Frozen out: Former Home Affairs official says he has been denied pension and employment for 3 years

For more than three years, former Department of Home Affairs official Zakhele Khuzwayo says he has been living in financial and professional limbo after the department allegedly froze his pension benefits and blacklisted him on the government’s PERSAL system, effectively shutting him out of public sector employment.

Khuzwayo alleges that despite not being convicted of any criminal offence and despite disputes surrounding allegations made against him, his retirement benefits have remained inaccessible, leaving him unable to access funds accumulated over years of public service.

The former Director of Information Systems Security claims that after raising concerns and refusing what he describes as an improper tender-related inducement linked to the DHA02-2021 contract, he became the subject of complaints and investigations that ultimately led to his departure from the department.

However, according to Khuzwayo, the consequences extended far beyond his resignation.

He alleges that his details were flagged on the government’s Personnel and Salary System (PERSAL), effectively preventing him from securing employment elsewhere within the public service. The result, he says, has been years of unemployment and financial hardship.

“What has happened to me goes beyond losing a job,” Khuzwayo has maintained. “My pension has been frozen, my name has been blocked on PERSAL, and for three years I have been unable to move forward with my life.”

Pension benefits often serve as a financial safety net for former public servants, particularly during periods of unemployment. Khuzwayo argues that being denied access to these funds has left him and his family under severe financial strain while he continues to seek legal and administrative remedies.

The former official further alleges that institutions responsible for resolving labour disputes have failed to provide timely relief, resulting in years of delays while his pension remains inaccessible. According to him, repeated efforts to challenge the decisions affecting his employment status and benefits have yielded little progress.

The case raises broader questions about the treatment of public servants who become embroiled in disputes with government departments and whether administrative measures such as PERSAL restrictions and pension freezes can leave individuals effectively punished before any final determination of wrongdoing.

For Khuzwayo, the issue is not merely about money. It is about dignity, reputation, and the ability to rebuild a life that he says was dismantled without due process.

Three years after leaving the Department of Home Affairs, he says he remains trapped between unemployment and uncertainty, unable to access his pension benefits, unable to return to public service, and still waiting for the justice he believes has been denied to him.