The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) is calling on all former members who have left employment due to retirement, resignation, ill-health, disability, or retrenchment, and who have not claimed or received their pension benefits from the fund. These individuals are requested to contact the Human Resource (HR) offices of their former employers to lodge their claims.
“The fund has millions in what is referred to as unclaimed benefits. Every staff member of a participating employer from all government offices, ministries and agencies as well as participating state-owned entities and regional and village councils are entitled to receive pension benefits at the time when they leave employment and cease to be a member of the GIPF. These benefits are guaranteed as per the rules of the fund and therefore, are paid out to members once a benefit claim is received by GIPF with all relevant supporting documents,” explained GIPF spokesperson Amos Kambonde.
He added that at times however, members and HR officers of participating employers of the GIPF do not complete the relevant claim forms by the time a member leaves service. Consequently, these benefits remain with GIPF as unclaimed benefits.
The GIPF has in the meantime, introduced a self-service help tab on its recently revamped website. This is aimed at making it easy for members to search for their names on the site to determine whether they indeed appear on the published lists of the unclaimed benefits.
“What a member needs to do is click on the relevant ministry’s name to start the search. GIPF is thus urging all former members to visit the GIPF website to check whether your names appear on the list of unclaimed benefits on the website,” Kambonde stated.
Apart from the website, members are also encouraged to be on the lookout for information that indicates when the fund will be on radio and on its social media pages sharing fund and benefits related matters.
“In the same vein, GIPF has a list of death claims that are yet to be claimed. For some death benefit claims, the fund is waiting for beneficiaries of the deceased member to come forward and submit the required documents in order for the benefits to be paid out,” Kambonde informed.