Amos Kambonde
Are you an active member of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF)? If so, listed below are a few questions you should consider while in service. Have you completed your admission form since you started working, verified whether you are admitted with the GIPF and/or whether your employers’ Human Resources (HR) practitioners have submitted your admission form to the GIPF? These are some of the questions you as an active member should answer yes to.
With the realisation that some members of the Fund might not be admitted, the GIPF will be visiting towns and villages in the Kunene Region from 28 February to 12 March 2022. Besides verifying members’ admission on the system, the Fund will additionally present the rules of the Fund to the members. Members will also be accorded an opportunity to enquire about all the pension and related benefits offered by the GIPF. Members are accordingly urged to bring along their identity documents to all the information sessions.
Membership to the GIPF is part of the conditions of employment for civil servants and employees of participating institutions. To be admitted to the Fund, a membership admission form must be completed on behalf of the employee by his/her HR Office. As a GIPF member, when providing details to your employer, kindly make sure that your personal details are accurate and up-to-date, and that you provide certified copies of your personal documents such as identity document, marriage certificate and birth certificate, and those of your dependents to your employers.
The role of HR practitioners in the value chain is to ensure the timely submission of new member forms, clearing of outstanding admissions, timely submission of amendments on member data, timely submission of member claims, informing the Fund monthly on members who left employment and reasons for leaving employment such as death, resignation, retirement and providing staff members with pension-related information.
The GIPF – Kunene membership education roadshow will visit the towns and settlements of Opuwo, Okanguati, Sesfontein, Palmwag, Kamanjab, Fransfontein, Khorixas and Outjo.
The Fund aims to reach members who are in very remote areas of the region, and who find it difficult to visit or access GIPF services. A well-equipped GIPF team will be visiting schools, clinics, veterinary services, government ministries and police stations in the region. Additionally, the Fund plans to host a sports Open Day in Otavi on 12 March 2022 against the Engineer Regiment Military Base to conclude the outreach programme at the Otavi Stadium.
As a Fund, the GIPF is obligated to give accurate and timely payments to our members. In order to achieve this, we need cooperation from our members. We thus implore our members to take responsibility in ensuring their admission to the Fund as this may result in delayed benefit payouts if not done.
The Fund believes that increased customer service has a positive impact on service delivery. As such, we continuously aim to achieve excellence in helping our members. In this regard, the Fund will strive to always come up with innovative ways on how to interact and help its large membership.
Members are further encouraged to make use of all GIPF platforms to access our services.
*Amos Kambonde is GIPF’s Manager: Marketing Services.