Muvhango Antoinette Lukhaimane’s term as the Pension Funds Adjudicator has been extended to 30 June 2018. Nhlanhla Nene, the Minister of Finance, announced the extension earlier this week.
Lukhaimane was originally appointed to the role in July 2013, making many changes which saw improved efficiency and turnaround time of complaints.
The Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator(OPFA) “investigates and determines complaints of abuse of power, maladministration, disputes of fact or law and employer dereliction of duty in respect of pension funds.”
The appointment
OPFA said: “She has managed to integrate work and people processes to achieve greater efficiency. Despite an increase in the number of new complaints, service levels and quality increased significantly owing to regular monitoring and evaluation; and proactive management of performance on the part of staff.
“Within a year of taking up the position as [Pension Fund Adjudicator], Ms Lukhaimane tackled the Herculean task of wiping out the historical backlog of complaints for the first time since the OPFA was established more than 16 years ago.”
Lukhaimane said that she is committed and dedicated to working “even harder at improving stakeholder interaction so that the pension’s dispute resolution forum became more visible to the public.”
She added: “There is need for effective and regular education for actual and possible pension fund participants and retirement annuity policyholders regarding the need to save, planning for retirement, and investing and financial literacy in general.
“This can counteract poor financial decisions by members. This education, however, must start with children at home and in schools.”