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Thursday, August 28, 2008 - Web posted at 7:33:31 AM GMT Insurers 'bleeding the common man' DENVER ISAACSA COURT case set to start in the District Labour Court on Monday - between about 1 000 former TCL workers and those they hold responsible for the 'absence' of millions of dollars of pension money - should be regarded as a fight against corporate corruption at the highest level. |
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This view was expressed by the workers' legal representatives, the Workers Advice Centre (WAC), at a press conference in Windhoek yesterday ahead of the start of what is likely to become a drawn-out legal process. The TCL workers contend that since the liquidation of the mine in 1998 money from the company's pension fund has allegedly disappeared into the pockets of those administering the liquidation. According to the workers, they discovered earlier this year that TCL had its pension fund rules changed to allow it to access the funds. In an earlier interview with The Namibian, Eben de Klerk of Namfisa said the money the TCL workers referred to was used during the liquidation for, among others, to pay severance packages to workers. Hewat Beukes, Director of the Workers Advice Centre, alleged yesterday that widespread theft from the common man was the order of the day at pension fund administrators and insurance companies countrywide. He said the millions allegedly being siphoned out of the pockets of the unsuspecting members of these institutions contributed to the degradation of society. The respondents in the TCL case are Alexander Forbes Financial Services, Namfisa, Momentum Life and liquidator Bob Meiring. The group, as it marched through Windhoek two weeks ago, criticised the High Court for approving the change in the TCL pension fund rules that permitted the company to withdraw the money. Meiring came under attack yesterday for allegedly "still" being in the process of liquidating TCL's assets, 10 years after the company closed its doors. "We called this conference to firstly expose the theft of pension funds such as the TCL Fund, an estimated N$470 million; the Roessing pension fund at N$650 million and the general corruption in which insurance companies are liquidated without policyholders' meetings and only the so-called liquidators know what happens to the assets," Didhardt Mparo, the group's chairperson, said. "We point out that widespread theft and corruption in the administration of pension funds and the insurance business are a multi-billion-dollar industry which leads directly to social poverty, leading to social desperation and increasing crime," he claimed. "The seriousness of the matter is that the supervisory authority, Namfisa, is at the head of the misappropriation of funds," he alleged. "The High Court has until now not explained itself on why it allowed funds to be taken, or if Namfisa and the others have acted without its knowledge. We will never accept that our High Court is being used to rubberstamp theft of pensions and other crimes," Mparo said. Beukes said these companies were depriving ordinary Namibians of money they could have used to provide roofs over their families' heads. "Windhoek has become the fortress for the rich, with the rest of us being left as prey for those who are suffering on the outskirts of the city. Recently we dealt with [a pension fund administrator] who refused to pay out a client, claiming that he owed them N$42 000," he claimed. "After he got us involved, they were forced to pay him more than one million dollars. So if you're working with a figure of 10 000 workers for example retiring annually, and the theft of N$42 000 from each, you're looking at N$2 billion a year lost. That's 10 000 houses not being built," he said. |
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