trevor manuel - dont cash in 
27 June 2008

He told media briefing that since his announcement of a reform of retirement funds made in his budget speech last year, in which he said that contributions to retirement savings would be made compulsory, "unscrupulous people and service providers" have been frightening people into withdrawing their savings by claiming that the government is going to seize them.

"Service providers have told people that the government is going to nationalise your pensions and is going to take away your savings, so you will only get the statutory state old age pension when you retire," Manuel said.  He said he had heard that workers were withdrawing their savings, and that some were going so far as to resign from their jobs in order to cash in their pensions.

"It would be reckless, impossible and unconstitutional that any one of us would agree with the confiscation of the savings of working people," he said. He worried that these withdrawals would impact on the workers themselves and their families as they approach retirement, and that it would impact on the country, as savings levels are already too low.

The minister said he and the trade unions would undertake roadshows aiming to visit every factory floor in the country, and ensure that shop stewards were briefed to prevent unscrupulous individuals mobilising workers against their own interest.

I-Net Bridge,  Michael Hamlyn,  http://business.iafrica.com