Pensioner awarded R5,000 after pension fund delays his monthly payments for six months

Pension fund fined R5,000 for delaying payments to pensioner. A pension fund has been ordered to pay R5,000 in compensation to a pensioner after thePension Funds Adjudicator (PFA)found it unreasonably delayed resolving a payment dispute blamed on a bank technical error. The complainant, a pensioner who had been a member of the fund since July 1997, was in receipt of a monthly pension from March 2017.

However, his financial stability was jeopardised when he did not receive his monthly pension payments from August 2024 to February 2025. Despite providing proof of his bank details, the fund claimed that his payments were rejected due to a technical issue with his bank account. According to the fund, following the rejection of the initial payment in August 2024, it attempted to backpay the outstanding amount of over R72,300.

However, this effort stalled again when the payment was subsequently rejected once more. The fund insisted on obtaining a confirmation letter from the bank to process the back payment, further delaying the resolution of the situation. In October 2025, the fund finally received the required proof of the member’s bank details.

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While the fund acknowledged the urgency of the situation and stated it would follow up on the payment on 12 November 2025, no further communication was forthcoming, leaving the member without crucial financial support during this already challenging period. In its determination, the PFA took a strong stance against the fund, labelling its actions as “reprehensible.”

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