Govt investigating pre-dollarisation pensions

THE Minister of Public Works and national Housing July Moyo has said the government is still probing what happened to the pensions owed prior to the dollarisation period.

"A number of pensioners in this country, not just local authorities, are experiencing extreme problems on accessing the pension schemes. As a result, Government commissioned a study to look at what happened since dollarisation in this country. That report; I am sure the Minister of Finance and Economic Development will be able to publish. It will indicate all the areas where pensioners are having problems to access their pension schemes. As regards to the local authorities, they are not an exception to this problem that is being faced by many of our people in the society," he said.

"The first thing is that the local authorities have a pension scheme which is self-managed by the local authorities themselves. The Local Authority Pension Fund has buildings across the country and these buildings still have value.

"Therefore, we expect that, that value despite the dollarization, will be looked at in line with the recommendations of the Committee that was set by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development once the publications are made public.

"In my view, it will show that some local authorities are not paying enough contribution to the Local Authority Pension Fund; they are defaulting in paying the Local Authority Pension Fund. It will also show that while they deduct the salaries of the workers so that they can send that money to the Local Authority Pension Fund, that is not happening."
He said the Government's desire is to make sure those pensioners, whether in local authorities or not in local authorities be given their due pensions when they retire.