A decision was to be made late yesterday on whether to postpone a retirement fund trustee symposium announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel earlier this year. The symposium, which was to consider an overhaul of legislation and taxation affecting retirement funds, may be postponed due to organisational difficulties.
The symposium was scheduled for September 9 and 10 in Johannesburg under the auspices of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), the tripartite body of labour, business and government.
Many service providers and retirement fund organisations have expressed concern about the meeting, particularly that they have been left out of the loop.
But Jan Mahlangu, the retirement policy co-ordinator at Cosatu and a convener of the symposium, says this is deliberate. "This is not going to be a service provider event. Service providers have shown they do not represent the best interests of members."
He says the purpose of the symposium is to get the views of trustees of retirement funds, preferably elected trustees. Negotiations are taking place with Business South Africa (representing organised business) about how many appointed trustees should be represented at the symposium.
Mahlangu says the agenda will be based on five issues:
1. Proper governance of funds;
2. Investment strategies that retirement funds should follow;
3. The rewriting of the Pension Funds Act; (A 300-page draft document has already been prepared by the National Treasury.)
4. Shareholder activism to ensure sound corporate governance of institutions and companies in which retirement fund money is invested; and
5. Trustee training.