Pensioners in bid to sue Transnet

File photo

File photo

Published Jul 20, 2014

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Johannesburg - Lawyers will ask the High Court in Pretoria for approval to bring a class action against Transnet on behalf of 62,160

pensioners from the apartheid years, Rapport reported on Sunday.

The group wanted to claim around R79.963 billion in assets and interest from Transnet.

According to the report, Transnet was planning to dissolve the pension fund into which it transferred 65,000 pensioners before stripping it of its assets.

The legal team bringing the class action reportedly discovered documents last week showing that the fund's trustees, all employees of Transnet, were amending the fund's rules in such a way that they could dissolve the fund.

The lawsuit, which was being led by two top advocates, Jaap Cilliers, SC and Leon Kellerman, SC, would start in the High Court in Pretoria on Monday.

Transnet chief executive, Brian Molefe, told the newspaper that the plight of the pensioners did not concern him because they were “beneficiaries of apartheid”.

A total of 33 percent of the pensioners were black.

If the court approves the application, it will be the start of the largest court action ever in the country's legal history. - Sapa

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