Solidariteit starts legal process against social security Green Paper  

26 August 2021

Solidarity has started a legal process to stop the Green Paper on the proposed National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Among other things, the Green Paper aims to establish a compulsory state-controlled pension fund and to increase taxes in order to fund a universal grant.

Solidarity has given the Department of Social Development 30 days to withdraw its Green Paper on this proposed fund. If the department does not withdraw the Green Paper, Solidarity will continue with its legal process.

This letter of demand to the department followed after Minister Lindiwe Zulu had gazetted the Green Paper. According to Solidarity, the publication of the Green Paper in the Government Gazette was illegal and therefore invalid. The organisation argues that the Minister and her department failed to conduct an initial and a final impact study on the implications of the proposed legislation before it had been published, as required by law.

“It is not only the process that is flawed; the content is also irrational and unaffordable. The Minister does not heed the provisions of the Constitution. She simply did not follow the correct procedures with the publication of the Green Paper and must withdraw it immediately. Ordinary hard-working people cannot handle additional tax pressures. The government also has a history of failed central management and looting of funds,” said Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann.

"The government is desperate to obtain funds. Their plans to create jobs have failed and now they are making it easier for people not to work instead of making it easier for them to find work. This tax abuse of working South Africans is not sustainable. It will make the entire South Africa poorer,” Hermann concluded.

Read the letter of demand here.

Issued by Anton van der Bijl, Head: Legal Matters, Solidarity, 26 August 2021