The Public Service Commission is attempting to overhaul how the Government prepares its workers for retirement, but the move comes against a difficult history in which Zimbabwe’s pension system has been battered by inflation, currency changes, inadequate benefits, administrative delays and weaknesses in the management of pension obligations.

PSC Chairman Vincent Hungwe said the Commission was moving retirement planning from an occasional discussion to a formal part of human capital management, including the establishment of a dedicated Retirement Planning Department to coordinate programmes across Government ministries, departments and agencies.

“The significance of retirement planning has never been greater than it is today. Across the world, governments are recognising that retirement is not merely the cessation of formal employment. It is a critical stage of life that requires deliberate preparation, sound policies and supportive institutions,” Hungwe said.

A 2025 study on older people’s experiences found that some former government employees who retired before 2009 were receiving about US$120 a month in 2024, while some who retired in 2024 were receiving about US$192. The researchers linked the disparities partly to the treatment of pension assets during the transition from the Zimbabwe dollar to the US dollar and differences in contributions during the dollarisation period.

The pension industry has suffered an even deeper legacy problem. The Insurance and Pensions Commission has acknowledged that pension benefits have been undermined by the 2001–2008 inflationary collapse and the post-2019 inflation episode, while pension contribution arrears spanning different currency regimes have also prejudiced members.

IPEC says benefits paid to pensioners have generally failed to meet reasonable expectations for basic needs such as food, healthcare, shelter and transport. It has identified low pensionable salaries, non-pensionable allowances, contribution arrears, currency reforms, inflation and low disposable incomes as among the factors undermining retirement adequacy.

That history matters because it changes the meaning of “retirement planning”. A worker can be financially disciplined for decades and still retire into poverty if the value of their contributions is destroyed by inflation or currency instability.

Parliament has previously heard similar complaints from pensioners. During public consultations, pensioners said inflation had eroded their contributions to the extent that some were receiving extremely small monthly payouts, leaving them unable to meet food, medical and utility costs.

The compensation process for those historical losses has itself been slow. Research published in 2026 found that implementation of compensation for pension losses has faced forensic, actuarial, legal and data-integrity problems, as well as difficulties identifying and tracing members and beneficiaries. The study said only 35,538 civil servants had received compensation under Government’s programmes by the period it examined, while just about US$500,000 had been disbursed through two approved private compensation schemes by March 2025, despite a US$25 million Government allocation for pre-2009 pensioner compensation.

This is the uncomfortable context behind the PSC’s new retirement-planning push: Zimbabwe is attempting to teach workers how to prepare for retirement while still dealing with the consequences of a pension system that historically failed to preserve the value of their savings.

There has also been a practical administration problem. The PSC already has formal procedures requiring retirement processing to begin months before an employee leaves service. Its published timetable requires ministries to notify employees four months before retirement, initiate pension applications three months beforehand and submit completed applications to the pensions department at least two months before retirement. The Commission says pension benefits should then be processed within a month after receipt and acceptance of complete documentation.

Yet the Commission’s own 2026 reporting shows that the machinery surrounding retirement has experienced weaknesses. During 2025, 3,065 retirements were processed, while delays by ministries and departments in submitting cessation-of-salary records resulted in 3,367 late cessations and consequent overpayments.

Government is now attempting a more fundamental restructuring. Under NDS2, the Public Service Pension Fund is being shifted from the old unfunded, pay-as-you-go model towards a funded arrangement intended to accumulate assets and reduce pressure on the fiscus. Government has also committed to the timely remittance of pension contributions and an arrears-clearance programme.

The reform is significant because the Government itself recognises that sustainability cannot depend solely on workers saving more. The new policy framework talks about investment governance, actuarial discipline, transparency, inflation-hedged assets and better capital-market participation.

The PSC has also acknowledged that retirement planning needs to start well before retirement. Its retirement-planning function includes financial planning, investment and estate planning, social-security information, health and medical-care information, life skills and post-retirement adjustment.

Hungwe said the Commission had now established the dedicated department to coordinate this work throughout Government.

“Following the successful launch of the Public Service Retirement Planning Programme, the Commission established a dedicated Retirement Planning Department to coordinate retirement preparedness initiatives throughout Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies,” he said.