08 Jul 2021

Government has put measures in place to curb lapses in the management of pension funds at the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu told Parliament Wednesday.

In response to a parliamentary question, Mr Mthimkhulu said as part of curbing lapses, BPOPF engaged with members through various media to sensitise them on the implications for failure to settle tax arrears and submit tax returns on time.

“Reminders are also sent to members whose claims are pending with Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) to request them to clear their tax matters,” he said.

He added that BPOPF also published names of the affected members in newspapers and social media, urging them to contact the organisation to process their benefits.

Again, he said BPOPF continuously educated members on the provisions of the law while they were still active in service and through pre-retirement counselling workshops.

Further, the assistant minister told Parliament that there were other instances where members at the time of retirement, had tax arrears and/or outstanding tax returns with BURS in which the pension claims were withheld until the member had complied with the Income Tax Act, while in some instances members were not accessible on any of the contact details provided.

“This poses a challenge where the member is required for purposes of verifying and correcting their information. 

In some instances members provide erroneous banking details and this causes delays in payments,” he said.

In terms of the pension legislation, he said members were required to purchase annuities with two thirds of their retirement benefits, adding  that where the annual pension was less than P5 000, the member had an option but to encash their entire benefits.

He noted that in other instances, members not elligible to encash would insist on taking the entire benefits despite provisions of the law, hence delaying payment.

Ghanzi South MP, Mr Motsamai Motsamai had wanted to know what was being put in place to curb lapses in management of pension funds at the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund. ENDS