Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Contents

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5Conclusion

64.The Government’s guarantee has undoubtedly benefitted the Scheme’s members by providing vital security that the value of pensions will not decrease. However, the price of this guarantee is no longer fair.

65.The beneficiaries of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme toiled in dreadful conditions, to keep the country’s lights on. Many now live with industrial diseases caused by the dangerous nature of their former occupation. The least they should expect in return is the secure retirement they were promised decades ago. Yet, successive governments have failed to deliver this.

66.The Government must now accept its moral obligation to the Scheme members, and acknowledge that continuation of the surplus sharing arrangements in their current form robs beneficiaries of the financial security they have rightfully earned.

67.Our recommendations set out equitable arrangements which would go some way to redressing the sense of historic injustice felt by the Scheme’s members. The Government must consider them carefully.