Admin
20 May, 2026
Request for urgent parliamentary oversight intervention and constitutional processing of the Joint Task Team report on SATBVC pension grievances
Ms Thokozile Didiza, MP Speaker of the National Assembly Parliament of the Republic of South Africa PO Box 15 Cape Town 8000 Dear Speaker Request for urgent parliamentary oversight intervention and constitutional processing of the Joint Task Team report on SATBVC pension grievances 1. I refer to my correspondence addressed to your office on 21 August 2024 regarding the “Referral of the matter of the SATBVC pensioners’ matter to the Standing Committee on Finance”, wherein reference was made to my correspondence to the Standing Committee on Finance of the same date. In that correspondence, I recorded that during the State of the Nation Address debate in February 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated as follows: “The Honourable Holomisa has raised the issue of the pensions of civil servants and military veterans from the TBVC states. These are indeed issues that need to be considered. The Deputy President heads a task team on benefits for military veterans, which has a workstream on pension. I have asked this task team to provide a report on this issue. I have further asked the Minister of Finance to set up a team to look into the pensions for civil servants from the TBVC states.” 2. Subsequent to the President’s directive and following parliamentary engagement on the matter, the Joint Task Team (JTT) on grievances raised by the SATBVC States Committee was formally established in June 2025 with a tightly defined fact finding mandate to examine the specific concerns contained in the SATBVC States Committee’s March 2025 memorandum to Parliament and to report back to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration and the Standing Committee on Finance within the agreed Terms of Reference. 3. We now write regarding the Final Report of the JTT, dated 2 December 2025 and attached hereto for ease of reference, which was established through parliamentary processes to address the longstanding grievances raised by former employees of the South African, Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei (SATBVC) and self-governing states. 4. As Parliament is aware, this matter has persisted for many years and predates the establishment of the JTT itself. Numerous affected former employees and pensioners have spent years seeking recognition, clarity and resolution regarding grievances linked to pension benefits, Past Discriminatory Practices (PDP) redress, leave gratuities and severance related matters arising from the democratic transition process. 5. Tragically, many affected pensioners and former employees have already passed away without closure, without substantive resolution, and without seeing meaningful finality from the democratic state regarding grievances which Parliament itself considered sufficiently serious to warrant the establishment of the JTT. 6. The JTT was formally constituted in June 2025 following parliamentary engagement and in the context of the President’s earlier directive that the matter receive attention. The JTT comprised representatives from: 6.1. National Treasury; 6.2. the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA); 6.3. the Public Service Co ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC); 6.4. the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF); 6.5. the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA); 6.6. the Government Employees Pension Ombud (GEPO); 6.7. and the SATBVC States Committee. 7. While the JTT process resulted in the compilation of findings and recommendations which are now before Parliament, it is now May 2026 and there remains growing frustration among affected pensioners and the SATBVC States Committee regarding the apparent absence of meaningful parliamentary progression, structured engagement or visible implementation of the report’s recommendations. 8. Importantly, while the report concludes that the technical amalgamation of pension systems into the GEPF was broadly administratively compliant, the report simultaneously and unequivocally acknowledges that significant unresolved grievances remain and that these matters now transcend narrow administrative remedies and enter the terrain of policy, legislation, constitutional redress and fiscal prioritisation. 9. The report expressly recommends: 9.1. the establishment of a high-level policy forum with political authority; 9.2. continued parliamentary oversight; 9.3. consideration of possible legislative and policy reforms; 9.4. investigation into unresolved and unrecorded service-related matters; 9.5. consideration of unresolved employer related liabilities; 9.6. and further engagement regarding the Past Discriminatory Practices (PDP) Pension Redress Programme. 10. In these circumstances, Parliament cannot rationally or constitutionally treat the matter as concluded merely because the JTT has completed its narrowly defined technical mandate. 11. The report itself rejects such a conclusion. 12. The JTT was neither a judicial commission nor a body empowered to determine final constitutional or restorative justice remedies. Its mandate did not extend to the implementation of legislative reforms, the creation of new fiscal measures, or the establishment of new compensation mechanisms. 13. It follows that the completion of the JTT process does not extinguish Parliament’s constitutional oversight obligations in relation to the unresolved grievances identified in the report itself. 14. Parliament initiated and facilitated this process. Parliament received the findings and recommendations. Parliament is therefore now seized with a constitutional responsibility to meaningfully process, consider and respond to the report and its recommendations. 