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A pension fund has been slammed for failing to properly investigate a claim by a woman who was presented as the deceased’s live-in girlfriend before allocating her a portion of his R2 million death benefit.
The woman later admitted to the Pension Funds Adjudicator that she had never met the deceased and had never been in a relationship with him, saying she had been persuaded by a friend to submit a false claim in the hope of making quick money.
The case also exposed a separate error by the Becsa Provident Fund, which initially paid the deceased’s family incorrect amounts from the benefit and only corrected a shortfall of more than R325,000 after the beneficiaries repeatedly questioned the payments.
The complaint was lodged by the deceased’s mother after her son died on August 29, 2022.
A death benefit of over R2 million became available for distribution after a tax deduction of over R709,000 and the inclusion of R121,000 in interest.
In April 2024, the fund’s board resolved to allocate 30% of the benefit to each of the deceased’s parents and his sister, while 10% was allocated to the girlfriend who had claimed to be living with the deceased.
This meant that each of the three family members was supposed to receive over R543,900. while the alleged partner was allocated R181,300.
However, when payments were made in November 2023, each family member received over R512,300.
The family disputed the payments, arguing that after the SARS deductions, over R1.9...
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