November 2025
05Nov

South Africa. Govt backtracks: Foreign pension income stays tax-free – for now

National Treasury has halted its plans to start taxing foreign pensions – for now. Chris Axelson, deputy-general of tax and financial policy, announced that Treasury has withdrawn its amendment of the draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill (TLAB), which would have deleted a section of the Income Tax Act that exempts foreign pensions from being taxed. Since 2001, South African tax residents – South Africans and foreign residents who retire in South Africa – who had worked overseas and receive foreign pensions...

November 5, 2025
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October 2025
24Oct

Kenya’s pension paradox: Growth amid low coverage

The third edition of the East African Pensions Conference and Expo opened in Nairobi on Thursday with a call to widen Kenyan’s pension coverage and curb old age poverty. Hosted by the Nation Media Group (NMG), the annual event has become the region’s platform for policy shifts to increase the number of East Africans saving for a pension and boost the value of payouts at retirement. Official data show more than 80 percent of senior citizens work for basic items, raising...

October 24, 2025
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23Oct

Over 7,000 Mozambicans working in South Africa will start receiving pensions, social security benefits in Mozambique

The Mozambican Minister of Labour, Ivete Alane, has announced that as of next year over 7,000 Mozambican nationals working in South Africa will start receiving their pensions in the country. According to Alane, who was speaking on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the National Meeting on Migrant Labour, which is taking place in Macaneta, Marracuene district, southern province of Maputo, the workers will receive their social security benefits in the country, without worrying about resorting to South Africa. “The social...

October 23, 2025
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August 2025
29Aug

Financial Literacy and Educator Behaviour: Insights from a Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

By Anrusha Bhana & Nkosinathi Princ Jali There is a substantial lack of financial literacy among educators, especially in emerging economies, which can influence personal and professional financial behavior. This study assessed whether financial literacy challenges influence high school educators' financial decision-making and behavior. An empirical study employing quantitative methodology assessed the lifestyle spending among high school educators and identified specific areas of financial literacy challenges and limitations. Data was collected randomly from a sample size of 246 out of...

August 29, 2025
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19Aug

Big tax changes for these retirement funds in South Africa

South Africans with foreign retirement funds and foreign nationals who become South African tax residents face a major shift from 1 March 2026. This follows a proposal from the National Treasury, which wants to scrap the current exemption and give SARS taxing rights over foreign retirement income. This was explained by Tax Consulting SA’s cross-border taxation legal manager, Delano Abdoll, and team lead, John-Paul Fraser. Abdoll and Fraser stressed that retirement planning is a crucial financial component for South African expatriates and...

August 19, 2025
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08Aug

South Africa. State pension plan may lead to industry consolidation

The introduction of a state pension scheme could force the pension fund industry to consolidate, Metropolitan, the fourth-largest life insurer, said yesterday. Peter Doyle, the group chief executive, said there would be a shift in the pension fund industry as a result of the government introducing a mandatory state pension scheme. In his national budget presentation, finance minister Trevor Manuel said the government would be working towards setting up a pension fund that would seek to draw in irregularly employed and...

August 8, 2025
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July 2025
15Jul

Former Liberation Fighters in South Africa Decry Delays in Military Veterans Pension Payments

Former liberation soldiers are voicing their deep disappointment over the prolonged delays in receiving their military veterans pensions. These ex-fighters, who left their families to battle in foreign lands against apartheid, now find themselves in dire straits, begging for support from the very government they helped bring to power. At least 300 former combatants from the ANC’s Umkhonto we Sizwe, the PAC’s liberation army APLA, and AZANLA from Azapo, applied for their pensions in 2023 but have yet to...

July 15, 2025
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April 2025
08Apr

South Africa’s pension system holds ground amid global shifts

South Africa’s R4.8tn pension industry may be a small player on the global stage, but its role in local capital markets and long-term national development is outsized – and becoming increasingly strategic as global trends reshape the future of retirement funding. The Global Pension Assets Study 2025, released by the Thinking Ahead Institute (TAI), places South Africa 16th among 22 major pension markets, with total pension assets of $257bn (R4.8tn) at the end of 2024. While this represents a modest 0.4%...

April 8, 2025
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March 2025
12Mar

South Africa . Ramaphosa assures MPs pension funds used to invest in infrastructure will be protected

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured MPs that the funds of pensioners that will be used to invest in infrastructure will be protected and safeguarded. He said that amendments to pension fund legislation and regulations had created room for these investments to be made into the country’s infrastructure. Ramaphosa was responding to oral questions in the National Assembly on issues around growing the economy. "They are not state resources. To facilitate in infrastructure investment, government needs to provide those savers with a reasonable...

March 12, 2025
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February 2025
06Feb

South Africans withdraw R43 billion from pensions

Since the launch of the two-pot retirement system in September, more than 2.4 million South Africans have withdrawn a total of R43 billion from their pension funds. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) confirmed this last Friday evening. According to SARS, 2,664,279 applications for tax directives were received, with 2,403,379 approved. The remaining applications were rejected due to issues such as incorrect identity numbers and tax numbers. SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter exprncern over 213,654 taxpayers who declared incorrect taxable income to secure a...

February 6, 2025
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