TFG Retirement Fund

Death Benefit

Death benefit for Active Members and Disability Members only

If you die while you are still employed by the company, or you are a disability member who receives a disability income benefit from the company’s disability arrangement and a member of the Fund, the Fund will pay your dependants and/or beneficiaries a benefit equal to the following amount:

5 x Death Benefit
This benefit is made up of life cover and your Fund Value.

These dependants/beneficiaries are family or people that you support every month by giving them money. The Trustees of the Fund need to know who to pay these benefits to.

In the case of a disability member, your salary for the purposes of this calculation will be a weighted average of your pensionable salary while you were an active member and your disability salary used to calculate your retirement fund contribution.

Change to benefit for Members employed on TFG post grades E-band and above

With effect from 1 October 2022, a portion of the 5 X Annual Pensionable Pay indicated above will be insured in equal portions between two registered insurers, while the remaining portion (to make up the total of 5 times annual pensionable salary benefit) will remain self-insured by the TFG Retirement Fund. The portion to be insured was determined on the risk it poses to the fund and is a function of your job grade as indicated in the table below:

Insured benefit reflected as a multiple of annual pensionable salary
Grade	Insured with External Insurers (50%/50% split)	Self- insured by the TFG Retirement Fund	Total benefit in terms of rules of the fund
G1	4.5 times	0.5 times	5 times
F Plus	4 times	1 times
F	3.5 times	1.5 times
E Plus	3 times	2 times
E	2 times	3 times

With effect from 1 May 2024, the external insurer that will provide the cover is changing to Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (South Africa) Limited, Registration Number 1999/004643/06 (“the Insurer”) from Momentum Corporate (a division of Momentum Metropolitan Life Limited, FSP number 6406), and Hollard Group Risk (a division of Hollard Life Assurance Company Limited, FSP number 17697).

Free cover limits and medical requirements

The Insurer has advised a benefit amount at which they will automatically grant a member cover without requiring medical evidence of health to be submitted. This benefit amount is referred to as a free cover limit (FCL). Old Mutual’s FCL is set at R12 million. Should the insured portion of your benefit (the multiple of annual pensionable pay indicated in the first column above) exceed the FCL, you will be required to go for medicals to qualify to receive a benefit higher than the FCL.

You will be notified by the Insurer should it become necessary for you to provide medical evidence of health.

It is important to understand that depending on the underwriting decision (which is based on the Insurer’s assessment of medical evidence of health provided), you could be restricted to the Insurer’s free cover limit.

This change comes into effect from 1 October 2022 for members employed on TFG post grades E-band and above or members promoted to post grades E-band and above after 1 October 2022.

Exclusions

The claim will be declined if the Insured Person’s death is directly or indirectly attributable to

• active participation in terrorist activities, war, warlike operations, civil war or revolt which assumes the proportion of a wide-scale uprising, or

• to the use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, or any radioactive contamination arising from them, or

• any attack on or sabotage of facilities and storage depots, that leads to the release of radioactivity or nuclear, biological or chemical warfare agents.

How are death benefits distributed?

It is important to know that there are very strict guidelines about whom the benefit will be paid to.

When allocating your death benefit, the Trustees will consider your beneficiaries and the requirements of the Pension Funds Act.

Your beneficiaries can be divided into two groups:

Dependants

Dependants include legal and financial dependants:

Legal dependants - those people whom you have a legal duty to support, e.g. spouses, life partners, children (of any age) including unborn or posthumous children, children born outside of marriage and adopted children, whether you are on good terms with them or not.

Financial dependants – those people whom you do not necessarily have a legal duty to support but whom are financially dependent on you for their day-to-day support and survival e.g. your parents, grandparents, in-laws (including non-family members).

Nominees

Nominees are people you nominate, who are not financially dependent on you.

How and to whom will my death benefit be distributed?

Because the Trustees are legally obliged to use their discretion, and ensure that all your financial dependants are taken care of, it is important that you provide them with as much information as possible.

Click here to update your beneficiaries on AF online

Click here to find out how to do this

It is important to note that death benefits from the Fund do not form part of your estate and, consequently, cannot be distributed in terms of your last will and testament.

If you have no dependents, you still need to complete your beneficiary nomination. Although you will not list any dependents, you should indicate who your nominated beneficiaries are, i.e. the person or people whom you would like to nominate as beneficiaries to share in your death benefit, but who are not legal or factual dependents. Only people nominated can be considered as nominated beneficiaries. However, any deficit in your estate has to be settled before the death benefit can be paid out to your nominees.

If the Trustees do not become aware of (or cannot trace) any dependents within 12 months of your death and you have also not nominated a beneficiary, your benefit will be paid to your estate.