Amos Kambonde
The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) provides guaranteed pension benefits to its members – no matter how markets perform, how long an employee lives after retirement, or whether he or she becomes disabled and unable to work. The benefits are defined in terms of the rules of the Fund and most of the benefits are calculated based on the final average salary and years of service.
Membership to the GIPF is part of the conditions of service 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 Human Resources (HR) Office. As a GIPF member, when providing details to your employer, kindly ensure that the personal details you are providing are accurate and up-to-date. Upon admission to the GIPF, a unique membership number, is generated by the system, and it is used by the GIPF to identify a member whilst still admitted on the Fund’s system.
As a Fund, we are obligated to give accurate and timeous payment to our members. We, therefore, believe in sharing much-needed information with our members and employers and expect our members and employers to have basic knowledge and understanding of the GIPF rules and procedures.
GIPF expects its members to:
• take keen interest in their pension-related matters,
• ensure their information on the GIPF systems is accurate,
• have the correct national documents,
• submit their claims on time with their employers.
We also urge them to make sure their beneficiary nomination forms are completed with known and traceable nominees.
If any of these details are missing, it will result in their payments being delayed, which leads to member dissatisfaction.
GIPF, therefore, encourages all its members to provide certified copies of their personal documents and those of their dependents to their employers, such as identity documents and marriage certificate.
From the member employers, GIPF expects the
following:
• To ensure their employees understand their conditions of employment & benefits, such as pension and other related benefits, as well as medical aid.
• Employers must ensure members’ personal records, such as ID, marriage certificate, full birth certificates, beneficiary nomination forms, are updated and efficiently stored.
• Employers to timeously complete and submit pension-related forms, such as admissions, amendments and benefit claims.
• Employers to have the knowledge and be in possession of the rules and procedures of the Fund.
Employers have a fiduciary duty to coach, guide and prepare employees for pension-related matters, such as resignation, retirement and death – just to mention but a few aspects.
Lastly, to our pensioners and members approaching retirement, it is of vital importance they know they are entitled to medical aid. Before members go on retirement, they are urged to make the necessary arrangements for medical aid with the government medical aid fund.
In addition, members should ensure deductions are arranged with GIPF and paid over to the Ministry of Finance. Failure to do this will result in our pensioners not having medical aid, which is the most important benefit during retirement.
*Amos Kambonde is GIPF’s manager for marketing services.