Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve, [email protected]
THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA) is on the verge of launching a pilot social security scheme specifically designed for Zimbabwe’s informal economy, a development expected to extend critical support to millions of workers excluded from formal safety nets.
The scheme, which will offer incentives including decent workspaces and access to affordable funding, was revealed by NSSA director for benefits, actuarial and schemes development, Mr Shepherd Muperi, at the Zimbabwe Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) Global Summit in Victoria Falls this week.
Addressing delegates, Mr Muperi said the authority has completed extensive research and design work, with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as a technical partner, and was now preparing to pilot the programme.
“We’re at the verge of almost implementing or piloting a specific, appropriate, and suitable social security scheme for workers in the informal economy,” he said.
Mr Muperi emphasised that social security is a fundamental human right, citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966.
“NSSA was established by Government as an agency to develop programmes to provide social security to the citizens, being a human right,” he said.
Mr Muperi acknowledged the significant coverage gap, saying while approximately 3,1 million people are employed in Zimbabwe, only about 1,3 million or fewer are in the formal economy.
“You can now see the gap. The majority of these people, more than 60 percent, are in the informal economy and unfortunately, they are the ones without social security coverage,” Mr Muperi said.
He outlined the extensive groundwork undertaken to develop a scheme suited to the unique characteristics of informal economy workers.
“With the ILO as our partner, we did extensive research on how we can develop an innovative social security programme that will allow informal economy workers to access social security without parting with a lot of money,” he said.
Mr Muperi said NSSA engaged ZimStat to conduct research within the informal economy to understand priority social security needs, followed by extensive stakeholder engagement.
“So, as we speak, we are at the verge of almost implementing or piloting a specific, appropriate, and suitable social security scheme for workers in the informal economy,” he said.
“We have done the costing and design with the ILO, again, as our partner, because they are the authors of social security, they understand it better, they have assisted many countries.”
Mr Muperi highlighted that the scheme’s design incorporates substantial incentives aimed at encouraging participation and supporting business growth, rather than focusing solely on contributions.
“The challenge is that people want informal economy workers to contribute even towards taxes, but the focus should be more on how we are supporting them to develop their business, to grow them,” he said.
“So, our scheme has got some incentives. I may not exhaust them, but it includes providing decent workspace with the DLMs and the DL1s, providing access to affordable funding for their businesses from the scheme. So, that’s how we have designed it.”
Mr Muperi expressed confidence that informal sector workers would participate because the scheme was developed with them and based on their expressed priority needs.
He also emphasised the role of social security funds in mobilising domestic resources for national development.
“Social security is acknowledged worldwide as a very important vehicle for mobilising local resources for national development,” he said.
“We’re pooling resources together, building huge capital. So, we use this for infrastructure development that will benefit the citizens.
“As these projects are implemented that we invest in, we create employment for the citizens,” Mr Muperi said.
The TNF Global Summit, running under the theme: Inclusive Growth, Decent Work, Beneficiation and Investment Promotion, has attracted over 300 delegates from more than eight countries, bringing together Government, business, labour, and international development partners.
