#PensionCapture – As certain as we were told by mainstream media that there were WMD’s in Iraq, Ramaphosa’s proposed pension plunder will also be propagandised into appearing as a good idea by the establishment, who will frogmarch South Africa into allowing them to steal from the many, to give to themselves and their cronies. There are also two silent partners pushing this scheme, namely the banksters, who stand to make serious commissions, and also rescue their bad loans to a bankrupt Eskom, and possibly extend this plunder to other bankrupt parastatals (who they also lent money for), once they have pried open the door to SA’s last pot of gold, and then of course there is the ANC’s ever present shoulder parrot, the South African Communist Party, who is never far.
One of the Establishment’s complicit yesmen, News24’s Editor, Adriaan Basson, wrote an article which appeared in Naspers’ left wing News24, in which he writes about a briefing that Ramaphosa gave to journalists. Their plan to take at least 10% (like we believe it will end there?), of all pensions – government and private – was discussed and defended by Ramaphosa in the briefing. It was also revealed that #PensionGrinch Ramaphosa is actually a main driver of the pension capture plan. To quote Basson: “Ramaphosa is absolutely convinced that the pensions plan – to move R250bn of Eskom’s debt into a special purpose vehicle, that will be serviced by the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) – is the correct and only way to go“. Sounds like President George Bush pushing for war in Iraq?
However the far left and radical liberal Basson was somewhat less supportive of the plan in this column, than in his previous column, maybe because we exposed his flip flop from initial open resistance, to open support for this pension theft plan, in a previous article we published. To get a third party viewpoint we will analyze an article that economist Mike Schussler wrote for Netwerk24 to explain this scam to you. Schussler’s article is titled: “Pension plan will impoverish old people“.
Schussler writes that in 2017 South Africa had 17 million individual pension accounts which was worth about R6,600 Billion at that stage. SA had one of the best pension systems in Africa and the world, but this pension saving system was setup and handed over by the previous NP government, not implemented by the ANC. This is a lot of money. The ANC gravy train has bankrupted the entire country and all its institutions and departments and municipalities, so the pensions are the last pot of gold left in the entire rainbow nation South Africa.
Schussler notes that black South Africans own two thirds of this pension wealth, something which the ANC is not keen to mention because these facts don’t fit their narrative of never ending BEE requirements, in tenders and large business ownership (which just benefits the few politically connected cadres). Schussler writes that the average pension saver has invested R576 000 of his own money in his pension. This is of course not enough to retire in luxury and this is now the money that Ramaphosa and his Cosatu allies want to take 10% from, to throw in the Eskom bottomless pit.
Schussler mentions data from BankserveAfrica that states that the average pensioner only has R5,531 available per month to pay all his or her needs. This will be less if Ramaphosa and the ANC’s plan becomes reality of taking 10% of pensions to bail out Eskom’s self inflicted corruption debt. Everyone would agree that impoverishing old people is a bad idea. And what for? To save a few thousand high paying jobs at Eskom? Schussler notes that the average Eskom manager – and all analysts agree there are far too many – earns more than R800,000 a year. They, including Ramaphosa himself, have been doing so for many years, resulting in them being able to build up investments (and this is not even mentioning the millions in bribe money and tender frauds many of them amassed).
The many must finance the few says Ramaphosa and his SACP influenced ANC. This view is increasingly being supported by liberals in the media as well, ready as they always are to sell the average man out to the elite. Liberal journalists really are establishment puppets and soldiers. NASPERS is well know for co-towing to Communist Chinese Regime in its Tencent operation there, even handing over account details of activists to the Chinese regime.
WHY IT IS A BAD PLAN TO “INVEST” MONEY BELONGING TO THE AVERAGE PENSIONER IN BANKRUPT ESKOM?
Schussler writes that the money does not belong to the ANC. The money belongs to pension holders who will struggle as it is to retire in a financially sound position according to the BankserveAfrica data. Schussler points out what bad pension investment growth can result in by using the Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund as an example. He says that one of his former bosses at Transnet now lives in a garage of one of his children and that the average Transnet pension does not even cover the medical aid contribution of pensioners!
Most Transnet pensioners died in absolute poverty and the few living ones are scraping by on scraps. Government did not help these pensioners either and most of them are now dead, without seeing a cent from the settlement reached after pensioners took the Fund to court. Transnet delayed the class action lawsuit deliberately for many years and in the end settled the case with the few remaining pensioners. Their paltry final offer to pensioners after the protracted legal battle was an additional R10,000 per year for 3 years for pensioners. That is that and it is still a pittance.
Schussler further argues, correctly so, that pension funds have already done more than their share to put money into State entities, by placing about R2,100 billion into State bonds and bonds of State Owned Enterprises. Schussler also notes that you can’t throw good pension money after the bad Eskom. It will be rewarding incompetence and corruption and take the incentive away from SOE’s to fix themselves. To bail them out will be like sentencing a murderer by giving him a gun. Doesn’t work like that!
Lastly Schussler points to the fact that Eskom hasn’t been fixed at all despite the fact that Ramaphosa says they will fix Eskom. For one thing the same type of crony procurement BBEEE deals are still in place at Eskom, especially when it comes to Eskom’s procurement of coal and diesel. Schussler writes that the price for coal that Eskom paid has risen with 195 % since 2008 whilst the price of export coal has only risen by 14 %. Why would this be if Eskom suppliers – like the Guptas – did not play the system?
TO SUM UP, Ramaphosa, his ANC and their liberal friends in organized business want to take a haircut of pensions belonging to 11, 5 Million South Africans to save the jobs of about 15,000 well paid and mostly corrupt Eskom employees. Taking from the many to save the few. However all hope is not lost as Solidarity trade union has vowed to fight any such plans in court. We have seen how the ANC and its cadres can drag out court cases whilst executing their evil deeds and SA-News will be doing our best to expose them…
