Die VF Plus beskou die gesloer om die Transnet pensioenfondse aan te vul as skandalig. Die aanstelling van 'n subkomitee om die befondsing opnuut te ondersoek, nadat die Parlement 'n opdrag aan Transnet en die Tesourie gegee het, spreek van die minagting waarmee Suid- Afrika se pensioenarisse en bejaardes deur die regering behandel word.
Stakende staatsdienswerkers word tegemoet gekom juis omdat hulle druk op die regering plaas deur massa openbare protes. Bejaardes, aan die ander kant, veral die Transnet pensioenarisse, kan vanwe hul ouderdom nie openbare massa-aksie toepas nie en word gevolglik laag op Transnet en die regering se prioriteitslys geplaas. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Adv A D ALBERTS (FF Plus): The FF Plus regards the procrastination concerning the supplementary budgeting of the Transnet pension fund as disgraceful. The appointment of a subcommittee to reinvestigate the funding, after Parliament issued an instruction to Transnet and the Treasury, indicates the contempt with which the government treats South Africa's pensioners and elderly.
Striking government service workers are accommodated precisely because they are putting pressure on the government by way of mass public protest. The elderly, on the other hand, and especially the Transnet pensioners, are unable because of their age to apply public mass action, and they are consequently placed low on Transnet and the government's list of priorities.]
Let me state unequivocally that the true test of a humane government is not how it moves when it is placed under pressure by forces that can exert influence, like unions, but how it treats those who are weak and defenceless, like children and the elderly. This Parliament has shown that it cares for the elderly by having made a decision to assist the Transnet pensioners, but I cannot truly say the same for the executive and its parastatal, Transnet.
It is now more than a year since the parliamentary decision was made and the instruction given to Transnet and the Treasury to fund the increases and bonuses to be paid for the benefit of the pensioners.
Against this background we must hear that the state loses R30 billion as a result of endemic corruption, that Transnet had made a profit of more that R5 billion, that Ministers spend huge sums on travel and accommodation, and so I can continue, yet the Transnet pensioners will face another bleak Christmas. Why is this? Because these pensioners are not a priority.
Therefore the FF Plus will continue to make this matter a priority with appropriate action until government listens, for this government does not seem to be a compassionate one. It only moves when forced, and that is then what we will do, unless you, the trustees, do move compassionately before Christmas.