Dear Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration,

I will state my case concisely, in bullet points below.
• There is a serious problem with WCED, GEPF and GPAA to process resignations and pension pay outs. Judging by the amount of complaints that are present all over social media and elsewhere, this has been going on for a long time.
• All cannot be blamed on Covid and lockdown – the complaints precede this unexpected pandemic.
• My last working day was 20 March 2020, having completed 25 years at the WCED.
• All my documents for resignation/retirement were handed in at the WCED in January 2020 and were 100% in order.
• I am aware the WCED needs 4 weeks to complete their work and GEPF/GPAA a further 8 weeks.
• During this period I started making phone calls to the WCED to inform myself of receipt of my documentation, that all is still in order and that my process had begun and is progressing. Never any telephonic answer. I managed at last through my school to obtain the email of the lady working with our school’s documentation and I communicated with her regarding the process. She was, however, not the person who handled my documentation.
• I learned from her that my documentation had been sent to GEPF, but was returned because a mistake was discovered.
• That news put me on high alert as the process was now delayed, I had very limited communication and no information. I left it for a few weeks and started emailing again to only find out from GEPF this time, after I wrote to the PA of the CEO, because of no reply from GEPF general email, that my documentation was returned to WCED a 2nd time due to another mistake.
• This was devastating news! Now the emails had to be targeted to WCED to make sure they correct the information and that they send it forward to GEPF as soon as possible.
• My documentation landed back at GEPF (for the 2nd time) on about 16 August 2020.
• I escalated my emails then to find out how long the process will still take. It has been a month and the only information I get is that my documentation is at Contributions.
• I have been waiting 6 months now. I am not the only one waiting and trying to complete a process of pension pay out. I also am a voice for others public servants experiencing the same as I.
• Please, make this a serious task of investigating what exactly is going on in those offices.
• The only person outside these organisations that assists me is my union representative. They are victimising and reporting him for requesting information and for assisting his members to get their pension pay outs– that is disgusting!!! That bully behavior alone needs to be investigated.
• I have never in my 25 years of service to the WCED, working with special needs children, given my second best or anything else but my very best service and dedication.
• This is shabby treatment by the WCED, GEPF and GPAA.