INLSA
KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Senzo Mchunu
The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department has warned of an “alarming trend” among its staff who are resigning or retiring early to cash in their pensions to pay off debt. This is also causing a skills drain in the department.
Teachers in particular are leaving and then, between three and six months later, are reapplying for their jobs. This year alone, 658 teachers have bowed out, only to be rehired later.
Department spokesman Muzi Mahlambi said the reason behind staff retiring or resigning was mainly because of financial pressures, like bonds on their homes, and school and university fees.
Education Department staff may retire at 60. The compulsory retirement age is 65.
But Mahlambi said it was experienced teachers in their forties and fifties who were leaving the profession.
The department was concerned that unscrupulous financial advisers were persuading staff to cash in their pensions, and had issued a circular to schools to this effect.
“We have a moral obligation to warn our employees,” Mahlambi said.
The issue had arisen during a “routine human resources update” done to prepare reports for the meetings of the top management and MEC Senzo Mchunu.
Circular 30 of 2012 explained that upon resignation or premature retirement, any leave which had not been taken would not be paid out, medical aid benefits were cancelled, and housing subsidies were forfeited.
Staff who resigned from the department could be reappointed, but other suitable applicants were given preference over those who had already worked for it, the circular said.
And, should a staffer be employed again, their pension fund would begin anew from the date of reappointment – which was why some applied to continued working beyond 65, Mahlambi said.
“The disadvantages of this are that when the retirement age finally comes, these educators will not have accumulated enough pension funds to live a lifestyle befitting their status as professionals.”
