Online Reporter
The Herald, 11 September 1991
EMPLOYERS and employees will start contributing 4 percent of their gross income to the newly formed National Social Security Scheme from April 1 next year, the general manager of the National Social Security Authority, Mr John Lynch, has said.
In an interview in Harare yesterday, Mr Lynch said they were now recruiting senior staff for the scheme. Interviews had already been conducted and the names of the successful applicants would be with the authority next month.
The scheme would need four deputy general managers and four assistant general managers and these were interviewed 10 days ago. Although all workers will start their contributions next April, the army, National Railways of Zimbabwe employees and civil servants will be initially excluded. These will eventually become members at a later date.
“These are initially excluded because the Government has a cover for them,” he said. Mr Lynch said the ceiling contribution would be $48 000 a year and this figure was subject to periodic review.
The National Social Security Scheme would only give pensions to workers when they reached the retirement age of 60 years. The idea was to provide financial support to people when sick and during maternity.
According to calculations by the authority, 1,2 million workers in Zimbabwe will be covered. Of this, 800 000 workers were currently members of private pension schemes. This meant that 400 000 workers had no cover.
“The idea is to protect people in their old age and we will be protecting them from April next year.”
The National Social Security Authority was formed eight years ago by employers, workers’ unions and the Government with assistance from the International Labour Organisation. The scheme was modelled on many similar successful schemes throughout the world, said Mr Lynch.
Lessons for today:
From the passage about the National Social Security Scheme in Zimbabwe, we learn several important lessons about social protection, government planning, and worker welfare.
The scheme was designed to provide financial support to workers during retirement, sickness, and maternity. The scheme was supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and developed collaboratively by employers, unions, and government.
The scheme was modelled on successful global examples, indicating a desire to modernise Zimbabwe’s social safety net.
The National Social Security Scheme (NSSA) in Zimbabwe has evolved significantly since its inception in 1991. NSSA became a key pillar of social protection, especially for workers without access to private pensions.C
