My father worked at Impala Mine and died in 2008. How do I check if he has any unclaimed money?

The long answer

There were two provident funds operating at Impala Mine: from 1970, there was the Mines 1970 Provident Fund, and then in 1989, the Mineworkers Provident Fund (MPF), which negotiated benefits between the Chamber of Mines and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). By 2008, the year that your father died, most of Impala’s workers had moved to the MPF. There were discussions between the two funds but they remained separate. So, your father could have belonged to either fund but is more likely to have belonged to the MPF.  

To find out whether there is unclaimed money from your father, you can search on the central database that the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) set up to help members of the public find out if there are unclaimed benefits due to them. This FSCA database has a search engine: you would need to put in your father’s name, surname, ID, the name of the fund and the name of the employer. If the search engine finds a match, you would be given the contact details of the administrator of the fund, and you would have to contact the fund directly to find out how to make the claim.

The FSCA says that a claimant would need to provide proof of identity (ID) and proof that they were dependent on the deceased member at the time of his death. That would include certified copies of ID and birth certificate. If there is a benefit that you can claim, you would need to follow the procedures set out by the fund to process claims, like completing a form and submitting documents like ID, bank statement and proof of address.

You can email the FSCA at [email protected] or phone them at 0800 20 3722 at their toll-free number.

This is the call centre number of the Mineworkers Provident Fund: 010 100 3001.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie