Pension fund, Amupanda lock horns

A local pension fund has clapped back at Affirmative Repositioning leader Job Amupanda, calling him ‘ignorant’ to the operations of retirement fund schemes.

This after Amupanda accused the fund of wanting to syphon pensioners’ money by using the Master of the High Court as a conduit.

The land activist yesterday publicly released a video in which he accused Benchmark Retirement Fund of dubiously conducting its pension business and being in cahoots with government to lay their hands on monies left over in annuities upon death, which were not paid over to the listed beneficiaries.

Benchmark claimants include, among others, the pension funds of the Development Bank of Namibia, Agribank, Tunacor, The Namibian, the Gondwana Group, Namcol and Agra.

As at June 2022, the fund's assets stood at N$5.4 billion, while it had 13 756 active members and 1 559 pensioners.

Benchmark is administered by RFS Fund Administrators.

Amupanda claimed such leftover monies have since been channelled elsewhere for the fund to claim taxes on deceased members’ contributions.

“What these guys have discovered is that they cannot work with the Financial Institutions and Markets Act (Fima), so they found other ways. Using Benchmark, they found a strategy and went to the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority [Namfisa]. As we speak, Namfisa has approved to change this; money no longer goes to your beneficiaries,” Amupanda said.

The beneficiaries of pensioners would no longer receive the two-thirds capital built up that remained in annuities, he claimed.

‘Spreading misinformation’

RFS managing director Marthinuz Fabianus refuted Amupanda’s claims, saying he was using his large following to spread misinformation.

RFS sponsors Benchmark and is its founder.

Responding to Namibian Sun’s queries yesterday, Fabianus said Amupanda has little understanding when it comes to pension funds.

“The extent of Mr Amupanda’s ignorance of his understanding of the operation of retirement fund schemes was laid bare in the process of his utterances, and it is extremely unfortunate that someone with his following chooses to mislead and misinform the public instead of obtaining the necessary clarity and correct information before venturing into providing public statements,” he said.

Fabianus added: “Mr Job Amupanda dedicated his time and effort in recording a widely distributed video where he makes completely inaccurate statements and spreads fear and doubt in the minds of his followers about Benchmark Retirement Fund and its role in the Namibian pension fund industry as a whole.”

According to him, a pension fund - as defined in the Namibian Income Tax Act - is required to pay benefits upon the retirement of a member in a certain way.

The Act prescribes that one-third of a member’s capital payable from a pension fund may be commuted tax-free, while the balance is payable in the form of a pension, paid for life to the pensioner.

‘Just the beginning’

In the video, Amupanda said the alleged strategy was “for these guys - the executors, the taxman - to get more money, so you can see that there is a collusion between these guys of Benchmark and others. This is just the beginning. Benchmark has started, others have also started following suit,” he said.

“Before you know it, Fima will be implemented in terms of how they intended to, but they are going to be implementing it underground through this arrangement of taking people’s money. It is practically possible,” he added.

Government last year agreed to delay the adoption of certain sections of Fima following huge public outcry, given the implications of the proposed move. These sections would only allow individuals to withdraw 25% of their pension funds upon retrenchment, resignation and/or retirement.