DA worried about police pensions

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The majority opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party says it has learnt from officials at the Public Protector’s office that retired police officers are being denied their pensions for up to three full years, or having their pensions illegally deducted as part of sick-leave.

“According to the same sources, 2000 ex-SAPS members are in this predicament, party police spokesman Dianne Kohler Barnard says.

“It is deeply disturbing that the SAPS is displaying this attitude towards their retirees, and it is of concern that a full investigation into the matter, the Niemand Report, was sent to the Minister in October last year and absolutely nothing has being done about it.

“Time and again the Democratic Alliance is approached for assistance by desperate ex-SAPS members who have retired and who have the bank threatening to attach their homes because the SAPS won’t pay their pensions; or because they have been diagnosed with various work-related illnesses, and the SAPS refuses to board them, and then illegally attaches their pension in lieu of legal sick days missed from work, Kohler Barnard adds.

“The SAPS has been systematically breaking the law by failing to pay their retiring officers. I will today write to the Minister of Police asking why he has not acted on the Niemand Report, which, like so many other revealing reports before it, seems to have been hidden from the eyes of the public for political purposes.”

Police spokesman, Director Phuti Setati could not immediately be reached for comment.