Chronicle Editor
Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
WORKERS have appealed for the introduction of viable higher education scholarship schemes as they are struggling to pay fees for their children studying at universities and colleges.
Speaking during Workers’ Day commemorations at Stanley Square in Bulawayo on Wednesday, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) second vice president Mr John Chirenda said most workers in Zimbabwe manage to take their children through primary and secondary school but struggle when it comes to tertiary education.
Mr Chirenda urged organisations such as the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) to introduce loan facilities specifically targeting contributors’ children.
“We are calling for a revolving fund and special scholarships from NSSA for our children. Many of us may have brilliant children but struggle to send them to university. We all want our children to go to Nust, University of Zimbabwe and other institutions but many of us fail to achieve that dream because the fees are beyond our reach. We want them to finish university properly and not keep on having to defer studies and postpone to the following year because we do not have the money,” he said.
Mr Chirenda said pension contributions must ideally cushion pensioners but must also benefit workers throughout their productive years, prior to retirement.
“The pensions that we contribute for years should help us in our productive years and must not just sit in coffers while waiting for us to age and then claim them. They should be used for us to invest in our children’s education. Instead of NSSA using that money to build state-of-the-art complexes that will not change our lives, that money must be invested in the worker who contributes,” he said.
“If we are given loans that we are able to repay over a certain period of time, even if they are paid directly to the university, our fortunes will change as we will be able to send children to university.”
Mr Chirenda said most pensioners were poor and rely on meagre pay-outs for survival.
He said there is a need to relook the concept of pension and retirement to enable people to retire with valuable assets that would have been generated from their contributions.
“Since we give NSSA our money to keep for us as we work, NSSA must introduce housing loans so that by the time we retire we have our lives sorted and we are not other people’s tenants. Such projects will help us to prepare for our retirement period so that we age with peace of mind,” said Mr Chirenda. − @andile_tshuma
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