Anton Alberts: FF Plus MP said;
The FF Plus was informed on 3 October 2010 by the SAPS that the criminal charges which the FF Plus had laid against Transnet and its CEO, Mr. Brian Molefe, has been referred to the Economic Crimes Unit for further investigation.
The FF Plus submitted this complaint against Transnet in Pretoria last week in terms of section 7(a) and 27(1) of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, 4 of 2004.
The SAPS has also already awarded a case number (CAS 1687/9/2011) to the complaint.
According to Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ Parliamentary spokesperson on economic affairs, it is encouraging that the investigation into the matter is moving so quickly. “One of the reasons assuredly has to be because Dr. Pieter Mulder as FF Plus leader and Deputy Minister had submitted the complaint which confirms the seriousness of the case. It isn’t every day that a deputy minister lays a complaint against a public enterprise and it’s CEO. We believe that this complaint will ensure that a solution is reached for the dilemma of the pensioners as soon as possible,” Alberts said.
The FF Plus has undertaken to keep the pensioners informed of developments.
The FF Plus and the Transnet pensioners have been fighting for a number of years for a fair pension dispensation. A pension dispensation which, unlike now, does not increasingly impoverish pensioners every year. Parliament, following public hearings, instructed Transnet to supplement the two pension funds, i.e. the Transnet Second Defined Benefit Pension Fund (TSDBPF) and the Transnet Pension Fund (TPF) with the amount of R1,9 billion in order to ensure that increases and bonuses are paid out to the impoverished Transnet pensioners. To date this instruction was not complied with. The FF Plus based its complaint on this situation.
