adminThe article alleged there was, rampant corruption, sleaze and fraud at NSSA. The organisation was rotten to the core, the article claimed.
Fortunately, the article was simply sensational journalism and does not reflect the reality at NSSA, which is probably one of the country’s best run and most transparent parastatals.
The newspaper had dug up old allegations dating back to 2009 and claimed that an investigation into them almost two years ago was a recent investigation.
Many of the allegations had already been published by the newspaper in October 2010 together with NSSA’s response to them. Its sister newspaper, The Standard, last year attempted to dig some of them up again and published an article on them together with a response by NSSA in October 2011.
Quite why the newspaper has decided to republish old allegations as if they were current news is unclear.
The fact of the matter is that in April 2010 the National Economic Conduct Inspectorate (NECI) carried out investigations into the authority’s operations during 2009. That investigation nearly two years ago is the investigation that the Zimbabwe Independent last week referred to as a recent investigation.
The investigations were carried out at the request of the Minister of Labour and Social Services, who is the Minister responsible for NSSA. This followed suggestions of possible irregularities or conflicts of interest in relation to some of the transactions that took place during that year.
The NECI’s report, which the Zimbabwe Independent said it had seen, was presumably submitted to the Minister, since she had commissioned the investigation.
It was not handed over either to NSSA’s general manager or to NSSA’s board. The current board was only appointed in September 2010. The previous board’s term of office expired at the end of 2009.
It would be reasonable to presume that if the Minister, on scrutinising the report, had concluded that there were corrupt activities taking place at NSSA, as alleged, she would have advised the new board of this when it took office so that it could take the necessary action.
Moreover the external auditors who audited NSSA’s accounts for 2009 were satisfied with the manner in which NSSA’s transactions in 2009 were carried out. They certified the 2009 financial statements without any qualification.
Responding to the newspaper’s allegations in an advertisement this week, the NSSA board stated that it was satisfied that NSSA’s operations are conducted in a transparent and professional manner.
It categorically assured the public, as well as contributors and pensioners, that the allegations contained in the newspaper article that NSSA is “a haven for corruption” and “rotten to the core” are untrue.
It also assured them that if any credible evidence was presented to the board or management of any corrupt or unethical behaviour within NSSA this would be thoroughly investigated and, if proved, would result in appropriate action being taken.
The fact of the matter is that NSSA adheres to the highest professional and ethical standards. It conducts its operations in line with those laid down internationally for social security institutions.
An example of NSSA’s transparency is its decision to publish last year in major newspapers its financial statements for the previous year. There was no statutory obligation for it to do so. It did so in the interests of public transparency.
Publication of these financial results, while showing NSSA was in a sound financial position, drew predictable criticism from some segments of the media, which highlighted the gap between NSSA’s income and expenditure on benefits.
Though such criticism was predictable, that did not deter NSSA from publishing the results because it knew it had nothing to hide. Such criticism provided NSSA with an opportunity to explain how social security pension funds work and that the reason contributions were much higher than benefit payments was that there were more people in employment than there were pensioners.
Those contributions from people currently in employment had to be preserved, invested and grown, so that they would be available for them when their time came to retire at age 60 or 65.
Because school leavers in their first jobs will only be eligible for their pensions in more than 40 years time, NSSA has to take a long-term investment view.
As with the investments of other pension funds, some of its investments perform better than others. Some perform exceptionally well, others achieve only average performance while others may perform badly in the short-term and, with the right shareholder intervention, perform well in the longer term.
Often the best returns are achieved from investments in companies where poor performance has resulted in a low share price but the company has the potential to be turned around and provide good shareholder value.
To manage its investments, NSSA has in place skilled investment analysts, who make recommendations to a management investment committee, which in turn makes its recommendations to the board’s investment committee, which is responsible to the board.
NSSA adheres to international guidelines for social security schemes on the proportion of expenditure there should be to income and is guided by periodic actuarial valuations and recommendations.
Contributors should take comfort in the knowledge that their funds are in good hands and should be available for them when they eventually reach pensionable age.
Talking Social Security is published weekly by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. Readers can e-mail issues they would like dealt with in this column to [email protected] or text them to 0735 041 278. Those with individual queries should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706517-8 or 706523-5.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter