3.1 The Government Pensions and Administration Agency (GPAA) 3.1.1 GPAA is a government component, established in terms of Section 7A (4) of the Public Service Act (1994) with effect from 1 April 2010. Its mandate is to render pensions' administration and other relevant services to the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and the National Treasury, in accordance with the administration and service level agreement concluded by GPAA with the GEPF and the National Treasury. It has a responsibility to ensure effective, transparent, accountable and coherent governance of the pension funds currently administered. 3.1.2 GPAA has about five benefit and administration management programmes on which it operates/conduct its business. These includes inter alia: (i) Civil Pensions Programme - which deals largely with military and special pensions, post-retirement medical subsidies and injury on duty (IOD) payments and benefits (ii) Employee Benefits - which is all about Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) as per the Government Employees Pension (GEP) Law (iii) Customer Relationship Management - which deals with the relationship with stakeholders and clients, employer education and client and employer liaison management. There are current 13 regional walk-in centres across the country to deal with concerns and queries of clients. (iv) Support Services - which is responsible for strategy and policy including monitoring and evaluation of services provided. The other important aspects of this programme encompass the risk audit, legal and ICT services. (v) Modernisation programme - this programme replaces the service delivery improvement programme (SDIP) 3.1.3 In terms of governance, the GEPF operates under its own Act, the Government Employees Pension Law of 1996 (as amended). The law defines the legal framework of the fund, including how it should be managed, its rules, who its members are, including how benefits ought to be funded, when actuarial valuations must be held and how the financial statements must be audited. The fund is managed by the Board of Trustees, who are accountable for the GEPF's administrative and investment performance.