified future, in a very serious light.

We recently laid similar charges against Renosterberg municipality, in relation to transgression of Section 13A of the Pension Funds Act, for failing to pay pension fund contributions of municipal employees totaling more than R22 million.

The DA considers the court case against Mackay as a critical stepping-stone in addressing the growing scourge of pension fund crime happening across the Northern Cape.

We hope that there will be no more delays in the case and that it will serve as an example to all government officials who contravene the law and cause financial harm to its employees. We also hope that it will be the start of the remediation process for those who have been unfairly penalised by the crimes committed by Kai !Garib municipality.

The DA will continue to closely monitor this case, as we also pursue investigation into other pension-related irregularities in at least four other municipalities including Thembelihle, Magareng, !Kheis and Ubuntu municipalities.

 

Issued by Harold McGluwa, MPL - DA Northern Cape Provincial Leader