News / National
Zimbabwean vendors to pay towards pension
29 May 2016 at 10:28hrs | Views
THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA) will soon introduce a scheme to allow informal traders to contribute in the same way as workers towards a pension fund that will cushion them when they reach "retirement age", an official has said.
In an in interview on the sidelines of the official opening of the authority's banking unit the National Building Society in Bulawayo on Thursday, NSSA board chairman Mr Robin Vela said the scheme which will target the informal sector will leverage on the use of mobile platform to ensure that the informal traders can easily transact. At the moment, formally employed workers contribute 7,5 percent of their basic salary towards NSSA monthly contributions.
"We want to create a scheme for informal traders. That scheme is going to leverage off mobile platforms. At the moment if you are a formally employed person your contribution to the pension fund is actually easy, it comes through your employer. As a result we want to make it easy for the informal trader to contribute but remember if you are an informal trader, for you to contribute you have to first see the real benefit at the end of the day. So we want to rebrand NSSA, get it back to having the credibility where you say my money is safe when I invest with NSSA. When we do that, we are then more attracted to come to the informal sector scheme that we are setting up," he said.
NSSA was established in terms of the NSSA Act of 1989. According to the Act, NSSA is based on the principle of social solidarity and pooling of resources and involving drawing of savings from periods of employment, earnings and good health to provide for periods of unemployment, old age, invalidity and death.
NSSA is administering two schemes: Pension and Other Benefits Scheme and Accident Prevention and Workers' Compensation Scheme. Under the Pension scheme, people start receiving payouts after the age of 60. On the issue of housing, Mr Vela reiterated that the new NBS was meant to cater for everyone including the informal sector due to the low interest rates.
"If you compare what other building societies are charging you will see that the NBS is by far the lowest. Others charge 15 to 20 percent compared to our nine percent. This is not just a gimmick, it is a real offer and we are saying to the ordinary person stop paying rent and get a bond if that bond is accessible and by getting the bond you are now able to own a house," he said.
The NBS opened its doors offering the lowest interest rates in the country at 9,5 percent for mortgage lending, with a tenure of 25 years, the longest on the market.
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere in a speech read on his behalf by Bulawayo provincial administrator Ms Khonzani Ncube, said there was a need for an accelerated roll out plan of housing projects and funding initiatives with a focus towards low income earners.
"In line with Zim Asset my ministry developed a five-year national housing delivery programme starting from the year 2014 to the year 2018. This mandate is targeting us to deliver a total of 313 368 housing units or fully serviced stands country wide. The low income group in our society is going to benefit from this housing delivery programme. Bulawayo Metropolitan Province is said to deliver 13 100 units by December 2018 and this feat is achievable through concerted effort from all of us. Due to the limited time left before the expiry of the plan period there is need for an accelerated roll out plan of housing projects and funding initiatives, particularly those that target the low income who aspire to own houses but have for one reason or another been historically marginalised," he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, the Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs, Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo said the bank was mandated to first serve the people of Matabeleland and it was not going to be fair for the bank to offer loans to people from other provinces while they have their own banks.
"Let the bank be of most use to the people of Matabeleland. I know this is a national bank, it must serve everybody, but do not import people who have banks near them just because he is a friend of yours to come and get money this side. Please stop that corruption. Do not create your own land barons in order to get the money out of the bank. We want that money to service the low income generator of Matabeleland," she said.
In an in interview on the sidelines of the official opening of the authority's banking unit the National Building Society in Bulawayo on Thursday, NSSA board chairman Mr Robin Vela said the scheme which will target the informal sector will leverage on the use of mobile platform to ensure that the informal traders can easily transact. At the moment, formally employed workers contribute 7,5 percent of their basic salary towards NSSA monthly contributions.
"We want to create a scheme for informal traders. That scheme is going to leverage off mobile platforms. At the moment if you are a formally employed person your contribution to the pension fund is actually easy, it comes through your employer. As a result we want to make it easy for the informal trader to contribute but remember if you are an informal trader, for you to contribute you have to first see the real benefit at the end of the day. So we want to rebrand NSSA, get it back to having the credibility where you say my money is safe when I invest with NSSA. When we do that, we are then more attracted to come to the informal sector scheme that we are setting up," he said.
NSSA was established in terms of the NSSA Act of 1989. According to the Act, NSSA is based on the principle of social solidarity and pooling of resources and involving drawing of savings from periods of employment, earnings and good health to provide for periods of unemployment, old age, invalidity and death.
NSSA is administering two schemes: Pension and Other Benefits Scheme and Accident Prevention and Workers' Compensation Scheme. Under the Pension scheme, people start receiving payouts after the age of 60. On the issue of housing, Mr Vela reiterated that the new NBS was meant to cater for everyone including the informal sector due to the low interest rates.
"If you compare what other building societies are charging you will see that the NBS is by far the lowest. Others charge 15 to 20 percent compared to our nine percent. This is not just a gimmick, it is a real offer and we are saying to the ordinary person stop paying rent and get a bond if that bond is accessible and by getting the bond you are now able to own a house," he said.
The NBS opened its doors offering the lowest interest rates in the country at 9,5 percent for mortgage lending, with a tenure of 25 years, the longest on the market.
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere in a speech read on his behalf by Bulawayo provincial administrator Ms Khonzani Ncube, said there was a need for an accelerated roll out plan of housing projects and funding initiatives with a focus towards low income earners.
"In line with Zim Asset my ministry developed a five-year national housing delivery programme starting from the year 2014 to the year 2018. This mandate is targeting us to deliver a total of 313 368 housing units or fully serviced stands country wide. The low income group in our society is going to benefit from this housing delivery programme. Bulawayo Metropolitan Province is said to deliver 13 100 units by December 2018 and this feat is achievable through concerted effort from all of us. Due to the limited time left before the expiry of the plan period there is need for an accelerated roll out plan of housing projects and funding initiatives, particularly those that target the low income who aspire to own houses but have for one reason or another been historically marginalised," he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, the Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs, Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo said the bank was mandated to first serve the people of Matabeleland and it was not going to be fair for the bank to offer loans to people from other provinces while they have their own banks.
"Let the bank be of most use to the people of Matabeleland. I know this is a national bank, it must serve everybody, but do not import people who have banks near them just because he is a friend of yours to come and get money this side. Please stop that corruption. Do not create your own land barons in order to get the money out of the bank. We want that money to service the low income generator of Matabeleland," she said.
Source - sundaynews
