You may be aware that government has been considering delaying the implementation of the retirement savings changes because of the concerns raised by COSATU. This would be practically very difficult to unwind given the changes made to payroll and pension fund software to allow business to be ready by the 1 March deadline.
That said, the main area of contention is the requirement to take a portion of pension savings as an annuity at retirement as opposed to a lump sum. This doesn’t impact short term payroll and any delay to address this concern need not have an impact on meeting the 1 March payroll implementation deadline.
Latest “leaked” news in the last day or two indicates this is exactly what the government intends doing i.e. only delaying the decision on the requirements at retirement.
We shall be watching this space closely.