Pensioners and policy holders in Zimbabwe are up in arms over the government’s inaction regarding the losses they incurred during the hyperinflation era of 2006 to 2009.
This means that it has been 18 years since pensioners lost their money without any compensation.
The motion, raised by opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Senator Sesel Zvidzai in the upper house, highlights the plight of vulnerable citizens who were robbed of their hard-earned investments by insurance companies and pension schemes.
“The people of Zimbabwe who had invested in insurance policies and participated in provident funds lost a lot of value in the process…They lost a lot of value of their pension schemes.
“I remember at the stage of demutualisation, some people who had hoped to get some millions and millions of ZWL ended up getting something like 5USD, which indeed was very sad,” Zvidzai lamented.
The Commission of Inquiry into the conversion and loss of value of pension schemes, instituted by President Robert Mugabe in 2015, established that there were poor regulatory mechanisms by Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) and that the victims were to be compensated.
However, nine years later, nothing has been done to address the issue.
Zvidzai questioned: “Where is Government with respect to this? Is this not being taken seriously enough? Are we convinced that if we injected the US$174 million into the economy through compensating the people, that will be beneficial to the country?”
CCC senator Solani Moyo said that pension fund administrators are living large while the people of Zimbabwe suffer.
“Most pension funds in Zimbabwe – the biggest problem we face is that contributions made by the children of Zimbabwe are being used to sustain the expensive lifestyles of senior executives without any return to the pension fund members.
“Pension fund administrators are living large yet the people are living in serious poverty. This defeats the whole purpose of having this pension fund system,” Moyo said.
Mirriam Katumba, a pensioner herself, echoed the sentiments, “Most of us who are here are pensioners who did not get anything…If only this issue about pensioners could be looked into and be rectified so that pensioners can be cushioned.”
Zanu-PF Senator Prisca Mupfumira said there is a need to investigate insurance companies.
“People contributed a lot of money for their future in order to avert suffering…Insurance companies are there, they bought a lot of assets, constructed malls and buildings and were pegging their assets against inflation…
“We need to look into such things so that people know and understand that we represent them when we come here,” she said.
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