Pensioners to be paid via mobile money transfer

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
PENSIONERS will soon be receiving their monthly payments through mobile transfer agents as the government moves to address their plight.

The Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Services, Tapiwa Matangaidze, said this in the Senate on Thursday while responding to a question posed by MDC Senator, Tholakele Khumalo, on what the Ministry was doing to address the plight of pensioners.
Matangaidze said the government was working to address the plight of pensioners.

“The current system we are trying to move to is a scenario where we use mobile money transfer so that the money is transferred directly into the beneficiaries’ phone lines,” said Matangaidze.

He said the new form of payment was meant to ensure that pensioners do not incur unnecessary travelling costs.

“Yes, we have had instances where people have come to collect their money but there would be no money reflecting in the bank accounts. We are liaising with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to ensure that adequate information is relayed to the pensioners so that we do not have mishaps of this nature,” he said.

The Deputy Minister said the government needs to do more to improve the lives of pensioners, but people need to appreciate the economic challenges facing the country.

Matangaidze said it was not only government pensioners who were struggling but even those from the private sector who received their money through the National Social Security Authority (NSSA).

He said the government was forced to make several changes at NSSA because of its failure to properly manage pensioners’ funds and expressed hope that going into the future, the authority would be in a better position to pay out reasonable pensions to beneficiaries.

“NSSA’s ability to be able to pay a fair pension had been greatly affected by the amount of rot that was happening at NSSA where some wrong investments were made. Pensioners’ funds were also not deposited or placed on the market in a reasonable and fair manner,” said Matangaidze.