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Minister Prisca Mupfumira

Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT is in the process of evaluating the feasibility of increasing monthly pension payouts in an effort to improve the welfare of pensioners, Public Service, Labour and Public Service Minister Prisca Mupfumira has said.

At the beginning of this month, Government gave the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) a directive to come up with strategies to generate funds, which will ultimately see the authority increasing pension payouts.

NSSA is at present paying out a meagre $60 monthly, which has proved to be inadequate for pensioners.

“As Government, we tasked NSSA to seriously consider increasing monthly pension payouts from $60 to $100 in the first quarter of this year and gradually raise the figure to $150 by the end of the year.

“NSSA is therefore in the process of conducting an evaluation to see what we can afford. There are several investments which were made by NSSA in the past but some of them failed to materialise while others are doing quite well,” said Minister Mupfumira in an interview yesterday.

She acknowledged that $60 was not enough to sustain pensioners.

“The welfare of pensioners should be a priority. It’s critical for NSSA to review the pensioners’ payouts, although it has to be evaluated to ensure consistency,” said Minister Mupfumira.

She said her ministry will soon table before Cabinet, NSSA’s proposal for a pension scheme for the informal sector.

“We expect people in the informal sector to start benefiting from this pension scheme by the end of this year.

“The scheme would have benefits that include a retirement pension, survivor’s pension, injury at work compensation and funeral grant,” said Minister Mupfumira.

She added that the amounts contributed to the scheme will vary depending on what the contributors can afford.

According to a survey by NSSA, 72 percent of people in the informal sector do not contribute to any social security scheme.

The sector makes up 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s economic activity and contributes more than 50 percent to the gross domestic product according to official statistics.

@pamelashumba1