Dear Member

In 2025, EPPF commemorated our 75^th year of caring beyond tomorrow for you, your family and society at large. Through the support of all our members, who are the heart of what we do, EPPF has grown into a member-centric Fund where it’s our honour to be in service of people. We have grown, through your support, into a retirement benefits provider with assets under management that exceed R250-billion. And because of our commitment to care, we are able to take care of our members’ tomorrows so that they don’t have to worry about the future. Part of this commitment to care means that we’ll do the right thing always. 

We are aware of the need to always have the trust of all our stakeholders, especially our members. One of our big challenges in recent times was to restore confidence after the pension matter concerning former Eskom CEO Mr Brian Molefe. 

Here's important context for you that goes back to Mr Molefe’s pension

In 2017, there was a court action to declare the decision of Eskom’s Board to approve the former Eskom CEO’s pension payout as invalid. The matter brought to light that Mr Molefe was permitted to become a member of the Fund, even though at that time he was employed on a fixed-term basis by Eskom. Our Fund Rules say only permanent employees of participating employers are eligible to become members. You can read the latest on that ongoing court matter by clicking on this link to an article on our website. 

How we are ensuring we do the right thing, always

As part of our commitment to learning, EPPF carried out an assurance exercise to determine whether all our members were permanently employed at the time that they joined the Fund. We worked with Eskom SOC Ltd and Eskom Rotek Industries to find your employment contracts, or any other employer information that shows that you were permanently employed when you joined the Fund. We have identified and confirmed the employment status of members where employment records could be found. We are pleased to report that we’ve reviewed more than half of our members’ records and have ensured that their membership of EPPF is regular and in accordance with our Fund Rules. 

We are now preparing for the final step of the process so that all our members will be considered fully eligible to be part of EPPF. 

Members’ benefits will continue being paid but we need to confirm information 

There are some members who may have been in the world of work many years ago, whose employment records need to be confirmed. That’s where the last step of our court process comes in to ensure everyone’s membership of EPPF is made regular. We will email or text the affected members between 26 January 2026 and 31 March 2026. If you receive this email or text, it means that we could not verify your employment status. There is no need to worry as your benefits will continue being paid. What we do need, though, is for you to tell us if you do have records of your employment. If you do, we will use them to make your membership of EPPF regular. If you do not have records, that is not a problem. All you need to do is complete a form to inform us of this officially. Your name will then be added to the list of people who do not have previous employment records. This list will be handed in as part of EPPF’s court application for a declarator order. This order will make your membership of EPPF regular. 

Here's what you need to know and the action that is required of you:

1. EPPF is adopting a phased approach, so we will be handling specific provinces at a time. In the month of March 2026, we are reaching out to members in Belville, George, East London and Port Elizabeth specifically. Members in other regions will be contacted accordingly in the months to follow, but are welcome to prepare their documents in the meantime.

Members who are affected will receive an email or SMS from EPPF about the declarator matter. EPPF will also call the affected members directly to speak to them about the matter. Please cooperate with the Fund. 

Affected Members need to send us any one of the following documents that confirm employment status:

-A letter of employment.

-An employment agreement.

-A letter of appointment.

-An offer letter reflecting your deemed start date.

-A salary card.

If you do not have a copy of any of the employment documents mentioned above, you need to send us any two of the following documents that confirm your employment status at the date of entry into the Fund:

• Any letter of long service.
• Any employee transfer letter reflecting your start date with your (former) employer.
• A payslip that reflects your start date with your (former) employer.

2. These documents must be emailed to us at declare@eppf.co.za by no later than 31 March 2026, with your pension reference number or prior employee number

3.  If you do not have any of the required information, simply complete the attached form and send it back to us, along with a clear copy of your ID (both sides if it’s a smart ID). You can email the completed form and your ID copy to declare@eppf.co.za. If you prefer to fill out the form online, you can do so by clicking on this link that takes you to the e-form on our website.  The application will then be filed in court and will be delivered to you. 

4. Once the matter has been filed in court, the Fund will apply for a court date for the matter to be heard before a judge. You will be informed of the date that the court will give the Fund for the matter to be heard. You do not need to attend the court proceeding as the matter will be finalised by us on your behalf. We will also notify you of the court’s ruling on our application via email or text message. 

5. We will then be able to formally update our records to reflect that you are an eligible member of the Fund.

6. During this entire process, there will be absolutely no impact on your benefit, and you will continue receiving it.

We will be having information sessions if you have any questions. These sessions will take place in-person, as well as online. For the in-person sessions, you will be contacted directly via email or SMS by the Fund. 

You will also be invited to online sessions. 

Please also read our Frequently Asked Questions to assist your understanding of the matter.

If you have any queries that you want to address at any point, you can reach out to EPPF. Our Legal Administrators can be reached by email via declare@eppf.co.za. You may also call the toll-free EPPF Declarator hotline: 0800 079 672.

Kind regards

The EPPF Team