admin
Harare Bureau
Civil servants unions yesterday castigated the government for excluding them from the board of the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) building society that is expected to offer them affordable housing loans.Public Service, Labour and Social Services Minister Prisca Mupfumira this week announced a nine-member board of directors to spearhead the establishment of the new bank that is expected to be operational by August.
The board will be chaired by Gamaliel Mhofu who would be deputised by Precious Sibiya.
The establishment of the bank is aimed at strengthening the authority’s investment portfolio including offering housing loans to civil servants and low income workers.
“We say there’s nothing for us without us,” Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive Sifiso Ndlovu said.
“We fear this is another Premier Service Medical Aid Society in the making where our monthly subscriptions were being abused. This kind of approach is bad and it shows the government is not taking the recommendations and decisions of the National Joint Negotiating Council seriously.”
The NJNC is a platform that brings together government and civil servants negotiators.
“In January 2014, it was agreed that government would involve civil servants in all activities where they are affected,” he said.
“But now we have a new broom which seems not to know all the corners. This is not doing us justice. We want our views to be considered and respected. How can we trust the employer when it behaves in this way? We urge the Minister to rethink the issue.”
About $5 million is expected to be injected as seed capital for the bank.
College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe president, David Dzatsunga said:
“We don’t know of these board members and were not consulted, yet it is an issue about our money. This is the PSMAS nightmare all over again, just another scheme to enable the looting of our contributions. We doubt (that) with such a set up (whether) the low income earners will get something.”
Of late, civil servants have been struggling to acquire housing stands or houses due to exorbitant prices charged by private developers.
Where they manage to get housing stands, they struggle to develop them due to lack of funding.
Decent accommodation is one of the government’s priorities in its economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.
“A simple question to the Minister and the government is whose money does NSSA control? How come there was no general meeting or any process of engaging the workers?” the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said on its Facebook page.
“We have reason to believe that these are mere political appointments. The government has shown us that it does not respect us at all and we must be brutal in our approach, otherwise we will be taken for granted.
“We know that the best way to rob a bank is to create one. We hope the government is not taking a cue from this statement.”
Online Reporter