THOHOYANDOU - It is common knowledge that the former Venda government employees have been struggling to obtain their pension payouts since 1992 and that they have not yet received their outstanding amounts to date.

According to the president of the Dabalorivhuwa Patriotic Front (DPF), who is also the leader of the pension fund, Mr Tshifhiwa Makhale, the people should bear with him when he asserts that pension issues have multiple aspects and that classifications could be made under political, economic and social dimensions.

"In terms of the political dimension, the government under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), took a political decision to amalgamate our pension fund with the pension funds of the other homelands. This happened despite the fact that our pension fund had been privatised and that it ought not to have been mixed together with the other funds. The beneficiaries of the pension fund of the former Venda government have completely lost any hope of getting the outstanding amounts of their pension because they have waited for such a long time without any indication that they will be compensated," Makhale said.

Makhale further asked that the beneficiaries of the outstanding amounts remain calm, as the matter concerning the pension fund had already been referred to the court. The public protector had been ordered by the court at the beginning of this year to make an investigation into the Venda pension fund and to compile a report of his findings and any recommendations thereof. The public protector complied with the court order, but a problem arose with the contents of the report. The public protector could not tackle the "funding level" clause; hence it was strongly recommended that an application had to be made very urgently to the court in an attempt to sort out the delays in the procedure.

"This is what we are currently doing and an application was issued and the date of the hearing originally set for the 18 October 2002. As a result of certain legal provisions, the respondent requested an extension of the period to allow for their preparation of the case and the date was then extended again to 15 November 2002. To our surprise the government again requested for the extension of the period up to 28 February 2003 and this date is now regarded as the final date and thus there will be no further extension, as agreed upon by the parties involved," Makhale said.

The extension of the period for the preparation of the case by the government has had a delaying effect on the setting of a hearing date, because the leaders of the pension fund cannot apply to the court for a hearing date before the government files its response affidavit.

The big question of whether or not people should expect their payout should not be a matter to panic over because, according to Makhale, the climax of the issue was now finally being reached.