TEMPERS flared in Parliament yesterday when National Social Security Authority (NSSA) general manager James Matiza refused to disclose the salary structure of his top management saying they had already submitted the document to the President’s Office.
BY VENERANDA LANGA SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare chaired by Gutu East MP Berita Chikwama (Zanu PF) later warned Matiza that he risked being charged with contempt of Parliament if he failed to disclose the salary structure.
“We were requested by the OPC (Office of the President and Cabinet) to submit our salary schedules and we have already done it through our parent ministry,” Matiza said in response to MDC-T Binga North MP Prince Sibanda’s request for the document to be tabled in Parliament.
“I have no authority to say these figures until this schedule has been looked at, and since you have not seen anything about NSSA salaries in papers it should say something.”
But Sibanda warned: “Matiza is showing arrogance here and I am not sure if he understands the powers of Parliament if he does not avail those figures. We are here at the instigation of the electorate and do not expect such conduct from him. To me the fact that he handed the figures to the OPC does not mean that the information cannot be revealed before Parliament.”
The committee had to ask Public Service secretary Ngoni Masoka to clarify if it was indeed government policy that salary schedules handed to the OPC could not be handed to Parliament.
Masoka denied Matiza’s claims saying it was not government or his ministry’s policy to deny such information to another arm of the State.
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Matiza was then ordered to hand over the salary schedule to the committee at a later date.
Zanu PF Chegutu West MP Dextor Nduna castigated NSSA systems saying it was worrying that they were now concentrating on real estate and construction which were supposed to be under the purview of Local Government and banks yet their main mandate was to look after pensioners.
The committee said they were also worried about the loans that NSSA gave to its management and staff at the expense of pensioners.
Matiza said the loans were above board and were recovered with an interest adding that, NSSA had applied to the Finance ministry for a licence to form a micro-finance bank where they aimed to invest $50 million towards housing delivery.
