The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF),like many other pension funds in the industry, is holding millions of rands in unclaimed benefits. To address this issue, the GEPF is actively implementing various awareness and outreach campaigns, including "pre-retirement" workshops designed to assist employees before they retire.

 

The GEPF is searching for over 18,000 former employees or their surviving dependents across South Africa. To help locate these beneficiaries with unclaimed funds, the GEPF has published lists of names specific to each of the nine provinces. These lists are accessible to the public on the GEPF website.

 

To claim unclaimed benefits, beneficiaries need to follow a specific process, which includes completing certain forms and providing identification.

 

However, parts of this process seem outdated in our technologically advanced era. Beneficiaries must complete a form with their bank's assistance, requiring a bank official's signature to update banking information, even though account confirmation letters from banks should be adequate for this purpose. Furthermore, the claim form requires a thumbprint and must be submitted via email to a general mailbox that is not specifically for unclaimed benefits.

 

These inefficiencies, though seemingly minor, cause significant delays, especially given the high volume of beneficiaries. This raises the question of how efficient these methods are in today's digital age and whether these could be streamlined to improve efficiency and reduce delays?

 

To access the lists of beneficiaries with unclaimed benefits – click here.

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