Discovery’s Mishandling of My Late Father’s Global Education Protector Policy

It is deeply painful to write this after so many years since my father’s passing. My father passed away on 20 July 2013, and he had taken out a Global Education Protector policy with Discovery for my younger brother and me. After his passing, my mother went to Discovery to inquire about any existing policies he might have had with the company. To our shock, Discovery denied that my father had any policy with them.

Last week, on Friday, 17 October 2025 — twelve years later — I received a call from Discovery informing me that when my father passed away, they had “overlooked” the fact that he had an education policy in place for us. They said they were calling to check if we had already completed our tertiary education.

During that call, I told them I am 24 years old, turning 25 soon. They then informed me that, unfortunately, they could no longer assist because their policy stops funding at the age of 25, and since I have already completed my first tertiary qualification, they considered the policy expired.

I explained that I still owe Tshwane University R102,080 in outstanding study fees for my undergraduate degree and that any form of assistance would make a huge difference. Yet, all they said was, “Unfortunately, we can’t help anymore since you have already studied without our support.”

It feels incredibly unfair that Discovery only decided to contact me 40 days before my 25th birthday — just enough time to close the case conveniently for their audit purposes. The same happened with my younger brother. My mother had to carry the financial burden alone, paying for all our school fees from high school through to tertiary education.

To be told after twelve years that “we are sorry” is beyond painful. I believe Discovery’s handling of this matter has been extremely negligent and deeply inhumane. No family should have to go through this kind of emotional and financial pain after already losing a loved one