Chairperson, it's obvious from the enthusiasm with which members have been following the explanation of the Minister that he has given us a very clear picture of this amendment.
All that remains for me is to emphasise that this product is an agreement between the unions, management and government. Its primary purpose is to protect the benefits of workers particularly that of the tax-free amounts accrued before 1990.
Having said that, this doesn't make Parliament a rubber stamp for the agreement, and we are applying our minds and examining each part of this agreement.
The committee has held a public hearing at which the following unions were present: the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union, Aviation Union of South Africa, SA Pilots Association and the SA Railways and Harbours Union.
The Transnet Pension Fund as well as the Transnet management also participated in these hearings. All of these unions supported the legislation although some had reservations about the prohibition of new employees who were not working for Transnet to join the Transnet Retirement Fund, and that this prohibition has been placed in an Act rather than in the Rules. The committee has been engaging the stakeholders regarding this issue.
Another issue of concern to the committee was also whether, when an employee commits fraud, that money should be retrieved from that employee's pension fund. We are not convinced that this is a correct measure or way of going about it.
Over and above this, we have also received a number of written submissions from individual pensioners as well as from organisations with regard to the Second Defined Transnet Pension Benefit Fund. Now, although this Bill does not deal with that particular fund, the committee has decided that we are going to respond to the issues raised in those submissions.
We heard from the SA Organisation of Retired Persons, the Silver Springbok Association, Club 60 and the Venda Party. The Act at the moment provides that these pensioners can receive an annual increase of 2%. They have been pleading poverty. As you know, inflation has been above 2% for the last few years. It has also been shown that some of these pensioners are receiving a pension of below SOP, that is, the State Old-Age Pension. There are approximately 80 000 pensioners altogether in the Transnet Second Defined Pension Fund.
In conclusion, I would also like to make use of this opportunity to congratulate the Pension Funds Adjudicator, Mr Vuyani Ngalwana, for his activist approach to his task. He has been like a breath of fresh air in a very staid and conservative environment. His decisions always seem to come down on the side of the underdog when they take on the all-powerful and mammoth life assurance industry.
I hope that newspaper reports that he is considering stepping down at the end of his contract are not true. [Time expired.] [Applause.]