Govt pledges to review pensioners’ payouts

Zim Now Writer

Government is looking at enhancing pensioners’ welfare through regular review of pension payouts in line with the movements on the exchange rate to preserve value, Social Welfare Minister Paul Mavima has said.

Mavima made the remarks while handing over performance contracts to heads of three parastatals, namely National Social Security Authority, the National Building Society and the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management.

Currently, pensioners are getting about US$60 per month at a time when the parallel market rate is hovering between ZWL$1 800 and ZWL$2 000 against the United States dollar while the official market rate is about ZWL$1 000.

“The Nssa scheme, which is a social protection programme, has evolved to become the pension of choice. This is why this year, more effort will be put into enhancing pensioner welfare to contribute towards poverty alleviation,” Mavima said.

“This will be done through regular review of pension levels in line with the movements on the exchange rate to preserve value.

“In addition, Nssa will improve the welfare of beneficiaries through valued-added packages (non-monetary benefits) towards resilience building and poverty eradication by 2030.

“In order to do this, the authority will increase funding for non-monetary benefits, increase the number of non-monetary benefits initiatives, increase partnerships with third parties e.g, discount facilities with more retailers, increase the number of banks administering the discounts and enhance monitoring and evaluation of the impact of non-monetary benefits,” he said.

The minister said NBS is set to grow and contribute meaningfully to earnings generated towards the upkeep of pensioners, through its relationship with Nssa.

“In line with NDS 1 [National Development Strategy 1], the society is focusing on delivering a minimum of 150 housing units and 150 serviced stands while offering mortgage financing and working with partners through PPPs [public–private partnership] to achieve and exceed expectations,” he said.

Mavima also said that Zipam would continue to scan the environment for best practices that can be adopted for enhancing public service delivery capacity.

Zipam is the premier public administration and management institute mandated with enhancing managerial capacitation and development, as well as administration and good governance.

“There is need for Zipam to push for the use of technology in the civil service, including through designing appropriate frameworks for deploying technology and building capacity and motivation for effective utilisation of technology,” Mavima added.