THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has announced an improved service provision for pensioners that includes free primary health care, a discount on groceries at selected shops as well as loans for income generating projects.
The improved service provision will be availed this year. Mobile clinics will also be made available to cushion pensioners against the hustle of travelling to towns and cities for medical check-ups. Responding to questions from Sunday News, NSSA deputy director marketing and public relations Mr Tendai Mutseyekwa said the authority will continue to improve the benefits of beneficiaries in order to provide better social security that they deserve.
“As NSSA we will continuously review our benefits pay-out levels and these will be complemented by non-monetary benefits such as discounted groceries at participating stores, access to pensioner loans for income generating projects at a very concessionary rate of 10 percent per annum and free primary healthcare at NSSA clinics that we shall be opening in our six regions. In addition to this, each region will be getting a mobile clinic to enable us to attend to pensioners in remote areas,” said Mr Mutseyekwa.
The development comes at the backdrop of improved remittances by companies that saw the authority surpassing its set budget.
“Remittances from the registered companies in the year 2022 amounted to ZWL78,2 billion against a budget of ZWL71,6 billion translating to 110 percent performance.
The average compliance rate per month for year 2022 stood at 52 percent but this does not imply that 48 percent completely defaulted in 2022 but rather, some employers complied in one month, failed to comply in another month and then settled their arrears in a different month. However, the average employees covered per month, relating to this employer compliance rate was 84 percent meaning that the employers who employ most of our registered members, generally comply with the schemes,” said Mr Mutseyekwa.
He said the compulsory State pension fund which was established in 1989 was administering two schemes; Pension and Other Benefits Scheme (POBS) and Accident Prevention and Workers’ Compensation Scheme (APWCS). The schemes play a pivotal role in providing social security to both serving workers and the elderly or retired workers through pay-outs and non-monetary benefits.
Mr Mutseyekwa said under the POBS scheme, companies deduct 4.5 percent from basic earnings of their employees up to the insurable earning limit prevailing during the period. The company adds its 4.5 percent portion to bring the total contribution to nine percent. He said the APWCS is wholly funded by the employer and is calculated using an industry specific rate which is provided to each company by NSSA.
He said if the companies were not remitting as expected, the authority implements a variety of measures, including educating employers and employees on the need to submit remittances on time and carrying out onsite and offsite inspections through NSSA inspectors.
“The NSSA clearance certificate is a mandatory requirement for participating in tenders and it protects businesses from employment injury liability when they contract business partners who are compliant with NSSA,” said Mr Mutseyekwa.
Meanwhile, the authority says it has faced its fair share of challenges that include the self-adjusting framework which was implemented monthly and posed administrative challenges to employers. The authority says it then revised the framework to quarterly adjustments from June 2022. – Sunday News
