NSSA owed over US$14m

are defaulting payment of pension funds to the institution, an official said at the weekend.
In recent times, NSSA has come under severe criticism for paying pensions which some pensioners have described as paltry.
NSSA general manager Mr James Matiza said the authority had completed the first phase of an ongoing exercise to identify defaulting companies and would penalise them.
“A total of 7 757 companies have been found guilty in Harare, Bulawayo, Midlands and Manicaland in a blitz on defaulting employers,” Mr Matiza said.
“At the end of the exercise, we were able to determine that US$14 748 693 was owed to the authority.”
NSSA’s subscriber base is constituted by 24 200 companies.
He said all defaulting clients would be charged 50 percent of their arrears to compel them to pay subscriptions.
“Considering the prevailing interest rates in the market this is a strong deterrent. “Where defaulting companies are netted during the blitz, the authority would not be so lenient,” Mr Matiza said.
He said the authority would consider pressing charges against defaulters to recover the money owed.
Defaulters, Mr Matiza said were making it difficult for NSSA to meet operational costs.
“NSSA is not able to timeously take advantage of favourable investment conditions on the market.
“This undermines the future stability of the organisation’s administered schemes,” he said.
Currently, NSSA has a number of projects that have failed to take off owing to limited financial resources. – New Ziana.