15. Equally, the institutions represented on the JTT, including National Treasury, the GEPF, the GPAA, the GEPO, the DPSA and the PSCBC, cannot now reasonably distance themselves from the unresolved matters identified in the report after having actively participated in the JTT process and contributed to its findings and recommendations. 16. The participation of these institutions materially reinforces the legitimacy and seriousness of the unresolved grievances acknowledged in the report. 17. Sections 42, 55 and 92 of the Constitution impose clear oversight obligations upon Parliament and the National Assembly in relation to accountability, responsiveness and constitutional governance. 18. Parliament is therefore constitutionally required to ensure that matters involving unresolved historical disadvantage, acknowledged policy deficiencies and vulnerable affected persons are not permitted to lapse into procedural silence, indefinite delay or institutional inertia. 19. The affected former employees and pensioners are overwhelmingly elderly and historically disadvantaged persons, many of whom continue to experience severe financial hardship linked to unresolved pension and employment related grievances arising from fragmented and unequal systems inherited by the democratic state. 20. The magnitude and persistence of the grievances reflected in the JTT process itself underscore that this matter cannot reasonably be dismissed as isolated, anecdotal or administratively insignificant. The report records that more than 11,500 cases were submitted for consideration, while approximately 68,820 applications relating to the Past Discriminatory Practices (PDP) Pension Redress Programme were processed nationally. Importantly, the report further acknowledges the existence of thousands of duplicate, unresolved, disputed, error related and untraceable cases arising from fragmented historical records, administrative complications and longstanding dissatisfaction regarding the fairness and adequacy of the transition process. These figures demonstrate that the matter constitutes a large scale and enduring public grievance affecting vulnerable former public servants across multiple former administrations and geographical areas of the Republic. The scale of the matter itself therefore demands meaningful parliamentary oversight, constitutional sensitivity and a clearly defined institutional response. 21. The constitutional values of dignity, equality, accountability, responsiveness and openness arise directly in relation to Parliament’s handling of this matter. 22. We accordingly respectfully request that your office urgently ensure: 22.1. That the Final JTT Report and accompanying memorandum be formally tabled before the relevant parliamentary structures without further delay; 22.2. That the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration and the Standing Committee on Finance jointly schedule hearings on the report within a reasonable and defined timeframe; 22.3. That National Treasury, the DPSA, GEPF, GPAA, GEPO and the PSCBC be formally invited to account to Parliament regarding: 22.3.1. the findings of the JTT; 22.3.2. the unresolved matters identified in the report; 22.3.3. and the feasibility of further remedial, legislative or policy interventions; 22.4. That Parliament determine whether the recommendations of the JTT require: 22.4.1. legislative intervention; 22.4.2. executive action; 22.4.3. further parliamentary inquiry; 22.4.4. or the establishment of the high-level policy forum recommended in the report; 22.5. That affected pensioners and representatives of the SATBVC States Committee be afforded a further opportunity to make representations before Parliament regarding the unresolved matters identified in the report; 22.6. That Parliament communicate, within a reasonable period, the intended process and proposed way forward arising from the report and recommendations of the JTT. 23. We further respectfully place on record that recent constitutional jurisprudence has demonstrated the serious institutional and legal consequences that may arise where Parliament fails to discharge its constitutional oversight obligations rationally, meaningfully and in accordance with the Constitution. 24. It would therefore be deeply concerning were this matter, after years of engagement and after the establishment of a formally constituted JTT involving multiple state institutions, to now effectively terminate through procedural inaction or indefinite delay despite the report itself acknowledging unresolved constitutional, policy and restorative justice questions. 25. This matter concerns not merely pension administration, but the unfinished constitutional obligations of democratic transition, substantive equality and restorative justice for former public servants who served under fragmented and unequal systems inherited by the democratic state. 26. We trust that your office will treat this matter with the seriousness, urgency and constitutional sensitivity it requires. Yours sincerely Maj Gen (Ret) Bantu Holomisa, MP Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans President of the United Democratic Movement Copied to: Mr CM Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa Mr E Godongwana, MP and Minister of Finance Inkosi M Buthelezi, MP and Minister for the Public Service and Administration Dr M Maswanganyi, MP, Standing Committee on Finance Chairperson Mr J Naudé de Villiers, Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration Chairperson Mr M Mabesa, GEPF Principal Executive Officer Mr F Baleni, GEPF Chairperson of Board of Trustees Adv M Ramabulana, GEPO Ombud Mr E Kekana, GEPO Vice Chairperson of the Board of Trustees Ms K Madiehe, GPAA Chief Executive Officer Mr P Dlamini, PIC Chief Executive Officer Dr D Masondo, PIC Chairperson of the Board Adv K Gcaleka, Public Protector Mr F De Bruin, PSCBC Sectary General Prof S Fikeni, PSCSA Chairperson Mr Dandala, SATBVC Task Team Secretary Mr T Ndabambi, Pensioners’ Representatives’ Committee Chairperson Mr N Kwankwa, MP, UDM Deputy President and Party Leader in Parliament
