Over half a million public employees utilized their pension savings over just seven months, withdrawing approximately 15 billion rand under the two-container system, despite being among South Africa's most protected workers.
According to Statistics South Africa, the Public Pension Fund processed 564,547 applications for pensions under the two-container system between September 2024 and March 2025. This corresponds to an average withdrawal amount of about 26,570 rand per application. This figure comes against the backdrop that only about 6% of South Africans are estimated to be able to afford a comfortable retirement. The total withdrawal volume across the country under the two-container system is estimated to exceed 60 billion rand.
There are approximately 1.3 million civil servants in South Africa, meaning the number of applications submitted accounted for about 43% of all public personnel. Statistics South Africa noted that the implementation of this system created additional operational pressure, including staff training, increased call center activity, and higher traffic at visitor reception centers.
Advantages
The two-container pension savings system came into effect on September 1, 2024, allowing members to make one withdrawal from their savings component during the tax year. The seven months covered by Statistics South Africa data fall within the first tax year of this system's operation.
South African public workers receive standard civil service benefits, which include a state pension, healthcare subsidies, housing allowances, a 13th-month bonus, and structured paid leave. The National Treasury forecasts that the government will spend approximately 758 billion rand on employee compensation in 2026/27. Distributed across roughly 1.3 million workers, this equates to an average employment cost of about 583,000 rand per worker annually, or 48,600 rand per month.
PayScale, which collects employee salary data, indicates that the average base salary in the South African public sector, excluding benefits, is about 309,000 rand per year, equivalent to 25,750 rand per month. This amount is close to the average of 26,570 rand withdrawn through the two-container system over the specified seven months.
Differences in Pay
Salaries vary significantly depending on the profession. PayScale reports that the average annual base salary is about 273,000 rand for teachers, 261,000 rand for registered nurses, and 202,000 rand for police or patrol officers.
Teachers and healthcare workers constitute a significant portion of provincial government personnel expenditure. Statistics South Africa reported that in 2024/25, education accounted for 53.2% of provincial staff compensation, and healthcare for another 34.5%. Together, these two sectors covered almost 88% of the province's payroll.
Statistics South Africa also noted that the two-container system contributed to increased tax revenue. Tax directives rose by 15.3 billion rand in 2024/25, with 12.6 billion of this increase linked to withdrawals under the two-container system in the finance, public services, mining, and extractive industries. The data on civil servants demonstrates how quickly employees utilized the opportunity to access pension savings immediately after the system was introduced.