Ever since the news surfaced that the General Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) had indeed approved setting the Retirement Age for South African Public Sector Workers at 67 years, enforceable from the middle of 2025, there was an uproar from the media. The GEPF and other highly reputable government offices have denied and called such news ‘fake’ and, for the interest of the public and employees, the area needs to be discussed.
The Rumour
It is being marketed as being something of a populist engineering, stating that a retirement age of 67 years would be enforced by the GEPF on government employees from 1st August 2025.Applying to every person in the membership of the GEPF from the various government departments.
What GEPF and the Government Say in Response
- As it has been said before, GEPF has denied these claims. They maintain officially through statements that there are no changes to the retirement age rules for government employees.
- Such rules remain as before, whereby normal retirement age under GEPF is 60 years for those members that satisfy the prescribed conditions relating to length of service, etc.
- Public members are urged by the GEPF to ignore any social media posts and hearsay of a retirement age set at 67.
Why the Rumour Is Probably False
Instances of retirement after 67 years of age had been labelled as “fake news” by the leading fact-checkers and the credible newspapers. Even the documentation that the GEPF has released for the general public under the “Retirement Benefits” category on their web page leaves the door wide open that age 60 remains the age of normal retirement. There has been no legislation passed giving force to the supposed 67-age rule nor any amendments made to the rules of the GEPF to that effect.
The GEPF Retirement Rules Actually Provide
- With the present rules, the GEPF members do usually retire at the age of 60, provided that the requisite years of service have been acquired.
- A member may choose to retire earlier under certain circumstances (reduced benefits) or may continue to work after 60 in some manner, depending on contracts of service and employer policies. However, this is not an across-the-board retirement age of 67.
- Among the things, the benefits are paid based on the change in value of contributions made by employees to the fund against the length of time over which contributions have been made.
Action to Take if Rumor Is Being Circulated
- Data about the rumor should be checked and correlated, to find out whether the communication is from an official source: GEPF Web site, Government gazettes, or an official statement emanating from the Department of Public Service and Administration.
- Any other post on social media or viral article should be viewed with suspicion unless one can track it to some official statement.
- For persons who will be retiring soon, they should check the said person’s contract of employment with respect to GEPF statements and seek advice from HR on what rights they have and at what age they may retire.
Implications if True
As the rumor is still until today not true, it surely will have many effects once it does:
- Employees would have to arrange for longer service with a delay in the payment of retirement benefits.
- One could even be looking at an increase in pension-fund liabilities since a lot more people contribute to it for a longer period of time, but are paid out benefits at a much later point in time.
- A backlash might be heard from labor unions and public-sector workers, who could perceive this change as inequitable.
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