The 30-year-long battle by former employees of the Venda Homeland to get the “missing” part of their pension money may drag on for several more years. This time a new group has stepped to the fore, promising to claim the hundreds of millions believed to be owed to more than 16 000 members.

Many, however, fear that the latest initiative will simply instil false hope among the thousands of pensioners still alive. The pensioners will also have to foot the bill for the legal fees, which can drain the little reserves they have left.

On Wednesday, 24 August, a group calling themselves the Vhavhili vha Pension ya Venda la Mulovha, gathered at Babylon Park in Thohoyandou. Roughly 500 people attended the meeting. The group’s spokesperson is Mr Joseph Maanda, who was the last auditor general of the then Venda Homeland. He is also the person who “signed off” when the pension scheme was incorporated into that of South Africa’s government employees in 1992. Maanda said that, in total, R828 million had been transferred.

“They treat me as if I volunteered to do so. I have been living with pain since some people started accusing me of handing over their pension funds to the government on a platter,” he said in an interview last week.

Maanda said that he was hauled before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and was asked to explain what had happened with the pension funds. “I accounted for all the rands and cents in the government coffers and passed the test with flying colours,” he said.

The dispute about the pension fund money has its roots in the way pay-outs were calculated. When the former Venda homeland was reincorporated into the Republic of South Africa, the Venda pension fund had to be privatised or incorporated into that of South Africa’s government employees. Thousands of pensioners believe that the calculations were not done correctly, to their detriment.

The matter was investigated by two Public Protectors, who found that the process followed had not been fair. Recommendations were made and a lengthy process commenced to determine what remedial action could be taken. To determine what may be owed to the pension fund members proved to be a near impossible task. A firm of actuaries was appointed to assist, but even that could not provide clarity. A second firm later estimated that the remedial action could cost anything between R1,113 billion and R6,326 billion.

In 2019, the then Minister of Finance decided to take the Public Protector’s report on review. This application succeeded and in December last year was set aside by the Gauteng Division of the High Court.

For many, last year’s court ruling signalled the end of the road. It marked an end of almost three decades of a struggle. One of the first groups formed to assist the pensioners was a group called the Vhembe Concerned Pensioners, also called Dabalorivhuwa. They relied heavily on the Public Protector’s assistance. A second group, under the banner of the Venda Concerned Pensioners Group (VCPG), also took to the courts to try and get the pension fund money. The VCPG members were represented by Erwee Attorneys from Musina and at the time claimed that it represented 16 000 former members of the Venda Pension Fund.

When the Vhavhili vha Pension ya Venda la Mulovha spokesperson was asked who would foot the bill for the lawyers this time around, Mr Maanda said the pensioners would have to pay if they wanted to get their money back. “There is no other way; the pensioners have to pay, or we cancel the whole mission to get their pensions back,” he said.

Maanda said they would open a trust account, administered by the lawyers tasked to assist. “Yes, we know money disappeared during the days of Dabalorivhuwa, but no cent will disappear under our watch,” he said.

On the question of whether the new group had a database of all those who had contributed to the Venda Pension Fund, he said they had the necessary information. “Some of us were there [in the previous structures fighting on behalf of the pension fund members]. I was an advisor to Mr Tshiololi. So, we have a list of all those pensioners,” he said.

“And I am very optimistic that we will get it [the outstanding pension money]. We also know that the money is not invested in offshore accounts; it is here in the country,” he said.