Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
THE National Social Security (Nssa) has this month awarded a discretionary bonus equivalent to 50 percent of one’s monthly pay-out to improve the welfare of beneficiaries as part of its transformation journey.
The discretionary bonus will be paid out together with the March disbursements that are due on March 13.
This comes after Nssa chief executive Mr Arthur Manasa recently pledged to ease the plight of its members by adopting measures to improve their welfare.
The authority will next week give a once off grocery allowance to orphans, the invalid, parents and other dependants under the Pension and Other Benefits Scheme (POBS), as well as those receiving workers’ pension, widows’ pension, children’s allowance, constant attendants’ allowance and dependants’ allowance under the Accident Prevention and Workers Compensation Scheme (APWCS).
Nssa Deputy Director Marketing and Communications, Mr Tendai Mutseyekwa, said pensioners could expect to benefit from a raft of measures the authority was taking in a quest to address their plight.
“The Nssa Board authorised management to pay out a 50 percent discretionary bonus to all beneficiaries while we wait for the outcome of the actuarial valuation that is underway to determine the next level of benefits that Nssa can sustainably pay,” he said.
“The recommendations of this valuation will be implemented in April, so our pensioners and beneficiaries can look forward to improved pay-outs from next month.”
Mr Mutseyekwa said surviving spouses would receive their grocery allowances in May, with the last tranche being paid out in June to retirees of POBS.
“We staggered the grocery allowances to manage our cash flows,” he said.
“Ultimately, at the end of the exercise the will have disbursed $491 838 523 in grocery allowances to 228 932 beneficiaries between March and June 2021.”
He added that once requisite authority has been granted, the authority would be implementing a self-adjusting mechanism on insurable earnings, which will improve the institution’s contributions income, thereby allowing it to review benefits pay-outs levels in line with changes in the economy.
The authority is also exploring ways of improving the welfare of pensioners through none-monetary benefits such as empowering them through economic activities that generate sustainable income for them.
This includes projects like goat farming, out grower schemes, discounts at participating shops, waiver of bank charges, a revolving fund for retirees and pensioners, as well as assistance with medical care, among others.
“While we are working flat out to improve the welfare of pensioners and beneficiaries, we implore on them to play their part in safeguarding the sustainability of the scheme by desisting from making fraudulent claims,” said Mr Mutseyekwa.
“We are aware of attempts by some people to defraud the authority by submitting illegitimate and undeserving pension claims, when in fact they have not contributed to the pension fund.
“Undeserving claims entail a situation where people reap where they did not sow. In accordance with the design of the Nssa Pension Fund, there should be corresponding contributions to each pension claim for the pay-outs to be meaningful.”
Contemptible claims eat into the contributions and pay-outs of the deserving claimants, thereby negatively impacting on the level of benefits paid to the pensioners, said Mr Mutseyekwa.
Nssa had put in place effective mechanism to detect and weed out fictitious claims, working in conjunction with key partners such as the Register General’s Office and the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
In addition, the authority is commissioning a forensic audit to weed out fraudulent claims from its payroll, he said.
Several people have been sent to jail for attempting to defraud the Authority through undeserving claims.
The last actuarial valuation recommended a 200 percent pension increase across the board, subject to a minimum retirement pension of $1 000, up from $200, while the funeral grant for both schemes was also reviewed from $2 000 to $5 000.
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