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Pensioners in South Africa are in a difficult and vulnerable position. To help alleviate the stress of the current uncertainties, this book will help you find your way through the various problems you may now face.

Most retirees around the world will be impacted by the consequences of COVID-19. But in South Africa, their position is going to be far worse. COVID-19 comes as the sugar-rich icing on top of extreme corruption in government, which became entrenched during the kleptocratic Zuma regime and continues to infect the ruling party.

To begin with, let’s take a look at how these factors relate to each other and how they threaten your retirement:

 The COVID-19 pandemic: This is not a case of the flu. It is going to have a long-lasting effect on pensioners, in terms of both their health and their finances.

 The Zuma regime: The nine years of Zuma’s government have had a devasting effect on the economy. It is still ongoing, as some of the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have shown corruption in both the public and private sectors.

 The effect on the rand: The combination of COVID-19 and government corruption has resulted in the junking of the South African rand. In his emergency budget on 24 June 2020, finance minister Tito Mboweni said, ‘Our Herculean task is to close the mouth of the hippopotamus! It is eating our children’s inheritance.’ The hippopotamus is debt that could very easily spiral out of control. For every rand taken in taxes, 21 cents is already spent in paying off debt without growing the economy. Our gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 7.2 percent in 2020, and taxes will rise over the next four years.

 The mis-selling of annuities (pensions): Most of South Africa’s pensioners were already in serious trouble before the COVID-19 virus and the Zuma regime. There were a number of reasons for this, from their not saving enough to then using investment-linked living annuities (ILLAs or living annuities) to disastrous effect in attempts to make good with high-income pension drawdowns and high-risk investments.