Former President Jacob Zuma’s pension benefits could be seized to recover nearly R29 million in taxpayer funds spent on his legal battles.
Unlike ordinary citizens, his benefits are not protected under the Pension Funds Act. Instead, they fall under the Public Office Bearers Act, which allows for attachment in cases such as this.
The court also ruled that the amount must be repaid with interest.
The judgment relates to legal fees the state covered over many years in Zuma’s corruption and fraud cases linked to the 1999 arms deal.
Should the former president fail to repay the money within the stipulated time, his pension and other benefits may be attached to settle the debt.
The Pension Funds Adjudicator’s Muvhango Lukhaimane explained that while ordinary citizens’ pensions were legally protected from attachment under the Pension Funds Act, Zuma’s benefits as a former president fall under a different category.
“Section 37A will indicate that your pension fund cannot be taken into account if you owe a debt. So, pension benefits cannot be reduced, cannot be transferred, cannot be attached or taken into account when we determine a debt has financial positions. For you and me, in terms of the Pension Funds Act, this situation would not arise at all.
“What he [Zuma] is receiving is not a pension as such. It’s what is included as salary allowances and benefits of a president that are determined in terms of the remuneration of the Public Office Bearers Act.
“If you look at section two of the Public Office Bearers Act benefits, it is clear that it is an amount that is determined in a particular way, and it is almost doubly referred to as salary allowances and pensions. That’s why it is subject to attachment.”
To listen to Lukhaimane in conversation with 702 and Cape Talk’s Africa Melane, use the audio player below: