TRADE unions and workers’ representatives have bemoaned low pension pay-outs by the government, with some retirees getting US$35 after decades of loyal service.
In April, the Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec) said
it was putting measures to improve benefits for pensioners after 53% of the
complaints it handled in the fourth quarter of 2021 were related to low pension
values.
In a letter seen by NewsDay Weekender, a pensioner who had
worked for 21 years was set to receive $14 025 after loyal service, which is
almost US$30.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ)
secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said: “After 21 years of patriotic service
to the motherland. Shame!”
Former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president
Peter Mutasa said pensioners were swimming in poverty because of the low
payouts which cannot even last them a month.
“Zimbabwe is a failed state; people should understand it
from this perspective. It is a state that is failing on all levels. It is
failing to manage the economy and the country has been struggling with high inflation,”
Mutasa said.
The local currency has lost value. The government is even
failing to provide public service, so when you are under a failed state; there
is nothing that you can do to address one factor because pensions are a
fraction of the salary contributions that one has made over a number of years.”
Pensioners, including but not limited to civil servants,
have raised numerous complaints with the government in recent years.
“Government is not accepting reality on the ground that
they have failed. They should just dollarise and make sure that everyone gets
paid in a currency that is meaningful, which is the US dollar to preserve
people’s pensions,” Mutasa added.
Harare East MP Tendai Biti raised the same issue in
Parliament recently as he debated the Pensions and Insurance Amendment Bill.
Reports say some workers have resorted to misrepresenting
their dates of birth to postpone retirement from the organisations they would
have served.
Public Service minister Paul Mavima was not reachable for
comment.
But he recently said his ministry has been asked to
negotiate with local authorities to reduce or waive taxes that pensioners are
required to pay to ease their living conditions.
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