A spouses’ lump sum benefit, payable on the death of your spouse while you are in office

SPOUSES’ LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS

The Pension Funds Act prevents the Fund from providing life insurance benefits for the spouse(s) of Fund members, because a retirement fund is not allowed to pay a benefit in respect of someone (a family member) who is not actually a member of the fund – you are a Fund member, but your spouse(s) are not.

The spouses’ life insurance benefit is therefore provided for by a separate insurance policy, outside the Fund. The cost of this insurance however forms part of the 4.8% of pensionable salaries that is allocated for insured benefits for political office-bearers (which in turn is part of the total contributions that are included in your Total Remuneration Package).

The material on this website represents only a summary of the main terms of the insurance policy, which are very complex and may change from time to time. In the event of a dispute arising, reference will have to be made to the policy contract, which will take precedence.

In this section, you can find out more about:

• Eligibility conditions
• The definition of spouse
• When cover ceases
• The benefits payable
• Evidence of health
• The deadline for claims submission
• The exclusions

Who is eligible for this cover?

Cover is compulsory for all contributory Fund members. The life of your Qualifying Spouse is insured in terms of the policy, provided you are married at the commencement of the policy, or otherwise from the date of your marriage if later.  Cover ceases when you reach age 89 or when your Qualifying Spouse reaches age 89 (whichever is earlier). 

What is the definition of spouse?

A Qualifying Spouse is any person/s with whom you are joined in marriage. “Marriage” means:

• a marriage or union in accordance with the Marriage Act, 1961, the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 1998, or the Civil Union Act, 2006, or the tenets of a religion; or
• a union where two persons are living together as if married, with the commitment to continue to do so permanently, provided that they have been doing so for at least six months;

If deemed necessary by the insurer, a committee convened by National Treasury will decide if a particular union meets the requirements to be regarded as a marriage for the purposes of the policy. Our expectation is that the Fund Trustees (or a sub-committee of the Trustees) will carry out this function, when necessary.

When does the insurance cover cease?

Cover on the life of your Qualifying Spouse ceases:

• 24 hours after your own death; or
• as soon as you cease to be a contributory Fund member (i.e. when you leave office); or
• as soon as the Qualifying Spouse attains the age of 89 years, or as soon as you attain the age of 89 years (whichever is earlier).

What benefit is payable?

If your Qualifying Spouse dies before attaining the age of 89 years, an amount equal to 1.0 times your annual pensionable salary (or 12 times your monthly pensionable salary) – divided by the number of qualifying spouses at the date of death – is paid to you.  (The benefit was increased from 0.75 times your annual pensionable salary, as from 1 April 2025.)

It is important to understand what this means: if you have two “qualifying spouses” at the time when one of them dies, then the benefit that you will receive will be one-quarter of your annual pensionable salary. If you have three “qualifying spouses” at the time when one of them dies, then the benefit will be one-sixth of your annual pensionable salary – and so on.

The number of qualifying spouses must be verified by the committee referred to above. (In practice, the Fund Trustees or a sub-committee of the Trustees will carry out this function).

(Remember that pensionable salary is 60% of your Total Remuneration Package.)

Will my spouse(s) need to provide evidence of good health?

There is a “Free Cover Limit” (FCL) set by the insurer, above which a Fund member’s spouse will be required to provide medical evidence of good health, in order to qualify for any portion of the insured benefit which is above the FCL. Cover up to the FCL is provided without any medical requirements.

At this stage, the insurer has set the FCL at such a level that no members’ spouses will need to give medical evidence to the insurer.

If this changes in future, we will advise members.

What is the deadline for claims submission?

Claims must be notified in writing to the insurer within 6 months of the date of a Qualifying Spouse’s death.

If your spouse dies and you believe that he or she qualifies for the spouses’ life insurance cover, you should contact the Fund’s administrator who will help you to submit the claim to the insurance company.

Are there any other exclusions?

The insurer will decline a death claim if death is “directly or indirectly” due to “active participation in war, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities, warlike operations (whether war be declared or not), civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, civil commotion assuming the proportions of or amounting to an uprising, military or usurped power”; “the use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, or any radioactive contamination”; “attacks on or sabotage of facilities [examples are given] and storage depots, which lead to the release of radioactive or nuclear, biological or chemical warfare agents”.

These are standard conditions that all the insurers will seek to apply. We are not able to negotiate more generous conditions from the insurers.