“I am acting on behalf on my father who receives a monthly annuity from the fund. We are faced with a predicament at home due to my father's spending habits or prodigal tendencies when it comes to his pension salary that he receives monthly from the fund. My father is not using his money to take care of himself or the household needs. He spends almost everything on alcohol and cigarettes. The situation is worrisome and we as a family has now step in to try and help. One of the ways we suggest is to create a separate savings account for him so that he can save part of his funds monthly. Now, I just want to find out if the pension fund has possible measures in place that we can take to create this saving plan on his behalf taking into consideration the legal implications? Does the pension fund have a rehabilitation programme in place for the pensioners? We just want to assist him to be assisted in managing his funds efficiently or appoint someone to help him in this regard. I will be looking forward to your response.”

Our response:

The predicament indicates that the family member has an addiction. Numerous other addictions also cause people to neglect their wellness and health. For example, the US has a severe problem with fentanyl. This potent synthetic opioid is being illicitly smuggled into the United States from Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Canada. In response to the escalating opioid crisis, President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China to pressurise these countries to combat the production and flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Fentanyl is significantly more potent than heroin, making even small amounts potentially lethal. While the US has criminalised the possession, distribution and trafficking of fentanyl, it still recorded over 100,000 fatalities from an overdose of fentanyl in 2023. Despite fentanyl being an illegal substance and its use being criminalised, people still use and die from it.

Alcohol and cigarettes are not illegal substances in Namibia, and their use and misuse are left to the discretion of the citizens. Namibian law-enforcement agencies cannot assist when someone chooses to misuse legal substances despite them creating addictions. The best this reader’s family can hope for is the pensioner’s willingness to cooperate. When the pensioner cooperates, the suggested route of setting up a savings plan could be feasible. However, the Pension Funds Act provides for the strict protection of a member’s benefits under Sections 37A, B and D. It would require that the savings plan be in the pensioner's name. Furthermore, the pensioner must authorise one or more family members to transact on the savings plan. He could even exclude himself from transacting on his savings plan.

Suppose the pensioner is not willing to cooperate and is not of sound mind. In that case, the only route available to the family is to have a court declare the pensioner unfit to manage his affairs and appoint a curator or guardian to look after his affairs.

Curatorship and guardianship are not quite the same, and it may be useful for the family to understand the main difference and decide if one or the other could be a viable route to take,

Important notice and disclaimer
This article summarises the understanding, observation and notes of the author and lays no claim on accuracy, correctness or completeness. RFS Namibia (Pty) Ltd does not accept any liability for the content of this contribution and no decision should be taken on the basis of the information contained herein before having confirmed the detail with the relevant party. Any views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of RFS.